Mutual Funds Step Up Participation in Jio Platforms IPO as Institutional Demand Builds

Key Takeaways

• Domestic mutual funds received 2.49 crore Jio Platforms shares worth ₹2,784.96 crore in the anchor allocation through 95 schemes across 25 fund houses.
• Mutual funds accounted for 34.34% of Jio Platforms’ ₹8,109.85 crore anchor book.
• A fresh October 22 subscription update reported additional mutual fund bids for 3.19 crore shares within the qualified institutional buyer category.

Domestic mutual funds have emerged as an important institutional participant in the Jio Platforms initial public offering, first through the anchor book and subsequently through bidding in the qualified institutional buyer portion of the issue.

Jio Platforms allotted about 7.25 crore shares to anchor investors at ₹1,119 per share ahead of the public offer. Of this, 2.49 crore shares worth approximately ₹2,784.96 crore went to domestic mutual funds through 95 schemes belonging to 25 fund houses. That represented 34.34% of the total anchor allocation.

The anchor participation included several of India's largest fund houses. SBI Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Nippon India Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund and Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund were among the domestic institutions receiving allocations.

SBI Focused Fund received one of the largest individual mutual fund allocations, at about ₹315 crore. HDFC Flexi Cap Fund received shares worth roughly ₹132.43 crore, while HDFC Large Cap Fund received an allocation of about ₹126.33 crore.

Institutional participation continued after the IPO opened for public subscription. An October 22 Moneycontrol update reported that mutual funds had placed bids for 3.19 crore shares within the QIB portion. The same update reported bids for 44.22 crore shares against 4.90 crore shares available to qualified institutional buyers at the point covered by the report.

The broader IPO is a fresh issue of up to 27 crore shares with a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 per share. The offer opened on October 21 and is scheduled to close on October 23.

The scale of mutual fund participation is noteworthy because it spans both the pre-IPO anchor allocation and the institutional book once bidding opened. It also means exposure to Jio Platforms will be distributed across a wide range of domestic mutual fund portfolios rather than concentrated in only a few schemes