Ola offers staff Rs 400 cr worth of stocks ahead of IPO

Ola has expanded its employee stock options pool to Rs 3,000 crore and has allocated an additional Rs 400 crore worth of stocks to employees in the run up to its IPO.

New Delhi: Ride hailing major Ola on Wednesday said it has expanded its employee stock options (ESOP) pool to Rs 3,000 crore and has allocated an additional Rs 400 crore worth of stocks to employees in the run up to its IPO. The allocation rewards Ola's high impact employees will lead to long-term wealth creation for them, Ola said in a statement.

The development comes close on the heels of Ola's USD 500 million (about Rs 3,733 crore) fund raise from Temasek, Warburg Pincus affiliate Plum Wood Investment and its co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal. "At Ola, we're focused on creating the industries of tomorrow with the ambition to build globally competitive, high impact businesses at global scale. Our expanded ESOP programme, along with the fresh stock allocation of Rs 400 crore, enables our key talent to participate in the long term wealth creation opportunities generated by their innovations and the impact they create," Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal said.

It will also reinforce their (employees) sense of ownership and align their growth with that of the company as Ola continues to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable mobility, he added. While the company has been talking of possible listing, Ola has not specified a timeline for its proposed initial public offer (IPO).

An IPO will help Ola investors like SoftBank, Tiger Global and Steadview Capital to exit or partially sell their stake in the company to return funds to their shareholders. Founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola offers services in India, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. It competes with Uber in these markets as well. (PTI)