US-based private equity investor KKR & Co. will pay $50 million (Rs 347 at current exchange rate) to buy a controlling stake as well as to recapitalise non-banking financial company (NBFC) Svakarma Finance, people directly aware of the matter told The Times of India.
Mumbai-based Svakarma, started by former Citibank executives in 2017 including Vivek Vig and Kalpana Iyer, focuses on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in semi-urban and rural areas.
The move will help KKR to expand its loan book in areas other than corporate lending.
Meanwhile, Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led digital payments company Paytm is in talks to acquire Mumbai-based insurance marketplace Coverfox for up to $120 million (Rs 833.5 crore at current exchange rate) in an all-cash deal, two people aware of the matter told The Economic Times.
If the transaction goes through, the company’s financial services segment, Paytm Money, will rival the country’s largest online insurance marketplace PolicyBazaar.
The deal may face a hurdle as SoftBank is a large investor in Paytm’s parent as well as PolicyBazaar. SAIF Partners, too, is a common investor in Paytm and Coverfox.
Coverfox, which counts among its investors SAIF, Accel, NR Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran Ventures and World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, in April 2018 completed its Series C round worth $22 million.
Separately, two people in the know told The Economic Times that Yes Bank is in talks with private equity investors Advent International and Apax Partners for around Rs 3,000 crore ($432 million at current exchange rate) equity financing.
The company, facing investor wrath over the actual amount of its stressed assets, had failed to raise funds in a qualified institutional placement previously.