Castrol to pick up 7.09% stake in TVS family's Ki Mobility for Rs 488 cr

With this deal, which is Castrol's largest all-cash transaction, the firm aims to expand its presence in service and maintenance of ICE vehicles and EVs

Lubricant major Castrol India will acquire 7.09 per cent stake in automobile aftermarket player, Ki Mobility Solutions, for Rs 487.5 crore. Ki Mobility is a part of TVS Mobility Group.

With this strategic investment, Castrol aims to expand its presence in service and maintenance of internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric vehicles (EV), aprt from leveraging myTVS’ digital and operational capabilities. The alliance will also enable Castrol and KMS to collaborate in select markets beyond India. Ki Mobility is the digital subsidiary of TVS Automobile Solutions (TVS ASPL), the country's largest player in the automotive aftermarket segment. This will be the largest all-cash deal by CIL so far, Ki Mobility said on Friday. 

Last August, Italy’s Agnelli family's holding company Exor fund invested Rs 375 crore in Ki Mobility. Incidentally, Exor has also invested in global companies such as Ferrari, Fiat, Chrysler Automobiles, PartnerRe, and CNH Industrial, apart from entities like the Economist Group and Juventus Football Club.

According to Ki Mobility, the two companies are collaborating to leverage each other’s strengths and expand the country’s automotive aftermarket ecosystem via ‘myTVS’, Ki Mobility’s digitally integrated multi-brand service platform for two and four wheelers.

With this alliance, vehicle owners will gain access to differentiated, digitally-enabled service and maintenance offerings on the myTVS platform, which reaches three million customers across 1,000 garages in India. "myTVS’ online-to-offline digital platform already offers quality, standardised and cost-effective services and parts to B2B and B2C customers through its owned outlets, franchise network, at home services and road-side assistance," the company said.

Castrol India's existing presence in service and maintenance includes its rapidly expanding network of 220 Castrol Auto Service passenger car workshops in 110 cities, and 42 Castrol Express Oil Change outlets for two-wheeler consumers.

“Ki Mobility has a leading automotive digital platform, myTVS, which is disrupting the Indian aftermarket. Castrol’s established brand equity and nationwide footprint in India, combined with myTVS’ digital strength, will bring structure to the currently fragmented automotive service sector and will also accelerate business growth for KMS. In addition, Castrol will explore business and technology collaborations with Ki Mobility to enable the transition to electric mobility. Indian consumers will reap the dual benefits of trusted brands and reliable services,” said Sandeep Sangwan, Managing Director, Castrol India.

“This investment by Castrol India is testimony to the success of our unique online-to-offline business model. Our partnership with Castrol will significantly enhance the ownership experience for customers across the lifecycle of their vehicles. Besides, the coming together of two leading players will offer numerous synergy options like scaling-up of business offerings to electric vehicles, and the potential to expand our footprint beyond India,” said G. Srinivasa Raghavan, Managing Director, Ki Mobility Solutions. 

Ki Mobility was created by TVS ASL in November 2020. It claims to be India’s first full-stack O2O (online-to-offline) digital platform that operates the myTVS parts and accessories brand. The original idea was to give myTVS's three million customer base a digital platform and expand it to 10 million by 2025.