Ola Cabs Considering A Potential IPO, Meeting Investment Banks: Report

Ola Cabs also closed its international operations recently in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, stating that it will focus more on the Indian market

Ola Cabs’ parent company, ANI Technologies, reportedly began discussions regarding a potential listing for the ride hailing firm. The parent entity is holding preliminary talks with investment banks in the week for a possible initial public offer (IPO) for its ride aggregator business, media reports said. 

The preliminary discussions were reported by Moneycontrol citing sources in the know. The report quoted one of the sources and said, “Ola Cabs held early stage discussions with a few global and domestic investment banks on April 19 in Bangalore. More meetings with other banks may happen later.”

The source noted that nothing has been finalised regarding the listing and the plans are open to change depending on the market conditions. Notably, the news about an IPO for Ola Cabs comes after sister entity, Ola Electric, filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in December 2023. The firm said it plans to raise about Rs 7,250 crore via the maiden issue, which will mark the first public listing by an Indian electric vehicle (EV) firm. 

Ola Cabs was founded in 2010 and received support from Softbank and Tiger Global. The meeting between the firm and the investment bankers was confirmed in the report by more than one source. “Both Ola Electric and Ola Cabs are different businesses and both are IPOable. These are early days and if they decide to take the plunge, they will finalize a syndicate of advisors and proceed,” the report noted. 

The Ola Electric IPO is being handled by Kotak Mahindra Capital, BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs, Axis Capital, ICICI Securities, SBI Caps, and BoB Caps. 

Ola Cabs also closed its international operations recently in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, stating that it will focus more on the Indian market.