BENGALURU, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Jio Financial Services (JFS) (JIOF.NS), the financial arm of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), is set to be listed on the stock exchanges on Aug. 21, according to an exchange circular on Friday.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance had last month spun off JFS, with stock price set at a much higher-than-expected 261.85 rupees valuing it at around $20 billion in a special trading session.
The much-anticipated listing date came when index managers were concerned about the delay. FTSE Russell on Thursday decided to remove JFS from some of its indexes from Aug. 22, saying that the stock has not commenced trading yet.
JFS is part of major Indian indexes, including the benchmark Nifty 50 (.NSEI) and some global indexes after its demerger from Reliance Industries, but it cannot be traded until listed.
As per recent exchange rules, the stock will be removed from indexes at the end of its third day of listing.
Some analysts expect JFS to debut at a premium.
“There are many passive exchange traded funds which have exposure to Nifty and Sensex,” said Narendra Solanki, head of fundamental research for investment services at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.
“After three days, when JFS is scheduled to go out of these indexes, we could see some outflows,” Solanki added.
Last month, JFS and U.S.-based BlackRock (BLK.N) said they would form an equal joint venture to launch asset management services in India, with an initial investment of $150 million each.
Analysts say JFS’ access to the vast trove of data from Reliance’s telecom and retail businesses will also give it a leg up in lending.
Shares of Reliance Industries reversed losses after the news on JFS’ listing date and closed 0.7% higher.
Reporting by Rama Venkat and Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Dhanya Ann Thoppil
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