Deals Buzz: Adani Green to buy Essel’s solar assets
In other news, Computer Age Management Services Pvt. Ltd (CAMS), a registrar and transfer agent (RTA) serving 16 mutual funds in India, is hiring investment banks for its proposed ₹1,000-crore IPO
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Adani Green to buy Essel’s solar assets
Essel Group will sell 205 megawatt (MW) of its operational solar energy assets to Adani Green Energy Ltd at an enterprise value of ₹1,300 crore, Mint reported citing an Essel Group statement. The deal is expected to close by end September, when Subhash Chandra‘s Essel Group must repay about ₹7,000 crore to creditors as agreed earlier this year. This is the second asset sale by Essel, after a recent stake sale in its entertainment business. Mint first reported in June that Essel was in talks to sell part of its solar portfolio to Adani Green Energy. Out of its 685MW solar portfolio, about 310MW is operational, while the rest is under construction. Essel said that after the sale of 205MW to Adani, it is now working to sell the rest 480 MW as well. All the solar projects were won under the National Solar Mission and state government auctions. Promoters of Essel Group has been on an asset selling spree to pare its debt of ₹11,000 crore. Essel Group companies together owe another ₹11,400 crore separately.
MF transfer agency CAMS seeks bankers for ₹1,000-crore IPO
Computer Age Management Services Pvt. Ltd (CAMS), a registrar and transfer agent (RTA) serving 16 mutual funds in India, is hiring investment banks for its proposed ₹1,000-crore initial public offering (IPO), Mint reported citing three people aware of the development. The IPO will be an offer for sale (OFS) that will see the company’s existing investors divest their stakes partially. The investors of CAMS include India’s largest private mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd, global private equity (PE) investor Warburg Pincus LLC, India’s mid-market PE firm Faering Capital and NSE Investments Ltd, a unit of the National Stock Exchange Ltd. Founded in 1998, CAMS is one of India’s largest RTAs that processes mutual fund transactions and maintains investors’ records.
Impact investor Lightstone Aspada to raise next fund, write bigger cheques
Impact investment fund Lightstone Aspada is set to increase its investment cheque size from $2-8 million to $4-40 million per company, as it looks to raise a “large fund", Mint reported citing Kartik Srivatsa, managing partner, Lightstone Aspada. Over the last six years, Lightstone Aspada has invested nearly $100 million across 20 portfolio firms. On 28 August, Swiss investor LGT, a bank and fund manager with $201 billion of assets, acquired Lightstone Aspada from the Soros Economic Development Fund, for an undisclosed amount, in a bid to create LGT Lightstone as a global impact investment platform. Aspada has now been rechristened Lightstone Aspada. So far, Aspada has invested across four themes, including healthcare and education, clean energy and mobility, food and agriculture, and consumer value chains—essential digital goods and financial services. The focus will remain the same, going forward. It has, so far, exited five investments.
US Private Equity, others in talks to buy office building at Lodha's Wadala project
A US-based private equity real estate fund and a family office are among bidders who are in advanced talks to buy a commercial building from Lodha Developers at its project New Cuffe Parade in central Mumbai’s Wadala locality, The Economic Times reported citing two persons aware of the development. The transaction is expected to value the commercial building, which has 665,000 sq ft of office space spread over 28 floors, at ₹1,100-1,200 crore as Lodha Developers plans to utilise the money to reduce its debt obligation. Around six entities including pension, private equity funds and a domestic real estate fund are among the interested parties. The deal is at an advanced stage and is expected to be concluded anytime soon. The developer has ₹2,000 crore onshore debt maturities in 2019-20, a construction loan of 290 million pounds, or ₹2,600 crore, due in December 2020 for its project at 48 Carey Street in London, and the $325 million unsecured bond due in March 2020.
Flipkart close to investing $40M in logistics startup Shadowfax
Flipkart is close to investing around $40 million in logistics startup Shadowfax, as the e-commerce major looks to spruce up last-mile delivery before the festive season, The Economic Times reported citing two people familiar with the matter. Flipkart has put in a term sheet and the due diligence is ongoing right now. The deal is likely to value Shadowfax at $200 million, Investing in Shadowfax will give Flipkart access to technology and additional fleet to boost strategic initiatives like hyper-local grocery and pharma delivery, while building capabilities for other on-demand logistics use cases in top cities. If the deal goes through, it will be Flipkart’s third investment in the logistics space after earlier backing trucking platform BlackBuck and locker provider QikPod. Shadowfax runs a technology platform that connects delivery executives to ecommerce companies and small and medium businesses. Shadowfax last raised ₹138 crore at a valuation of ₹573 crore, led by NGP Capital, International Finance Corporation, Mirae Asset and Qualcomm Venture. Its largest investor is Fidelity International, which owns about 37% stake in the company.
HDFC to sell 9.2% in Gruh Finance to raise ₹1,678 crore
India’s largest mortgage lender HDFC will raise ₹1,678 crore by selling 9.2% in Gruh Finance, The Economic Times reported citing two people aware with the development. The sale of 67.4 million shares is expected to happen at a floor price of ₹243 to ₹249 per share in the open market on Friday. Since March, when the boards of Bandhan Bank and Gruh Finance merger was approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), HDFC has sold over 10% stake in Gruh through two stock market transactions. As on June 30, HDFC held over 47% stake in Gruh. HDFC is required to sell shares in Gruh to facilitate the latter’s merger with Bandhan Bank. RBI had directed HDFC to hold 9.9% or less in Bandhan Bank post the merger. The merger would also help Bandhan Bank reduce promoter shareholding from nearly 82%to 61%. The bank is required to bring it down to 40% to meet RBI norms.
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