CarTrade turns public entity ahead of proposed IPO

Mumbai based automobile classifieds platform CarTrade has converted its holding entity CarTrade Tech Private Limited to a public company, named CarTrade Tech Limited, ahead of filing the Draft Red Herring Prospectus and proposed initial public offering (IPO).  

The company has also extended Vinay Vinod Sanghi’s tenure as managing director for five years, effective March 31, 2021, according to filings made with the Registrar of Companies. Sanghi has helmed the company since it was acquired by MXC Solutions. His remuneration was also increased along with the extension – his salary has gone up from Rs 4.77 crore per annum to Rs 5.77 crore.

The company has also proposed appointment of Kishori Jayendra Udeshi and Vivek Gul Asrani as non-executive independent directors to the company’s board. The company has also rolled lapsed and cancelled ESOPs and options from 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015 to ESOP 2021.

The restructuring comes within a month of CarTrade raising $40 million from White Oak capital, IIFL Asset Management and Malabar Investment Managers. Prior to that, the company had raised over $45 million from Warburg Pincus, Temasek Holdings and March Venture Capital Management. It has raised nearly $340 million since inception.  

According to the altered memorandum of association, CarTrade will continue to provide auction, classifieds and fixed price format for sale of automobiles and automobile products online and offline.  

Emailed questions sent to the company, seeking details on the IPO, remained unanswered till the time of publishing this article.  

CarTrade competes with new and used vehicle marketplace Droom, Sequoia-backed Cars24 and PingAn-backed CarDekho. CarTrade registered net sales of Rs 120.4 crore and and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of Rs 13.3 crore for the financial year 2019-20, VCCEdge data showed.  

With the IPO, CarTrade will be the first automobile classifieds platform to go public in India. Other technology IPOs in the offing include Zomato, which filed its DRHP in April.