Jio Platforms Ltd. is set to price its shares at ₹1,065-1,119 in what’s shaping up to be India’s largest initial public offering (IPO), according to people familiar with the matter.
The company is targeting a market value of as much as ₹10.3 lakh crore, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t yet public. At the upper end of the price band, the Jio IPO would raise about ₹30,200 crore, according to Bloomberg calculations. That would keep it on track to become India’s largest-ever IPO.
The telecom and digital services arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. plans to open public subscription on 21 October and close it two days later, the people said. The anchor book is scheduled to open on 19 October, with the shares expected to begin trading on 28 October, they said.
Deliberations are ongoing and details including the price range, valuation and timing could still change, the people said.
A Reliance Industries representative did not offer any immediate comments. On the sidelines of the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi Thursday, Chairman Akash Ambani said Jio Platforms aspires to deliver India’s largest IPO.
Jio Platforms IPO: The Valuation Question
The valuation falls short of some earlier expectations, though the offering is still poised to surpass Hyundai Motor India Ltd.’s ₹27,800-crore share sale in October 2024, the country’s biggest. That will be a major test of investor appetite for large share sales in one of the world’s busiest markets for equity fundraising.
Jio filed its draft prospectus in June for an offering of as many as 270 million new shares, equivalent to about 2.93% of its post-issue equity capital, according to Bloomberg calculations. The company was earlier poised to seek a valuation of about ₹11 lakh crore, people familiar with the matter have said. Valuations floated earlier were even higher, in the range of $130 billion to $170 billion at one point. A selloff in Indian stocks has since tempered pricing expectations for several IPOs in the country.
In June, Motilal Oswal Financial Services estimated Jio’s valuation at between $115 billion and $118 billion, while Dolat Capital valued the company at about $110 billion.
Jio has appointed 19 banks to work on the share sale, including Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., Axis Capital Ltd., BNP Paribas SA and Citigroup Inc.
A cheaper route to Jio Platforms
Reliance Industries may offer investors a cheaper way to own Jio Platforms after the telecom unit lists, with analysts saying the parent company’s shares reflect a substantial discount.
Reliance’s share price implies a roughly 36% discount on its two-thirds stake in Jio, according to Nimish Maheshwari, co-founder of independent research firm Beat The Street. He sees about 25% as sustainable, in line with how the market values telecom rival Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s holdings in its listed subsidiaries.
Such discounts are common for parent companies because their shareholders only get indirect exposure to the businesses they own. Once a subsidiary lists, investors can simply buy its shares directly.
About The Author
