Japan’s SoftBank, a big-ticket private equity investor in India, has sold shares of Brainbees Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates kids-focussed retailer FirstCry, in a secondary transaction.
The multinational investment banker sold shares of FirstCry worth Rs 435 crore, to Ranjan Pai’s MEMG family office, Harsh Mariwala’s Sharrp Ventures and Hemendra Kothari-led DSP family office.
Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial adviser to FirstCry and its shareholders on this transaction.
According to a report by The Economic Times, Softbank had invested close to $300 million in FirstCry in different tranches, thereby picking a 29% stake in the process. The investor has now offloaded a 1.5-2% stake in the company at a valuation of around $3 billion to reduce its shareholding as it doesn’t want to get classified as a company promoter.
"Our early investors have been instrumental in our success, and we are delighted to have helped deliver multi-fold returns. I welcome our new investors who bring with them the track record and knowledge of scaling large businesses in India,” said Supam Maheshwari, co-founder and chief executive officer of FirstCry.
Founded in 2010 by Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, FirstCry is one of the largest online and offline retailers of baby and kids’ products in the country.
The company also counts the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), ChrysCapital, Chiratae Ventures, Mahindra Retail, and Mahindra Engineering and Chemical Products Ltd, among others on its cap table.
Firstcry is likely to go public by next year. The company is reportedly likely to file the draft papers for the potential IPO by the end of this calendar year.
