CarTrade to acquire OLX Autos' India biz for Rs 537 Cr

OLX Autos has been looking out for an acquisition for quite some time and it has now finally found a buyer: CarTrade. The automobile classifieds portal is set to acquire OLX India’s auto business in a deal worth Rs 537 crore, according to a stock exchange disclosure by CarTrade.

CarTrade (CarTrade Tech Limited) has entered into a share purchase agreement with Sobek Auto India Private Limited (Sobek) and its parent company, OLX India B.V, the company said in a filing at National Stock Exchange.

The acquisition of Sobek will be for a cash consideration of Rs 537.43 crore which is to be paid on the completion date of acquisition.

The transaction will be a pure cash deal, and the acquisition is likely to be completed within 30 days. This agreement entails the acquisition of the entire 100% stake of Sobek from OLX India. On June 30, Sobek acquired the classifieds internet business from OLX India.

OLX made the decision in March this year to exit the OLX Autos’ business in several countries. According to Entrackr sources, the company also explored consolidating with other companies in the space but it settled with CarTrade. It recently fired more than 800 staff globally which also included hundreds of employees in India.

The acquisition makes sense for CarTrade, which has struggled since its public debut. It listed on the NSE at nearly Rs 1,600 per share in August 2021 and is currently hovering around Rs 486 per share with a market cap of Rs 2,280 crore or $278 million. 

“This acquisition aligns with the company’s strategic goals of making investments that bring synergistic advantages to CarTrade's existing businesses,” said CarTrade in filings.

While Sobek’s FY23 number couldn’t be extracted, however, during FY22, it registered 87.5% growth in gross revenue (read as GMV) to Rs 1,110.4 crore as compared to Rs 592.3 crore in FY21.