Is OYO planning to withdraw its IPO paper? Hospitality firm clarifies

Ritesh Agarwal-led Oravel Stays Ltd, the company which operates brand OYO, has ruled out discussions pertaining to withdrawal of IPO papers from the Securities Exchange Board of India.

According to the Economic Times report, Oravel Stays Ltd has also been discussing with private market investors to raise more funds in the next six-eight months.

In 2023, the market regulator had returned the IPO filing by OYO, requiring the Softbank-backed firm to refile its draft red herring prospectus with updates and revisions.

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OYO later on made a confidential pre-filing with SEBI for a small sized IPO. The company was asked to refile applications with a smaller secondary share sale portion than initially planned.

SoftBank owns 46% in the company, Ritesh Agarwal has a 33% stake. Lightspeed and Peak XV Partners are among its other investors.

Strategic advisor Rajnish Kumar quits

Former SBI chairperson Rajnish Kumar, who was serving as the strategic advisor to the company, has left the company after his contract ended last December, ET reported. Kumar had joined the company in December 2021. He is the chairman of the board at BharatPe and also a member of the advisory council of crisis-hit edtech firm Byju’s.

Recently, Ritesh Agarwal told his employees that th company doubled its profit after tax in third quarter to ₹30 crore. The company hadits maiden profitable quarter in Q2 FY24 with a PAT of ₹16 crore.

“In the upcoming quarters, we anticipate a consistent rise in PAT, driven by enhanced patron confidence, improved customer experience , and favourable market conditions conducive to sustained growth,” Agarwal was quoted by PTI as saying.

Agarwal also informed the staff that the company clocked adjusted EBITDA of ₹750 crore in FY23 and expects to clock adjusted EBITDA of ₹1,000 crore in FY24, surpassing its earlier projection of ₹800 crore for FY24.

(With PTI inputs)