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Warburg Pincus to exit Avtec; Liberty House to bid for ABG Shipyard again

By Keshav Sunkara

  • 19 Apr 2018
Warburg Pincus to exit Avtec; Liberty House to bid for ABG Shipyard again
Credit: Bhakti Nair/VCCircle

CK Birla Group will buy the 30% stake held by private equity firm Warburg Pincus in its group company Avtec Ltd, Mint reported, citing Avtec CEO Prabhakar Kadapa.

The report also cited a person aware of the development as saying that the transaction is likely to value Avtech around $125-150 million.

Warburg Pincus had acquired  the 30% stake in the company in 2013 from private equity firm Actis for an undisclosed amount.

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Avtec makes powertrain and precision-engineered products. It has three manufacturing facilities, at Hosur and Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh.

The company’s consolidated net sales stood at Rs 655 crore and loss after tax was Rs 17.5 crore for the year through March 2017, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle.

Meanwhile, The Times of India reported that the UK-based Liberty House is likely to bid for debt-laden ABG Shipyard Ltd for the third time after creditors invited fresh proposals. Thursday is the last date for submission of offers.

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Liberty’s bid in the first round was rejected as the offer was below ABG Shipyard’s liquidation value of Rs 2,200 crore. In the second round it failed to comply with bankruptcy rules, according to the report.

Shapoorji Pallonji Group and Mahindra Group had evinced interest in ABG Shipyard but didn’t make any firm offer, the report added.

ABG Shipyard is one of the 12 large bad-loan accounts identified by the Reserve Bank of India for loan resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in its first list.

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In a separate report, The Economic Times said, citing people aware of the development, that private equity giant Blackstone has emerged as the frontrunner to buy Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd. The report said a Chinese strategic investor is also interested in the company.

Investment bank Ambit has the mandate to conduct the sale process, the report said.

Incorporated in 1946, Kirloskar Oil Engines is the flagship company of the Kirloskar group. It makes diesel engines, agricultural pumpsets and electrical generators.

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In 2016-17, the consolidated income of the company was Rs 2,963.3 crore and net profit was Rs 173.8 crore.

As on 31 December 2017, Nalanda Capital, an India-focussed PE-style investor in public equities, held a 9.61% stake in the company. The promoters hold a 59.33% stake.

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