Apollo, Bain, Blackstone in race to buy Luminous

Mumbai: Apollo Global Management, Bain Capital and Blackstone are in the fray to buy Luminous Power Technologies from French giant Schneider Electric for ₹3,500 crore-4,000 crore.The three buyout funds pipped Tata Group company Voltas and Hyderabad-based Amara Raja Batteries to get shortlisted after the initial bids, said people involved. They have initiated due diligence before submitting the final, binding offers in 5-6 weeks.ET was the first to report Schneider’s plan to sell Luminous Power on November 25, a decade after buying 74% in the company for ₹1,400 crore from New Delhi-based SAR Group, as part of a global realignment to exit non-core, consumer-centric businesses.Schneider mandated Citi to find a buyer.Luminous Power primarily sells inverters and industrial batteries. Its pivot towards consumer electricals and appliances has got the funds interested. The company controls 30% of the ₹7,500 crore ($1 billion) battery inverter market in India, competing with Exide Industries and Microtek, among others.“Crompton Consumer has been a success story under its private equity owners Advent. The funds see this as another potential success, even though some might argue that in the long run, inverters would see limited growth opportunities as the power situation improves in key home markets and other emerging economies of Africa,” said an official on condition of anonymity as the talks are still in the private domain. “The pivot towards home appliances and electricals like fans, LED bulbs is the real story there. It’s a small piece now but can be ramped up significantly.”Vipul Sabharwal, managing director of Luminous Power, declined to comment. Spokespersons for Apollo Global, Bain and Blackstone declined comment.Luminous notched up $411 million (₹3,082 crore) in revenue and $49 million in EBITDA in calendar year 2020.

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