Norwegian consumer goods major Orkla, which owns Indian spice brands such as MTR and Eastern, is seeing growing opportunities for talent acquisition and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) after listing its local subsidiary last year, a top company executive said.
“An IPO built our stature up, it helped us develop a platform which helps us attract talent and M&A opportunities for us,” said Sanjay Sharma, managing director and chief executive officer of Orkla India, during a panel discussion at the Mint India Investment Summit & Awards.
Sharma added that beyond attractive valuations and greater flexibility for local growth, a domestic listing improves how the company is perceived by potential acquisition targets.
Orkla India raised about ₹1,667 crore through an initial public offering (IPO) in November last year. Shares of the company settled 0.35% lower at ₹591.25 apiece on the BSE on Friday.
Over the past two years, several multinational corporations have listed their India subsidiaries, including Hyundai and LG, marking a revival in such listings after a lull since 2007, when companies such as Oracle and Maruti Suzuki had tapped the public markets.
Indian markets bulk up
The current phase of renewed IPO activity in India has seen growing interest, said Kaushal Shah, managing director and head of equity capital markets at Kotak Investment Banking, during the panel discussion.
“Since 2023, the world has seen India in a very different way not only for the premium it offers on valuation but also the strength of the domestic capital,” Shah said, adding that more multinational companies are exploring listings of their India units.
Bhavesh Shah, managing director and head of investment banking at Equirus Capital, said India’s domestic capital pool has expanded significantly.
“India’s domestic pool has turned out to be the biggest pool of capital today. It has gone from 10% to 23%. It’s a 13x jump in absolute value,” he said.
“The environment in India is a mature market in terms of regulation, capital markets and the investment banking ecosystem and the investors, a good market to access even when compared globally,” said Sharma.
Orkla's listing journey
“On the other side, there is a need for companies with great business models, financially sound and strong governance, but it tests your conviction,” he added.
Sharing his experience of taking the company public, Sharma emphasized that consistent performance is key in public markets.
“You have to live up to the promises and deliver. You may be a great company back in your market, but it does not necessarily give you the valuations in India, you have to perform to get it,” Sharma said.
Recent listings have also highlighted the gap that can emerge between private market valuations and public market pricing.
Payments firm PhonePe, backed by Walmart, recently deferred its IPO plans amid volatility linked to geopolitical tensions, and was expected to list at a valuation of around $10.5 billion—lower than the $14 billion valuation it commanded in a private funding round last year.
Similarly, artificial intelligence (AI) analytics firm Fractal debuted on public markets in February at about $1.6 billion, a markdown from its earlier private valuation of around $2.4 billion.
Despite a slowdown in the IPO pipeline, Kaushal Shah said there remains strong interest among companies looking to go public in India.
He added that while earlier listings were concentrated in sectors such as electronics, consumer and capital goods, the current pipeline shows growing interest across all sectors.
