Billionaire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure Ltd has sold its stake in Indian Energy Exchange Ltd (IEX), earning multi-fold returns on its nine-year-old bet.
Reliance Infrastructure sold its 4.122% stake in the power exchange operator for Rs 103 crore ($15 million), a person close to the development said. It had bought the stake in October 2007 for Rs 1.25 crore.
The person, who spoke on the conditions of anonymity, didn’t reveal the identity of the buyer saying only that the stake was sold to a non-resident Indian investor.
Reliance Infrastructure and IEX did not respond to a request for comment till the time of filing this report.
The person also said that the deal values IEX at Rs 2,500 crore. This is 5% higher than the estimated valuation of Rs 2,375 crore when the last exit deal involving an exit from the exchange was struck earlier this year.
Earlier this year, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd sold its 4.12% stake in IEX. The stake was bought by Motilal Oswal Private Equity for an estimated $14 million.
The same month, Bessemer Venture Partners fully exited the IEX and selling its stake to TVS Capital and Dalmia Group.
TVS Capital had, in September 2015, told VCCircle that the future of IEX looked promising and that the exchange might list later.
In October 2015, Financial Technologies India Ltd sold its 6.58% stake in the exchange for $21.83 million to Madison India Capital Advisors India, Siguler Guff India Advisors.
IEX reported net sales of Rs 175 crore and a profit after tax of Rs 100 crore for the year ended in March 2016, as per VCCEdge, the data research platform of NewsCorp VCCircle.
Founded in 2008, IEX is India’s first exchange for trading in electricity and renewable energy certificates. Its trading platform is used by power market participants such as state electricity boards, industrial consumers, power generators and traders, as per its website.
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