Allied Blenders & Distillers launches $180m IPO
India’s Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD) has filed an initial public offering (IPO) to raise up to 15 billion rupees (US$180 million).
ABD, producer of Indian whisky brands such as Officer’s Choice and Sterling Reserve, will offer new shares worth up to 10bn rupees (US$120m) through the IPO on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India. The additional five billion rupees (US$60m) will come from selling existing shares.
In the IPO document, ABD said it was the biggest Indian-owned company in the Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) category based on annual sales.
Officer’s Choice Whisky was also described as the market leader in the mass premium segment with a market share of 20.9% in terms of annual sales volumes in fiscal 2023, ABD said.
The company believes it is “well positioned to capitalise on the shift towards premiumisation of consumption” due to its extensive portfolio.
The Spirits Business has approached ABD for further comment.
As reported in The Brand Champions 2024 report, Officer’s Choice was the world’s third-best-selling Indian whisky in 2023, with case sales of 23.4m last year (however, this was a decrease of 6% on 2022).
It was once the biggest-selling Indian whisky in the world but has since been succeeded by United Spirits-owned McDowell’s in first place and Pernod Ricard’s Royal Stag in second position.
Meanwhile, Sterling Reserve was the eighth largest with sales of 5.1m cases last year, an increase of 1.6% compared with 2022.
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