TL;DRJio Platforms filed for a $3.8B IPO that would be India’s largest ever, with $2.9B earmarked to repay its telecom unit’s foreign currency debt.
Jio Platforms, the digital and telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, filed its draft red herring prospectus with India’s securities regulator on Friday for what would be the country’s largest initial public offering. The filing covers a fresh issue of up to 270 million shares, with no offer-for-sale component, meaning every rupee raised flows directly into the company’s balance sheet.
The IPO is expected to raise approximately $3.8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. That would surpass Hyundai Motor India’s $3.3 billion listing in October 2024, currently the record for an Indian maiden offering.
The DRHP specifies that 275 billion rupees ($2.9 billion) of the net proceeds will go toward prepaying external commercial borrowings held by Reliance Jio Infocomm, its telecom subsidiary. The remaining funds are earmarked for general corporate purposes.
The borrowings in question consist of three loan facilities denominated in dollars and yen, totaling 300.6 billion rupees. Lenders include Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, and Citibank. All three facilities are scheduled for repayment between March and June 2028, but Jio Platforms intends to prepay them in full or in part from the IPO proceeds.
