Ambani's Jio Seeks $3.2 Billion Raise That Could Be India's Biggest IPO

Jio Plans to Use Most of Its IPO Proceeds to Repay Debt as It Expands Beyond Telecom.

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Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, is looking to raise $3.2 billion in what could be India's largest initial public offering. The listing will test the public market's appetite for a company that raised more than $20 billion from global investors including Google and Meta in 2020.

On Wednesday, Reliance Industries said in a stock exchange filing (PDF) that Jio has set a price band of 1,065 to 1,119 rupees (about $11.19 to $11.76) per share to issue up to 270 million new shares (PDF). The IPO will open for subscription on October 21 and close on October 23, with a tender to anchor investors scheduled for October 19.

At the high end of the offer price band, the IPO would value Jio at around 10.3 trillion rupees (about $108.3 billion), based on the number of shares expected to be outstanding after the offering.

In 2020, Jio was worth up to 4.91 trillion rupees (about $65 billion at the time). Meta, then known as Facebook, invested $5.7 billion, while Google committed $4.5 billion.

Jio's IPO is set to outpace Hyundai Motor India's 278.7 billion rupees ($3.3 billion at the time) IPO in 2024, even though its shares are at record lows.

Jio's IPO comes as Elon Musk has stepped up his criticism of Ambani, accusing him of trying to keep Starlink out of India. The allegation comes more than a year after Jio and rival Airtel signed deals with SpaceX Musk to distribute Starlink satellite internet service in India, subject to regulatory approvals. Indian officials have denied Musk's claims.

In the quarter ended June, Jio's revenue rose nearly 12 percent year-on-year to 391.7 billion rupees (about $4.1 billion), while its net profit rose 9 percent to 77.6 billion rupees (about $816 million), according to the IPO prospectus (PDF).

Jio has set aside shares worth 25 billion rupees (about $263 million) to eligible Reliance Industries shareholders and another 5 billion rupees ($53 million) to employees, who will receive a discount of 54 rupees per share.

Of the IPO proceeds, Jio plans to use up to 275 billion rupees ($2.9 billion) to repay debt at its telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm, and use the rest of the proceeds for general corporate purposes, according to the prospectus.

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Jagmeet covers startups, tech policy updates and other important tech-centric developments from India for TechCrunch. He was earlier working as a Chief Correspondent at NDTV.

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