The initial public offering of Jio Platforms Ltd. fully sold out on the first day of bidding yesterday, keeping billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s digital venture on track to complete India’s largest-ever listing with an impact that extended to the currency market.
According to a Bloomberg report yesterday, the much-anticipated offering was subscribed nearly three times on Wednesday (Oct. 21), according to data on BSE Ltd.’s website. The qualified institutional investors portion was subscribed nine times.
Wealthy investors had bid for 1.55 times of shares reserved for them, while retail investors had taken up about 67 percent of their allocation.
Jio is seeking to raise as much as $3.1 billion in the share sale, which values the company at $107 billion at the top end of the marketed price range of 1,065 rupees to 1,119 rupees apiece.
The deal was fully subscribed within 100 minutes, a rare feat for a mega offering in India. Among IPOs that raised at least $1 billion, LG Electronics India Ltd., Eternal Ltd.— then known as Zomato Ltd. — and Reliance Power Ltd. achieved the feat on their first day.
In a sign of Jio’s gravity on the Indian market, the foreign inflows into the IPO boosted the rupee.
For Ambani, the fast start means that Jio remains on track for the historic milestone, a decade after storming into the Indian telecom market with free calls and cheap data that decimated its rivals.
But unlike in the triumphant fall of 2016, when its aggressive strategy stoked a price war that left only a single competitor profitable, Ambani’s upstart is coming to the market more cautious and humble.
The owner of India’s largest wireless operator, is seeking a valuation that’s roughly 10 percent lower than its nearest sector rival, Bharti Airtel Ltd.
The listing marks billionaire Ambani’s return to the IPO market after 20 years, an offering that he said will “unlock great value” for parent reliance Industries Ltd. But a closer look paints a more sobering picture.
Meanwhile, a Reuters report from Mumbai added that the Jio Platforms IPO will be a major test of global appetite for new share offerings at a time when investors have sharpened their scrutiny of AI-related companies, which some analysts say could see them pivoting away from the technology.
More than 90 percent of Jio’s revenue comes from the telecoms business.
Jio Platforms this week allotted shares worth $853 million to over 200 global and domestic investors including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and BlackRock after the reserved portion for such investors drew bids totalling more than $25 billion.
Reliance paid its more than 400,000 employees their salaries about 15 days early this month, and the company helped facilitate share account-opening services in recent weeks to those interested in applying for the IPO, a person in the industry with direct knowledge of the situation said.
Reliance did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
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Jio Platforms IPO sold out in 100 minutes; firm aims for largest-ever listing 

