XED Executive Development, which is set to become India’s first company to get listed on the GIFT City, had deferred its initial public offering (IPO) by over a week due to the market jitters caused by the US-Iran war. While global geopolitical tensions have been shaking the domestic equity and IPO markets, XED’s management told FE that it believes to be entering the market “at the right time.”
“We cannot wait for too long for the markets to grow,” Chief Executive Officer John Kallelil said. “Every crisis has an opportunity and we don’t want to miss that growth phase right now.”
Navigating Geopolitics
Agreed Piyush Agrawal, the company’s chief financial officer and Kallelil’s schoolmat, adding that it is not always possible to time the market, he said.
XED Executive has its presence in the Middle East, too. “There is a lot of gloom…we feel that things will settle,” CFO Agrawal noted. The crisis was the primary reason for deferring the IPO to March 16 from March 6.
Probably 6-9 months post IPO, the company may look if it wants to raise more capital, Agrawal said. Kallelil, Agrawal, and 15 others will be offloading their stake in the $2.4-million offer for sale for the $12-million IPO.
$100-Million Roadmap
One of the key goals for the next 3-5 years for XED is to hit the $100-million revenue mark. “We are going to find ways to hit that number…I don’t want to wait for a decade to reach there,” Kallelil highlighted.
During this period, higher opportunities from other regions may trim XED’s revenue contribution from India to around 50% from the current 70-75%. The US may account for 25% of the total and the remaining 25% would be from Southeast Asia, CFO Agrawal said. The company aims to tap the Singapore market in the future.