Logistics player JM Baxi Group is understood to be in talks with at least five players including many private equity investors for raising funds close to $200 million, according to a source aware of the matter.

According to the source, JM Baxi Group is in talks with Multiples Private Equity, Bain Capital Private Equity, Warburg Pincus, IFC, and CDPQ for the funding. The quantum of stake under consideration for the deal is not yet clear but it is understood that PE players are looking at a significant minority stake.

JM Baxi is a logistics, services and transportation conglomerate and runs a number of businesses. Some of the companies under the group include JM Baxi & Co, United Liner Shipping Services, Arya Offshore Services, and Boxco Logistics India, etc. JM Baxi & Co is a ship agency, serving tramp and container vessels and finding maritime carriage solutions for all types of cargo. United Liner Shipping Services handles a wide range of shipping service activities in its areas of expertise, which include liner shipping, bulk cargo handling, project cargo handling and buyer cargo consolidation.

“The bidding is going on and the players are in talks with the group. The funding is likely for the group’s expansion plans,” said the source. Email sent to the group seeking comments on Friday evening remained unanswered till the time of going to press.

The logistics space is increasingly witnessing private equity/venture capital (PE/VC) interest. According to EY, PE/VC investments in the Indian logistics space has crossed the billion-dollar mark in 2019.
In March 2019, logistics firm Delhivery raised close to $413 million in a funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund. In February this year, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing acquired a majority stake in logistics park developer KSH Infra for about $50 million.

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Divyanshu Tambe, executive director, transport and logistics – transaction advisory services at EY India, believes that there is tremendous interest from buy-out funds to build logistics platform – typically starting with a large anchor asset along with bolt-ons over a period – allowing them to provide a bouquet of services.

“We expect substantial capital allocation from PE funds to asset-light sub-sectors of contract logistics, LTL, Express, and even well-run FTL. On asset heavy side, it’s largely RE capital chasing domestic warehousing assets,” he said.