AGENCIES
India’s Digital payments giant Paytm has taken a step closer to its initial public offering (IPO) as it sought shareholders’ approval to sell new shares worth ₹12,000 crore in its IPO
A notice sent to shareholders on Friday said the share sale proposal and others will be put to vote at an extraordinary general meeting on 12 July. Paytm’s parent One97 Communications Ltd, India’s second most-valued startup worth $16 billion, is expected to launch its IPO in late November.
“The company proposes to create, offer, issue and allot fresh equity shares of the company of face value of ₹1 each of the company (the “equity shares”) up to an aggregate of ₹12,000 crore […] The proposed offering is likely to include a fresh issue of the equity shares by the company and an offer for sale by certain, existing shareholders of the company,” the notice said.
On 14 June, Paytm’s board cleared the new share sale plans, and named JPMorgan Chase and Co., Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and ICICI Securities Ltd as bankers or lead book running managers to the IPO.
The notice also proposed removing founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s ‘promoter’ status, complying with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rules requiring promoters of listed firms to have at least 20% of post-issue capital. Currently, Sharma holds 9,051,624 equity shares of One97 Communications, amounting to 14.61% of its total paid-up equity share capital. Sharma will continue as managing director.