Indian e-scooter maker Ather Energy files for $536 mln IPO

Indian electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy has filed for a 45 billion rupee ($536.2 million) IPO at a valuation of $2.5 billion, a source said on Monday, seeking to tap a red-hot stock market weeks after bigger rival Ola Electric went public.

Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather is India’s fourth-largest e-scooter maker by market share and is aiming to list in a booming stock market where 200 companies have raised more than $7 billion through IPOs this year, per LSEG data.

Ather Energy is selling new shares worth 31 billion rupees in the IPO, draft papers filed with the market regulator showed.

Existing investors and some top shareholders, including co-founder and CEO Tarun Sanjay Mehta, are selling shares worth 14 billion rupees, according to the source, who has direct knowledge of the matter. They did not want to be identified as the details are confidential.
Top shareholder Hero will not sell shares in the IPO.

Ather did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Ather was one of the first companies to sell e-scooters in India in 2018 but has fallen behind larger rivals Ola Electric and TVS Motor, whose discounts have driven sales.

“Ola, TVS, Bajaj, and now Hero are very aggressive in terms of expansion plans and rolling out new products,” said Amit Hiranandani, analyst at SMIFS.

Ather said it will use the IPO proceeds to establish an electric two-wheeler factory in India’s Maharashtra state, and for marketing.

Market leader Ola, which listed a month ago in a $734 million IPO, more-than-doubled from its IPO price of 76 rupees in the days after its debut before trimming some gains.

“Post Ola Electric, everyone is trying to catch the excitement in the market pertaining to electric two-wheelers,” said Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental equity research at SBI Capital Securities.

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Adoption of EVs is still low in India, but is on the rise as the government promotes clean energy.

Ather Energy’s loss widened for at least the second consecutive year in fiscal 2024 to 10.6 billion rupees from 8.64 billion rupees a year earlier, as per its prospectus.
($1 = 83.9290 Indian rupees)