In other news, SoftBank Vision Fund, the late stage fund led by Japan’s Masayoshi Son and one of the biggest investors in Indian tech-enabled startups, said it is not in a hurry to list the companies it has invested in the country and would wait for the right opportunity
Mumbai: Mint brings you your dose of the top deals news, reported from newsrooms across the country.
Greenko raises $950 million through Asia’ largest green bond
GIC Holdings Pte. Ltd and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) backed Greenko Energy Holdings raised $950 million, marking Asia’s largest overseas green bonds raised by an Indian clean energy producer, Mint reported citing Greenko Group president and joint managing director Mahesh Kolli. The bond issue, priced at 5.5 yield and completed in five days, was oversubscribed over three times by global investors and is the largest high yield bond from India this year. The bond raise followed after the two sovereign wealth funds agreed to pump in an additional $329 million in Greenko Energy Holdings. Mint reported about the proposed bond raise on 17 July. Greenko owns operating assets of 4.2 gigawatts (GW) and under-construction assets of 7 GW. It had raised $1 billion through dollar denominated bonds in 2017. This also follows the $495 million investment in June by the sovereign wealth funds, GIC and ADIA, in Greenko to build power storage projects. The two sovereign funds have so far infused $2.2 billion in Greenko, which was founded by Mahesh Kolli and Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty.
SoftBank fund says in no hurry to exit firms in India portfolio
SoftBank Vision Fund, the late stage fund led by Japan’s Masayoshi Son and one of the biggest investors in Indian tech-enabled startups, said it is not in a hurry to list the companies it has invested in the country and would wait for the right opportunity, Mint reported citing Munish Varma, managing partner at SoftBank Vision Fund. “Globally, we have had number of companies that have gone public—Uber, Guardant and Slack to name a few. And over the next few years, you will see more companies going public. As India grows, the plan is the same. But there’s nothing on the immediate horizon. IPOs (initial public offerings) are an important one-time decision for the company, so we will take them public when the time is right," said Varma in an interview to Mint. The mega fund is also sharpening its focus on fintech companies, and has already invested in fintech firms such as Greensill, Kabbage, Paytm, Policybazaar and ZhongAn Insurance. The fund may also make its first direct investment in food tech business as it looks to participate in food delivery startup Swiggy’s $300-500 million fund raise to back its expansion and growth plans.
CDC Group plans to double India exposure to about $3.5 bn by 2021
CDC Group Plc., the development finance institution of the UK government, plans to double its exposure to India with investments of up to $3-3.5 billion by 2021, Mint reported citing senior executives. The CDC India portfolio currently stands at $1.7 billion across direct investments into companies and investments in private equity and venture capital funds. The fund, with 30-35% of its overall portfolio dedicated to India, focuses on seven core sectors, including financial services, infrastructure, healthcare, affordable housing, food and agriculture, consumer and education, for direct investments. It also plans to increase direct investments via equity and debt into Indian firms. Of the total investments, CDC had committed $1,009 million directly to 14 companies and set aside $725 million for 293 indirect investments as of year ended 31 March 2019, compared to $859.6 million direct investments in 13 companies and $693 million for 280 indirect investments in the previous year.
Mizuho, Nomura bankroll Agarwal’s $2 bn buyback to treble OYO stake
Japanese financial groups Mizuho and Nomura Holdings are part of a three member Japanese consortium that is funding OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal to buy back his company’s shares worth $1.5 billion from early investors such as Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners – the biggest buyback undertaken by an Indian founder till date, and also invest another $500 million into OYO Hotels & Homes, The Economic Times reported citing an official in the know. Agarwal is pledging his current 10% in OYO to buy the next 20%-30% from Sequoia and Lightspeed by using this share backed debt financing. While the identity of the third Japanese bank could not be verified, the loan will be given to the Cayman Islands-registered SPV RA Hospitality Holdings (Cayman) that has been created for the buyback purpose. Subsequently his entire shareholding will be collateralised with the Japanese financial institution. Both Nomura and Mizuho are also taking equity bets in OYO. Nomura is investing $50 million in the company through a secondary sale of shares from Softbank at a $10 billion valuation. This will be the first time Nomura is investing proprietary funds in an Indian start-up.
Jio Infratel may raise ₹10,000 crore post Brookfield Deal
Reliance Jio Infratel, India’s largest telecom tower firm, may raise an additional ₹10,000 crore of long-term debt to clear the tower arm’s financial liabilities, after its deal with Brookfield-led consortium closes, The Economic Times reported citing Bank of America-Merrill Lynch’s note to its clients. Canada's Brookfield Asset Management and its affiliates will invest ₹25,215 crore to fully control the units proposed to be issued by Tower Infrastructure Trust, marking the largest foreign investment in an Indian infrastructure vehicle. Brokerage IIFL Institutional Equities estimates Jio Infratel’s liabilities are split across ₹11,000 crore bank borrowings, ₹11,800 crore from RIL by way of non-convertible debentures and ₹13,700 crore of other liabilities.
TPG leads $50 million funding in NBFC firm Five Star Business Finance
Non-banking finance company Five Star Business Finance has raised $50 million in a new funding round led by private equity major TPG Capital, valuing the Chennai-based lender at $950 million, The Economic Times reported. This is the second time that TPG has invested in the company. Last year, too, the growth fund had participated in a $100 million equity round in Five Star Finance. The company, which was founded way back in 1984, has been on a strong growth trajectory since 2014, creating a book size of ₹2,500 crore this year and aims to take it up to ₹4,000 crore by March 2020. The firm is also backed by Matrix Partners, which first invested $3 million in 2014. After that, the company raised equity rounds from multiple prominent investors such as Morgan Stanley, Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and others. Investors hold a 70% stake, while promoter D Lakshmipathy has a 21% shareholding, with the rest being distributed among the management and other individual investors.
