SoftBank and Carlyle get CCI nod to acquire stakes in Delhivery

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given the go-ahead to Japan's SoftBank Corp to acquire 22.44% stake in logistics company Delhivery Pvt. Ltd. Last month, SoftBank had asked CCI to okay 37.87% stake acquisition.

Private equity firm Carlyle Group, which is an existing investor in Delhivery, has also received approval for its investment request filed last month.

The CCI had tweeted the investment approvals on Wednesday.

Delhivery, earlier known as SSN Logistics Pvt. Ltd, was founded in 2011 by Sahil Barua, Mohit Tandon, Suraj Saharan, Kapil Bharti and Bhavesh Manglani. The firm, which started off as a provider of local on-demand services, is a full-fledged logistics player.

Delhivery is one of the most-funded logistics companies. It has raised about $250 million from private equity firms Carlyle and Multiples Alternate Asset Management, US-based investment firm Tiger Global, China's Fosun International, venture capital firm Nexus Venture Partners and Times Internet Ltd. The company competes with Rivigo and Ecom Express Pvt. Ltd.

Delhivery reported a 38% increase in net sales for the year ended March 2018 (or financial year 2017-18). The growth was slower than that recorded for 2016-17.

In September last year, VCCircle reported that Delhivery had pushed back its plan for an initial public offering (IPO) and was seeking fresh private funding.