A Zomato delivery worker picks up an order from a restaurant in Mumbai. Zomato's forthcoming IPO is 35-times oversubscribed, attracting bids from the likes of Blackrock and Fidelity International. Reuters.
A Zomato delivery worker picks up an order from a restaurant in Mumbai. Zomato's forthcoming IPO is 35-times oversubscribed, attracting bids from the likes of Blackrock and Fidelity International. Reuters.
A Zomato delivery worker picks up an order from a restaurant in Mumbai. Zomato's forthcoming IPO is 35-times oversubscribed, attracting bids from the likes of Blackrock and Fidelity International. Reu
Zomato, the Indian food delivery start-up backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Group, received about 35 times more bids from anchor investors than it intended to sell in its blockbuster initial public offering, according to sources.
The Gurgaon-based company received bids worth 1.5 trillion rupees ($20 billion) from large funds compared with the 42 billion rupees offered, sources said. The subscription marks one of the most popular Indian IPOs among institutional investors in recent years as Zomato starts taking orders from retail investors for the $1.3bn share sale on Wednesday.
Zomato allocated about 552 million shares to 186 anchor investors including funds managed by BlackRock and Fidelity International, as well as New World Fund and Tiger Global, according to a filing on Tuesday, which didn’t provide subscription figures. The shares were sold at 76 rupees each to the anchor investors, the top of a marketed range with a minimum price of 72 rupees. Indian funds received about a third of the anchor allotment.
The interest follows a surge in Indian stocks this year and signals confidence in the market debut of the country’s first real consumer internet offering. Zomato recently raised its IPO target by 14 per cent as demand grew in a fast-growing Indian food-services market that Sanford C. Bernstein & Company estimates will hit $97bn by 2025.
Zomato is selling about 90bn rupees worth of new shares in the IPO, while its shareholder Info Edge (India) is offering as much as 3.75bn rupees worth of stocks.
Shares of Info Edge rose 0.6 per cent as of 1.40pm in Mumbai on Wednesday, compared with a 0.2 per cent gain in the benchmark index.
At about $1.3bn, the start-up’s IPO is set to be India’s biggest since SBI Cards & Payment Services’ $1.4bn share sale in March 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That said, Zomato’s record could soon be overtaken by digital payments services provider Paytm, which is preparing for an IPO with a value of more than $2bn.
Zomato’s IPO is managed by Kotak Mahindra Capital, Morgan Stanley India, Credit Suisse, BofA Securities and Citigroup.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany - At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people - Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed - Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest - He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Essentials
The flights Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes. The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast. The tours
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.
Picture of Joumblatt and Hariri breaking bread sets Twitter alight
Mr Joumblatt’s pessimism regarding the Lebanese political situation didn’t stop him from enjoying a cheerful dinner on Tuesday with several politicians including Mr Hariri.
Caretaker Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury tweeted a picture of the group sitting around a table at a discrete fish restaurant in Beirut’s upscale Sodeco area.
Mr Joumblatt told The National that the fish served at Kelly’s Fish lounge had been very good.
“They really enjoyed their time”, remembers the restaurant owner. “Mr Hariri was taking selfies with everybody”.
Mr Hariri and Mr Joumblatt often have dinner together to discuss recent political developments.
Mr Joumblatt was a close ally of Mr Hariri’s assassinated father, former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The pair were leading figures in the political grouping against the 15-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon that ended after mass protests in 2005 in the wake of Rafik Hariri’s murder. After the younger Hariri took over his father’s mantle in 2004, the relationship with Mr Joumblatt endured.
However, the pair have not always been so close. In the run-up to the election last year, Messrs Hariri and Joumblatt went months without speaking over an argument regarding the new proportional electoral law to be used for the first time. Mr Joumblatt worried that a proportional system, which Mr Hariri backed, would see the influence of his small sect diminished.
With so much of Lebanese politics agreed in late-night meetings behind closed doors, the media and pundits put significant weight on how regularly, where and with who senior politicians meet.
In the picture, alongside Messrs Khoury and Hariri were Mr Joumbatt and his wife Nora, PSP politician Wael Abou Faour and Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon Nazih el Nagari.
The picture of the dinner led to a flurry of excitement on Twitter that it signified an imminent government formation. “God willing, white smoke will rise soon and Walid Beik [a nickname for Walid Joumblatt] will accept to give up the minister of industry”, one user replied to the tweet. “Blessings to you…We would like you to form a cabinet”, wrote another.
The next few days will be crucial in determining whether these wishes come true.
