Private equity is the new fuel for India’s tycoons

TV18 Broadcast

03/05/2023 05:02

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Shritama Bose
       MUMBAI, May 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Big
conglomerates Reliance, Tata and Bharti are putting more skin in
the game by looking to outside shareholders including tech
giants and sovereign funds to finance new ventures. It heralds a
shift from debt to equity, and towards better governance at the
expense of lenders. 
    Full view will be published shortly.
    Follow @ShritamaBose on Twitter

    CONTEXT NEWS
    Viacom18, a unit of Reliance Industries' TV18 Broadcast, on
April 13 said it has raised $527 million from James
Murdoch-backed Bodhi Tree Systems. Bodhi Tree holds a 13% stake
in Viacom18 on a fully diluted basis, following the deal.
    Tata Motors intends to raise $1 billion from the sale of a
significant minority stake in its electric vehicles division,
the Economic Times reported on Feb. 23, citing unnamed sources. 
    The Mumbai-listed automaker is in talks with sovereign
wealth funds and private equity investors, including the Abu
Dhabi Investment Authority and Mubadala Investment Company,
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Singapore's Temasek
Holdings, KKR and General Atlantic, the report said. 
    Gautam Adani’s eponymous conglomerate said in January that
its group companies had raised equity worth $16 billion “under a
systematic capital management plan” over the last three years.
Investors include France’s TotalEnergies, Abu Dhabi-based
International Holding Company, Qatar Investment Authority and
Warburg Pincus, it added.

 (Editing by Una Galani and Katrina Hamlin)
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