BackDeals Buzz: Pawan Munjal to invest into Ola Electric
In other news, American e-commerce giant Amazon.com is acquiring a 49% stake, comprising both voting and non-voting shares, in one of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group’s entity— Future Coupons Ltd
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Pawan Munjal to invest into Ola Electric
Billionaire Pawan Munjal, chairman of Hero MotoCorp Ltd—India’s largest two-wheeler maker by sales—is in advanced talks to invest in the electric mobility arm of ride-hailing company Ola, Mint reported citing four people directly aware of the development. Munjal will follow Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata group, as an investor in Ola Electric. Munjal has been discussing the potential investment over the last few months with Arun Sarin, a former chief executive of Vodafone Group Plc, was appointed an independent director of Ola Electric in May. Sarin, an investor in Ola and Ola Electric, is also a mentor and adviser to Ola Electric. Besides Tata, Ola Electric, incorporated in February 2017, counts venture capital funds SoftBank Group Corp., Tiger Global and Matrix Partners India as its investors. Earlier in July, the startup joined the unicorn club, after receiving funds worth $250 million from Japanese investment bank and venture capital fund SoftBank.
Amazon to acquire 49% stake in Kishore Biyani’s Future Coupons
American e-commerce giant Amazon.com is acquiring a 49% stake, comprising both voting and non-voting shares, in one of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group’s entity— Future Coupons Ltd, Mint reported. While Future Coupons has entered a share subscription agreement and a shareholders' agreement with Amazon.Com NV Investment Holdings LLC (Amazon), the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. As part of the investment, Amazon is also getting a call option that allows it to acquire all or part of the promoters' shareholding in Future Retail Ltd, and is exercisable between the 3rd to 10th years, in certain circumstances, subject to applicable law. The promoters have also agreed to certain share transfer restrictions on their shares in the Future Retail for the same tenure, including restrictions to not transfer shares to specified persons, a right of first offer in favour of Amazon.
IRCTC files for IPO, eyes up to ₹600 crore
State-owned Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. Ltd (IRCTC), which sells tickets for Indian Railways and manages its catering services, filed draft papers for its initial public offering (IPO), Mint reported. The government is looking to offload up to 20 million shares in IRCTC via the IPO, which could fetch the Centre around ₹500-600 crore. The stake sale will result in the government reducing its stake in the company by about 12.5%. The firm’s proposed listing on the stock bourses is part of the government’s plans to take public several entities operating in the railways sector. The government aims to raise ₹1.05 lakh crore from divestments in the current financial year, up from ₹80,000 crore it had budgeted in the last fiscal.
Norwest backs realty services firm SILA
SILA, a real estate service firm to enterprises and small and medium businesses, said on Thursday it has raised ₹56 crore from Norwest Venture Partners, Mint reported. Founded in 2010 by Sahil Vora and Rushabh Vora, the company provides project advisory, interior design, and facility management services. It operates in more than 75 cities and has 30 million sq. ft of assets in sectors such as manufacturing, retail, hospitality, financial services, and commercial and residential real estate. Palo Alto, California-based venture capital and growth equity investment firm Norwest has more than $7.5 billion in assets under management globally. In India, it is a growth stage investor in technology as well as traditional businesses with portfolio companies including Five Star Finance, Veritas Finance, food delivery startup Swiggy and furniture rental platform Pepperfry.
Analytics firm Zendrive raises fresh funds from XL Innovate, others
Zendrive, a company that uses data analytics to make roads safer raised $37 million in Series B funding led by XL Innovate, with participation from Hearst Ventures and existing investors including ACME Capital, BMW iVentures, NYCA, and SignalFire, Mint reported. Zendrive said the funding will help it continue to build up its mobile driving safety solution and strengthen its global team to deepen its focus on the insurance market. The company has offices in San Francisco and Bangalore. The research and development centre headquartered in Bengaluru since 2014 has data scientists, engineers, and product teams, working towards developing solutions to road safety problems.
Glenmark in Talks to Sell up to 30% in API Unit to PremjiInvest
Glenmark Pharma is talking to private equity fund PremjiInvest to sell 25-30% of its stake in Glenmark Life Sciences (GLS), the newly-hived off subsidiary of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) products, The Economic Times reported citing persons in the know. Talks with the PE fund took place against the backdrop of its ongoing discussions with home grown PE fund True North getting stuck over a valuation mismatch. Glenmark plans to sell a minority stake for $150 million (about ₹1,100 crore), valuing the business at $600-700 million (about ₹5,000 crore). Glenmark was also in discussions with other global funds such as Carlyle and Goldman Sachs for the stake sale, which also did not progress further. Avendus Capital is advising Glenmark to find a buyer.
Japan’s Igarashi to Buy Out Partner in India Unit
Japan’s Igarashi Electric will buy out its Indian partner chief executive Mukund Padmanabhan and will take over the debt from Igarashi Motors India as the Kawasaki-based electric motor maker looks to expand its business in the country, The Economic Times reported citing a company statement. The transaction will involve acquisition of close to 22% stake of CEO Mukund and others, while another Indian investor, Mape Advisory Group, will continue as a shareholder in the company. The acquisition will be done through lgarashi Electric Works, Japan and subsidiary Agile Electric Sub Assembly. lgarashi Electric Works will acquire 9.52% share capital of Igarashi Motors from Mukund Padmanabhan, while Agile will acquire 11.63% stake from Padmanabhan in the target company. Mukund holds 21.15% stake in Igarashi Motors. The shares will be acquired at a price of ₹269. Igarashi, which counts Bosch, Delphi and Cooper among its clients, makes and exports small motors for the automotive sector. The company makes DC brush motors, geared motors, flat and round type motors and parts, according to its website.
Kolkata’s Haldiram buys Coffee Bean franchise
Haldiram Bhujiawala has bought The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf India franchise from private equity fund Everstone Capital in a deal which cost it under ₹100 crore, The Economic Times reported citing two people briefed on the matter. The Kolkata-based company has also purchased the Gelato Italiano brand as part of the deal, Manish Agarwal, chief executive officer of Haldiram told ET. The snacks’ firm acquired a majority stake in Pan India Food Solutions, a holding company set up by Everstone Capital to house the coffee chain and ice cream parlour businesses. It bought a total of 89 outlets as part of this deal and plans to expand the coffee chain and ice cream business, said Agarwal, without revealing the financial terms. Pan India also owns brands like Spaghetti Kitchen and food courts Spoon and Foodtalk. Some of these brands are also part of the deal though Agarwal didn’t specify which ones. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is a chain of coffee parlours that has around 1,000 outlets in its home market of the US.
Lite Bite Foods plans to raise ₹250 crore from PEs
Lite Bite Foods Group, the food and beverage retail business led by Dabur Group chairman Amit Burman, plans to raise about ₹250 crore from private equity firms and make its airport franchise business a separate entity, The Economic Times reported citing an official aware of the development. The promoters are looking at diluting a minority stake in the retail foods business, which currently has an enterprise value of ₹1,000-1,200 crore, and has mandated investment bank KPMG to look for investors. Both the retail foods and the airport businesses contribute equally to sales. The funds will be used to fuel expansion of the food retail business as the company plans to expand its overseas business in the Middle East and the US, as well as metros and tier-two cities in India. Started in 2002, LBF operates a chain of quick service and fine dining restaurants and food courts and is also a wine distributor. It has almost 200 casual dining restaurants in India and overseas including Punjab Grill, Street Foods, Asia Seven Express and The Artful Baker.
Lupin divests Kyowa Criticare to Neopharma Group
Pharma major Lupin Ltd entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of its Japanese injectables business and related assets to Neo Ala Co Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neopharma Group which is the UAE's largest pharmaceutical manufacturer headquartered in Abu Dhabi, The Business Standard reported. The move will help Lupin focus on branded drugs in the country. Kyowa’s plant and associated facilities are based out of Atsugi, Japan, and have been engaged in sales and contract manufacturing of injectable products to meet various medical needs. Under the terms of the agreement, Lupin has agreed to sell all the issued and outstanding share capital in Kyowa Criticare Co to neo ALA Co. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and has been approved by the board of directors of Lupin.
PE firms emerge as final bidders for Reliance ADAG’s Mumbai HQ
Private equity firms Blackstone Group, Mapletree Investments, Brookfield Asset Management, Apollo Global and a domestic fund managed by InterGlobe Enterprises’ real estate arm have emerged as the final bidders for Reliance ADAG’s headquarters in Mumbai and the buyer is expected to be finalised over the next two-three weeks, The Economic Times reported citing two persons with knowledge of the development. Reliance ADAG is looking to monetise its assets to help reduce its debt. In the initial rounds, the standalone commercial property had drawn interest from around 10 entities including private equity and pension funds and two Mumbai-based realty developers. Most of the initial bids were made between ₹1,500 crore and ₹1,700 crore. The property, situated off western express highway with 600,000 sq ft saleable area, houses the offices of various Reliance ADAG companies. The monthly rentals at the property range between ₹230 per sq ft and ₹250 per sq ft. Reliance ADAG was earlier considering both options—selling the headquarters on outright basis and leasing it for a long-term tenure. However, the group has now decided to sell it on outright basis and shift to its earlier address of Ballard Estate in South Mumbai.
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