Global investment giant Temasek-owned irrigation company Rivulis on Tuesday announced a merger with publicly-listed Jain Irrigation’s international business in a cash and stock transaction.
Temasek will hold 78% in the merged entity while Jain’s international business will continue to hold over 22%.
As per the terms of the definitive transaction agreement, the international irrigation business of Jain Irrigation will now be merged with Rivulis to create a global irrigation and climate leader – 2nd biggest in the world – with revenue of over $750 million, Jain Irrigation said in a statement.
The listed irrigation company further said that the proceeds from the transaction will be used for reduction of consolidated debt of the company by over 45% which includes all restructured overseas bonds of over $225 milllion.
Further, Jain Irrigation will also get to release its corporate guarantee worth Rs 2,275 cr to bondholders and lenders, the statement added.
Commenting on the development, Anil Jain, director of Jain Irrigation said, “We are happy to enter this alliance with Temasek. We anticipate that the merger with Rivulis will create a world-leading player equipped to serve a global customer base thanks to geographic footprint and expertise in micro irrigation.”
Singapore-headquartered Temasek – with $381 billion-worth assets under management - previously acquired a majority stake in Rivulis in 2020 and assumed full ownership in March 2022.
In recent developments around Temasek's activity in India, the private equity player recently, along with Google parent Alphabet, invested in multilingual social media platform ShareChat at a valuation of $4.9 billion.
In April 2022, the Singaporean state investment firm also earmarked an investment of $162.5 million (around Rs 1,245 crore) in three funds owned and managed by Info Edge (India).
Notably, in April, VCCircle had reported that credit card platform OneCard was in talks with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Temasek to raise funds at a valuation of $1 billion.
The merged entity, according to the statement, will continue to use and promote “Jain” brands in markets where they have significant presence and value, the statement added.
“We look forward to this value accretive long-term relationship to create positive impact in the agri and food ecosystem. At the same time, we also look forward to jointly explore collaboration opportunities with Temasek in the future of food and agriculture, including areas relating to ESG, hi-tech agricultural inputs, technology innovation, as well as solutions to benefit small holder farmers,” Jain said in the statement.
“While benefitting from significant operational economies of scale and a diverse employee base, we will ensure that all commitments to our growing community and our combined business partners are maintained and strengthened. Rivulis, before the merger, represented the combination of four companies, and through this merger, several more companies from Jain Irrigation’s portfolio will be added, cementing our role as a market consolidator and leader across the globe,” Richard Klapholz, chief executive officer of Rivulis said.
