The Rs. 500 million worth Initial public offering (IPO) of Kapruka Holdings Ltd., Sri Lanka’s pioneering e-commerce platform, officially opens today. 

Through its IPO, which has been one of the most eagerly-awaited this year, Kapruka will offer 32,826,000 ordinary voting shares, reflecting a 20% stake in the company, to the public at a price of Rs. 15.40 per share, with the aim of raising approximately Rs. 505 million in equity capital. 

Subsequent to the IPO, shares of Kapruka Holdings will be listed on the Main Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange (Subject to regulatory approvals). The minimum subscription per application has been set at 1,000 shares.

In a statement, Kapruka Founder/CEO Dulith Herath said: “The Kapruka journey has been an incredible one. I have devoted my life to this enterprise, nurturing and growing it as a parent would do to a child. Thus, today is a great milestone for us. Today, we are providing the public with a chance to share in the Kapruka dream, while helping to take that dream to new and greater heights. We have incredible plans for the future and look forward to consolidating our position, innovating and creating new platforms and solutions to further a vibrant, robust and booming ecommerce sector in Sri Lanka. 

“We are also incredibly proud and honoured to be the first e-commerce business in Sri Lanka to seek a public listing on the Colombo Stock Exchange, enabling investors to expose their portfolios to this sector of the Sri Lankan economy for the first time.”

At a per-share price of Rs. 15.40, shares of Kapruka present investors with an attractive 10x forward PER. The company plans to use the IPO to fund its expansion and growth plans, which include upgrading existing technology and infrastructure, alongside launching various Kapruka platform services. Four main Kapruka platform services projects are in the works, including ‘Kapruka B2B’ for business-to-business ecommerce; ‘soldout.lk’ for used goods, a platform for Kapruka to act as a distributor for established Sri Lankan brands in foreign markets, and ‘Kapruka Partner Central’ for established brick and mortar shops looking for an e-commerce partner with a wide reach.  

Founded in 2002, Kapruka is Sri Lanka’s first and largest locally owned e-commerce enterprise. The company, through its website, facilitates online purchases of goods for its Sri Lankan and expatriate customer base. The company has a well-integrated supply chain and sells its own-label products, predominantly, Kapruka cakes, flowers and value-added fruits and vegetables. The company partners with over 500 high-end brands and executes order fulfilment and delivery for its online orders. Kapruka strives to provide a non-marketplace model and a superior online shopping experience to consumers.

The company caters to over 1.1 million expatriate Sri Lankans, predominantly in the USA, who regularly use Kapruka to send gifts to their family and friends in Sri Lanka. Further, the company offers Sri Lankan brands on global e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Walmart, and is the e-distributor/e-commerce retailer for well-established brands such as Dilmah, Akbar, Link Samahan and many more. Kapruka is also one of the few e-commerce companies in Sri Lanka that generates US dollar revenues by serving expatriate Sri Lankans and other global customers. The company has its central office located in Colombo, along with offices in the USA, the UK and Australia. 

  

• Fuel hike dampens investor sentiment at CSE

• hSenid Biz Solutions marks CSE debut with 70% price gain