By Vibhuti Sharma and Aditya Kalra
MUMBAI, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Public bidding for the $3.2 billion IPO of Jio Platforms opens on Wednesday, testing the appetite for India’s largest share sale to date and the first from billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance conglomerate in two decades.
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.
With backing from Meta, Google and institutional investors, Jio Platforms is home to India’s biggest telecom company with more than 500 million subscribers, making it the world’s second-largest telecom operator in a single country after China Mobile.
The IPO values Jio Platforms at up to $108.3 billion, potentially making it one of India’s biggest companies by market capitalisation when trading starts on October 28, with around a third of the shares on offer reserved for retail investors.
Jio Platforms this week allotted shares worth $853 million to global and domestic investors including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and BlackRock after the reserved portion for such investors drew bids totalling more than $25 billion.
FESTIVE LAUNCH DATE
Retail investors, employees and shareholders of Reliance will get to participate in the offering that closes on Friday and has a price range set at 1,065 to 1,119 rupees per share.
The IPO is the first from Reliance since 2006 and is bigger than previous major listings such as Hyundai Motor India and National Stock Exchange.
Ambani first promised a listing within five years in 2019, and the plans were also delayed in 2025. A filing for as early as March was pushed back after the Iran war dampened IPO appetite.
Jio Platforms’ telecom business, led by Ambani’s son Akash, began in 2016 with a bet that Indians would use the internet far more if it cost almost nothing. It rapidly took market share from rivals such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea by offering cheap data and free voice calls.
Jio Platforms is pitching its IPO during an ongoing Hindu festive season, which is considered auspicious for purchases, but when Indian markets have remained subdued in recent weeks.
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 request for comment.
Jio Platforms earned about $3.2 billion in profit on $15.5 billion of revenue in the year to March. Around 90% of those figures were attributable to its telecoms business alone.
(Editing by Alexander Smith)
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