By Scott Murdoch and M. Sriram
SYDNEY/MUMBAI, April 2 (Reuters) – Blackstone is exploring elevating $300 million by way of an India IPO of the Worldwide Gemological Institute (IGI), its gemstone certification agency for which it expects a $1.5 billion valuation, three folks accustomed to the matter mentioned.
Blackstone acquired IGI for $570 million in Might 2023 from Chinese language conglomerate Fosun and the enterprise’s founding Lorie household. IGI has most of its enterprise in India and describes itself because the world’s largest unbiased lab for testing and grading diamonds and different gems and jewellery.
Blackstone has appointed funding banks Morgan Stanley and India’s Kotak to steer the IPO deal, two sources added.
Blackstone and Morgan Stanley declined to remark whereas IGI and Kotak didn’t reply queries in search of remark.
Whereas based in Belgium 50 years in the past, nearly all of IGI’s income and income come from India at the moment, the place it has most of its labs and gives diamond screening, sorting and educational programs.
With the IPO, IGI hopes to capitalise on the expansion of lab-grown diamonds in India, the second supply mentioned. These labs make jewels that look equivalent to pure diamonds however are cheaper. India’s federal price range final 12 months reduce taxes on manufacture of lab diamonds in a bid to spice up the sector.
Plans to checklist IGI are within the early phases and will change, the sources mentioned.
India’s jewellery market was valued at $78 billion in 2021 and is a profitable one for gamers like IGI. Whereas a lot of the jewels made are exported, gold – traditionally dominant within the nation – is slowly giving technique to diamonds amongst some youthful customers.
Usually personal fairness corporations often look to checklist firms 5 years or so after funding, and Blackstone is eager to benefit from India’s sizzling IPO market which is the busiest in Asia thus far this 12 months, two of the sources added.
India has emerged because the second busiest market on this planet for fairness capital market (ECM) offers after the USA.
Indian firms raised $2.3 billion within the first quarter of 2024 in IPOs, in accordance with LSEG knowledge, up greater than 12 instances the $166.5 million raised in the identical interval final 12 months, LSEG knowledge confirmed. (Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and M. Sriram in Mumbai, modifying by Aditya Kalra and Chizu Nomiyama)
