Multiples Alternate Asset Management has acquired 14.01 per cent stake in(the countryâs largest power trading exchange) from PTC Financial Services. The private equity firm, floated by former ICICI Venture CEO Renuka Ramnath, has picked up the stake for Rs 70.76 crore, valuing the four-year-old exchange at Rs 505 crore.
An e-mail query sent to Multiples CEO Ramnath did not elicit an immediate response. However, a PTC executive, who did not wish to be named, confirmed the transaction.
Prior to this transaction, PTC held 19.01 per cent stake on fully diluted basis and it will now come down to 5 per cent. PTC, which subscribed to the shares at a face value of Rs 10 each, invested in IEX as a co-promoter with Financial Technologies and is selling the shares at over 16x gains. PTC also sold some shares last year when Silicon Valley-headquartered investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners picked up the stake in IEX.
While the deal with Bessemer and Lightspeed was done at Rs 115.41 per share, the current transaction has been closed at Rs 166.51 a share. This represents over 44 per cent gain.
The stake sale comes as per Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) norms where an entity trading in power cannot hold over 5 per cent equity stake in a power exchange. Therefore, PTC Financial Services is expected to retain the remaining stake. The deal has already received the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). PTC Financial Services, whose investors include Goldman Sachs and Macquarie, also sold its stake in Ind-Barath Powergencom in the last quarter for a gain of Rs 47.86 crore.
While Financial Technologies is the largest shareholder in IEX, other investors include Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Adani Enterprises, Jindal Power and Lanco Infratech, besides IDFC and Rural Electrification Corporation.
This is Multiplesâ third deal after it closed its debut transaction by picking up a significant minority stake in Dehradun-based Sara Sae Pvt Ltd in August 2011. Earlier this year, it has also acquired stake in Chennai-based Cholamandalam Investment and Finance for Rs 106 crore.
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