Mahindra FirstChoice plans IPO in 2013


Chennai: Multi-brand, pre-owned car seller Mahindra FirstChoice Wheels may go public in 2013 when its turnover reaches around 2,000 crore, a top company official said. "Our plan is to go public in five years from the time we got the private equity funding. We got the private equity fund in 2008. We will start planning about public issue in 2013," Rajeev Dubey, president (Human Resource, After Market and Corporate Services), told reporters here Wednesday. Dubey said the company will likely close the current fiscal with a turnover of 400 crore against 140 crore earned last year. A member of the Mahindra and Mahindra group management board, Dubey was here to sign a memorandum of understanding with MyTVS, a division of TVS, for roadside vehicle repair assistance. Dubey said the company's customers can now avail round the clock roadside assistance in case of a breakdown in the first year of purchase from his company. According to Chief Executive Officer S. Saha, the company sold 10,255 cars last fiscal and this year the number will be around 18,000 cars. The target for 2013 is 100,000 as Mahindra FirstChoice is expanding its outlets to smaller cities and towns. The company plans to increase the number of outlets from the current 120 to 300. The market size for used cars in India is around 1.9 million cars. TVS & Sons has around 2,500 authorised service providers in 1,400 cities and towns. Managing Director R. Dinesh said the industry is estimated to be around 18,000 crore.
Source: IANS