Private equity firm ChrysCapital is considering investing around Rs 500 crore ($69.6 million at current exchange rate) in RBL Bank, people in the know told CNBC-TV18.
The lender faced with asset quality concerns had earlier announced plans to sell shares to raise Rs 3,500 crore to shore up capital. ChrysCapital had invested in RBL Bank in a pre-IPO round in 2016 and exited later.
In the second quarter of 2019-20, RBL Bank’s net profit slumped 73% due to a sharp rise in provisions for non-performing assets (NPAs). The lender added Rs 1,377 crore of NPAs during the quarter, much higher than Rs 225 crore added at the end of June 2019. The bank had said that they are taking a conservative approach in a challenging economic scenario.
Separately, global private equity majors KKR, TPG Capital and Bain Capital have signed a non-disclosure agreement to evaluate a potential share purchase in Café Coffee Day, two persons in the know told The Times of India, as CCD looks to pare close to Rs 5,000 crore debt.
The late VG Siddhartha’s family wants to retain some shareholding in the business, said one of the persons, asking not to be named. While Siddhartha had pegged a valuation of up to Rs 10,000 crore, a potential deal valuation could be up to Rs 6,000 crore, said the person. However, the current market capitalisation of the company has come down to just Rs 925 crore.
The shareholding of promoters has also come down from 54% to a little over 25% over the last quarter as lenders have revoked pledged shares. Blackstone agreed to acquire CCD’s Global Village Technology Park in Bengaluru for up to Rs 3,000 crore.
CCD expects to bring its debt down to Rs 1,300 crore in the next three quarters, the report said.
Separately, Reliance Industries Ltd is at an advanced stage of acquiring a 51% stake in SaaS startup NowFloats Technologies Pvt. Ltd, three persons in the know told Entrackr, as the Mukesh Ambani-led firm gears up for an e-commerce launch with several business-to-business and consumer-facing Internet companies already in its kitty.
Jasminder Gulati-steered NowFloats allows local businesses to get an online presence. The is in line with Reliance’s e-commerce dream that is largely centred around small retailers.
As part of the deal, existing investors would partially exit NowFloats, the persons said, asking not to be named. The startup is backed by Blume Ventures, Omidyar Network, Iron Pillar, IIFL and Wenlyn Global Group, among others. Seven months ago, it raised Rs 25.4 crore in a debt round from existing investors.
Last year, Reliance acquired education-tech startup Embibe while this year it announced similar deals with chat-bot maker Haptik and retail tech startup Fynd.
