AION Capital Partners Ltd, a joint private equity fund sponsored and run by Apollo Global Management India Advisors Private Limited and ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Ltd, has acquired a majority stake in Planetcast Media Services Ltd, representatives of both companies confirmed.
Aion Capital bought the Planetcast shares from PE firm Kubera Partners, Essel Group and the Shyam Group. The companies, however, refused to divulge further details of the transaction.
Planetcast is a digital-media distribution company with a presence in India and South East Asia. This is AION Capital Partners first media-technology investment.
The PE firm’s limited partner, Apollo Global Management had exited its 2009-bet on Dish TV with 2x gains in 2015.
The PE firm had last acquired the non-banking financial company (NBFC) business of GE Capital Services for about $350 million.
This is the sixth known investment for AION Capital after it had raised a record $825 million in a special situations fund in 2014, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle. More than 50% of the fund has already been deployed.
In 2016, it had invested Rs 600 crore ($90 million then) to buy an undisclosed stake in Varun Beverages Ltd, one of the largest bottlers of PepsiCo in India. It had also invested in Jyoti International and Mytrah Energy.
AION Capital had exited Gautam Thapar-promoted Avantha Group in mid-2015, after booking a profit of Rs 550 crore in just 19 months, with an internal rate of return of 35%, it had announced.
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