Jio Platforms replaces CEO Kiran Thomas with Pankaj Pawar ahead of IPO

New Delhi, July 13 (PTI) Jio Platforms has replaced Kiran Thomas with Pankaj Pawar as CEO ahead of its planned initial public offering, according to the company’s draft IPO documents.

Draft documents submitted to capital markets regulator Sebi in June stated that Thomas resigned as CEO on March 23 and Pawar took over the next day, on March 24.

Pawar, 53, also serves as managing director of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

“Pankaj Mohan Pawar, 53, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and also serves as managing director of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited. He has been associated with Reliance Group since 2000 and has close to three decades of experience in building and scaling large consumer and digital services businesses,” the draft IPO documents said.

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Thomas, who previously served as chairman of Reliance Industries, is not among Jio Platforms’ key executive personnel in the draft prospectus, although he has been present at every annual general meeting and every presentation of the company since the launch of RIL’s digital services arm.

There was no response from Jio to an email seeking comment.

According to draft IPO documents, RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D Ambani will sit on the board of Jio Platforms as Chairman and non-executive director.

Manoj Harjivandas Modi will be on the board as managing director of Jio Platforms and Akash Ambani will be on the board as a non-executive director. His siblings Isha and Anant will be on board as non-executive directors.

Jio Platforms aims to raise around $4 billion ( ₹37,700 crore), valuing the company at around US$137 billion.

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According to its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), Jio Platforms plans to issue up to 27 crore new shares, representing around 2.9 per cent of its equity capital post-issue.

The offer is a milestone for Reliance Industries as it aims to capture value from its telecoms-to-technology business, which has emerged as one of the group’s key growth engines since its launch in 2016.

The IPO aims to unlock the value of Jio Platforms, its businesses spanning telecommunications, digital services, enterprise solutions and emerging technology startups. Telecommunications unit Reliance Jio Infocomm is the world’s second-largest mobile operator after China’s China Mobile in terms of subscribers in a single country. Meta and Google are among the companies’ largest foreign investors.

If successful, Jio’s IPO will surpass Hyundai Motor India’s IPO ₹27,870 crore supply in 2024 will be the largest in the country’s history.

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The National Stock Exchange (NSE), the country’s largest stock exchange and the world’s most active derivatives exchange, has also filed papers to raise up to US$3.3 billion through an IPO.

Jio Platforms’ proposed IPO consists of a new equity issue with a face value of up to ₹ 27 crore. ₹10 each. The issue price will be determined through a book building process in accordance with SEBI regulations.

The company did not disclose the price range or the total size of the offering, which will depend on the final issue price and regulatory approvals.

Jio Platforms has previously attracted some of the world’s largest technology and private equity investors. The company raised more than $20 billion in 2020 from investors including Meta, Google, KKR, Silver Lake and General Atlantic in a fundraising round that valued the business at between $57 billion and $65 billion.

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