Paytm gets Sebi approval for biggest India IPO for Rs 16,600 crore
Paytm IPO comprises fresh issues of up to Rs 8,300 crore, offer for sale of up to Rs 8,300 crore.
FollowIndia’s digital payments pioneer backed by SoftBank Group Corp., Paytm has received a nod from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for its much-anticipated, Rs-16,600 crore initial public offering (IPO).
This will be the biggest IPO in India to date in terms of size. The listing could be some time in November, sources said.
Paytm was planning its initial public offering for around the end of October, Reuters reported.
The company, whose backers include Ant Group, SoftBank's (9984.T) Vision Fund and Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), narrowed its operating loss to 16.55 billion rupees ($221.00 million) in the financial year that ended in March 2021, from 24.68 billion a year earlier. A source told Reuters in July that Paytm was likely to break even in 18 months.
With Sebi’s approval, Paytm can now launch the IPO once it includes the observations the regulator may have made to its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). The company is aiming to launch the initial share sale by November 4, coinciding with the festival of Diwali.
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Paytm had said that it is a foreign-owned company and will continue to be after the IPO.
The Paytm IPO, the biggest in India’s public market history, will see it raise Rs 8,300 crore through primary share sale and Rs 8,300 crore in a secondary transaction via an offer for sale (OFS).
Several first-generation homegrown startups in India are preparing to go public on domestic bourses, following on the heels of food delivery firm Zomato (ZOMT.NS) which made a stellar stock market debut in July and which also counts China's Ant Group as a shareholder.
According to an Economic Times report, the fintech startup is likely to seek a valuation of $20-24 billion from the IPO. It was valued at around $16 billion in its last fundraising over two years ago. The development comes at a time when a slew of new-age Indian internet firms — Zomato, Freshworks, Nykaa, MobiKwik, PolicyBazaar and Pine Labs, among others — have either listed on the bourses and or have initiated the process to do so.
