Jio Platforms sets ball rolling on mega public float proposal

Synopsis

Jio Platforms has reportedly shortlisted Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as lead bankers for its upcoming IPO, with an expected valuation between $133-$182 billion. The company awaits finance ministry clearance for a 2.5% public drift for mega IPOs, with a likely break up between well-known and secondary fragment sales. Strategic investors esteem Google and Meta are expected to retain their stakes.

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Mumbai: Jio Platforms has narrowed correct down to Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as lead bankers for its upcoming preliminary public offering (IPO), said of us familiar with the topic. The itemizing is anticipated to worth India’s largest telecom operator at $133-$182 billion, in step with estimates by market analysts.

The company, the telecom and digital business unit of Reliance Industries (RIL), is ready to file its draft purple herring prospectus as soon as the finance ministry clears a proposal by the Securities and Alternate Board of India (Sebi) to enable a 2.5% public drift for mega IPOs.

The offering is liable to be break up evenly between well-known issuance and secondary fragment sales, with non-public equity investors along with KKR, TPG, Silver Lake and Vista Partners making ready to natty their holdings. Strategic shareholders Google (7.75%) and Meta (9.ninety nine%) are expected to retain their stakes, whereas Intel, which owns a modest 0.7%, would perhaps maybe additionally support in suggestions a partial promote-down, said industry executives and analysts in the know.

Agencies

Shortlists lead bankers for IPO; PE investors would perhaps maybe additionally pare stake, strategic shareholders would perhaps maybe additionally protect on

RIL and Morgan Stanley did no longer acknowledge to ET’s queries until press time whereas Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

In 2020, Jio Platforms raised bigger than ₹1.5 lakh crore (about $20 billion) from 13 world investors in a instant fundraising round that saw the company promote a mixed 33% stake. The deals were amongst the largest in Indian company history and helped originate Jio Platforms salvage debt-free.

Google (Alphabet) and Meta Platforms (then Fb) were the largest strategic investors and obtained 7.73% stake for approximately $4.5 billion and 9.ninety nine% for roughly $5.7 billion, respectively. Since then, both expertise firms possess deepened their partnerships with Reliance previous equity investments to long-term collaboration across digital companies, cloud, devices and, more only recently, synthetic intelligence initiatives housed below Reliance Intelligence.

Funding banks possess pegged Jio Platforms’ valuation following the “mother of all IPOs” at about $180 billion (almost ₹15 lakh crore).

On the company’s most portray earnings name, Anshuman Thakur, head of technique at Reliance Jio Infocomm, said interior work on the IPO became as soon as underway but execution would open most realistic likely after regulatory readability. “We are working on the assumption that it is in line with whatever Sebi has recommended, but we will still have to wait for that before we finalise and then start the process,” he said, along with that the itemizing would perhaps maybe additionally rob region in the following couple of months.

The spectrum of Jio Platforms’ valuation is notably huge amongst brokerages. On Friday, Jefferies upgraded its bullish estimates of Jio’s enterprise valuation to $180 billion, after third-quarter earnings. Motilal Oswal Monetary Companies pegged the valuation at $148 billion, whereas IIFL caught to its old estimate at $133 billion. Kotak Institutional Equities valued it at ₹11.59 lakh crore.

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