Alphabet may pick minority stake in Flipkart; Numetal ups bid for Essar Steel

By Keshav Sunkara

  • 27 Apr 2018
Credit: Thinkstock

Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. may invest $1-2 billion (Rs 6,672-13,345 crore) in homegrown e-commerce major Flipkart to pick up a minority stake after the Walmart deal, a financial daily reported.

Walmart is looking to buy an 85-86% stake in Flipkart through a mix of primary and secondary investments, The Economic Times reported. Walmart is also in talks with Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal to buy their stakes.

According to the report, Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent and New York-based investment firm Tiger Global, which have a combined stake of 26.5% in Flipkart, will make a partial exit in the initial round, while Japanese tech giant SoftBank may sell its entire 20.8% stake.

Numetal Mauritius has increased its offer for debt-laden Essar Steel from Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 32,000 crore to match ArcelorMittal’s superior bid in the first round, ET reported.

Essar Steel is among the 12 large non-performing assets identified by the Reserve Bank of India in its first list for loan resolutions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Essar Steel owes about Rs 49,000 crore to its lenders.

According to the report, in a letter to Essar Steel’s lenders, Numetal also said that it will change its structure to comply with Section 29A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The IBC section bars related parties or owners of loan defaulting companies to bid for stressed assets.

Numetal said that though ArcelorMittal is the highest bidder, its eligibility is under question and it should not be given 30 more days to repay its dues of defaulting companies to become eligible. Numetal has also approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on this matter and it will be heard on Friday, the report added.

In another development Kolkata-based Shyam Metalics is looking to raise Rs 1,000 crore ($150 million) through an initial share sale, Mint reported.

Citing one person aware of the development, the report said that the initial public offering will be a mix of primary and secondary sale. The primary capital will be largely used to reduce the company’s debt.

ICICI Securities, Edelweiss, JM Financial and IIFL were given the mandate to manage the share sale, according to the report. Shyam Group is a diversified business house with presence in the production of iron and steel, ferroalloys and power.

JM Financial

Mumbai-based financial services firm JM Financial Ltd is set to hit the first close of its second private equity fund at Rs 300 crore, Mint reported. The fund, which has a target corpus of Rs 1000 crore, had so far raised the money largely from high net-worth individuals and institutional investors

Its first private equity fund had raised Rs 952 crore to back 13 companies across various sectors. It has already exited seven of its portfolio companies and has returned an aggregate of 76% of the capital contribution, according to its annual report.