India-based payments platform Paytm has allocated a total of Rs 82.35m ($1.1bn) in shares to anchor investors for its upcoming initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing filed on Wednesday.
The allocation already amounts to almost half of the $2.45bn Paytm is targeting in the IPO. Selling corporate shareholders will include conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, e-commerce group Alibaba and its financial services affiliate Ant Group, while internet and telecommunications group SoftBank is also an existing backer.
Institutional investors that subscribed to the offering include Blackrock and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board – with respective investments of $140m and $126m – as well as Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, GIC, APG, NPS Japan, University of Texas, City of New York, University of Cambridge, UBS and Standard Life Aberdeen.
Founded in 2010, Paytm allows users to carry out banking transactions and provides an array of financial services through a mobile app. It has said it will use IPO proceeds to develop new business ideas and carry out strategic acquisitions.
Paytm had secured $1bn in a November 2019 series G round featuring SoftBank, Alibaba, T Rowe Price and Discovery Capital Management at a $16bn valuation, increasing its funding to over $3.3bn.
Alibaba bought a 4.3% stake in the company from Reliance Capital, Sapphire Ventures and Saama Capital for $250m in early 2017, two months before SoftBank increased its own stake to 20% with a $1.4bn investment.
