Paytm IPO Latest Update : Officials, staff invited to sell off their shares

Mumbai: In its first official communications of its plans to list, Paytm has written to employees stating that it’s parent company One97 Communications has received an in-principal approval from its board to float an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The mail said that the IPO would comprise a fresh issue and/or an offer for sale of shares. It has offered employees an option to sell their holdings in the issue.

In what might be an indication of the time frame, the mail asks employees to transfer the shares that they propose to sell in an escrow account by June 22 this year. The company has said that it may, prior to the issue, undertake a sub-division of its authorized share capital before filing the draft prospectus.

BY JUNE 22

The mail added that the size of the offer for sale  component is subject to the final approval of the board. If the size of the issue is not to accommodate all the shares offered by the employees, the shares will be accepted on a pro-rata basis.

There has been speculation over the size of Paytm’s IPO in the media. Reports have placed the size of the offerings at $3 billion, or around Rs 22,000 crore, which would make it the largest IPO so far in the Indian history. One97 Communication has transferred almost its entire payment business to Paytm Payments Bank, which received an RBI license in 2015. The bank was launched with One97 holding 39%, promoter Vijay Shekhar Sharma holding 51% and 10% held by a One97 subsidiary.

Paytm Payments Bank has since made an application to covert itself into a small finance bank which enable it to transform into a new age bank.