Pine Labs sets sight on Qwikcilver; PEs eye Wadhawan Global’s education finance biz
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Pine Labs sets sight on Qwikcilver; PEs eye Wadhawan Global’s education finance biz

By Ankit Agarwal

  • 26 Feb 2019
Pine Labs sets sight on Qwikcilver; PEs eye Wadhawan Global’s education finance biz
Credit: Thinkstock

Pine Labs, a point-of-sales payments solutions company, is close to acquiring Bengaluru-based digital gift card firm Qwikcilver Solutions, a media report said.

Citing three people in the know of the matter, the The Economic Times said the cash-and-stock deal is likely to be valued around $100 million (Rs 710 crore).

Qwikcilver has so far raised $20 million, including $10 million in 2016 from Amazon, Sistema Asia Fund, Accel and Helion Venture Partners. 

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Pine Labs deploys PoS terminals for banks at merchant outlets. The company has more than 3,00,000 terminals, and recently entered the United Arab Emirates.

Pine Labs had raised $125 million from American payments major PayPal and Singapore state investment firm Temasek in June last year. Before that, in March, the company received $82 million in a round led by private equity firm Actis. It also counts Sequoia Capital as an investor.

In another report, The Economic Times reported that private equity firms Warburg Pincus, Kedaara Partners and CX Partners are in talks to acquire an 80% stake in the education finance business of Wadhawan Global Capital Ltd and associate company Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd.

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PremjiInvest, the family investment arm of billionaire Azim Premji, and Centrum Capital are also in discussions to buy the stake in Avanse Financial Services Ltd, the report said, citing two people aware of the development. International Finance Corporation holds the remaining 20% stake in Avanse.

The deal will likely value the company at Rs 1,000 crore ($150 million), the report said.

Wadhawan Global and Dewan Housing are battling a liquidity crunch and allegations of financial irregularities for the past few months, and are selling some assets to tide over the crisis.

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Dewan Housing and Wadhawan Global sold their stake in Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd to private equity giant Blackstone earlier this month. Last month, global alternative investment management firm Oaktree Capital Management LP invested Rs 1,375 crore to buy loans from Dewan Housing. And in December, Dewan Housing agreed to sell its stake in the mutual fund business DHFL Pramerica to its US joint venture partner Pramerica Financial.

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