Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is planning to gradually sell its stake in IDBI Bank nearly two years after it rescued the lender, three people aware of the matter told Mint.
LIC holds 51% stake in the bank. However, it is looking for the bank’s stock price to improve before the stake sale.
“The price should be right and for that LIC doesn’t mind waiting. IDBI Bank has had two quarters of profit.” said one of the three people.
IDBI Bank has secured shareholder approval to raise up to Rs 11,000 crore this fiscal in two tranches via equity sales.
“The government’s main objective to bring in LIC was to restore investor confidence. So now, LIC’s stake is purely kept from an investment point of view. So, once it gets the right price, it will exit,” said the second person.
Meanwhile, Blackstone Group and Partners Group Holding AG are the only two bidders now vying for a controlling stake in Piramal Enterprises Ltd’s glass unit, which is being valued at $1 billion (Rs 7,377 crore), people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
While the winner might be announced in October, other bidders could also emerge and Piramal might choose to keep the business, the people said.
In June, Carlyle Group bought a 20% stake in Piramal Pharma Ltd.
Also, EverSource Capital plans to buy out the entire 167 megawatt (MW) solar rooftop portfolio of NYSE-listed Azure Power Global for about $112 million (Rs 826 crore), two people aware of the development told Mint.
German development finance institution Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and CDPQ are key investors in Azure.
EverSource Capital, a 50:50 JV between PE firm Everstone Capital and global solar project developer Lightsource BP, is looking to invest over $1 billion in renewable energy investments through its Green Growth Equity Fund.
It has the National Investments and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India and the UK government’ Department for International Development as anchor investors.
In another development, SoftBank-backed logistics unicorn Delhivery Pvt. Ltd is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in up to 18 months, chief business officer Sandeep Barasia told Mint.
The Gurugram-based company is waiting for upcoming rules on foreign listing but would prefer to list in India, he said.
Zomato, InMobi, Paytm, Ola, Grofers, PolicyBazaar, PhonePe and Lenskart are among other Indian unicorns that are currently looking to go public.
Separately, lenders to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL), who have given applicants the option to bid for the whole company or in parts, had earlier shortlisted 22 applicants.
KKR India Financial Services, Welspun Group, Adani Group, Oaktree Capital and Bain Capital were among the 14 who had submitted expressions of interest to take over the entire business.
Now, the lenders are voting to extend the deadline for submission of bids till October 17, which is set to expire on September 16, a Financial Express report disclosed.
Also, Dream Sports, the parent firm of fantasy gaming platform Dream11, is in talks to acquire Bengaluru-based e-sports platform SoStronk, people in the know told Moneycontrol. The exact size of the deal was not immediately clear.
Dream11 raised $225 million in a fresh round of funding from Tiger Global, TPG, ChrysCapital and Footpath Ventures on Monday.
SoStronk raised an undisclosed amount from Inflection Point Ventures last year.
The report added that Dream11 is in negotiations with at least 4-5 other gaming and technology startups for potential acquisitions.
