Shishir Bajaj Group, which broke off from the rest of Bajaj family a few years ago, has sold a small stake in its flagship group firm Bajaj Corp for a little over Rs 320 crore ($52 million) to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek, on Tuesday.
This brings down the promoter holding in Bajaj Corp from 75 per cent to 67 per cent.
It is one of the two significant listed firms under Shishir Bajaj Group, now led by Kushagra Bajaj. The other being sugar producer Bajaj Hindusthan.
Last year Bajaj Corp had acquired NOMARKS, an anti-marks skin care brand from Ozone Ayurvedics.
Bajaj Corp is known for its hair oil brands like Bajaj Kailash Parbat Thanda Tel, Bajaj Almond Drops Hair Oil, Bajaj Brahmi Amla Hair Oil, Bajaj Amla Shikakai Hair Oil and Bajaj Jasmine Hair Oil.
Bajaj Corp’s scrip last traded at Rs 303.9 a share, down 1.23 per cent on the BSE in a weak Mumbai market on Tuesday.
For Temasek, this marks the second bet on an Indian FMCG firm. In early 2012 it had invested Rs 685 crore ($135 million) to buy 4.9 per cent stake in consumer products firm Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, in the single-largest alternative investment deal in the Indian FMCG industry.
It put in the money through a preferential allotment, making it the largest institutional shareholder in Godrej Consumer, the flagship of the $3.4-billion Godrej group. Last year it had part-exited Godrej Consumer.
This is the sixth addition to its portfolio this year after Intas Pharma, Star AgriWarehousing & Collateral Management, M&M Financial, Snapdeal and Devyani International.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)