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SoftBank eyes stake in Delhivery; VBHC Value Homes puts off IPO plan again

By Keshav Sunkara

  • 04 Oct 2018
SoftBank eyes stake in Delhivery; VBHC Value Homes puts off IPO plan again
Credit: Shah Junaid/VCCircle

Japanese firm SoftBank Group Corp's Vision Fund is in talks to invest $200-250 million (Rs 1,475-1,844 crore) in e-commerce logistics company Delhivery Pvt. Ltd, The Economic Times reported, citing two people familiar with the development.

The firm is being valued at around $1.2 billion (Rs 8,852 crore), the report said.

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The report said, citing people, that Delhivery was in preliminary discussions with SoftBank Group Corp.

Delhivery last raised funds in May 2017, when it secured $30 million (Rs 200 crore) from Chinese conglomerate Fosun at an estimated valuation of $700 million. In March 2017, Delhivery had mobilised $100 million (Rs 655 crore) from private equity firm Carlyle Group and existing investor US hedge fund Tiger Global.

Separately, VBHC Value Homes has again put off plans for an initial public offering (IPO) and aims to, instead, privately raise Rs 300 crore through debt and equity, Mint reported. VBHC had postponed its IPO plan last year to this year.

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Ram Walase, managing director and chief executive of VBHC, told the financial daily that the next 18 months are not suitable for an initial public offering, considering that investors are still wary of real estate.

VBHC was founded in 2008 by Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao, former chairman of Indian infotech outsourcing services provider Mphasis, and PS Jayakumar, ex-Citibank executive.

In October 2015, Jayakumar left as chief executive officer of VBHC to join state-owned lender Bank of Baroda as managing director and CEO.

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Investors in VBHC include International Finance Corporation, Carlyle, Daiwa House, Caspian Advisers, HDFC and Tano Capital.

In another development, renewable energy firm Acme Solar Holdings is exploring plans to sell 650 megawatts of its assets to fund projects in the pipeline, The Economic Times reported, citing people aware of the development.

Acme is looking to raise around Rs 3,000 crore through an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), according to the report.

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However, Nikhil Dhingra, chief executive of Acme, told the financial daily that the company is not facing any difficulty in raising money and is not selling any project.

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