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Middle East based composite insurer Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) and a group of buyers including family offices have reportedly bought Rs 230 crore of secondary shares from IPO-bound hospitality company Oyo. The transaction values the company at nearly $9.6 billion, indicated sources who confirmed the news.

The transaction, which took place at the end of 2021, was executed at a share value of approximately Rs 110 per share. These included 1.43 crore equity shares as well as 2,500 preference shares. The shares were mostly offloaded by OYO’s Employee Welfare Trust, which holds them as part of the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOPs).

An email sent to the company with queries did not elicit a response till the time of publishing the article.

Gurugram-headquartered OYO is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, Airbnb, and more recently, Microsoft. It was valued at $9.6 billion in August 2021 when it raised $5 million from Microsoft. 

In September 2021, OYO had increased its ESOP pool by 41 percent with the addition of 20 crore shares. 

Oravel Stays, the parent company of OYO, filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with markets regulator SEBI in September 2021. It plans to raise Rs 8,430 crore from the public markets, including a primary issuance of Rs 7000 crores. 

As part of the IPO, SoftBank which owns over 46 percent in the company, will sell shares worth Rs 1,328.53 crore, while founder Ritesh Agarwal, who owns nearly 33 percent stake directly and through his holding company RA Hospitality Holdings, will not be selling any shares in the IPO.