Ambani’s Jio seeks to raise $3.2B in what could be India’s biggest IPO

Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, is seeking to raise as much as $3.2 billion in what could be India’s biggest initial public offering. The listing will test public-market appetite for a company that attracted more than $20 billion from global investors, including Google and Meta in 2020.

On Wednesday, Reliance Industries said in a stock exchange filing (PDF) that Jio had set a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 (about $11.19 to $11.76) per share for the offering of up to 270 million new shares (PDF). The IPO will open for subscription on October 21 and close on October 23, with bidding for anchor investors scheduled for October 19.

At the upper end of the proposed price band, the IPO would value Jio at about ₹10.3 trillion (around $108.3 billion), based on the number of shares expected to be outstanding after the offering.

In 2020, Jio was valued at up to ₹4.91 trillion (about $65 billion at the time). Meta, then known as Facebook, invested $5.7 billion, while Google committed $4.5 billion.

Jio’s IPO is set to overtake Hyundai Motor India’s ₹278.7 billion ($3.3 billion at the time) offering in 2024, the country’s biggest to date, even if its shares are priced at the lower end of the range.

Since launching in 2016, Jio has grown into India’s largest telecom operator, with more than 524 million subscribers as of March 31, ahead of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and state-owned BSNL. It initially drew customers with free data and cheap plans, though its prices are now comparable to those of its rivals. Over time, Jio has grown beyond a telco and expanded into broadband, cloud services, and other digital businesses.

Jio’s IPO comes as Elon Musk has stepped up his criticism of Ambani, accusing him of trying to keep Starlink out of India. The accusation comes more than a year after Jio and rival Airtel signed deals with Musk’s SpaceX to distribute Starlink’s satellite internet service in India, subject to regulatory approvals. Indian authorities have rejected Musk’s claims.

In the quarter ended June, Jio’s revenue rose nearly 12% from a year earlier to ₹391.7 billion (about $4.1 billion), while its net profit climbed 9% to ₹77.6 billion (around $816 million), per its IPO prospectus (PDF).

Jio has set aside shares worth up to ₹25 billion (about $263 million) for eligible Reliance Industries shareholders and another ₹5 billion ($53 million) for employees, who will receive a discount of ₹54 per share.

Of the IPO proceeds, Jio plans to use up to ₹275 billion ($2.9 billion) to repay debt at its telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm, with the remaining proceeds going toward general corporate purposes, per the prospectus.

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