The much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of One97 Communications, which operates the digital payments firm Paytm, will commence on November 8 and end on November 10. Paytm secured SEBI’s consent for its initial public offering (IPO) on October 22.
Paytm said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it has proposed a price range of Rs. 2,080 to Rs. 2,150 for its initial public offering (IPO) at a valuation of $20 billion. According to the BSE filing, around 75 percent of the offering worth Rs 13,725 crore is earmarked for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), while 10% of the issue worth Rs 1,830 crore is reserved for retail investors.
One97 Communications Ltd. has effectively raised the size of its public offering from Rs 16,600 crore to Rs 18,300 crore, in what might be one of the largest IPOs on the Indian stock exchanges. As part of the increased IPO size, Paytm is likely to increase the secondary share sale from existing investors to a total of Rs 10,000 crore. According to reports, the primary side of the upcoming share offering will remain intact at Rs 8,300 crore.
Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma would offload shares worth up to Rs 402.65 crore under the increased offer. Alibaba, the Chinese tech titan, will also sell stock in the IPO. Antfin (Netherlands) Holding B.V., controlled by Alibaba, would sell holdings worth up to Rs 4,704.43 crore, and Alibaba.com Singapore ECommerce Private Limited will liquidate its stocks worth Rs 784.82 crore. SVF Panther (Cayman) Ltd, a subsidiary of SoftBank, would sell shares worth up to Rs 1,689.03 crore.
The single largest stakeholder, the Alibaba-led Ant Group, owns 29.71 percent of the Noida-based fintech startup, while SoftBank Vision Fund owns 19.43 percent. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the company’s founder, currently owns 14.67 percent of the company.
According to the IPO draft filings, the company proposes to invest Rs 4,300 crore of the fresh issue to strengthen its business lines and attract new merchants and customers. The company has appointed Investment banks such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, and ICICI Securities to manage its share sale.
Paytm, which was founded in 2000 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma as a value-added service provider. It aged like fine wine over the years with diverse fintech products to become an online mobile payments platform.
Paytm’s parent company, One97 Communications, now incorporates Paytm Payments Bank Limited, Paytm Paytm Money Limited, Life Insurance Limited, Paytm General Insurance Limited, Paytm E-Commerce Private Limited, and Paytm Entertainment Limited, among other subsidiary brands. These strategies work together to provide Paytm with a solid acquisition channel for its main business of payments and fintech services.
