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Grapevine: Brookfield eyes Sri Chaitanya schools; PayU sets sight on MobiKwik unit

By Ankit Agarwal

  • 22 Oct 2019
Grapevine: Brookfield eyes Sri Chaitanya schools; PayU sets sight on MobiKwik unit
Credit: Thinkstock

Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is looking to buy school chain Sri Chaitanya from its promoters and private equity firm New Silk Route, a media report said.

The sellers are expecting a valuation of about Rs 8,000 crore, The Times of India reported, without specifying the source of the information.

The report said that the sellers have appointed consulting and auditing firm EY to find a buyer.

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Another interested buyer was Kalpathi Investments, owned by the family which controlled computer training provider Aptech, the report said, but added that it has now developed cold feet.

Hyderabad-based Sri Chaitanya Schools was set up in 1986. New Silk Route had invested $25 million in the school chain in 2011.

In another report, The Times of India said that South African conglomerate Naspers-owned payments firm PayU is looking to buy Gurugram-based MobiKwik’s payment gateway Zaakpay.

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Citing three people aware of the matter, the report said other bidders have also held talks with MobiKwik, which is looking to raise around $100 million to expand its consumer-facing fintech business.

MobiKwik is also looking to raise fresh capital as it positions itself as an online financial services company focusing on credit, the report said, adding that it may put the sale of Zaakpay on hold if the talks for a capital-raise succeed.

Meanwhile, several existing investors of Ujjivan Financial Services may pick up a stake in Ujjivan Small Finance Bank through its planned initial public offering, The Economic Times reported, citing the bank’s managing director Samit Ghosh.

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The IPO is likely to be floated before the end of November and may raise as much as Rs 1,200 crore.

Ujjivan Financial’s existing investors include Elevar Equity, NewQuest Asia, International Finance Corporation and CX Partners.

In another development, Zetwerk, a business-to-business marketplace for custom manufacturing, is looking to raise $35 million in its Series B round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Greenoaks Capital, Mint reported, citing two people close to the matter.

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Zetwerk works primarily with clients in the oil and gas, power, renewable energy and infrastructure businesses. It was founded in 2018 by Amrit Acharya and Srinath Ramakkrushnan.

It raised $9 million in its Series A round from Accel, Sequoia Capital and Kae Capital in March 2019, and $1.2 million in its seed round from Kae and Sequoia in August 2018.

Separately, Singapore-based real estate asset manager Mapletree Investment Pte. Ltd has received bids of up to Rs 2,400 crore for its technology park in Bengaluru from Embassy Office Parks, UK-based Actis and Singapore’s GIC Pte. Ltd, Mint reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

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