Bain frontrunner to buy Adani Capital for Rs 1500 crore

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Bain Capital is in advanced negotiations to close the acquisition of Gautam Adani's seven-year-old shadow bank, Adani Capital, edging past Carlyle as the Ahmedabad-based billionaire looks to realign his business interests and focus on core infrastructure by conserving cash, said people directly involved. ET was the first to report July 10 that three private equity (PE) groups, including the aforementioned two and Cerberus Capital Management, were in the final lap of the process. Adani Capital's management — led by former Lehman Brothers and Macquarie investment banker Gaurav Gupta, who joined the conglomerate in 2016 — owns around 10% of the company.

Gautam Adani owns nearly 90% of the firm, which has been up for grabs for the last few months. The company had ₹3,977 crore of assets under management at the end of FY23, up 63% from a year ago, with book value pegged at ₹800 crore. Bain is expected to pay ₹1,500 crore for the company or twice the book value and also infuse ₹500 crore of primary capital into the firm as growth equity.

Even though Gautam Adani is expected to monetise his investment via an exit, it's not clear yet if the management team will retain a small stake and run the company. It reported gross disbursements of ₹2,482 crore and a total income of ₹599 crore in FY23.Farm Sector Largest Vertical on AUM Front The firm clocked a PAT of ₹105 crore. Bain declined to comment.

The Adani Group and Gupta didn't respond to emails sent on Saturday. Being associated with the Adani Group has resulted in limitations in fund flow for the shadow bank as most banks and lending groups are nearing group exposure limits, added the sources mentioned above. Adani is working with Avendus on the sale process.