Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) might go for public listing of Jio Financial Services as soon as October, said a report on Friday.
Mukesh Ambani-led RIL is in talks with regulators to secure the necessary approvals for the market debut of its digital financial services unit, reported Bloomberg.
Reliance Industries Ltd. is planning to list its as soon as October, according to people familiar with the matter.
RIL is holding a meeting of shareholders and creditors on May 2 to vote on the plan to spin off and list the unit, according to an exchange filing in March.
It has tapped Hitesh Sethia, a top executive from McLaren Strategic Ventures, as the unit’s chief executive officer, Bloomberg reported last month.
“Jio Financial will be a technology-led business, delivering financial products digitally by leveraging the nationwide omni-channel presence of Reliance’s consumer businesses,” Ambani said in a statement last year while announcing the spinoff.
Each Reliance shareholder will receive one share of Jio Financial in the listing for every share they own.
Nomura India, in its latest note on Reliance Industries (RIL), said that the demerger of Jio Financial Services would help the financial services business of the oil-to-telecom major to attract different sets of investors, strategic partners and lenders having a specific interests in the financial services business. As a separate entity, Jio Financial Services would be able to have higher leverage in-line with industry standards, it said, adding that Jio Financial Services can drive value unlocking as it scales up, given higher multiples for peers in these industries.
The brokerage expects the company to lay down a strong roadmap for growth in the financials sector in the coming annual general meeting (AGM).
While significant efforts are needed to scale the financials business, given RIL’s robust execution, capacity to invest, industry leading retail infrastructure and leading market share across the retail and telecom industry, it appears likely that Reliance Industries will dominate the industry, Nomura said.
Nomura said RIL has progressed further in the process of demerging its financial services business by conveying a meeting of its secured and unsecured creditors and shareholders on May 2 and that it expects the demerger and listing of Jio Financial Services to conclude in the coming months.
It noted that the implementation of the proposed scheme is subject to approval from the National Company Law Tribunal, Reserve Bank of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and other regulatory authorities.