Mortgage lender HDFC is looking to raise at least $1 billion (Rs 7,540 crore at current exchange rate) through a partial stake sale for filling up its war chest ahead of a possible spurt in demand for loans once the economy reopens fully, people in the know told The Economic Times.
”The company is yet to take a final decision on when to launch the issue,” one of the persons said.
The HDFC issue could be in one or multiple tranches.
Separately, Malaysian state oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is in active negotiations and is conducting due diligence to become a key investor in Tata Power’s planned renewable energy infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), people in the know told The Economic Times.
Tata Power has been looking to raise up to $750 million (Rs 5,655 crore at current exchange rate) through the trust.
Approaches were made to several including KKR, Brookfield, Mubadala, Omers, German financial giant Allianz and many others, said the people in the know.
Tatas are open to selling 51% of the InvIT to investors, added the people mentioned above. The Tata Group is looking at a valuation of up to $2.5 billion for its 3.8 gigawatt solar and wind portfolio.
Another 700 MW of solar projects are under development in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat requiring a capital expenditure of Rs 3,000 crore.
“Some of the multilateral agencies like UK’s CDC Group and World Bank's lending arm IFC (International Finance Corporation) and SWFs (sovereign wealth funds) have been bullish on the clean energy space and are expected to come on board as co-investors but are likely to contribute smaller cheques and remain as passive investors,” one of the persons said.
The plan is to transfer the operational portfolio and debt to the InvIT. The pipeline assets will subsequently also get transferred to the platform, based on pre-agreed contractual obligations. The platform will further bulk up through acquisitions.
Meanwhile, the Wadia Group is looking to sell up to 5% stake in Britannia Industries for up to Rs 4,000 crore ($530 million at current exchange rate) in open market, multiple persons with knowledge of the matter told The Economic Times.
The group is expected to infuse these funds into its aviation firm GoAir and textile and real estate company Bombay Dyeing, the report said.
Wadias currently own 50.96% of Britannia through Associated Biscuits International.
Wadias may raise up to $2 billion through two separate secondary issuances that have received strong foreign institutional interest from sovereign funds, pension money managers, and bulge-bracket long-only investors from North America, Europe, West Asia and Southeast Asia.
Separately, education technology startup Unacademy is looking to become the next unicorn (a startup valued at more than $1 billion) with a new round of funding which would value it at over $1.2 billion (Rs 9,050 crore at current exchange rate), two people familiar with the development told The Times of India.
Unacademy is expected to raise up to $150 million (about Rs 1,130 crore at current exchange rate), but the amount could be higher depending on investor appetite and final valuation, the persons added.
In February, Unacademy secured $110 million from Facebook and PE firm General Atlantic at a valuation that was less than half of what it expects for the new round.