Private equity giant Blackstone may invest in Ranjan Pai-led Manipal Education and Medical Group to finance its acquisition of Global Health Pvt. Ltd, the owner and operator of Medanta-The Medicity chain of multi-speciality hospitals, The Economic Times reported.
Citing people aware of the development, the report said Blackstone plans to put about Rs 3,200 crore ($450 million) via structured equity investment in Manipal Education and Medical Group, which may acquire Medanta for Rs 6,000 crore.
Last year, TPG-backed Manipal Education and Medical Group, which operates hospitals and educational institutions, lost out to Malaysia's IHH Healthcare in the race to buy hospital chain Fortis Healthcare Ltd.
Ranjan Pai is in advanced negotiations to acquire Medanta and is currently conducting due diligence, according to the report.
In October last year, VCCircle reported that Manipal Health Enterprises Ltd is evaluating a bid to acquire a stake in Medanta.
Naresh Trehan’s family and co-founder Sunil Sachdeva together hold around 55% stake in the Gurugram-headquartered Global Health. Private equity firm Carlyle group holds 27.5% stake and Temasek 17.5% stake.
Global Health recorded a 5.2% year-on-year increase in net sales for 2017-18 to Rs 1,343 crore. Its net profit declined to Rs 33 crore from Rs 50.6 crore in the same period, according to VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle.
Separately, EverSource Capital is in negotiations to pick up a minority stake in Ayana Renewables, a clean energy platform of UK government-owned development financial institution CDC Group, The Economic Times reported.
Citing people aware of the development, the report said EverSource Capital is looking to invest around $100 million in Ayana Renewables.
Ayana Renewables is currently developing two solar power projects of 250 megawatts each in Andhra Pradesh, according to the report.
EverSource Capital is an equal joint venture between private equity firm Everstone and global solar project developer Lightsource BP.
In another development, private equity firms Baring Private Equity Partners India and Bain Capital, and non-banking financial company Hero Fincorp are in separate talks to pick up a 10% stake in Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd, The Economic Times reported. Although the report mentioned Baring Private Equity Partners India to be in the race for the stake, the firm doesn’t do deals of that scale. However, Baring Private Equity Asia, which invests separately, does such deals.
Citing people aware of the development, the report said Kapil Wadhawan, chairman and managing director of Dewan Housing Finance, plans to step down from active management after the sale.
Kapil Wadhawan-led Wadhawan Global Capital Ltd held 37.3% stake in Dewan Housing Finance as on 31 December.
Earlier this month, Dewan Housing Finance said it will sell a stake in the company and some units to ease liquidity conditions, as it sought to ease investor concerns after claims of financial mismanagement hammered its shares.
Chairman and managing director Kapil Wadhawan said then in a conference call that the company aims to bring in a “strategic investor” on board within 90 days and also divest a stake in education finance arm Avanse Financial and its insurance business.
Wadhawan was speaking to investors and analysts to explain the measures being taken to cut debt and ease concerns related to a liquidity crunch, especially after media house Cobrapost alleged that Dewan Housing Finance had diverted loans to shell companies.
Dewan Housing Finance has been divesting non-core investments to bring more capital into its core business.
Dewan Housing Finance as well as Wadhawan Global had agreed to sell their stake in Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd to private equity giant Blackstone.
In January, global alternative investment management firm Oaktree Capital had invested Rs 1,375 crore ($194 million) to buy loans from Dewan Housing Finance.
In December 2018, Dewan Housing Finance had agreed to sell its entire stake in the mutual fund business DHFL Pramerica to its US joint venture partner Pramerica Financial as part of efforts to focus more on its core business.
Separately, private equity firm Actis has scrapped its plan to purchase Essel Infraprojects Ltd’s solar power projects, Mint reported.
Citing two people aware of the development, the report said media baron Subhash Chandra-led Essel is currently in talks with ACME Solar to sell the solar power assets.
However, Nikhil Dhingra, chief executive of ACME Solar, told the financial daily they are not in talks to acquire solar projects from Essel.
Essel has 685 megawatts of installed capacity and under-construction projects, according to the report.
In another development, Bengaluru-based news aggregator Dailyhunt, run by Ver Se Innovation Pvt. Ltd, is set to raise $60 million in a new round of funding led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, the venture capital arm of US investment banking major Goldman Sachs, Mint reported, citing three people aware of the development.
In September 2018, Dailyhunt had raised over $6 million (Rs 42 crore) from New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge.