Indian salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group is reportedly set to acquire a majority stake of 68% in online grocery firm BigBasket. The deal, which is valued at approximately Rs 9,100-Rs 9,200 crore, was finalized earlier in the month.

Following the purchase of the majority stake by Tata, current stakeholders Abraaj and Alibaba group will exit the brand.

Tata, one of the largest conglomerates in India, has been planning the launch of a “super app”, which is aimed at tying in all its consumer businesses, in order to take on competitors like Reliance Industries Ltd and Amazon.com in the thriving Indian e-commerce market.

BigBasket, based in Bengaluru, is one of the major players in the online e-commerce domain, alongside Amazon’s Fresh service and Walmart-backed Flipkart, as more consumers choose to shop online and remain indoors during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tata’s stake will provide BigBasket an enterprise value of nearly Rs 13,500 crore. According to some reports, the top management of BigBasket, including Hari Menon, a co-founder, is expected to stay on for 3-4 years.

The announcement comes along the heels of Tata Group’s plans to expand into more consumer businesses. The group, which had a reported revenue of $113 billion in 2019 and operates numerous brands like Tetley and Jaguar Land Rover, is making targeted efforts to create a “super app” in the second-largest internet market in the world.

For the record, BigBasket, which is a competitor to Reliance’s JioMart and SoftBank-owned Grofers, has operations in more than two dozen cities across India, and has witnessed profitable months during the COVID-19 pandemic which triggered a surge in the platform’s sales. BigBasket has recently also expanded its portfolio of items under its own in-house brand, which has aided the company in boosting its profit margin.

Tata Group is awaiting the CCI (Competition Commission of India)’s approval for the deal. Both the company and BigBasket declined to comment on the deal.

Source Credit: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/tata-group-to-buy-majority-stake-in-bigbasket-for-1-3-billion-report-6528061.html