WestBridge Ventures II Investment Holdings, a fund managed by WestBridge Capital, has completed its exit from Nazara Technologies Ltd by selling shares worth over ₹500 crore to Plutus Wealth Management Llp and its associates.
WestBridge Ventures was one of the early investors in Nazara and is estimated to have invested a cumulative amount of ₹22.6 crore in the gaming company and obtained sales consideration of approximately ₹1,000 crore from its investment, according to Nazara.
“WestBridge Capital backed Nitish (Nitish Mittersain, founder and managing director, Nazara Technologies) at a very early stage back in 2005. Since then the company has created great shareholder value and created a market leader. We wish Nitish, Manish and entire Nazara group all the very best in their future endeavours,” Sandeep Singhal, co-founder, WestBridge Capital, said in a statement.
Nazara is an Indian gaming and sports media company which owns popular mobile gaming titles WCC (World Cricket Championship) and Carrom Clash; along with Kiddopia, a gamified early learning platform; NODWIN Gaming, an eSports company; Sportskeeda, an eSports media firm; Halaplay (fantasy sports platform) and Qunami (trivia games platform).
Nazara’s other key investors include IIFL Special Opportunities Fund and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala who as its shareholders had invested ₹327 crore in November 2017 and ₹182 crore in December 2017, respectively.
On its part, Nazara has made investments in the Indian gaming ecosystem in the amount of over ₹300 crore in the last 5 years.
Commenting on the new partnership with Plutus Wealth Management Llp, Mittersain said in a statement, “We are excited to onboard Plutus as a long-term investor in Nazara. Creating value for all our stakeholders, including our investors, has always been very important for us and I am glad that we have been able to deliver a great return to WestBridge who backed us early on in 2005.”
“We believe gaming will be a prominent form of entertainment and will do well in the next decade. We believe that Nazara is well-placed to leverage on the vast available opportunity. We are excited to begin our long-term journey with their goal and vision,” Arpit Khandelwal, managing partner, Plutus Wealth, added.
