Paytm shareholders approve country's biggest public offer plan of Rs 16,600 crore

New Delhi: Digital payments and financial services firm Paytm on Monday received approval of shareholders for the country’s biggest public offer of Rs 16,600 crore, according to a source aware of the EGM outcome. The shareholders have approved raising of Rs 12,000 crore during the initial public offer and sale of secondary shares will take the total amount to Rs 16,600 crore.

“Shareholders have approved all the proposals at the extraordinary general meeting. The shareholders have approved the proposal to raise capital and the fresh issue of shares of up to Rs 12,000 crore during the IPO. The secondary raise will bring the total to Rs 16,600 crore,” the source said. An email query sent to Paytm did not elicit any reply.

The shareholders at the EGM approved the proposal that Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma would not be identified as the ‘promoter’ of the company but will continue to be the chairman, managing director and chief executive officer of the company.

“As per Sebi rules, Paytm is a professionally managed company. No shareholder can have ‘special rights’. That is just how listed companies need to be in India,” the source said.

Till date Coal India had come up with the biggest IPO issue of around Rs 15,500 crore which was listed in the last quarter of 2010.

According to the source, the valuation of the firm is likely to be in the range of Rs 1.78 lakh crore to Rs 2.2 lakh crore. With this valuation range, Paytm is expected to be among top 10 listed financial services in the country.

Paytm shareholders include Alibaba’s Ant Group (29.71%), Softbank Vision Fund (19.63%), SAIF Partners (18.56%) and Vijay Shekhar Sharma (14.67%). AGH Holding, T Rowe Price, Discovery Capital and Berkshire Hathaway are other shareholders in the company. The company is expected to file documents for the IPO this week.