Tata Group to acquire BigBasket in Rs 9,500-cr deal
19 Feb 2021
Salt-to-software Tata Group is reported to have signed a deal to acquire a majority 68 per cent stake in online grocery startup BigBasket for around Rs9,500 crore, in a bid to give a major push to its consmdr business,
Under the deal that places BigBasket at an enterprise value of Rs13,500 crore, Chinese investor Alibaba, which owns nearly 30 per cent stake in BigBasket, and some other investors, including Abraaj Group, will exit the startup, reports said citing sources close to the development.
Once the deal is completed, BigBasket would go for a stock market listing next year. Reports said Tatas and BigBasket are now in the process of seeking the requisite approvals.
The Tata-BigBasket deal marks the largest acquisition in India's e-commerce startup ecosystem after the $16bn Flipkart-Walmart deal in 2018.
The acquisition would expand the consumer facing busiess of the Tata Group significantly. The plan is to bring all consumer products and services on one platform including food, grocery, consumer durables, jewelry, financial services, etc.
With a host of consumer businesses, including Croma, Tata Cliq, Star Quick and consumer industries like Tetley Tata Coffee etc, Tata’s may now look to develop its proposed SuperApp that would bring all consumer businesses under one platform.
Mumbai-headquartered Tata Group, which owns and operates several popular brands, including iconic UK car band Jaguar Land Rover and tea maker Tetley, is looking to expand to the entire spectrum of consumer products and is in the process of developing a SuperApp that woud give consumers access across the company’s consumer businesses.
Bangalore-headquartered BigBasket, which operates in over two dozen cities in India, turned profitable with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as people took to online buying to beat lockdown restrictions., BigBasket also expanded its in-house labels, which helped it improve profit margins.