India’s Paytm and beauty startup Nykaa head for massive IPOs

Paytm Nykaa IPO
FILE PHOTO: Paytm app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian fintech firm Paytm has received approval from the capital markets regulator for its $2.2 billion stock market listing that is likely to be India’s biggest-ever IPO, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Paytm was planning its initial public offering for around the end of October, Reuters previously reported.

The company, whose backers include Ant Group, SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Berkshire Hathaway, narrowed its operating loss to 16.55 billion rupees ($221.00 million) in the financial year that ended in March 2021, from 24.68 billion a year earlier. A source told Reuters in July that Paytm was likely to break even in 18 months.

Several first-generation homegrown startups in India are preparing to go public on domestic bourses, following on the heels of food delivery firm Zomato which made a stellar stock market debut in July and which also counts China’s Ant Group as a shareholder.

Ant Group, with a roughly 30% stake, is Paytm’s largest shareholder.

Launched a decade ago as a platform for mobile recharging, Paytm grew quickly after ride-hailing firm Uber listed it as a quick payment option. Its use swelled further in 2016 when a ban on high-value currency banknotes boosted digital payments.

Paytm has since branched out into services including insurance and gold sales, movie and flight ticketing, and bank deposits and remittances.

Meanwhile, Indian startup FSN E-Commerce Ventures, which runs beauty company Nykaa, has priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 1,085 rupees to 1,125 rupees per share, giving it a valuation of as much as $7.11 billion.

The company aims to raise nearly $500 million through a three-day IPO subscription starting from Oct. 28 to Nov 1. The IPO involves issuing new shares worth up to 5.25 billion Indian rupees ($70.13 million) and offering up to 43.1 million of its existing shares.

The company’s investors include private equity firm TPG, Fidelity and Indian film actress Alia Bhatt. Nykaa will use the IPO proceeds to set up new retail stores, fund capital spending and repay debts, according to the prospectus.

The bookrunning lead managers for the IPO include BofA Securities, Morgan Stanley, Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citigroup, ICICI Securities and JM Financial.

Earlier this year, food-delivery firm Zomato Ltd made a stellar stock market debut.

Other Indian startups to enter the market include Paytm, which is backed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc-backed, and hospitality company Oyo Hotels and ride-hailing firm Ola, which are both backed by SoftBank.

($1 = 74.8880 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal and Nupur Anand; editing by Jason Neely, Susan Fenton and Edmund Blair)

Be the first to comment

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.