Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank is looking to sell its entire 70% or a majority stake in its renewables joint venture in India, SBG Cleantech, to a single entity, people in the know told The Economic Times.
SoftBank is in talks with sovereign wealth and pension funds from the Far East and Gulf, some of which are limited partners of SoftBank Vision Fund, the people said, adding that it is also in discussions with Silicon Valley-based tech giants that are big buyers of clean energy.
The Japanese technology and telecoms giant is looking at a partner that can offer up to $2 billion (Rs 14,294 crore at current exchange rate) through the deal for execution and completion of seven gigawatt worth of renewable projects around the world, the people said.
SBG Cleantech predominantly has operating assets in India besides the US, Latin America and West Asia.
Meanwhile, self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar India Pvt. Ltd is at an advanced stage to acquire its competitor Revv, owned by Primemover Mobility Technologies Pvt. Ltd, two people familiar with the matter told Entrackr.
“The conversations are fairly advanced, but they are stuck at the share swap ratio,” said one of the two people cited above. “Revv wants one share for every three shares, and Zoomcar wants to give one share for every 4.25 shares.”
“A few months ago, SoftBank was interested in investing in Zoomcar on a condition of a merger with either Drivezy or Revv, but Drivezy wasn’t too keen on the merger,” said a person. “Revv’s existing backer Hyundai is likely to invest if it merges with Zoomcar,” another person said.
In another news, Elara Technologies that owns realty portals PropTiger, Makaan and Housing.com has received $70 million (Rs.500 crore) in fresh investment from US-based News Corp and its Australian group firm REA, PTI reported.
Elara is backed by investors such as SoftBank, Accel and SAIF Partners.
The capital infusion is in the form of a convertible note that covers the $35 million raised by Elara as debt from Citi Singapore in August last year.
Elara Technologies, a digital real estate marketing and transactions services firm, has been founded by Dhruv Agarwala. He is the group CEO of all the three portals -- Housing, PropTiger, and Makaan.
News Corp, the main investor in Elara, also owns the parent of this news website.
