Astro Holdings to sell stake in Askme

Malaysia-based Astro Holdings, which owns around 95 per cent of Askme Group, is selling its stake.

Manav Sethi, group chief marketing officer and head of digital strategy, Askme Group, confirmed the development. He added Askme was in talks with three foreign investors to pump in around $200 million so that the stake sale could go through.

Getit Infoservices, owned by Malaysian billionaire T Ananda Krishnan's Astro Holdings, is the majority shareholder in the Askme Group, which owns Askmebazaar, Askmepay, and Askmefin. In 2013, Astro Holdings acquired Infomedia YellowPages and AskMe from the Network18 Group.

ABOUT ASKME

• Askme Group owns Askmebazaar, Askmepay and Askmefin
  

 

In Feb, Askme had said it was close to raising $200 mn from investors, external and internal, at a valuation of $1 bn
 

It was aiming to close the latest round by April, but admitted it would take at least 90 days

While Sethi declined to comment on who the foreign investors were, sources said one of them could be Chinese company Baidu. They added the deal could be valued at $600-700 million.

"We have reason to believe that Astro Holdings is consolidating and will exit India. It is in the process of selling stakes in other investments in Indonesia and West Asia," Sethi said.

Sethi added he, along with a few others like Sanjeev Gupta, managing director of the Askme Group, had made a bid for a management buyout.

"We expect the management buyout to be completed by the end of this month and we hope to close a fresh round of funding in 60 days. We have been looking for funding for some time now to delink ourselves from Astro Holdings," Sethi said.

Asked why Astro Holdings was exiting Askme, Sethi said minority investors had initiated the process. "It has been a problem for foreign investors to invest in Askme because of charges made by the Central Bureau of Investigation against Astro Holdings. Astro Holdings also was unable to provide fresh capital," he said.

In February, Askme had said it was close to raising $200 million (Rs 1,350 crore) from investors, external and internal, at a valuation of $1 billion. The group was aiming to close the latest round by April, but admitted it would take at least 90 days.

The group has been trying to rationalise its costs and asked 650 people to resign three weeks ago. "We had hired people in our effort to ramp up services. We decided to let them go once they were not needed," Sethi had said then.