Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's fintech affiliate Ant Financial, which is a key shareholder in Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd, may specify terms for the food delivery firm’s funding worth $500 million (about Rs 3,547 crore at current exchange rate), The Economic Times said. Ant Financial may ask Zomato to factor in the interests of its portfolio firm Paytm, which is India's top digital payments platform.
The move may restrict the food delivery firm’s operations and decisions not just in the country, but in all geographies, The Economic Times said, citing regulatory filings with the companies’ registrar sourced from business intelligence platform Paper.vc.
When Ant Financial invested $210 million more in Zomato in October last year, the food delivery platform signed a pact making it a portfolio firm of the Alibaba unit, going by the regulatory filings. Paytm, founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, is also a portfolio firm of Ant Financial.
There are provisions in Zomato’s bye-laws which appear to protect the interests of other significant Ant Financial portfolio companies, especially Paytm in India, the report said.
Two large enterprises, Info Edge and Ant Financial, together own more than 55% in Zomato. The food delivery platform will have to find a lead investor that Ant doesn’t view as a competitor, given that it has a right to veto the funding round.
Zomato has approached Ant Financial, Glade Brook Capital and Temasek, all existing backers, to be a part of its next funding round, people close to the matter told The Economic Times.
Meanwhile, Reliance Capital plans to sell up to 51% stake each in its wholly-owned non-banking financial companies — Reliance Home Finance and Reliance Commercial Finance -- and in two media companies Codemasters and Prime Focus, three people familiar with the matter told Mint.
Talks to sell Reliance Home Finance are underway between the Anil Ambani-controlled financial services company and Varde Partners Inc., AION Capital, Cerberus Capital Management and Altico Capital India Ltd, the report said, citing people mentioned above.
Reliance Home Finance currently has a loan book of Rs 11,000 crore comprising Rs 4,500 crore of retail loans and Rs 6,500 crore of wholesale loans. Reliance Capital will remain a significant minority shareholder, said the persons.
In another development, social commerce platform Meesho Inc. is looking to raise up to $200 million (about Rs 1,419.7 crore at current exchange rate) and is in talks with Japan’s SoftBank to lead the round, four people familiar with the matter told Mint.
Existing investors are also expected to take part in the fundraising, they added.
In June, the company received a minority investment from Facebook.
The company counts Shunwei Capital, SAIF Partners, Sequoia, DST Global, and Y Combinator, among others, as existing investors.