Singapore State investor Temasek Holdings is contemplating investing $100 million in Indian jeweller BlueStone for a stake of about 20%, two sources with direct information of the matter instructed Reuters.
The funding would worth Bengaluru-based BlueStone, additionally backed by enterprise capital agency Accel and Indian industrialist Ratan Tata, at shut to $500 million, said one of many sources, who declined to be recognized because the matter is non-public.
The potential deal may increase BlueStone’s plans to increase aggressively in India, the second-largest jewelry consuming nation behind China, as demand surges after the pandemic.
The jeweller has beforehand disclosed plans to open 300 shops by 2024. It has over 150 shops now, in accordance to its web site.
BlueStone operates in a market that’s dominated by hundreds of small and enormous native impartial jewelry shops, but additionally branded shops like Titan Company-owned Tanishq and CaratLane, and Kalyan Jewellers.
Unlike many conventional jewellers, firms like BlueStone and CaratLane additionally supply on-line gross sales.
While Temasek’s curiosity in investing in Bluestone has been beforehand reported, Reuters is first to report particulars of an funding quantity, the potential valuation and different monetary particulars of the potential deal.
Temasek is doing due diligence on the transaction and a deal could possibly be struck as early as July-September if talks are profitable, said one of many sources.
BlueStone CEO Gaurav Kushwaha didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ request for remark, whereas Temasek declined to remark.
Temasek has been investing $1 billion yearly in India over previous six years and its underlying publicity to India is $16 billion, which is over 5% of Temasek’s international $297 billion portfolio, its India head Ravi Lambah instructed the Economic Times final month.
The deal talks additionally come at a time when many Indian start-ups have been struggling to elevate recent funds, forcing them to delay IPOs and sack workers as buyers query their sky-high valuations. Start-ups raised simply $2 billion in the primary quarter of 2023, 75% decrease than the identical interval of final 12 months, in accordance to information agency CB Insights.
