Paytm sets IPO price band at ₹2,080- ₹2,150

One97 Communications Ltd, which operates Paytm, has set a price band of ₹2,080 to ₹2,150 for its initial public offering (IPO), at a valuation of $20 billion, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

Almost 75% of the issue worth ₹13,725 crore is reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), with 10% of the issue worth ₹1,830 crore reserved for retail buyers, the BSE filing showed.

The IPO will open on 8 November and is expected to close on 10 November, Mint reported earlier on Thursday.

One97 Communications Ltd, has effectively increased its public issue size from ₹16,600 crore earlier to ₹18,300 crore, in what could be one of the biggest IPOs on the Indian bourses.

Paytm is now expected to increase the secondary share sale from existing investors to ₹10,000 crore as a part of the increased IPO size. The primary portion of the fresh share issue will remain unchanged at ₹8,300 crore, Mint reported on 27 October.

Roughly half of the offer for sale by existing shareholders will be by Paytm’s biggest investor Ant Financial, which owns 29.6% of the company. “While the company could have gone for a higher band, it chose the current price band. Accordingly, the company might look at a valuation of $20 billion,” said one person aware of the company’s plans requesting anonymity.

The company plans to use ₹4,300 crore of the fresh issue to grow its business lines and acquire new merchants and customers, according to its draft share sale documents.

Investment banks, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, Citigroup, and ICICI Securities, are managing the share sale. The Securities and Exchange Board of India cleared the Noida-based digital payments company’s IPO, last week.

The 11-year-old Paytm, led by founder and chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma, has expanded beyond digital payments into newer categories of lending, gaming, wealth management, financial services, and digital commerce.