AION Capital leads race for Interglobe arm, in fray to buy 30% in LVB

AION has entered exclusive discussions with InterGlobe, which could lead to a buyout of the latter's software arm for around $225-250 million, or Rs 18 bn

AION Capital, a joint venture between global buyout firm Apollo Global and ICICI Venture, seems to be getting aggressive. The special situations fund has emerged as the frontrunner to buy InterGlobe Technologies, the IT and back-office arm of travel conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises, The Times of India reports. AION has also joined the race to buy 30 per cent stake in Lakshmi Vilas Bank, another paper reported. 

AION has entered exclusive discussions with InterGlobe Technologies, which could lead to a buyout of the latter for around $225-250 million, or Rs 18 billion, according to a report. It is also bidding with other private equity players such as Blackstone, Carlyle and True North for Lakshmi Vilas Bank. These would be the fourth investment from AION this year.

The special situations fund, headed by senior partner and managing director Parth Gandhi, has invested over $643 million in India since 2013 across seven deals, according to data firm NewsCorp VCC Edge. This data though may not capture all the deals by AION. 

AION Capital Ltd is in the midst of raising its second India-focused fund with a targeted corpus of over $1 billion, the Mint reported in August. AION had closed its maiden fund in 2014 at $825 million. 
 

Additionally, it also manages $120 million of co-invested capital of ICICI Venture and Apollo, taking its total assets under management to $945 million.

For the new fund, Apollo is expected to commit up to $100 million, while the rest will be raised from investors across the globe, especially from the US, where most of AION’s current set of limited partners are based. AION’s maiden fund also had seen participation from some of Apollo’s investors, including US-based pension funds, the report said.

Since raising its first fund, AION had made a number of investments, including pure equity to structured credit deals, in financial services, manufacturing, broadcast services and renewable energy.

In 2013, it had invested around $150 million in the holding company of the Gautam Thapar-promoted Avantha Group, to repay debt and release pledged shares of the promoters. In January 2017, AION had funded the management buyout of GE’s Indian commercial finance business by Pramod Bhasin and Anil Chawla.

In March, AION received an approval to set up an asset reconstruction company (ARC) from the Reserve Bank of India as part of its distressed assets investment strategy. In July, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had approved a joint bid by AION Capital and JSW Steel to acquire Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd in deal valued at Rs 28.75 billion.