Ola Elec on road to IPO, touts cell tech
Eastspring, Pictet may sign up as anchor investors in IPO
Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Electric is close to signing up anchor investors for its initial public offering (IPO), the first in India’s electric vehicle space, two people aware of the development said. The maker of S1 series of e-scooters has pitched its state-of-the-art battery technology under development as its USP in road shows, the people said.
Singapore-based Eastspring, a subsidiary of Prudential Plc, and UK-based Pictet are among investors that have shown interest to be anchor investors, the people cited above said requesting anonymity.
Ola Electric, which dominates India’s electric two-wheeler space with more than 40% share in March, expects its battery arm Ola Cell Technologies to help reduce costs and increase profitability. According to the people cited above, Ola Electric has told prospective investors that its cell division is developing advanced batteries with the ‘4680’ form factor, adopted by battery tech pioneers such as Tesla and Panasonic. This hard-to-make form factor, adopted by Tesla in 2020, ena
bles longer ranges, quicker charging, and better overall performance.
Ola Electric, Pictet and Eastpark did not respond to Mint’s emailed queries.
In its share sale papers, Ola Electric had said it will use some of the IPO proceeds to expand the capacity of its cell factory from 5 GWh to 6.4 GWh. “We are constructing the Ola
Gigafactory for cell manufacturing in Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu, India. Phase 1(a) of the Ola Gigafactory is expected to be operational by March 31, 2024, at which time it will have a production capacity of 1.4 GWh. We expect to complete Phase 1(b) and expand the production
Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd donated ₹542 crore to AITC and ₹503 crore to DMK.
While the BJP is in power at the Centre, AITC and DMK lead governments in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu respectively.
Megha Engineering, the second biggest donor to political parties through electoral bonds, has bagged several infrastructure projects, including the ambitious Zojila tunnel linking Srinagar and Leh. The company also donated to other parties, but the amounts were small. Coimbatore-headquartered lottery services firm Future Gaming, which is the top donor, donated only 7.3% of its total payouts to the BJP and 3.7% to the Indian National
Congress.
Overall, 11 of these 22 companies donated more to the BJP than any other party. The BJP, which has strengthened its political position in the past decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, received nearly half of the total donations of ₹12,155.5 crore.
Qwik Supply Chain Pvt. Ltd donated the fourth biggest amount of ₹375 crore to the BJP. Vedanta Ltd emerged as the biggest donor for Congress with ₹125 crore. Even though the electoral bond scheme was launched in early 2018, data is for the bonds purchased on or after 12 April 2019.
The Supreme Court’s crucial judgement last month declaring the electoral bond scheme as unconstitutional opened the lid on details kept away from the public eye so far. The first dataset on donors and political parties was released on 14 March in two separate lists, but unique bond numbers that establish the link between donors and political parties were not disclosed then. The Supreme Court criticized State Bank of India for not disclosing all details, and asked it to do so by Thursday.