Jio IPO subscribed over 5x as institutions bid big

MUMBAI: The maiden public offering for Jio Platforms, through which the company is raising Rs 30,213 crore, making it the largest such offer in India, was subscribed over five times at the close of bidding on Day 2. Institutional investors continued to lead the bidding process—that had helped the IPO to get fully subscribed within the first 100 minutes of opening on Day 1—with high-net-worth investors (HNIs) following closely, data from the bourses showed.The retail portion of the offer—that was subscribed 70% on Day 1—was also fully subscribed on Thursday, with the Day 2 closing data showing 1.5 times subscription for 8.5 crore shares that are on offer.At the close of Day 2, the total demand for Jio shares was worth about Rs 3.7 lakh crore, including the anchor portion. On Thursday, the institutional (QIB) part of the IPO, in which a little over 4.9 crore shares were offered, was subscribed nearly 13.3 times, while the HNI portion, in which about 3.6 crore shares were reserved, was subscribed six times. Usually, in most IPOs, institutional players apply on the last day of the offer.Exchange data also showed that the portion reserved for employees was subscribed over two times while the part reserved for RIL shareholders was subscribed a little over four times.In the unofficial market, speculators are betting that the company will be listing at about Rs 1,360, a mark-up (also called the grey market premium or GMP) of Rs 241 over the upper limit of the IPO price band. The current GMP is slightly lower than Rs 273, the highest level seen a day before the IPO opened, but much higher than the opening quote of Rs 148 on Oct 4, quotes from websites tracking the trend in the unofficial market for shares showed. The strong response to the IPO comes on the back of a Rs 2.5 lakh-crore anchor book that was subscribed 30 times the size, which was Rs 8,110 crore, disclosures showed.