In other news, Blackstone-Embassy JV gears up to buy Indiabulls Group chairman Sameer Gehlaut’s 39% stake in Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd (IBREL)
Mumbai: Mint brings you your dose of the top deals news, reported from newsrooms across the country.
Private Equity investors of SRL restart stake sale plans
SRL Ltd’s private equity investors, NY Jacob Ballas, Siguler Guff & Co and International Finance Corporation, have restarted the process to offload their combined holding of 31.1% in the diagnostics firm by September end, The Economic Times reported citing two people familiar with the matter. The transaction will be facilitated by the Malaysian firm, IHH Healthcare which had initially planned to acquire Fortis Healthcare’s stake in SRL. That was before the Supreme Court put the Fortis-IHH deal on hold in December as Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd moved a contempt plea against the Singh brothers, the former promoters of Fortis. The three PE firms, which are looking for financial and not strategic investors, plan to sell their combined stake for about ₹1,250 crore, at total valuation of ₹3,600-4,000 crore for SRL, one of the persons mentioned above told ET. The PE investors appointed Kotak Mahindra Capital as the merchant banker for the deal.
Blackstone-Embassy JV to buy 39% stake in Indiabulls Real Estate
US-based alternative assets manager, Blackstone Group Lp and Bengaluru’s property developer Embassy Group have formed a joint venture to buy out Indiabulls Group chairman Sameer Gehlaut’s 39% stake in Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd (IBREL), marking an exit for the Indiabulls Group from its real estate business to focus solely on financial services, Mint reported a person aware of the development. The JV is likely to buy promoter Gehlaut’s stake for nearly ₹2,700 crore, valuing the real estate firm at ₹7,000 crore. The deal will be completed in three phases, with the Blackstone-Embassy duo buying 15% stake this week and the remaining over the next six to eight weeks, followed by an open offer to IBREL’s public shareholders. Earlier Indiabulls had sold its commercial office property in Chennai for ₹900 crore and a 50% stake in its central Mumbai office properties for another $730 million or ₹4,750 crore to Blackstone, in order to deleverage its books.
Scooter sharing firm Vogo raises ₹25 crore debt funding led by Alteria Capital
Scooter sharing firm, Vogo raised ₹25 crore through a second debt financing round led by Mumbai-based venture debt platform, Alteria Capital, The Economic Times reported citing company’s official statement. The Bengaluru-based startup, that allows users to pick up and drop scooters at designated points in the city, has earlier raised funds from ride-hailing firm Ola, Matrix Partners, Kalaari Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners, Flipkart’s co-founder Sachin Bansal and Hero MotoCorp’s Pawan Munjal is present across five cities in India and claims to have completed over 3 million rides. The company uses a patented technology that allows its customers to start the scooters via its mobile app.
Advent raises $17.5 billion for 9th global PE fund
Private equity (PE) firm Advent International completed raising funds for its ninth global private equity fund, GPE IX, in six months with commitments of $17.5 billion, surpassing the earlier target of $16 billion, Mint reported citing an official statement. The PE firm plans to deploy these funds mainly in Europe and North America and selectively in Asia and Latin America for buyouts, corporate carve-outs, public-to-private and growth equity transactions. The investments will be focused in five core sectors, including business and financial services, healthcare, industrial, retail, consumer and leisure, and technology, media and telecom, it said. The PE firm, which has been active in India since 2007 and has invested nearly $1 billion in the country, has earlier also invested in Indian firms such as ASK Investment Managers, Manjushree Technopack, Dixcy Textiles and Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, among others.
