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Japan’s Mizuho Bank and Dubai’s government-owned NBD Emirates are frontrunner to take over KKR’s stake in Avendus Capital. The two foreign investors are said to be at advanced stages of due diligence and are expected to submit their bids in the next 2 – 3 weeks.
The deal is said to be valued at approximately $430–450 million (₹3,500–3,750 crore), which is slightly lower than KKR’s earlier anticipated valuations of $500 million. Nomura is said to have been engaged to handle the mandate.
KKR holds about 63 per cent stake in Avendus Capital with the rest held by Gaja Capital and Yogesh Mahansaria, Founder and CEO of Alliance Tire Group. According to sources, both the interested buyers are keen to hold more stake in the company in addition to taking over KKR’s interest.
To pick up 80%
“Emirates and Mizuho have shown interest to pick up at least 80 per cent stake in Avendus Capital, though that would depend on whether the other shareholders are willing to exit in the current round of secondary transaction,” said a highly placed source aware of the development.
Gaja Capital and Mahansaria came into play at Avendus’ cap table in 2017 round of fund infusion, when the company raised ₹980 crore. Best known for its investment banking capabilities, Avendus Capital is a 24-year-old homegrown boutique financial services firm with interest ranging from credit solutions including structured credit funds, wealth management, asset management and institutional equities. The firm was originally promoted by Kaushal Aggarwal, Ranu Vohra and Gaurav Deepak.
In 2015, KKR picked up 58 per cent stake in Avendus for a valuation of about $200 million. Emails sent to NBD Emirates and Mizuho Bank remained unanswered till press time, while spokesperson for Avendus said “we do not comment on stories of this nature as per company policy”.
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