Home > > Oyo founder in talks to buy back $1.5B shares

Oyo founder in talks to buy back $1.5B shares

07/09/2019| 11:04:42 AM| 中文

The move, unprecedented among leading privately held, new-age Indian startups, will help Agarwal raise his stake to around 30% from the current 10%.

Ritesh Agarwal, founder of Oyo Hotels & Home, is in the midst of buying back shares from early investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners to bulk up his ownership, said three people familiar with the matter.

The move, unprecedented among leading privately held, new-age Indian startups, will help Agarwal raise his stake to around 30% from the current 10%. This may go up to as much 32-33%, including the stakes held by the management and employees.

To finance the buyback, the 26-year-old founder has been in talks with financial institutions and banks in India, Japan and Europe to shore up $2 billion in secured debt, sources close to the matter said on condition of anonymity.

Agarwal is going to pledge his shares in the process of raising debt, said another source.

“While Agarwal will buy $1.5 billion worth of shares from Sequoia and Lightspeed, another $500 million will come in the form of primary capital. The primary part of the deal may see existing investors also pitch in,” said a person privy to the details. The $500 million in primary capital will go into the company’s coffers, he added.

The Oyo founder, along with the management, will emerge as the second-largest shareholder after SoftBank Vision Fund, which owns almost 48% of the company. As per clauses drawn up by Oyo, the Japanese group cannot increase its ownership beyond 49.9% without receiving approvals from Agarwal, Sequoia, Lightspeed and Greenoaks Capital.

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TAGS: OYO | buy back shares | SoftBank | hotel
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