Singapore-based private equity firm Nalanda Capital has picked up nearly 8 per cent stake in auto ancillary firm NRB Bearings through a deal on Thursday. Nalanda India Equity Fund acquired 7.96 per cent stake in the company for Rs 27.02 crore.
Nalanda bought over 7.7 million shares in NRB, which were sold by some members of the company’s promoter group. The shares were picked up for Rs 35 a unit.
NRB Bearings’ scrip closed at Rs 35.60, up 3.04 per cent on Thursday, giving the Mumbai-based company a market capitalisation of Rs 479.53 crore.
Another major shareholder in NRB Bearings is the hedge fund Acacia Capital, which owns nearly 7 per cent stake.
NRB Bearings was jointly promoted by Trilochan Singh Sahney and French needle bearing manufacturer Nadella SA (known as Timken France SAS) in 1966. The company manufactures needle, cylindrical, spherical and taper-roller bearings.
The Sahney family bought out the stake held by Timken in 2005 and the promoter group held over 72 per cent stake before the current sale. The company is now headed by Harshbeena S Zaveri, daughter of Sahney. NRB Bearings also demerged its industrial bearings segment as NRB Industrial Bearings Ltd in October last year.
For FY12, the NRB Group (merged) reported a net profit of Rs 50.9 crore on net sales of Rs 560 crore. For the first nine months of FY13, NRB Bearings reported 10 per cent increase in total revenues to Rs 436 crore while its net profit moved up 4.8 per cent to Rs 36.9 crore, compared to the same period last year.
Another PE-backed company in the bearings space is Rolex Rings, which raised $40 million from New Silk Route in 2007.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)