Deals Buzz: VC firm India Quotient to raise $100 mn across 2 funds
In other news, Perfios, a fintech startup which collects financial data to help make credit decisions, has raised a $50 million Series B round led by American private equity firm Warburg Pincus and existing investor - venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners
Mumbai: Mint brings you your dose of the top deals news, reported from newsrooms across the country
VC firm India Quotient to raise $100 million across 2 funds
Venture capital firm India Quotient, known for being an early backer of startups such as regional language social network ShareChat and digital lender Lendingkart, has closed its third fund of $60 million, Mint reported. It is also raising a $40 million opportunities fund to invest in its best performing portfolio companies, taking the total funds it will deploy in about two years to $100 million. “We received great response from Indian and global family offices. As a seed fund, we have been able to provide many co-investment opportunities to our investors, and this is a win-win. Companies like Loantap, Lendingkart, Sugar, Coolberg and Lokal have been a great draw for co-investments and LPs have participated across multiple rounds," Anand Lunia, managing partner at India Quotient told Mint in an interview. India Quotient’s existing backers include Gulf-based Indian billionaire B.R. Shetty, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, and Singapore-based family office of Rajesh Bothra—RB Investments. New investors in this fund include a large Chinese fund, prominent Chinese entrepreneurs referred to as super angels, and some large family offices who did not want to be named. Other LPs include MakeMyTrip’s Deep Kalra and Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
Perfios raises $50 million led by Warburg Pincus, Bessemer Venture Partners
Perfios, a fintech startup which collects financial data to help make credit decisions, has raised a $50 million Series B round led by American private equity firm Warburg Pincus and existing investor - venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, Mint reported. The deal also includes a secondary share purchase from early angel investors in the company. Perfios’ technology platform aggregates and analyses financial data such as bank statements, tax data, and business financials to help generate a wide range of reports across credit assessment, monitoring, fraud, and banking data aggregation. It helps clients reduce turnaround times and increase accuracy and efficacy of the credit decisioning process. Its clients include Tata Capital, Lendingkart, IIFL, Aditya Birla Capital and DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund, among others. It last raised a $6.4 million Series A round led by Bessemer in April 2017.
CSB Bank’s ₹410 crore IPO opens on Friday
Fairfax-backed private sector lender CSB Bank, formerly the Catholic Syrian Bank, will launch its initial public offering (IPO) on Friday, Mint reported. The share sale will close on 26 November. CSB has fixed the price band at ₹193-195 a share, to mop up ₹410 crore at the upper end of the price band. The bids for the offer can be placed for a minimum of 75 shares, and in multiples thereafter. The proposed IPO will see the company raise fresh capital of ₹24 crore, while existing shareholders will sell 19.78 million shares worth ₹385.71 crore to fully or partially exit the bank. ICICI Lombard General Insurance, HDFC Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Federal Bank and Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance will fully exit CSB through the IPO. Axis Capital and IIFL Securities are the lead managers to the issue. The bank’s promoter, FIH Mauritius Investments Ltd, an investment subsidiary of Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius), which has a 50.09% stake, will not sell its shares in the IPO. However, after the IPO, Fairfax’s holding will come down to 49.73%, as the bank will issue 2.4 million fresh shares, which will lead to promoter stake dilution. Last year, Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax India Holdings Corp. took a 51% stake in CSB Bank for about $168 million. This followed a first-of-its-kind approval by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to a foreign investment firm to invest in a domestic lender to help turn around the bank. Fairfax can hold on to 51% for the first five years, then it has to reduce it to 40% over 10 years and over 15 years to 15%. Prem Watsa valued the bank at ₹2,400 crore and brought a 51% stake for ₹1,208 crore. After this issue, the valuation goes to around ₹3,400 crore. CSB, according to its red herring prospectus, will use the proceeds from the fresh issue to augment its tier-1 capital base for the current fiscal and to meet future capital requirements.
Fireside Ventures secures $60 mn for second fund, to raise $40 mn more
Consumer retail-focused venture capital (VC) fund--Fireside Ventures--has raised commitments worth $60 million for its second fund, which has a target corpus of $100 million in total, Mint reported citing a company statement. The Bengaluru-based VC fund invests exclusively in early-stage startups, and helps emerging brands make inroads into the competitive consumer retail market. It usually makes investments of $4-5 million across pre-Series A and Series A stages. ‘Fireside Fund II’ is anchored by Indian and global investors and institutions. The VC fund recently secured an undisclosed sum of money from French personal care company L'Oréal in September for its second fund. The fund plans to expand its portfolio into newer brands across segments such as super-foods, personalized beauty, fashion and personal care. Fireside’s first fund had a corpus of ₹340 crore (approximately $48 million) and was backed by fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands such as Unilever Ventures, Emami Ltd and ITC Ltd. Other investors including Premji Invest, Westbridge Capital, Mariwala Family Office, Sanjiv Goenka Family Office, and Sunil Munjal’s Hero Enterprise Investment Office had also invested in the first fund.
ArcelorMittal aims to complete Essar Steel acquisition by year end
Following the Supreme Court verdict on Essar Steel resolution plan, global steel giant ArcelorMittal expects to complete the acquisition of the debt-ridden company by the end of this year, PTI reported citing a company statement. ArcelorMittal India Private Limited's (AMIPL) resolution plan for Essar Steel India Limited (‘ESIL’) has been unconditionally approved by the Supreme Court of India and the approval of AMIPL’s resolution plan is the final procedural step in ESIL’s corporate insolvency process. "Completion of the transaction is now expected before the end of the year. After completion, ArcelorMittal will jointly own and operate ESIL in partnership with Nippon Steel Corporation, Japan’s largest steel producer and the third largest steel producer in the world, in-line with the joint venture formation agreement signed by the two companies," it said. The Supreme Court on Friday paved the way for ArcelorMittal takeover of Essar Steel for ₹42,000 crore and set aside the July 4 National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order giving equal status to financial creditors and operational creditors.
Shapoorji Pallonji plans to sell stake in Eureka Forbes
Forbes & Co, a Shapoorji Pallonji & Co group firm, plans to unlock the value of its Eureka Forbes water purifier and vacuum cleaner business by either listing its shares or a stake sale, The Economic Times reported. The decision comes after the 150-years-old group disappointed investors of another arm, Sterling & Wilson, by changing the repayment schedule for inter-corporate loans it had assured during the company’s initial public offering in August. The announcement comes after the group went back on its promise to repay loans taken from subsidiary Sterling & Wilson with the money raised from the IPO, and asked for an extension in the timeline. The group owed ₹2,563 crore to Sterling & Wilson as on August 20, the date of listing of the company. The outstanding amount has since come down to ₹2,341crore. The group had committed during the IPO to repay the money by November 18 but the promoters sought an extension for the balance outstanding, citing a “significant and rapid deterioration" in the credit markets creating a liquidity crisis and less-than-expected realisation from the IPO.
AIIB plans $2.5b investment in India’s metro, road projects
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is planning to invest up to $2.5 billion in urban transport projects, such as metro commuter-rail networks and radial roads, giving a boost to New Delhi’s Smart City initiative, The Economic Times reported citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Chinese investor is in advanced talks with different nodal agencies, including Chennai Metro Rail and the Mumbai Metro Rail Corp. The supranational lender is expected to sign financing agreements with these two railroad operators. It may invest $400 million each in the two metro projects. In Bangalore, it has decided to invest $350 million. Current proposals include lending another $500 million to the Mumbai Urban Transport Project 3A (MUTP 3A), which consists of infrastructure projects worth around ₹34,000 crore. AIIB may also extend credit of $350 million to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority. In a commercial project, AIIB expects an IIR (Internal Rate of Return) of about 10-12%. The global lender, which has a disposable sum of $20 billion, wants to increase the share of lending in India, where banks often shy away from long-term project financing due to billions of dollars in bad loans. In Chennai, AIIB plans to invest another $400 million in a ring road project that is supposed to connect the main city with its Information Technology hub.
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