**OT** Auto portals scene hit by acquisition fever
09-02-2000 10:08:09
Dot.com-Stakes change in two auto portals.
As dot.com scene is hotting up in India ? two auto portals have seems to be on the fast track?.
As India gear up to catch up on the dot.com craze , in what is going to be a precursor of coming events, a leading Mumbai car dealership Sah & Sanghi is acquiring a 20 per cent stake in automartindia.com , a car portal and a fully- owned subsidiary of auto giant Mahindra & Mahindra.
In another independent deal, Kotak Mahindra Finance (KMFL) has acquired a 30 per cent stake in indiacar.com , also an auto web portal, set up by Ashwin Sanghi, director & CEO of Vitesse, another big Mumbai car dealership.
Automartindia deal, the size of which has not been revealed, will see, post-acquisition, the auto company?s stake coming down to 70 per cent (employees own another 10 per cent). The deal size has not been disclosed.
KMFL has meanwhile been joined by Edelweiss Capital which has taken a 3 per cent stake in indiacar.com , currently valued at around Rs 10 crore. KMFL`s investment is worth Rs 2.7 crore. Dipak Gupta, executive director of KMFL, will join the board of indiacar.com .
The indiacar deal, apart from creating synergies with KMFL, a fairly large player in auto finance, the finance company`s entry is expected to take the number of car dealers signed on to indiacar.com from 500 to 4,000 in two months. |
