Around 99.79% of the shareholders voted in favour of the resolution.
This comes after the company last month issued a notice of a postal ballot seeking approval of Zomato’s shareholders
Besides this, stakeholders also approved the implementation of multiple ESOPs (2018, 2021, 2022, and 2024) and interest free loans to the Foodie Bay Employees ESOP Trust
Foodtech major Zomato has received approval from its shareholders to raise INR 8,500 Cr (around $1 Bn) through a qualified institutional placement (QIP), a month after getting the nod from the board.
Around 99.79% of the shareholders voted in favour of the resolution.
This comes after the company last month issued a notice of a postal ballot seeking approval of Zomato’s shareholders.
In an exchange filing today (November 23), Zomato said, “…the said notice was sent electronically on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, to all the members of the company whose names appear in the register of members/register of beneficial owners maintained by the depositories as on Friday, October 18, 2024 (“Cut-off date”) and whose email IDs are registered with the company.”
The company added that this was done in compliance with regulations from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Besides this, the scrutiniser’s report, which summarises the results of the postal ballot conducted by Zomato, yesterday (November 22) also approved other special resolutions like the implementation of multiple ESOPs (2018, 2021, 2022, and 2024) and interest free loans to the Foodie Bay Employees ESOP Trust.
Earlier this month it was reported that the foodtech company is looking to launch its INR 8,500 Cr QIP in December and it has selected investment bank Morgan Stanley for the QIP while still looking to include one or two more investment banks for the fundraise.
Last month, Zomato said it received the approval of its board to raise up to INR 8,500 Cr (about $1 Bn) via QIP. Zomato then said that the board formulated a fund raising committee to decide the structure, form of issuance, price, discounts, terms and conditions of the QIP.
With this, the company is looking to enhance its cash balance, especially when its cash reserve declined to INR 1,726 Cr at the end of September 2024 quarter on account of INR 2,048 Cr investment for the acquisition of Paytm’s entertainment ticketing business.
“… We believe that we need to enhance our cash balance given the competitive landscape and the much larger scale of our business today. We believe that capital by itself does not give anyone the right to win (and that service quality is the key determinant of success), but we want to ensure that we are on a level playing field with our competitors, who continue to raise additional capital,” Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal then said.
Goyal added that the company has no plans to use the funds for any minority investments or acquisitions.
Driven by robust growth in its quick commerce arm, Blinkit, Zomato recorded a 389% year-on-year (YoY) surge in consolidated net profit to INR 176 Cr for the September quarter of 2024.
At a time when the competition in the quick commerce segment is intensifying, Zomato is expected to channel proceeds from its QIP fundraising into expanding Blinkit’s dark store network. Meanwhile, its competitors in the space also fund sufficient.
On Wednesday (November 13), Zomato’s rival Swiggy, which operates Instamart, entered the public market following an IPO worth over INR 11,000 Cr. Earlier this year, Zepto secured more than $1 Bn within three months to enhance its network.
