Alpha Wave is new face in VLCC's beauty parade

livemint.com:

Carlyle," the first person quoted above said, adding that Alpha Wave is also likely to infuse some fresh capital into the company. “The term sheet from Alpha Wave is conditional and is contingent upon the company meeting several milestones such as FY25 revenue growth, targeted store openings and other clauses," the second person noted above said. “The deal is likely to be closed only next financial year." The deal comes a year and a half after Carlyle bought a majority stake in the company for $300 million in January 2023.

Carlyle currently holds around 63% stake in the company and the remaining is held by one of the founders, Mukesh Luthra. Private equity (PE) firm TPG was earlier in talks to pick up a stake in VLCC alongside other investors. Emailed queries to VLCC and to the spokesperson of Alpha Wave were unanswered.

Carlyle declined to comment. The stake sale follows a trend of derisking by global private equity (PE) companies in their portfolio firms where they hold majority stake. “Given that the business has performed well and the valuations are likely to go up, the PEs are looking to take some money off the table and derisk their larger bets," the third person cited above said.

All three persons spoke on condition of anonymity. Carlyle has amped up its deal activity in the country in recent times, with investments in companies such as VLCC, Varmora Tiles and Yes Bank, among others, in the past two years. Over the past six months, it partly exited Yes Bank through block deals in the open market.