Jio Platforms’ ₹8,110-crore anchor book has reportedly attracted bids worth nearly ₹2.5 lakh crore, translating into demand of more than 30 times the amount on offer. The strong institutional response comes ahead of the company’s ₹30,213-crore initial public offering (IPO), which opens for subscription on October 21.
The investor pool spans global asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, domestic mutual funds, insurers and pension funds, reflecting the breadth of institutional interest in Reliance Industries’ telecom and digital services arm, according to media reports.
Among the international investors are some of the world’s largest fund managers, including BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price, Schroders, JPMorgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Janus Henderson, Moneycontrol reported.
Domestic fund houses have also shown strong interest, with all of India’s top 10 mutual fund houses reportedly participating in the demand. These include SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund and Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund.
The interest extends beyond asset managers. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), HDFC Life, SBI Life, SBI Pension, HDFC Pension and ICICI Prudential are among the insurers and pension funds in the investor pool, according to the report.
Jio Platforms IPO GMP rises to ₹251
The IPO of Jio Platforms, the digital services arm of Reliance Industries, will open for subscription on October 21, with the company’s shares scheduled to list on the BSE and NSE on October 28. The company has fixed the price band at ₹1,065-₹1,119 per share, valuing it at around ₹10.3 lakh crore.
The issue has also generated interest in the grey market ahead of its opening. The grey market premium (GMP) for the Jio Platforms IPO has risen to ₹251, implying a premium of nearly 22.43% over the upper end of the price band of ₹1,119 per share, according to InvestorGain data. Grey market premiums are unofficial indicators of investor sentiment and do not guarantee listing gains.
Jio Platforms plans to use around ₹27,500 crore of the IPO proceeds to repay or prepay, in full or in part, outstanding borrowings of its telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL). The remaining proceeds will be allocated to general corporate purposes, subject to a cap of 25% of the gross issue proceeds, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP).
The company expects the proposed debt repayment to reduce its net debt and associated servicing costs, improve its net leverage and strengthen its overall financial position.