Fintech firm Paytm signs up over 100 institutional investors for IPO

Ant Group-backed fintech firm Paytm said it has allocated shares worth 82.35 billion rupees ($1.11 billion) to more than 100 institutional investors, including the government of Singapore, ahead of what is expected to be India's largest stock market listing.

Paytm's offer of up to 183 billion rupees, which was increased last month from 166 billion rupees, garnered interest from 122 institutional investors who bought more than 38.3 million shares for 2,150 rupees apiece, according to a regulatory document dated Nov. 3.

BlackRock Global Funds, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority were among the investors.

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 bank notes in India boosted digital payments.

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

The company's offering will open on Monday and top investor Ant Financial, with a 27.9% stake in Paytm, plans to sell shares worth 47.04 billion rupees.

Several companies including Paytm have tapped capital markets this year in a fund-raising frenzy on the back of record highs hit by the Indian stock market, which has outperformed Asian peers so far this year.

In India, 157 companies including TPG-backed Nykaa, Oyo Hotels and Rooms and online insurance aggregator Policybazaar have raised $17.22 billion via IPOs this year as of Oct. 31, compared with $8.54 billion raised by 49 companies in the same period last year, according to Refinitiv data.

Paytm's IPO is likely to be the biggest in the country's corporate history, breaking a record held by Coal India Ltd, which raised 150 billion rupees more than a decade earlier.

($1 = 74.3250 Indian rupees)

 

(Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)