Popular Vehicles & Services receives final SEBI observation, to raise Rs 250 crore

Popular Vehicles and Services Limited has received the final observation from the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India. It plans to raise funds through a fresh issue of equity shares with a face value of Rs 2, aggregating up to Rs 250 crore, and an offer for up to 14,275,401 equity shares, the company informed in a statement on Wednesday.

Popular Vehicles and Services Limited claims to be a  diversified automobile dealership in the country, with a fully integrated business model. They cater to the complete life cycle of vehicle ownership, right from the sale of new vehicles to servicing and repairing vehicles, distributing spare parts and accessories, facilitating the sale and exchange of pre-owned vehicles, operating driving schools, and facilitating the sale of third-party financial and insurance products. 

The company's automobile dealership business operates primarily in passenger vehicles, including luxury vehicles, commercial vehicles, and electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers. These three segments contributed to their revenues from operations, aggregating Rs 3014.351 crore, Rs 1570.254 crore, and Rs 5.5905 crore, respectively, the company statement continued.

The development comes even as Landmark Group, a premium and luxury car dealership chain, made its debut on the stock market in December 2022, thereby probably becoming only the second retail chain in India to get listed on bourses.

The company's Rs 552-crore IPO was oversubscribed three times over at a price range of Rs 481–506 per share. The allotted qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) were subscribed to approximately nine times.The benchmark for Landmark Group seems to be AutoNation, an American auto dealership that offers new and used cars as well as related services in the United States. Through the acquisition of other businesses in the industry, it expanded to include more than 300 retail locations. As roughly 30% of its total retail outlets have been acquired using a similar business strategy, Landmark Group appears to be following suit.