The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the acquisition of compulsorily convertible preference shares and equity shares in Airtel’s data centre business, Nxtra Data, by the Carlyle Group’s Comfort Investments II.
The competition watchdog also approved the acquisition of up to 64.9% of share capital of J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals by Tau Investment, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
In July, the Carlyle Group had announced that it would acquire around 25% in Nxtra Data for $235 million (Rs 1,780 crore). This would put Nxtra Data’s valuation at $1.2 billion or over Rs 9,084 crore.
On completion of the deal, Carlyle will hold about 25% stake in the firm, with the rest meaning with Airtel.
Nxtra Data is a fully-owned subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Ltd and provides data centre colocation services through its 10 data centres located in India.
Comfort Investments II is a special purpose acquisition vehicle, owned and controlled by investment funds advised by the affiliates of The Carlyle Group, a notice filed with the CCI said.
According to the combination notice filed with the CCI, Tau Investment proposed to acquire the mentioned shares on a fully diluted basis by way of a share purchase agreement in July.
JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals is an Indian pharmaceutical company headquartered in Mumbai, while Tau Investment is a Singapore-based firm primarily engaged in holding investments.
Tau Investment indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of KKR Asian Fund III L.P. (Ontario), the CCI notice said.
The CCI also approved the Lightstone Fund’s acquisition of equity stake in five firms on behalf of Lightstone Global Fund. Lightstone Fund is an alternative investment fund managed by LGT Capital Partners (Ireland).
These were 91Streets Media Technologies, Ascent Health and Wellness Solutions, Aahaan Commercials, Lokprakash Vidhya and API Holdings.
91Streets and Ascent are firms involved in the distribution and sale of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products and tele-mdeical consultation among other things.
