Reliance Cap to sell Yatra.com stake for Rs 500 cr

New Delhi: Looking to cash in on e-commerce boom, Reliance Capital is all set to sell its 16 per cent stake in leading travel portal Yatra.com for an estimated Rs 500 crore and is in talks with 2-3 international investors.

The deal would mark an over 12-times appreciation for this investment by Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of Anil Ambani-led business conglomerate Reliance Group, which had acquired a 16 per cent stake in the online travel company for Rs 40 crore in 2006. Sources said that Reliance Cap is in talks with 2-3 leading international investors to sell this 16 per cent stake for an estimated USD 80 million (about Rs 500 crore).

The identity of the interested buyers could not be ascertained. When contacted, a Reliance Capital spokesperson said: "We continuously evaluate opportunities to unlock the value of our minority investments to enhance shareholders value." While the spokesperson did not give any further details, sources said that Reliance Cap aims to close the transaction in 4-6 weeks and the deal would put the total valuation of Yatra.com at around USD 500 million or about Rs 3,000 crore.

Other existing investors in Yatra.com, which has film star Salman Khan as one of its brand ambassadors, include Norwest Venture Partners (30 per cent), TV-18 group (10 per cent), Intel Cap (7 per cent) and Valliant Capital (10 per cent). The management team has also got 6 per cent ownership. Among these, TV-18 group is now majority owned by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries group. In the fast-growing Indian online travel business, Yatra.com competes with Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip, which commands a market value of USD 1.2 billion.

During the last fiscal 2013-14, MakeMyTrip is estimated to have clocked total transaction value of USD 1.38 billion on its platforms, as against USD 763 million by Yatra. The operating income of MakeMyTrip and Yatra stood at USD 116 million and USD 51 million, respectively, for the year. Reliance Capital recently announced its plans to focus on core business and is in the process of encashing its minority investments.

It also recently exited from day to day operations of its global film and media services business, by merging its global film and media services business with Prime Focus. The deal created the world's largest media services power house, with an order pipeline of Rs 2,000 crore, over 5,500 employees and operations in the US, UK, Canada, China and Singapore, besides India. Reliance MediaWorks and Prime Focus promoters infused fresh equity capital of Rs 120 crore each into Prime Focus.

A number of international investors have recently pumped funds in Indian e-commerce or e-retail companies. These include Singapore's state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings and asset management firm BlackRock along with other investors investing USD 100 million in Snapdeal. Besides, Japan's SoftBank also invested USD 627 million in Snapdeal. Flipkart has also received as much as USD 1 billion in fresh capital from investors.