The Softbank-backed hospitality firm Oyo is in the process of doing the background work needed to roll out its initial public offering (IPO). But the final call will be subject to “overall COVID recovery, the market appetite, market readiness, and internal readiness”.

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In an exclusive interview with MoneyControl, Oyo’s chief financial officer Abhishek Gupta said that the company's audit committee and board are expecting a 'public market event' by the end of this year.

Gupta added that they have not put a time or date on the rollout.

On Zomato's recent IPO rollout, he said, "These are very positive developments... All these IPOs usher a new era to the Indian consumer internet ecosystem... This is very positive for the entire ecosystem."

When asked about Oyo being put in the non-investment grade category from Fitch and Moody, Gupta said, "Within our peer set and within the contours of the environment that we operate in, B3 and B flat are very good ratings."

He also revealed that Oyo, at present, has an outstanding debt of $660 million.

The Oyo official also opened up on the reason behind the company going for a B term loan.

He said, "It is a very market opening opportunity. We learned a lot from our peers. Grab is a stakeholder in Oyo. They went for this financing. Look, we want to be more and more public market-ready and there is no better way to prepare yourselves than opening up your books to the rating agencies."

Talking about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Oyo's business, Gupta said, "The COVID waves are directly correlated to our business recovery. When we were in the January-February-March of this year in India between wave one and wave two, our business was looking at a very fast recovery, almost 50-60 percent of pre-COVID levels in India. We were actually profitable for those three-four months in India and then came quarter two when we went back into the red because bookings dropped and the revenues dropped. As of the last two weeks, we have seen a surge of business coming back."

(Edited by : Anshul)