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Grapevine: GIC, 5 PE firms in race for CitiusTech; Goldman, SSG eye stressed assets

By Ankit Agarwal

  • 06 Jun 2019
Grapevine: GIC, 5 PE firms in race for CitiusTech; Goldman, SSG eye stressed assets
Credit: Thinkstock

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte. Ltd and five private equity firms have entered a second round of negotiations to acquire a controlling stake in healthcare-technology company CitiusTech, a media report said.

The Economic Times reported, citing people it didn't identify, that global PE giants Bain Capital, Blackstone Group, KKR & Co and CVC Capital Partners, along with homegrown ChrysCapital were the buyout firms shortlisted for CitiusTech.

The deal would allow PE firm General Atlantic to exit CitiusTech. General Atlantic had invested Rs 680 crore for a 32.55% stake in the company in 2014.

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The report said CitiusTech could be valued at $900 million (Rs 6,235 crore) in the deal, which is being managed by JPMorgan. The founders might retain a 20-25% stake to manage the operations, it added.

In another report, The Economic Times said that Goldman Sachs Group and Asian distressed credit specialist SSG Capital Management are in separate talks to buy up to Rs 3,500 crore worth of bad loans from RattanIndia Power.

The report said that there were other contenders for the portfolio apart from Goldman and SSG but didn't specify any name.

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The power company has defaulted on about Rs 20,000 crore of loans from lenders like Power Finance Corp, State Bank of India, Bank of India, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank.

Meanwhile, online food delivery startups Swiggy and Zomato are seeking fresh capital to win market share, The Times of India said. While Swiggy is seeking $500-600 million from existing backer Naspers and new investors like Google, Zomato is in talks to raise $600-700 million, the report said, citing five sources, including company executives and investors.

Swiggy had last raised $1 billion in December 2018, with new investor Tencent joining Naspers. The new round would push Swiggy's valuation to around $4 billion from $3.3 billion before.

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Zomato had raised $210 million in its last major funding round in October last year. For the new round, it is seeking a valuation of $3.1 billion, the report said.

In another development, BharatPe, a QR code-based payments app for offline merchants, is seeking to raise up to $100 million (Rs 700 crore) from three new investors, The Times of India reported, citing three people aware of the matter.

The potential backers include US-based fintech-focussed investor Ribbit Capital and Tiger Global Management, the report said. The round is likely to close by the end of June. 

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BharatPe last raised $15 million in a Series A round from existing investor Sequoia Capital India along with Insight Partners and Beenext in April.

Separately, billionaire Ajay Piramal-led Piramal Group and private equity firm Lone Star Funds plan to invest up to $700 million to set up an investment platform to acquire operating road assets, Mint reported, citing two people aware of the development.

The platform will have a traditional fund structure and will not be an Infrastructure Investment Trust like the renewables platform Piramal formed with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to acquire operating wind and solar assets, the report said.

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