Paytm files official papers for IPO

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 16, 2021

Digital payments and e-commerce business Paytm has officially filed for an initial public offering of up to Rs 16,600 crore ($2.23 billion) and plans to use the funds to strengthen its payments ecosystem.

 
Paytm’s IPO will include a new share issue worth Rs 8,300 crore, as well as an offer for sale worth Rs 8,300 crore, according to draft papers submitted to India’s market regulator on Friday, accessed by Reuters. The IPO, which looks set to be one of the largest in India’s history, is backed by investors Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Ant Group and SoftBank, among others. 
 
The business is owned by One97 Communications Limited and has named JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, ICICI Securities, Goldman Sachs, Axis Capital, Citi, and HDFC Bank as its booking running managers for the IPO. As well as strengthening its payments systems, the business also intends to use funds raised by the IPO for new business initiatives and acquisitions, ET Bureau reported. 

Before the IPO goes ahead, China-based business Ant Group is expected to sell at least 5% of its 30.33% stake in the business in order to comply with Securities and Exchange Board of India regulations, the Economic Times reported. All of the business’ Chinese national executives also recently stepped down from Paytm’s board of directors in preparation for the IPO. 
 
“Ant is definitely looking to offload at least around 5% in Paytm so that the IPO can sail through without regulatory hurdles,” a source told ET Bureau.

“Some of the other investors could also offload smaller portions.”