US-based private equity firm Bain Capital and the Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) are believed to be close to buying a
minority stake in two-wheeler major
Hero Honda.
According to a report by Singapore-based
Financial Times, the expected transaction could be worth up to $1.75 billion. Quoting unnamed sources, the paper said the stake will be from the
Munjal family , which controls Hero Honda.
Last year, Japan's Honda Motor sold its 26 per cent stake in the Indian firm to the Munjal family at a steep discount, the newspaper said.
Bain Capital is a major player in the global private equity field.
GIC is one of Singapore's two sovereign wealth funds - along with Temasek Holdings - and invests the Southeast Asian nation's massive foreign reserves of well over $100 billion.
It does not publicly give a value on its holdings but the US-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute ranks it as the seventh largest in the world with an asset portfolio valued at $247.5 billion.
In December last, the 26 year partnership of Hero Honda, the world's largest two wheeler maker, fell apart.
BM Munjal-promoted Hero Group decided to buy out Japanese Honda's 26 per cent stake for an undisclosed sum, while inking a new licensing pact that will give it access to Honda's technology for few more years with royalty remaining at the same level as before.
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