Three shrimp exporting firms in India are considering delay in their plans to file initial public offerings, according to Indian financial daily Livemint.
Devi Sea Foods Ltd., Sandhya Marines Ltd., and Nekkanti Sea Foods Ltd., which each filed draft IPO prospectuses the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in early 2018, are “likely to see the launches delayed as a result of increased U.S. tariffs on Indian shrimp exports, softer global pricing, and volatility in the Indian stock markets,” Livemint reported.
Collectively, the three companies are looking to raise around INR 21 billion (USD 310.8 million, EUR 264.4 million).
Devi Sea Foods and Sandhya Marines did not respond to requests for comment from Livemint, anonymous sources quoted in the article said the recent poor performances of similar companies’ stock led them to reconsider the timing of their IPOs. Shares of Apex Frozen Foods have lost 42.79 percent since the beginning of 2018, while shares of Avanti Feeds Ltd have dropped 47.65 percent in valuation so far this year.
A spokesperson for Nekkanti Seafoods said the company is still waiting for regulatory approval for its IPO and will make a decision after it receives clearance.
Other sources cited by the news site said Indian shrimp firms are confident that low shrimp prices are a temporary phenomenon caused by a long winter in the United States, coupled with stable production in Indonsia, Vietnam, and other large shrimp exporters.
In a 1 June public filing, Avanti Feeds said it expected U.S. demand – and shrimp prices – to improve in the near future.
“The decline in price is only a temporary reaction and the consumption in the U.S. has come back to normalcy and the demand started picking up and would be restored to normal level soon and is even expected to go up, which is expected to trigger an increase in prices,” the company said.
