NIIF | FirstCry
India's sovereign wealth fund NIIF invests in e-commerce company FirstCry: Report
Bengaluru/IBNS: In a first, India’s sovereign wealth fund –the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) — has made an investment in the country's online economy with e-commerce company FirstCry, media reports said.
Economic Times reported that NIIF led a $240-million secondary funding round in FirstCry, buying stock worth $100 million.
Premji Invest has also bought more shares in the company in the new round while SoftBank has offloaded the biggest chunk of shares, the report said citing sources.
Chiratae Ventures and Newquest Capital Partners also sold parts of their stakes in the company.
After this funding, SoftBank will still have around 30 percent in FirstCry in FirstCry holding company Brainbees Solutions after this funding, the sources said.
Apart from NIIF and Premji Invest, other companies too bought stocks in FirstCry.
ET said NIIF had been in talks with Soft Bank for investment in FirstCry in May last year.
The deal has been approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) as well, it said.
In March last year, First Cry conducted a $315-million secondary share sale.
NIIF manages capital commitments of over $4.5 billion across three funds -- Master Fund, Fund of Funds and Strategic Opportunities Fund.
“They (NIIF) want to invest more and have wider exposure,” one of the sources mentioned above added, the ET report said.
National Investment and Infrastructure Fund is India’s first infrastructure-specific investment fund or a sovereign wealth fund that was set up by the Government of India in February 2015.
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