Paytm files draft prospectus for a $2.2 billion IPO

• About ₹8,300 crore will be through fresh issues and the remaining 50% would be secondary issues.
• Paytm may also consider a pre-IPO placement, which will reduce the fresh issue size.
• This will be India’s biggest IPO so far, surpassing Coal India that raised ₹15,000 crore via IPO in 2010.

Digital payments firm Paytm has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), for its ₹16,600 crore ($2.2 billion) initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for this year.

About ₹8,300 crore ($1.1 Bn) will be through a fresh issue and the remaining 50% would be secondary issues (offer for sale) to offer exit to existing investors. The price band for Paytm IPO will be determined either at the time of filing at the time of filing the red herring prospectus (RHP) or prior to the IPO opening for subscription.

This will be India’s biggest IPO so far, surpassing Coal India’s, which raised ₹15,000 crore in October 2010.

Paytm may also consider a pre-IPO placement. “If the pre-IPO placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced to the extent of such pre-IPO placement,” the digital payments giant has said in its DRHP filing.

The company has appointed Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, ICICI Securities, JP Morgan, Citigroup and Axis Capital as the book running manager for this IPO. Link Intime India Private will be the registrar to Paytm IPO.

The development comes only a day after Paytm’s shareholders approved the company’s plans to raise ₹12,000 crore through fresh issue of shares. The shareholders have also allowed Paytm’s chief executive (CEO) Vijay Shekhar Sharma to be declassified as a promoter as he does not own the requisite 20 percent stake in the firm.

Sharma, who founded One97 Communications in 2001, has 14.61% stake in the company. He will continue to be the chairperson, managing director and CEO of this digital payments venture.

Paytm is one of the biggest digital payments companies in India with offerings across several digital modes of payments like unified payments interface (UPI), credit and debit cards payments. It also offers wealth management solutions through Paytm Money and banking services through Paytm Payments Banks.

The company is currently valued at $16 billion, after raising $1 billion in November 2019 from T Rowe Price, Ant Group and Softbank Vision Fund. According to several media reports, Paytm is expected to be valued somewhere between $25 billion to $30 billion post issue.

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