Ambani's US$3.2 billion Jio Indian IPO lures investors as bids surge on final day
Jio Platforms', India's largest ever, is being closely watched as a test of investor appetite for large listings at a time when AI-linked stocks are facing increased scrutiny.
Jio Platforms', India's largest ever, is being closely watched as a test of investor appetite for large listings at a time when AI-linked stocks are facing increased scrutiny.
Jio's IPO, India's largest ever, is being closely watched as a test of investor appetite for large listings at a time when AI-linked stocks are facing increased scrutiny. The company, whose mobile network serves more than 500 million users, is launching its IPO during the auspicious Hindu festive season.
Anchor investors like the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BlackRock and Fidelity also bid for their exclusively reserved quota on Monday. Their reserved US$854 million worth of shares received bids of over US$25 billion.
The IPO values Jio Platforms at up to US$108.3 billion, potentially making it one of India's biggest companies by market capitalisation when trading starts on Oct 28. It counts Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google among its investors, and is led by Ambani's eldest son, Akash Ambani.
That contrasts with most Indian IPOs, where books typically build gradually and institutional investors often wait until the final hours to place bids.
Jio is part of Ambani's Reliance Industries, a company often seen by Indian investors as a long-term wealth generator. Reliance shares have returned around 900 per cent since 2006, beating the benchmark Nifty index's 685 per cent return, LSEG data shows.
Jio's telecoms business was launched in 2016 and disrupted the market by offering free voice and data, hitting rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea. Today, on the basis of customers in a single country, Jio's 500 million-plus users are second only to China Mobile's.
Reliance was founded by Akash's grandfather Dhirubhai Ambani, who died in 2002 after building the company's brand image with shareholders via large-scale meetings in Mumbai’s open grounds in the 1980s. On its website, it says the 1977 listing of the company created history by "ushering the equity cult in India".
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