Trackpad

Big deal in the cement space : Adani Group buys out Holcim cement assets in India!

During the weekend while many of us were busy partying or maybe completing some unfinished household work, Adani Group was busy striking a deal! Holcim has signed a binding agreement for Adani Group to acquire its business in India, comprising a 63.11 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements, which owns a 50.05 per cent interest in ACC along with a 4.48 per cent direct stake in ACC.The corresponding offer share prices of ₹ 385 for Ambuja Cements and ₹ 2,300 for ACC translate into cash proceeds of CHF 6.4 billion for Holcim.

Adani Group is a leading and highly-recognised company in India with a portfolio of world-class businesses, ranging from infrastructure to energy. Since 2005 or say, from the time it entered India, Holcim has established a track record of sustainable value creation with strategic investments, ranging from new best-in-class plants to green technologies such as heat recovery systems.

Ambuja Cements and ACC are among the most iconic building material brands in India with a track record of leadership in sustainability and innovation. Their combined footprint includes 31 cement manufacturing sites and 78 ready-mix concrete plants with 10,700 people across India.

The transaction is subject to approval by local authorities and is expected to close in the second half of 2022.

Nazara Technologies declares strong FY22 numbers; board approves issue of bonus shares! 

Nazara Technologies Limited has declared its audited standalone and consolidated results for the quarter & year ended March 31, 2022. The board has approved the issue of bonus shares in the proportion of 1:1, subject to the approval of the company’s shareholders.

The key consolidated financial highlights for FY22 are as follows :
- Operating revenue grew by 37 per cent (YoY) to ₹ 621.7 crore.
- EBITDA* stood at ₹ 94.6 crore, a growth of 109 per cent YoY.
- EBITDA* margins stood at 15.2 per cent versus 10 per cent for FY21.
- Delivered a PAT of ₹ 50.7 crore, a growth of 273 per cent YoY while its PAT margin stood at 8.2 per cent.
- Cash & cash equivalents (incl. liquid investments) of ₹ 732.1 crore as of March 31, 2022. (*EBITDA excludes other income)

The company has cash on hand of ₹ 732.1 crore as of March 31, 2022. The current cash balance combined with continuous operational cashflows at the subsidiary level is expected to keep driving inorganic growth for the company and its subsidiaries. India-based diversified gaming & sports media platform, Nazara Technologies has a presence in India as well as across emerging & developed global markets such as Africa and North America with offerings across the interactive gaming, eSports, and gamified early learning ecosystems.

The company owns some of the most recognisable IPs, including WCC & CarromClash in mobile games, Kiddopia in gamified early learning, NODWIN and Sportskeeda in eSport, and eSportsmedia; Halaplay and Qunami in skill-based, fantasy as well as trivia games.

IIFL Fintech Fund Invests $2 million in EasyRewardz

Financial Services conglomerate IIFL Group today said that its early-stage investing vehicle IIFL Fintech Fund has invested $2 million in EasyRewardz Software Services Pvt. Ltd, a company that offers services related to loyalty-based rewards as a part of its Series B Funding. EasyRewardz has earlier raised funds from Transcontinental Venture and Flipkart.

The capital infusion in EasyRewardz will be used to expand its operations and develop new products. EasyRewardz offers industry agnostic cloud based CRM, loyalty, and conversational commerce solutions that enable seamless omni-channel customer experience. The company’s key clients of the company in the BFSI space include- RBL Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserve.

Gurgaon-based EasyRewardz was founded by Tejas Kadakia, Soumya Chatterjee, Angad Singh and Sapan Kadakia in 2011. It enables members to track and manage their loyalty balances across BFSI, retail and shopping programmes all from a single dashboard. In August 2021, IIFL Fintech Fund was established with a dedicated ₹ 140 crore sponsorship from two group companies - IIFL Finance and IIFL Securities. The financial services group with a large retail interface is aiming to offer last-mile credit with the help of cost-effective technologies.

Before investing in EasyRewardz, the fund has already made eight investments -- Leegality, FinBox, Trendlyne, DataSutram, Multipl, Finarkein, TrustCheckr and Open Financial Technologies – within eight months of its existence.

The fund is an extension of #IIFLDisrupt program launched by IIFL Group in 2020 that aimed to provide financial, mentoring and business support to solution oriented Fintechs, as pandemic affected the economy and start-up space.

Poonawalla Fincorp gets thumbs up as disbursements jump over 150 per cent in FY22!

The stock of Poonawalla Fincorp Limited has been among the top-performing stocks on the exchanges recently. So, what happened overnight that the sentiment suddenly shifted in the stock?

It is back into reckoning after reporting impressive earnings.

 Here are the key performance highlights:
✓ Assets under management (AUM) for FY22 increased to ₹ 16,579 crore, recording a growth of 17 per cent over FY21 while disbursements stood at ₹ 9,494 crore, growing by 158 per cent over FY21.
✓ Housing subsidiary, Poonawalla Housing Finance Limited (PHFL) crossed the ₹ 5,000 crore AUM mark in March 2022.
✓ NIM increased by 65 bps YoY to 8.9 per cent.
✓ Consolidated PBT for FY22 stood at ₹ 492 crore against a loss of ₹ 749 crore in FY21. PAT for FY22 stood at ₹ 375 crore.
✓ Collections continued to remain buoyant with collections efficiency of 108.4 per cent in March 2022.

Asset quality (consolidated)
Consequent to healthy collections in Q4FY22, gross stage 3 and net stage 3 assets decreased from 3.5 per cent & 1.8 per cent, respectively as of December 21 to 2.7 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively as of March 2022. The company has healthy provision coverage ratios across all three stages. Standard asset provision coverage ratio as of March 2022 stands at 2.7 per cent while stage three provision coverage ratio stands at 58.9 per cent.

Liquidity and cost of borrowings (consolidated)
The company continues to maintain a strong liquidity position with a surplus of ₹ 3,890 crore. The repricing of all eligible term loans and new borrowing at competitive rates resulted in further bringing down the average cost of borrowing to 7.4 per cent in Q4FY22 with an overall reduction of 209 bps YoY. The company and its subsidiary PHFL continue to have a long-term rating of ‘AA+/Stable’ by CRISIL and CARE.

Business update (consolidated)
The company continued its product focus on consumer and small business segments. The business gained momentum in Q4 of FY22, resulting in the company entering the leadership board in the pre-owned cars and loan to professionals' segment. Consumer lending was further strengthened, and the company entered the digital consumption space through partnership. The direct, digital & partnership (DDP) model of origination accelerated further, registering 43.7 per cent QoQ growth. The focus on capability building continued with deep investments in technology and people.

Capital raise for PHFL
The board has accorded an in-principal approval to raise funds in Poonawalla Housing Finance Limited with raise not exceeding ₹ 1,000 crore with a stake dilution of less than 15 per cent in one or more tranches by way of a preferential issue during the financial year 2022-23