Softbank-backed Oyo, operated by Oravel Stays Ltd, has withdrawn its preliminary IPO documents again, causing delay in its plans to list on the bourses. Meanwhile, Peak XV-backed Ixigo has received market regulator’s nod to go for a public listing.
Oyo, which had refiled its papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) last year opting for the confidential filing route, withdrew its draft red-herring prospectus on 17 May, according to its filing with SEBI.
The hotel-aggregator is in the midst of refinancing a loan it took in 2021 at a lower cost, and plans to re-file again in the coming quarter once the process is done, according to a person aware of the matter.
Oyo had borrowed $660 million in 2021, which was due in 2026. The company is now looking to raise up to $450 million at a lower rate to repay the loan. The refinancing causes material changes on its existing disclosures, which necessitates refiling.
The development comes as the firm, once valued at $10 billion, engages with private investors to raise equity funding at a reduced valuation of about $3-4 billion.
Oyo had first filed its papers with Sebi to go public in 2021, with plans to raise $1.02 billion, but later deferred it. It had cut the size of the IPO the second time it filed its papers in March 2021 to $400 million from $600 million, according to reports.
The startup was launched in 2013 and has gathered capital from multiple investors including Peak XV, LightSpeed and Greenoaks.
Ixigo
Traveltech startup Ixigo, backed by venture capital firms including Peak XV and Elevation has received Sebi’s nod for an initial public offering.
The startup re-filed its DRHP with Sebi in February this year and is looking to raise as much as Rs 120 crore via primary sale. Its investors including Peak XV, Elevation and Madison India Capital are looking to trim their stakes in the offer for sale.
Peak XV has decided to offload over a fifth of its 15.8% stake as part of the offer for sale in the proposed IPO of Ixigo’s parent Le Travenues Technology Pvt. Ltd, whereas Madison India Capital will sell over half its 0.83% stake.
Elevation Capital will divest over a fifth of its 23.4% holding in Ixigo in the revised IPO proposal. Strategic backer Micromax is also offloading a quarter of its stake. These two had made their initial bet on the company more than a decade ago.
Ixigo had originally filed its documents with Sebi in August 2021 for a Rs 1,600-crore IPO. At the time, the IPO was to make a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 750 crore and a secondary market sale of shares worth Rs 850 crore by its founders and early-stage backers. However, the bloodbath in valuations of the tech sector later that year prompted the company to put an IPO plan on the backburner.
In the revised plan, the fresh issue portion has been slashed to just Rs 120 crore. The offer for sale portion is about 66.68 million shares. Elevation intends to offload 19.4 million shares, Peak XV plans to sell 13.02 million and Madison wants to divest about 1.78 million shares. Ixigo founders Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar plan to sell 11.95 million shares each.
Ixigo recorded revenue of Rs 501 crore and a net profit of Rs 23 crore for the year ended March 2023. In the first half of FY24, the profit shot up three times due to a one-time gain arising from FreshBus ceasing to be its subsidiary and a significant deferred tax credit.
Incorporated in June 2006, Ixigo allows its users to book train, flight and bus tickets, as well as hotels and cabs. The company turned profitable for the year ended March 2021, clocking net income of Rs 7.5 crore on revenue from operations of Rs 136 crore.
Other backers of the company include Trifecta Capital and late-stage investors such as Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, Bay Partners and hedge fund Malabar Investments, who are not selling shares in the IPO. China’s Fosun had exited the company over two years ago.