Paytm makes history; India's largest IPO bidding ends, becomes country's one of the most valued firms

Paytm's Rs 18,300 crore IPO was oversubscribed 1.89 times on the last day of India's biggest share sale on Wednesday, making it one of the country's most valued companies.

The initial public offering of Paytm's parent company One97 Communications Ltd received bids for 9.14 crore equity shares against the offer size of 4.83 crore shares, according to information available from stock exchanges.

While the portion set aside for retail investors was oversubscribed early, institutional buyers including FIIs flooded the share sale with offers on Wednesday, seeking 2.79 times the number of shares reserved for them.

Non-institutional investors such as wealthy individuals and companies purchased about 24 per cent of the shares offered to them.

Paytm is now set for a bumper listing next week and will be one of India's most valued companies.

Its large issue size meant that the sheer value of its retail size is much larger than that seen in recent internet IPOs like that of Zomato or Nykaa, combined.

According to stock exchange data, Paytm IPO saw surplus demand rushing in as qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), domestic institutional investors and mutual funds bid on the final day of the IPO offer.

QIBs, who were less than enthusiastic in participating in the IPO in the initial two days sought 7.36 crore shares against 2.63 crore reserved for them. Of this, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sought 7.28 crore shares.

Retail investors lapped up for 1.66 times the 87 lakh shares reserved for them.

Paytm had priced its shares in a price band of Rs 2,080-2,150 per share, valuing the company at Rs 1.39 lakh crore at the upper end of the price band. This was greater than previous miner Coal India's Rs 15,000 crore a decade back.

Ant Group-backed Paytm last week closed India's largest anchor round, raising Rs 8,235 crore from 100 institutional traders, together with the federal government of Singapore, BlackRock International Funds, Canada Pension Plan Funding Board and Abu Dhabi Funding Authority.

Launched by a son of a school teacher from a small town Aligarh nearly a decade ago as a platform for cellular recharging, Paytm grew rapidly after ride-hailing agency Uber listed it as a fast cost possibility. Its use swelled in 2016 when a ban on high-value forex financial institution notes in India boosted digital funds.

Share allotment is likely to take place on November 15, and the shares are expected to be listed on November 18 when analysts see it getting a whopping USD 20 billion valuation.

Some of the largest IPOs before like Coal India's had seen the highest subscription on the final day of bidding. Coal India was only 1.71x on Day 2, but closed at 15.28x on the last day. The same trend was seen even for recent, and significantly much smaller IPOs like Nykaa and PolicyBazaar, where more than 90 per cent of the QIB bids, and also overall bids came in on Day 3.

Paytm IPO comprised a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 8,300 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of shares worth up to Rs 10,000 crore.

The OFS, or secondary share sale, consisted of the sale of shares worth up to Rs 402.65 crore by founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

The company has set aside 75 per cent of the offer for QIBs, 15 per cent for non-institutional investors, and the remaining 10 per cent for retail investors.

Incorporated in 2000, One97 Communications is India's leading digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants. It offers a range of services to the users - payment services and financial services.

Earlier, on Day 1, Paytm's IPO had secured the highest ever retail percentage subscription for IPOs with retail sizes in excess of Rs 1,000 crore over the last decade, which was subsequently oversubscribed early on Day 2.

With IPOs whose size is as large as Paytm's, subscriptions cannot be viewed in the same way as recent internet IPOs. Paytm's large issue also meant that its retail size is much larger in absolute terms of value than that seen in recent internet IPOs like that of Zomato or Nykaa.

The company has seen a huge uptick in its revenues driven by its payments and financial services offerings. The company's revenue is up by 46 per cent to Rs 948 crore in Q1FY22, from Rs 649.4 crore in Q1FY21.

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It is on the path to profitability as the company has already reported contribution margin profits. Paytm has also grown to be a financial services giant, which brings with it more opportunities. Paytm's payments and financial services alone contribute to almost 80 per cent of its revenue.