BlackRock, GIC among investors chasing Indian telecom major Jio's IPO as anchor bids top $26 billion — SkimNews
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- Jio Platforms' IPO anchor book was oversubscribed more than 30 times, drawing total bids of 2.5 trillion rupees ($26.3 billion) against the 81.1 billion rupee anchor portion.
- Reliance Industries'-owned Jio plans to raise up to 302 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) in what would be India's largest-ever IPO in rupee terms, with public bidding running Wednesday through Friday.
- Jio finalized allocation of 72.47 million equity shares to anchor investors at 1,119 rupees per share — the upper end of the price band.
- Anchor investors allocated shares include BlackRock, Capital Group, GIC, LIC, Fidelity Investments, JPMorgan Asset Management, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
- The IPO values Jio at approximately $108 billion — a notable markdown from the $130 billion-plus valuations floated roughly a year ago.
- Jio Platforms, backed by Meta and Google, is positioning itself as a tech company rather than a traditional telecom utility provider.
Why it matters: The 30x oversubscription from top-tier global asset managers underscores sustained institutional appetite for Indian digital infrastructure, but the $108 billion valuation is a clear concession from the $130 billion-plus mark floated a year ago, signaling that even blockbuster interest couldn't restore peak private-market pricing. The pricing sets a benchmark for how Reliance frames Jio as a tech platform — backed by Meta and Google — and tests foreign conviction in India's largest telecom operator at scale.
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