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Ad-for-equity media investor BCCL to hike stake in Infibeam

By Dearton Thomas Hector

  • 25 Jan 2017
Ad-for-equity media investor BCCL to hike stake in Infibeam
Credit: Thinkstock

Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), the publisher of The Times of India, is investing Rs 60 crore ($8.8 million) in Ahmedabad-based e-tailer Infibeam Corporation Ltd in exchange for equity, stock-exchange filings dated 24 January show.

BCCL is buying the Infibeam stock at Rs 1,375 apiece, a premium over the Rs 1,160.15 it was trading at on 23 January.  

Following the transaction, BCCL's stake in Infibeam is likely to go up from the current 1.4% to around 2.2%. It had invested Rs 33.3 crore ($4.8 million) in the company through its ad-for-equity arm Brand Capital, prior to Infibeam's IPO.   

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Brand Capital has also invested in e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal, which is a direct competitor of Infibeam. It 

has made several investments outside of e-commerce as well. 

Earlier this month, it invested an undisclosed amount in Genmedic Healthcare Pvt Ltd, which makes vegetarian nutritional supplements under the Super Gummy brand.'

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In November last year, VCCircle had reported that BCCL was investing in a Haryana-based dairy startup.

Founded in 2010 by former Amazon executive Vishal Mehta, Infibeam was one of the youngest firms to list on a national exchange. It owns horizontal e-commerce platform Infibeam and e-commerce enabler BuildaBazaar, and went for its initial stake sale in March last year.

BCCL's competitor in the media industry HT Media is also an active investor in the e-commerce space. HT Media has an investment in London-based fashion portal Koovs Plc. Last December, Techcircle had reported that HT Media has sold 10% of its stake in Koovs.

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BCCL's The Economic Times and HT Media's Mint compete with VCCircle and Techcircle in some markets in a certain segment.

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