The government has received expressions of interest (EOIs) from several parties including Vedanta Resources, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, and Great Eastern Shipping for its 63.75% stake in Shipping Corp of India (SCI), two people told Mint.
US-based Safesea Group and a consortium of Foresight Offshore Drilling Ltd SA, Belgium-based Exmar NV and Dubai-based GMS DMCC have also submitted EoIs, the people added.
Separately, Vedanta Resources has submitted an EoI for Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Megha Engineering is looking to buy a 26% stake in state-run defence equipment maker BEML.
Also, packaging material manufacturer Jindal Poly Films is looking to raise up to Rs 1,200 crore through a significant minority stake sale and has hired Rothschild to run the sale process, two people told The Economic Times.
Large private equity funds including the Blackstone Group and Advent International have been approached for the stake sale, the people said.
US-based Blackstone had done the largest buyouts in the Indian packaging industry as part of which Piramal Glass was acquired at an enterprise value of $1 billion in December 2020 and Essel Propack for $470 million in 2019.
Separately, ride-hailing service Meru Mobility is in advanced talks with Japanese car leasing firm Orix Auto Infrastructure Services for a stake sale, two people told The Economic Times.
Mahindra & Mahindra-backed Meru had planned to raise up to Rs 400 crore and was in talks with a clutch of strategic investors over the last six to nine months, the report added.
M&M had previously said that it would look at an initial public offering (IPO) for its mobility unit, of which Meru is a part, to unlock value. It had planned to make the mobility business – which includes Meru, Alyte and Glyd – a $1 billion offering over the next three to four years.
The group is already an investor in self-drive car rental platform ZoomCar India and has integrated Meru EVGO and Mahindra’s electric vehicle platform Glyd for city and outstation travel.
Also, news aggregator Inshorts is looking to raise up to $80 million in fresh funds from A91 Partners and existing investors including SIG Global, three people told Entrackr.
“Inshorts will be valued at over $350 million in the fresh financing round which includes a secondary component from early backers,” one of the persons said.
In September 2020, the Noida-based firm raised a $35 million funding round led by Lee Fixel’s new venture capital firm Addition.
Separately, spacetech startup Agnikul may raise up to $12 million in its Series A round of funding from venture capital firm Mayfield, an Entrackr report said citing three people.
This would be the first institutional round for the Chennai-based firm.
“The company will be valued at $35 million (post-money) in its Series A round,” one of the persons said.
Last year, spacetech startup Pixxel had raised $5 million in its seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
And Pune-based Vesta Space raised $10 million from Next Capital in May 2020.
Agnikul raised Rs 23.4 crore in its seed round led by Pi Ventures at a valuation of Rs 70 crore or $9.5 million in February last year, the report said citing regulatory filings. Also, the startup was recently backed by Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra.
