Synopsis
India’s Oyo Hotels is speeding up plans for an initial public offering, as an important year-end debt repayment deadline approaches.
Creditors, including Mizuho Financial Group Inc., insist that founder Ritesh Agarwal pay off the dues for $383 million he borrowed — part of a multibillion-dollar loan package — if the startup doesn’t have an IPO by October, people familiar with the matter said.
Lenders want clear visibility on Agarwal’s liquidity and will potentially allow him to delay the repayment until 2027 only if Oyo lists this year, they said, asking not to be named as the matter is private.
Agarwal, 31, borrowed $2.2 billion in 2019, with a guarantee from backer SoftBank Group Corp.’s boss Masayoshi Son, to increase his stake in Oyo and gain more strategic control over a company he built in his teens. That loan was restructured in 2022, and Agarwal is yet to pay back its.
Oyo, once one of SoftBank’s most prominent investees, has explored a stock-market debut for years — until Covid-19 wiped out once-stellar growth. The startup has now begun discussions with bankers for an IPO valuing the firm at as much as $5 billion, the people said. SoftBank is its largest shareholder with a stake of more than 40%. Agarwal, whose previous plans to list Oyo floundered, owns more than 30%.
