Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is looking to acquire a majority stake in Mytrah Energy Ltd in a deal that could be valued as much as $1.5 billion, the Mint newspaper reported, citing three people aware of the development.
Hyderabad-based Mytrah has a portfolio of 1.6 gigawatt of renewable energy projects and has been looking for an investor for almost a year. The Mint report said that the company needs to repay a loan of Rs 1,800 crore that it had taken from Piramal Group in September 2017 to buy out its private equity investors.
Brookfield has so far focussed on infrastructure and real estate sectors in India, but also has a presence in the renewable energy sector thanks to its 2017 acquisition of US firm SunEdison Inc.
If the deal for Mytrah goes through, it would be the biggest transaction in terms of renewable energy capacity. Other big deals in India include ReNew Power Ltd’s acquisition of 1.1 GW portfolio of Ostro Energy in 2018 for $1.54 billion and Tata Power Renewable Energy’s acquisition of 1.14 GW portfolio from Welspun Renewables in 2016 for $1.4 billion.
Meanwhile, a consortium of private equity firm Carlyle and drugmaker Zydus Cadila as well as PE firm Advent International have submitted non-binding offers in the range of Rs 3,450-3,600 crore to acquire Mumbai-based bio-pharmaceutical company Bharat Serums and Vaccines, The Economic Times said.
This is the second time Cadila has teamed up with a PE firm for an acquisition. Last year, it got the backing of homegrown PE firm True North to acquire the Indian unit of The Kraft Heinz Company for Rs 4,595 crore ($626 million).
The Economic Times said also that domestic pharmaceutical companies Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Mankind Pharma as well as Goldman Sachs had previously made offers in the range of Rs 3,000 crore for Bharat Serums. However, the company's promoter Daftary family has been expecting a valuation of Rs 4,000-4,300 crore.
Kotak Private Equity and OrbiMed Asia together own a 23% in the company while the Daftary family holds the remaining. The family may keep about a 35-40% stake as it doesn’t want to fully exit the company, the report said.
In another development, US-based online marketplace eBay Inc. is in talks to lead an investment of $160-170 million in Paytm Mall, The Economic Times reported, citing two people aware of the matter.
The report said that Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has taken board approval to induct a new investor after sensing that existing investors Alibaba Group and SoftBank Group won't invest additional money in the online marketplace.
eBay had previously invested in Indian online retailers Snapdeal and Flipkart. The US company sold its stake in Flipkart to Walmart Inc. for $1.1 billion last year. It had previously sold its India arm to Flipkart in 2017 but relaunched independent business last year.