Ola eyes $1 Bn IPO, selects Kotak & Citigroup to manage it
Indian multinational ride sharing Major Ola has selected banks namely Citigroup and Kotak Mahindra Bank to handle its Mumbai initial public offering that could secure around $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The company, backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and Tiger Global Management, has also selected Morgan Stanley for the listing, states the sources aware of the matter. The Bangalore-based startup could seek a valuation of more than $8 billion in the IPO and could lodge a filing as soon as October, one of the people said.
The 11-year-old firm Ola would be joining a strong pipeline of Indian startups that are ready to tap the IPO market in the coming months. Paytm, the country’s leader in digital payments, Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant managed by Walmart, and digital education startup Byju’s are also preparing for their first-time share sales, according to reports.
Details of Ola’s IPO including size and timeline could still change as deliberations are ongoing, the people said. More banks could be added later, they said. A representative for Citi declined to comment, while representatives for Kotak Mahindra, Morgan Stanley and Ola didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ola currently associates with around 1.5 million drivers across 250 cities in India, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. The Uber Technologies' rival in July raised $500 million from investors that include Temasek Holdings Pte and an affiliate of Warburg Pincus.