After Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath, SBI Mutual Fund to invest Rs 410 crore in Nazara Technologies

Nazara Technologies on Thursday said the SBI Mutual Fund will be investing a total of Rs 410 crore through equity share issuance. The funds will be invested via three schemes of SBI Mutual Fund --- SBI Multicap Fund, SBI Magnum Global Fund and SBI Technology Opportunities Fund.

The company said it is proposing to issue 57,42,296 Equity Shares at a price of Rs. 714/- per Equity share aggregating to Rs 4,099,999,344/- (“Issue”) to SBI Mutual Fund, by way of preferential issue on private placement basis.

As per the company’s regulatory filing, SBI Multicap Fund will be investing about Rs 200 crore, while SBI Magnum Global Fund is investing about Rs 120 crore and SBI Technology Opportunities Fund is investing the remaining Rs 90 crore.

The proposed Issue of Equity Shares shall be subject to lock-in as per the requirement of Chapter V of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements), Regulations, 2018. 

Nazara Technologies currently has shareholder approval to raise up to Rs 750 crore.

The company said the infusion of fresh funds will be utilized to invest in funding requirements and growth objectives of the Company including for making strategic acquisitions and investments in various companies / body corporates / entities / gaming funds, meeting growth and funding requirements based on the business opportunities across the subsidiaries / associates / joint venture of the Company, as applicable, through investment in subsidiaries / associates / joint venture of the Company, meeting capital expenditures and working capital requirements and repayment of debt obligations of the company and its subsidiaries from time to time if any. 

Nitish Mittersain, CEO of Nazara Technologies, said: “Making India the gaming nation of  the world has been a long-pursued dream for all of us at Nazara. India’s largest domestic mutual fund investing in Nazara is an important milestone for us in this two decade long journey. We are very excited to welcome SBI Mutual Fund as our investor."

At 1.45 pm, shares of Nazara Technologies were trading at Rs 868.60, down by 1.55 per cent.

Last week, Nazara Technologies said that it will be issuing up to 14 lakh equity shares of face value Rs 4 each to Zerodha Co-Founder Nikhil Kamath's companies.

“We wish to inform you that the board … considered and approved Issuance of up to 14,00,560 shares of the company, for cash, at an issue price of Rs 714 per Equity Share aggregating to an amount of Rs 99,99,99,840 to M/s Kamath Associates (Partnership firm represented by its partners Nikhil Kamath and Nithin Kamath) and M/s NKSquared (Partnership firm represented by its partners Nikhil Kamath and Nithin Kamath),” the company said in a regulatory filing.
The latest investment takes Nikhil's stake in the company to about 3.5 per cent from 1 per cent.

Post announcement, Nikhil Kamath said he invested in the gaming firm because of its strong track record and its leadership position in the domestic online gaming segment. He said that the online gaming industry is growing rapidly in India, driven by the increasing popularity and penetration of smartphones and the growing number of young people in the country.

“The advent of technology around virtual reality and augmented reality is bound to make devices cheaper, more accessible, and create newer, broader pockets of opportunity. I feel in the days to come the penetration of gaming in India will be significantly higher than it is today,” he added.

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