Food aggregator Zomato‘s board on Friday approved the acquisition of quick commerce start-up Blinkit in an all-stock deal for a total purchase consideration of Rs 4,447 crore. The company will acquire up to 33,018 equity shares of Blink Commerce Pvt Ltd (BCPL), according to a BSE filing.
“The board of directors of Zomato Limited…at its meeting held today i.e., June 24, 2022 inter-alia, has considered and approved the…acquisition of up to 33,018 equity shares of Blink Commerce Private Limited (formerly known as Grofers India Private Limited) for a total purchase consideration of Rs 444 7,4 7,84,078 at a price of Rs 13,46,986.01 per equity share by issuance and allotment of up to 62,85,30,012 fully paid-up equity shares of the company having a face value of Rs 1 each at a price of Rs 70.76 (Indian Rupees Seventy and Seventy Six Paisa Only) per equity share,” Zomato said in the BSE filing.
It added that this acquisition is in line with Zomato’s strategy of investing in the quick commerce business. Zomato already hold one equity share and 3,248 preference shares, or 9 per cent stake, in BCPL (formerly known as Grofers) currently.
“Quick commerce has been our stated strategic priority since the last one year. We have seen this industry grow rapidly both in India and globally, as customers have found great value in quick delivery of groceries and other essentials. This business is also synergistic with our core food business, giving Zomato the right to win in the long term,” Zomato told shareholders.
“This foray into the next big category is timely as our existing food business is steadily growing towards profitability – Zomato has grown at a CAGR of 86 per cent in the last 4 years to an adjusted revenue of Rs 55.4 billion ($710 million) while the adjusted Ebitda margin has improved from (153 per cent) in FY19 to (18 per cent) in FY22,” it added.
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said, “Quick commerce will help us increase the customer wallet share spent on our platform and also drive higher frequency and engagement from our customers… Monthly order frequency on Blinkit app was 3.5x in May 2022, which is higher than that of food delivery on Zomato.”
The closing of the transaction is expected to happen in early August 2022, subject to shareholders’ and stock exchange approvals.
Zomato Chief Financial Officer Akshant Goyal said, “In the month of May 2022, Blinkit did a gross order value (GOV) of Rs 4,028 million (Rs 402.8 crore), which is 1/5th of Zomato’s monthly average food delivery GOV in Q4FY22.”
He added that Blinkit has visibility into inventory owned by third party distributors and retailers that stock about 4,000 SKUs (stock keeping units) across a variety of product categories, in a network of warehouses and distributed dark stores. Customers can view and order these products on the Blinkit app. “Blinkit also facilitates last-mile delivery of products to customers from the dark stores. The delivery radius for a dark store is typically less than 2 kms, which allows for quick delivery of products.”
Zomato’s shares on Friday rose Rs 0.80, or 1.15 per cent, to close at Rs 70.35 on the BSE.
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