Pine Labs to file draft documents for IPO by mid-February

Amrish Rau, CEO, Pine Labs

Work is on fast track at Pine Labs as the fintech company plans to file documents for an initial public offering (IPO) by the middle of February, sources have told Moneycontrol.

With formalities for shifting base to India from Singapore completed, the company wants to tap the Indian capital market at the earliest, sources said. The aim is to go public by August, bankers said.

An email sent to Pine Labs, which offers online and offline gateway (point of sales terminals) services to e-commerce and retail merchants besides gifting and credit, seeking its comments remained unanswered.

Axis Capital, Citi, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies and JPMorgan have been appointed bankers to the IPO.

Registered as a Singapore entity, the company had to move the domicile, to list in India. The process, known as reverse flipping, concluded a few weeks back, paving the way for the IPO.

Touted to be one of the largest IPOs in the payments space after Paytm’s $20 billion listing in 2021, Pine Labs is yet to firm up its valuation, the sources said.

The company may not seek an exorbitant premium compared to its last funding round, which valued the company at $5 billion, bankers said.

In April, Baron Funds rerated Pine Labs’ valuation to $5.8 billion, while Invesco pegged it at $4.8 billion.

“Once the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filing is done, the company will start its road shows, and this should help in the process of value discovery.  The objective is to leave money for investors on the table,” said a banker who did not want to be named.

The valuation may eventually be around $6–8 billion (Rs 50,000–70,000 crore), making it a $1.2–1.5 billion IPO.

Pine Labs is backed by a clutch of private equity investors, venture capital and foreign funds including Peak XV, Paypal Ventures, Alpha Wave Global, Temasek and MasterCard.

Existing investors may offload about 20 percent of the company, sources said.

Pine Labs may use the offer to raise some primary capital as well. “The IPO shouldn’t be seen as just an exit route for the investors is the briefing given to bankers,” another source said.

According to Tracxn, Pine Labs has raised about $1.32 billion since 2009 over 14 rounds.