Jio Platforms’ (JIOP.NS), $3.2 billion IPO was fully subscribed in less than two hours of public bidding on Wednesday, as investors flocked to India’s largest share sale and the first from billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance 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. More than 90% of Jio’s revenue comes from the telecoms business.
The early demand comes even as big IPOs in India generally start slowly, with institutions often waiting until the final hours to bid. In other big IPOs, the National Stock Exchange of India’s (NSEI.BO), share sale recently was only 42% subscribed on its first day, and Hyundai Motor India’s (HYUN.NS), only 18%.
With backing from Meta (META.O), Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), Google and institutional investors, Jio Platforms is home to India’s biggest telecoms company with more than 500 million subscribers, making it the world’s second-largest telecom operator in a single country after China Mobile (600941.SS).
With backing from Meta (META.O), Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), Google and institutional investors, Jio Platforms is home to India’s biggest telecoms company with more than 500 million subscribers, making it the world’s second-largest telecom operator in a single country after China Mobile (600941.SS).
Institutional investors have bid for 3.25 times their reserved portion in the IPO, exchange data showed on Wednesday. Retail investors, for whom around a third of the issue is reserved, have so far bid for 0.22 times their quota, the data showed.
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 the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and BlackRock (BLK.N), after the reserved portion for such investors drew bids totalling more than $25 billion.
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 the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and BlackRock (BLK.N), after the reserved portion for such investors drew bids totalling more than $25 billion.