OYO to refile draft IPO papers with updates to Sebi by mid-February

The parent company of travel-tech firm OYO, Oravel Stays Ltd, on Wednesday, said it would refile its public listing application — Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) — with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) by the middle of February 2023. Oravel Stays’ statement comes almost two weeks after the markets regulator asked the company to refile the draft initial public offering (IPO) papers with certain updates.

In September 2021, OYO filed preliminary documents with Sebi for an Rs 8,430 crore IPO. The launching of the IPO was delayed due to the then volatile market conditions making the company prepare to settle for a lower valuation of $7-8 billion instead of the $11 billion it was targeting initially.

“We are working on updating all key sections simultaneously. Responsibilities have been divided among different teams, with senior company leaders driving the collaboration with the Book Running Lead Managers, essentially the IPO bankers, the lawyers and the auditors. We are keen on refiling the DRHP by the middle of February, if not earlier,” an official OYO spokesperson said on Wednesday while sharing the progress on the IPO refiling exercise.

However, the company refused to offer any estimation of the time it expects Sebi to take for approval once the DRHP is filed. A source close to the matter opined that the company hopes to get the approval by April 2023.

The company had earlier indicated that refiling the comprehensive document could take two to three months. OYO’s last submission to Sebi was the updated financial results for the first half of FY23. The regulator subsequently asked OYO to refile the DRHP, updating all the relevant sections such as Risk Factors, KPIs, Outstanding Litigations, Basis for Offer, etc.

Sebi, in its letter to OYO, has mentioned, “The disclosures contained in present DRHP do not take into account the material changes/disclosures arising from Updated financial statements as filed through addendums leading to a revised period for disclosures which in turn leads to necessities to make material updates in Risk Factors, Basis of Offer Price, Outstanding Litigations and update other relevant sections of DRHP.”

Sebi has been asking companies to share additional KPIs and the basis for the pricing of IPOs. In its meeting with bankers in December 2022, the Sebi also shared steps it was taking to reduce the IPO processing time, which has increased to 113 days.