Morning Buzz: BlackRock cuts Byju's valuation once again; Sebi proposes recommendations to ease public listing, and more

Reports state that BlackRock has once again slashed the valuation of edtech giant Byju’s Image: Indranil Aditya/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Tata Consumer to acquire Capital Foods and Organic India

Tata Consumer plans to acquire Capital Foods, the maker of Ching's Secret, and Organic India from Fabindia. The deal comes after months of negotiations and a formal announcement is expected early next week. Capital Foods is likely to be valued at Rs5,100 crore. Organic India is likely to be valued at Rs1,800 crore. Tata Consumer has been engaged in negotiations since last August.

(Economic Times, Moneycontrol)

BlackRock cuts Byju’s valuation again

Reports state that BlackRock has once again slashed the valuation of edtech giant Byju’s. The implied valuation has been cut to $1 billion from $8.4 billion in May 2023 and the earlier $22 billion in 2022, TechCrunch reported, citing disclosures made by the asset manager. Another investor, Prosus, had in November 2023 lowered Byju’s valuation to $486 million. Byju’s still continues to be plagued by challenges relating to regulatory and legal concerns, employee layoffs, cost cuts and top management exits.

(Business Standard)

Sebi proposes recommendations to ease public listing

Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has introduced a consultation paper with recommendations to ease the listing of IPOs and capital markets regulations for the ease of doing business.  The panel has proposed listing regulations applicable for listed companies should be based on the average market capitalisation during the last six months, compared to a single day (as of March 31). There is also a proposal to allow certain public investors to contribute towards minimum public shareholding without being classified as a promoter.