Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, is in talks to buy out AirAsia Berhad’s 49% stake in their joint venture airline in India, persons in the know told Business Standard.
The offer is believed to be at a steep discount — taking into account the crash in valuations of airline stocks globally owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Tata group is expected to rope in other financial investors to acquire the stake. The Tatas own 51% in the airline and have the right of first refusal in acquiring shares of its partner.
Separately, Advent International has joined the race to acquire a controlling stake in Ra Chem Pharma from its parent Micro Labs for close to Rs 1,000 crore (about $135 million), persons with knowledge of the matter told The Economic Times.
The move comes at a time when there is increasing interest from global financial investors in the Indian pharmaceutical sector.
Previously it was reported that Carlyle along with pharma veteran Hari Babu were in an advanced stage to buy the company.
Last year, Advent had acquired Bharat Serums & Vaccines in its fifth India investment in 2019.
Meanwhile, US-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is planning to sell its Indian platform Vector Green Energy for up to $600 million (about Rs 4,500 crore), two people aware of the development told Mint.
GIP acquired the platform from IDFC Alternatives in 2018. The platform owns around 750 megawatt (MW) of renewable assets.
GIP’s plans to exit its renewable portfolio comes after a planned sale of its roads portfolio—Highway Concession One— got stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) had put hold on its planned purchase of the portfolio of seven toll roads from GIP.
The delay has prompted GIP to seek a sale of its renewable assets, as the investor wants to show exits from its Indian investments ahead of efforts to raise a country-dedicated fund, one of the persons cited above said.
