Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has placed several pre-conditions to acquire the 80% stake held by Japan’s SoftBank in SB Energy Holdings for an estimated $520 million (about Rs 3,784 crore), according to a report in Mint, which cited two people aware of the development.
The conditions include meeting certain project commissioning deadlines, securing new businesses, achieving land possession from the Andhra Pradesh government, getting the Punjab government on-board for buying electricity from a project, a bond issuance, SoftBank bearing any future liquidated damages liability and reimbursement of safeguard duty for a project in Rajasthan, they said.
“One of the conditions is about securing around 3GW of solar projects by 2022,” said one of the two people cited above.
Meanwhile, online grocery store Grofers is in talks for an indirect listing in the US by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, three people familiar with the development told Mint.
“If Grofers merges with a SPAC entity already listed in the US, it gets fresh liquidity,” one of the three people cited above said. Grofers had previously said it was eyeing a public listing later this year.
“Given the profitability and other financial metrics needed to list in India, a domestic listing would not be easy for Grofers. That said, it is not easy for an Indian firm to list through the SPAC route due to many tax compliances,” the second person said.
Meanwhile, Grofers has already been through unsuccessful acquisition and funding talks with online food delivery firm Zomato and e-commerce firm Paytm Mall.
In another development, online food ordering platform Swiggy is in advanced talks to raise up to $800 million (about Rs 5,822 crore) in a funding round led by sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority with participation from GIC of Singapore and global alternative asset manager Falcon Edge, an Economic Times report cited multiple people in the know.
Other new and existing investors may also join the round, the sources said. Swiggy could be valued at around $5 billion (about Rs 36,391 crore), another person said.
Swiggy had closed its previous funding at about $3.7 billion (about Rs 26,930 crore) valuation when it raised $158 million (about Rs 1,150 crore) led by its largest backer Naspers in February 2020.
Also, local social network ShareChat is eyeing unicorn status with a funding round worth $300 million (about Rs 2,183 crore) led by internet giant Google and participation from Snap, people aware of the matter told The Economic Times.
Twitter, which is in the middle of a row with the Indian government, is an existing investor in ShareChat.
Separately, Adani Logistics Ltd sold 35.48 lakh shares of Snowman Logistics Ltd through the open market from 5 January to 9 February. The shares sold represent a 2.12% stake in the company. Adani Logistics continues to hold 29.92 lakh shares, representing a 1.79% stake in the company.
