BlackRock, ADIA, Norges seek anchor slots in Jio’s $3.2 bn IPO
Global investors and sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, GIC Pte. Ltd, Norges Bank Investment Management, and Mubadala Investment Co., are seeking allocations in the anchor book of Jio Platforms Ltd’s public offering, alongside asset managers BlackRock Inc. and FMR LLC, according to four people familiar with the matter.
About 15 domestic asset managers, including HDFC Mutual Fund, SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Nippon Life India Asset Management, and Motilal Oswal Asset Management, have also submitted indications of interest for a share of Jio's ₹8,000 crore anchor book, the people said on condition of anonymity.
The asset management arms of Goldman Sachs and Franklin Templeton are also vying for a slice of the pie, the people said.
Representatives of Jio's parent company, Reliance Industries Ltd, as well as the institutional investors and fund managers, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The mega IPO
The telecom giant's parent filed its red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India on Wednesday for an initial public offering (IPO) that will raise around ₹ 30,200 crore, or about $3.2 billion, at the upper end of the 1,069-1,119 price band announced per share.
The anchor allocation window, which precedes the public subscription period, allows institutional entities to secure share allotments before the main issue opens.
Under capital market regulator rules, up to 60% of the portion reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) can be allocated to anchor investors. Half of the anchor portion is reserved for domestic mutual funds.
Final share allocations for the anchor book are scheduled to be finalized ahead of the opening of the retail and non-institutional bidding windows.
Jio operates digital services and telecommunications infrastructure across India.
Existing equity holders in Jio Platforms include Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, KKR & Co., Silver Lake and General Atlantic.