Blog

Japanese fund SoftBank and NewQuest Capital Partners are reportedly looking to sell some shares in FirstCryin the secondary market before the company’s planned IPO in the next few months. They are valuing the company at $3.5 to $4 billion from the share sale.

Reported by The Economic Times, SoftBank is planning to reduce its 29 percent stake in FirstCry to under 25 percent with the sale. The Masayoshi Son-led venture fund is the largest shareholder in the company at present. FirstCry has held talks with Mumbai-based private equity firm Kedaara Capital to participate in this secondary round.

“This is akin to a pre-IPO deal which will set the price for the company and ideally it wants to bring on board domestic funds,” a source told ET. The company plans to file the pre-IPO requirement Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) soon.

FirstCry is currently valued at $2.7 billion after the latest investment of $315 million led by Premji Investment earlier this year. Premji Invest currently holds around 9-11 percent stake in the company, while other large shareholders include Mahindra Retail (12-13 percent) and US-based private equity firm TPG (5-6 percent).