Ahead of its IPO, food delivery giant Swiggy said on Monday that it has announced its fifth ESOP liquidity program, giving options to employees across levels and functions to receive liquidity of up to USD 65 million (over Rs 540 crore).
This is the fifth liquidity event for Swiggy since 2018, and the third consecutive event after July 2022 and 2023, the company said in a statement.
“An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is an employee benefit plan that gives workers ownership interest in the company in the form of shares of stock,” as per Investopedia.
"So far, the company has cumulatively enabled over Rs 1,000 crore of ESOP liquidity over the five events, benefiting over 3,200 employees," it said.
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Girish Menon, Swiggy Head of HR, said the latest ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) event is an acknowledgement of the contributions of the employees and the company's commitment to sharing its success and growth with them as Swiggy approaches the milestone of a decade of operations.
"Employees owning shares of their company creates alignment of incentives and a sharp focus on collaborative excellence, which is a virtuous cycle that we believe in and espouse," Menon said.
In the lead-up to the IPO, co-founder and group CEO Majety and Reddy will also be selling Swiggy shares as part of the fresh liquidity event, as per Moneycontrol. Swiggy filed its IPO papers confidentially in April this year with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
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The company wants to raise an additional $800 million through an offer-for-sale component, in addition to about $450 million in new capital. The biggest shareholders of Swiggy, including Prosus and Soft Bank, might sell a stake in the offer-for-sale component, as per reports.
(With inputs from PTI)