Saraf and IndusLaw on Zomato's ₹4,500 crore acquisition of Blinkit

Zomato Limited has acquired the quick commerce company Blinkit (Blink Commerce Private Limited) for approximately ₹4,500 crore (approx. US$ 575 million).

Saraf and Partners acted for Zomato on all aspects of the deal including structuring of the deal, undertaking due diligence, as well as the drafting, negotiation and finalization of the transaction documentation.

Vaibhav Kakkar and Snigdhaneel Satpathy (Partners), led the transaction team, with Akshay Jain (Partner) providing support on certain aspects of the transaction. The transaction team also consisted of Debarpan Ghosh (Senior Associate), Prabal De and Mincy Matthew (Associates).

The diligence team consisted of Snigdhaneel Satpathy, Akshay Jain and Sahil Arora (Partners), ably supported by Keshav Pareek, Prarthna Bhatija, Udyan Arya Shrivastava, Paayas Pandit, Vedika Pandey and Anuj Garg (Associates).

IndusLaw represented Sequoia and Blinkit.

The team advising Sequoia was led by Minhaz Lokhandwala (Partner) along with Maitri Parekh (Senior Associate) and Associate Sumedha Kalra (Associate)

The team that advised Blinkit comprised Anindya Ghosh (Partner) along with Anantha Krishnan Iyer (Principal Associate), Rajat Jain (Senior Associate), Siddharth Malakar (Associate) and Aditya Kumar (Associate).

The Secretarial team included Ruhi Jain (Senior Manager), Navneet Kour (Senior Executive)

Morrison & Foerster acted for Softbank, who were the largest investor in Blinkit.

Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian acted for Tiger, who are an existing investor in Blinkit.

Goodwin Procter acted for Apoletto, who are an existing investor in Blinkit.

The consideration for the acquisition transaction shall be discharged through issuance of equity shares of Zomato through a preferential issue.

The shareholders of Blinkit (which include Softbank, Sequoia and Apolletto groups) shall, in place of their shares of Blinkit, receive shares in Zomato.

Additionally, Zomato shall also be acquiring the warehousing and ancillary services business of Hands on Trade Private Limited, which is also part of the Blinkit group of entities.

Zomato is a public listed company incorporated in India which is engaged in the business of providing to the general public: (a) restaurant information, discovery and review, (b) social media communities based upon a common interest in restaurants, (c) restaurant reservation and table management, (c) delivery of food and/or beverages from restaurants or other establishments selling prepared food, (e) point of sale system to restaurants or other establishments and/or (f) restaurant related offers; through its website and mobile app. Zomato had been the first Indian 'unicorn' to list on an Indian stock exchange.

The Blinkit group is one of the country’s leading players in the quick-commerce space and e-grocery space – which utilizes data and technology to serve as a convergence point for consumers, partner stores and manufacturers in the online grocery space. This strategic acquisition, also marks one of the largest acquisitions by an home grown unicorn and signals the increasing maturation of the Indian start-up ecosystem.