The board of online food delivery and restaurant booking platform Zomato gave its nod to the acquisition of quick commerce company Blinkit for Rs 4,447 crore in an all-stock deal. Zomato said that this acquisition is in line with their strategy of investing in the quick commerce business.
The latest development comes after the Deepinder Goyal-led company had in March this year extended a grant of loan up to $150 million to Blinkit, formerly Grofers, in one or more tranches. The food delivery platform, in its earnings call recently, said that the entire sum had not been disbursed. It added that the remaining money will be given out depending on whether Blinkit needs it.
Zomato board has approved the acquisition of up to 33,018 equity shares of Blink Commerce Pvt Ltd from its shareholders for a total purchase consideration of Rs 4,447.48 crore at a price of Rs 13.45 lakh per equity share. This transaction will be carried out through issuance and allotment of up to 62.85 crore fully paid-up equity shares of Zomato, having face value of Re 1 each at a price of Rs 70.76 per equity share.
“The acquisition will be completed within a period of 15 days from the later of: (i) date of the approval of special resolution for preferential issue of equity shares; or (ii) receipt of last of the approval/ permission required for allotment under the preferential issue from any regulatory authority or the Central Government (including but not limited to the in-principle approval of the stock exchanges) for issuance of the equity shares to the proposed allottees,” the food delivery platform informed in an exchange filing.
Zomato already holds 1 equity share and 3,248 preference shares presently in BCPL. It further proposes to acquire up to 33,018 equity shares in Blinkit.
Meanwhile, Zomato CEO Goyal had said his company was “very conscious” about not overpaying for Blinkit in the event of a deal during Zomato’s first investor call in May since the launch of its IPO.
“We are very conscious that we do not have to overpay for any M&A (merger and acquisition), and we have strong governance processes. We will follow the process and not make any mistake on that front,” he had said.
