Blackstone exits Sona Comstar; its balance stake of 20.5 pc bought by long-term investors

This stake sale happened via bulk deals in the open market, which saw strong demand from foreign institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, domestic mutual funds, and insurance companies.

Funds affiliated with Blackstone have sold their balance 20.5 per cent stake in Sona Precision Forgings (Sona Comstar), one of the leading global providers of automotive technology solutions. Before today's transaction, Aureus Investment and Blackstone held 33 per cent and 20.5 per cent, respectively, in Sona Comstar as the auto technology company's co-promoters, according to a joint statement from Blackstone and Sona Comstar released on Tuesday.

This stake sale happened via bulk deals in the open market, which saw strong demand from foreign institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, domestic mutual funds, and insurance companies. Marquee investors like the Government of Singapore, Fidelity, FMR, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, and HDFC MF bought shares from Blackstone in the bulk deal.

Sona Comstar offers its customers cutting-edge products that enable faster adoption of greener and safer mobility in India and globally. Sona Comstar is a leading global supplier of driveline solutions for battery electric vehicles (BEV), passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and off-highway vehicles, according to the statement. Sona Comstar is India's leading traction motor and motor-controllers supplier to electric two-wheelers (e2Ws).

Sona Comstar was formed by the merger of Sona BLW and Comstar Automotive in 2019. Since then, the company has invested significantly in technology, software, capital expenditure (capex), and people, focused on the electric vehicle (EV) segment, completed technological partnerships and strategic acquisitions, and became India's largest EV component supplier. Amit Dixit, Head of Blackstone Private Equity in Asia, said, "Blackstone is blessed to have been part of the Sona Comstar journey for the past five years. Sunjay Kapur has been a terrific partner to us and minority shareholders. The management team led by Vivek Vikram Singh has done an outstanding job in building one of India's largest electric vehicle component suppliers."

Dixit said the company's strategy is well set with a strong order book and business development function, its focus on innovation and new technology, and building on its excellent engineering capabilities. "It will continue to be a leader in its segment and is well-placed to play an important role in the global transition to greener and safer mobility..." he added. Sunjay Kapur, Promoter and Non-Executive Chairman of Sona Comstar, said, "I am glad to have partnered with Blackstone and very happy that this has been a successful investment for them. They helped recruit global experts to the company's board and enabled the company to go public last year with their capital markets expertise." (ANI)

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