Quess Corp has raised Rs 180 crore by selling 56.78 lakh shares to a total of 15 anchor investors ahead of the opening of the company's initial public offer (IPO). The shares were allotted to the anchor investors at Rs 317 per share, the top end of the Rs 310 to Rs 317 per share price band for the IPO.

Among the anchor investors, Morgan Stanley Mauritius Company will be allotted 12.61 lakh shares. Other investors include, Kuwait Investment Authority Fund, ICICI Prudential Midcap Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Reliance Mutual Fund, FIL Investments (Mauritius) and SBI Mutual Fund, among others.

The initial public offer (IPO) of Quess Corp, a company promoted by Ajit Isaac and Thomas Cook (India), opened today, 29 June 2016. The IPO is aimed at funding expansion of business, potential acquisition opportunities, to repay loan from the Bank of Nova Scotia and for meeting working capital requirements. The company will raise upto Rs 400 crore from the IPO. The price band for the IPO has been fixed at Rs 310-317 per share. The IPO closes on Friday, 1 July 2016.

Quess Corp provides comprehensive solutions including recruitment, temporary staffing, technology staffing, IT products and solutions, skill development, payroll, compliance management, integrated facility management and industrial asset management services. The company's global technology solutions (GTS) division provides IT staffing, IT product solutions and services in India, North America and South East Asia under the Magna Infotech, Brainhunter, Mindwire and MFX brands. Quess Corp's people and services (P&S) division provides comprehensive staffing (excluding IT staffing) services and solutions including general staffing, recruitment and executive search, recruitment process outsourcing, as well as payroll, compliance and background verification services under the IKYA and CoAchieve brands.

The company's integrated facility management (IFM) division provides integrated facility management solutions to corporates and other organizations such as hospitals and schools across India. The division provides the entire range of facility management services including janitorial services, electro-mechanical services, pest control as well as food and hospitality services. The company's fourth division viz. industrial asset management (IAM) division provides industrial operations and maintenance (O&M) services and related asset record maintenance services under our Hofincons brand across various industries, including power, energy, oil and gas, chemicals and ferrous and non-ferrous metal industries across India and the Middle East. This division also provides technology and consultation services focused on the oil and gas industry.

From the net proceeds of the IPO, the company will use a sum of Rs 50 crore for repayment of debt. The company intends to utilise a sum of Rs 51.35 crore from the IPO proceeds for funding of capital expenditure for the purchase of construction and material handling machinery, computers and cleaning equipments and Rs 20.36 crore for the funding of capital expenditure proposed to be incurred by its subsidiary, MFX US, for the purchase of network equipments, servers, storage and backup equipments. The company proposes to utilise a sum of Rs 157.90 crore from the net proceeds of the IPO towards meeting its working capital requirements to reduce dependence on bank based working capital funding and to support continued growth in business.

The company has earmarked a sum of Rs 80 crore to finance potential acquisitions and other strategic initiatives. In conjunction to the company's organic growth strategies, the management of the company intends to pursue strategic acquisitions by selectively evaluating targets or partners for strategic acquisitions and investments in order to strengthen the range of service offerings and customer portfolio and acquire new product platforms in order to strengthen the company's position as an integrated business services provider. The management intends to pursue acquisition opportunities in payroll and compliance management services, IT staffing, facility management, asset management, safety and quality audit, financial analysis and planning, and background verification services.

Based on consolidated financial performance, Quess Corp registered net profit of Rs 88.52 crore on revenue from operations of Rs 3435.01 crore for the year ended 31 March 2016. The company has not paid any dividend on equity shares during the last five financial years preceding the date of the Red Herring Prospectus.