South Africa’s Naspers may acquire RedBus

The Times of India 15 June 2013
MUMBAI: South Africa-based Naspers group is likely to acquire a controlling stake in online bus ticketing firm RedBus, valuing it at about $100 million. Naspers arm MIH, which last year picked up a significant stake in online retailer Flipkart, is in advanced negotiations with RedBus, said people directly familiar with the matter. This would probably be the first overseas strategic acquisition of an Indian internet asset at this scale.
BITS Pilani alumni Phanindra Sama, Sudhakar Pasupunuri and Charan Padmaraju co-founded RedBus seven years ago after Sama struggled to fetch bus tickets from Bangalore to reach home for Diwali in 2006. Today, RedBus is India’s largest bus ticketing platform, issuing 10 million tickets with gross sales nearing $200 million annually. Bangalore-based Pilani Soft Labs, the holding company of Redbus, has existing investors like Helion Venture Partners, SeedFund and Inventus Capital who may exit fully or partly in the latest deal.
Helion and SeedFund declined to comment on the story. Emailed queries to RedBus founder Phanindra Sama and to Johannesburg-based Naspers remained unanswered at the time of going to press. Sama could not be reached by TOI despite repeated calls and text messages sent to his mobile.
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