US-based private equity fund Warburg Pincus is looking to exit Embassy Industrial Parks, its joint venture with Bengaluru-based Embassy Group, persons in the know told Business Standard.
The JV was formed four-and-a-half years back to build industrial and warehousing spaces in the country.
“Warburg is not happy with the speed with which the land acquisition and development happened in the JV,” said the persons.
Warburg’s equity commitment stood at $175 million (Rs 1,287 crore at current exchange rate) and Embassy was to put in $75 million (Rs 551.6 crore). The persons said Embassy’s promoters could buy back Warburg Pincus’s stake in the JV.
Aditya Virwani, chief operating officer at Embassy, said, “We are just conservative in land deals we do as that’s where the margin is made.”
He had previously said in October that the JV developed 2.7 million square feet of space and plans to build 7 million sq ft. The JV is planning to build 35 million sq ft of industrial and warehousing space by 2024.
In another development, news agency Bloomberg reported that the government has approved a plan for State Bank of India to lead a group that would buy a stake in private-sector lender Yes Bank.
SBI, the country’s biggest bank, has been authorized to select other members of the consortium, the report said.
Shares of Yes Bank soared as much as 18% to Rs 34.70 apiece on the BSE after the report.
Yes Bank has been struggling for the past many months to raise funds from external investors in a bid to beef up its capital base in the wake of high bad loans.