Paytm gets shareholders approval to raise Rs 12,000 crore ahead of IPO

Paytm’s IPO is expected to be one of the largest in the Indian stock markets and the company is in the process of filing its Draft Red Herring Prospectus for the same

Paytm, on Monday, cleared another hurdle on its way to becoming a public company with its shareholders allowing the fintech company to raise Rs 12,000 crore through a fresh issue of shares at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM). The company’s initial public offering(IPO) will also include an offer for sale, wherein the existing investors would sell their shares, taking the value of the issue to Rs 16,000 crore.

Among other decisions, Paytm’s founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma has been allowed to be declassified as the company’s promoter, as he doesn’t own the requisite 20% of shares in Paytm. The moves paves way for the fintech firm to become a professionally managed company(PMC). According to market regulator SEBI’s rules, no single entity must possess a stake higher than 25% in a PMC. However, Sharma will remain the company’s Chairman, CEO, and MD.

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Currently, some of Paytm’s biggest shareholders are-

  1. Alibaba and Ant Group(38%)
  2. SoftBank(18.73%)
  3. Elevation Capital(17.65%)
  4. Vijay Shekhar Sharma(14.61%)

Paytm’s IPO is expected to be one of the largest in the Indian stock markets and the company is in the process of filing its Draft Red herring Prospectus for the same. At the EGM, shareholders also gave their nod to the changes proposed in the Employee Stock Options Plan(ESOP) and the articles of association.

Meanwhile, Paytm has remained in limelight over the past few days due to several high-profile exits from the company ahead of its IPO. The company’s president Amit Nayyar, chief human resources (HR) officer Rohit Thakur and three vice presidents are understood to have tendered their resignation.