Global private equity giant Blackstone Group is acquiring majority control in Gokaldas Exports for nearly Rs 6.6 billion ($160 m), in the country’s largest management buyout in the textiles industry.
This is Blackstone’s third major deal this year, the other two being a $275 million investment in Ushodaya Enterprises, which runs the Eenadu newspaper and ETV franchise, and a management buy-out of BPO firm Intelenet from Barclays and HDFC for Rs 8.4 b ($ 203 m).
The PE shop known for its appetite for large global deals (Hilton Hotels - $26 b, EOP - $ 36 billion including debt of $16.5 b) appears to have tweaked its strategy in India, settling for a lot smaller deals. I wonder the viability of this strategy since it could eventually lead to problems of scale or even oversight. The string-of-pearls strategy is quite cumbersome for an 11 people strong PE firm to manage on the trot given the bureaucracy it may have to deal with in India.
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Of course, one can’t find many companies of the size of a Hilton or EOP in India easily but if they can look closely, they might as well zero in on some real sweetspots. I have earlier written about one here. If approached rightly, it’s a terrific deal at $1.2 billion. There are a few more available if looked at closely, not like a professional investment banker who does it for a fee, but by a committed PE fund manager driven by pure passion for such deals.
If you need help Mr.Akhil Gupta, you know whom to hire :)
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