SoftBank-backed Ola Electric's IPO will open for retail subscription on August 2, the electric scooter maker said on Saturday, July 27, a stock offering that will value the company between $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion. According to news agency Reuters, the public issue, which will open for institutional investors a day earlier on Thursday, will close for retail subscriptions on August 6.
Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal will offload 37.9 million shares in the IPO, around 20 per cent lower than estimated in the draft IPO prospectus. Ola's expected valuation is about 18.5 per cent to 22 per cent lower than in its last funding round in September, which was led by Singapore's investment firm Temasek and valued the country's largest e-scooter maker at $5.4 billion.
‘’Some marquee investors are being offered the IPO at the lower end of the $4.2 billion-$4.4 billion valuation,'' sources told Reuters. Ola is planning the IPO at a lower valuation to ensure higher participation from investors bidding for the IPO shares.
Ola Electric's IPO, a first for an Indian electric vehicle (EV) maker, is also one of India's biggest in a year where the country's equities markets have scaled multiple record highs and also overtaken Hong Kong to become the world's fourth-largest bourse. Ola Electric's fresh share issue size of ₹55 billion for the IPO was left unchanged.
Ola Electric competes with other market operators like TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto, and Ather Energy. The company aims to use the money raised from the public issue for company capex, debt repayment, and research and development (R&D).
Mint reported earlier that Ola Electric's market share was 50 per cent in the first quarter of the financial year 2024-25. According to the current capacity figures, the company can assemble up to one million vehicles. According to the report, Ola Electric can also combine motors, batteries, and electronic EV components vertically.
