Our Bureau
Mumbai
Jio Platforms Ltd’s ₹8,110-crore anchor book has attracted bids worth more than ₹2.5 lakh crore, exceeding 30 times the shares on offer and signalling strong institutional interest ahead of its much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO). The demand marks the first time an Indian IPO’s anchor book has attracted bids of this magnitude, according to reports.
The investor pool includes leading global asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, domestic mutual funds, insurers and pension funds, highlighting broad institutional interest in the telecom and digital services company, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd.
Among the prominent global investors participating in the anchor book are BlackRock, Capital Group, Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price, Schroders, JPMorgan Asset Management, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Janus Henderson. Sovereign wealth funds and public investment institutions, including Singapore’s GIC, Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Qatar Investment Authority, have also shown interest.
Domestic participation includes major mutual fund houses such as SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund and Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund. Insurers and pension funds, including the Life Insurance Corporation of India, HDFC Life, SBI Life and HDFC Pension, are also among the investors seeking allocations.
The strong response comes ahead of the IPO opening for public subscription on October 21. The offering is expected to be one of India’s largest public issues, giving investors an opportunity to own shares in Jio Platforms as a separately listed entity.
Jio has expanded beyond mobile connectivity into broadband, cloud computing, entertainment and enterprise services. Its proposed listing is expected to provide a separate market valuation for its digital businesses, which currently operate under Reliance Industries.
The scale of anchor demand underscores investor interest in Jio’s market position and growth prospects.