ADIA Gets CCI’s Green Light To Acquire A 10% Stake In Eyewear Unicorn Lenskart

Competition watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) to acquire a 10% stake in eyewear startup Lenskart under the green channel route. 

Business transactions that do not pose any significant threat to the market competition are approved via this route by the competition regulator. 

According to a CCI notice, the proposed transaction (deal) is related to the proposed acquisition of a certain shareholding of Lenskart Solutions Pvt Ltd (LSPL) by Platinum Jasmine A 2018 Trust (Platinum Jasmine), which is led by ADIA. 

“Given the absence of any horizontal overlaps or vertical or complementary links between the parties to the proposed transaction, the proposed transaction is being notified under the green channel route,” CCI said.

The development has come nearly a week after ADIA inked an agreement with Lenskart to infuse $500 Mn to acquire a 10% stake in the latter. ADIA would invest through a secondary share sale with a small primary round, comprising growth equity.

According to media reports, ChrysCapital, which has backed Dream11, FirstCry and Xpressbees, is also planning to infuse about $100 Mn in Peyush Bansal-led Lenskart.

Earlier, Lenskart’s early backers such as SoftBank, Kedaara Capital, TR Capital and Alpha Wave Global were reportedly looking for a partial exit from the Faridabad-based eyewear brand via a secondary share sale. 

As per Lenskart’s current shareholding pattern, SoftBank is the largest shareholder with a 19% stake whereas Premji Invest and Kedaara Capital hold 10.4% and 9% stakes, respectively. 

Excluding the latest $400 Mn fundraising, Lenskart secured $879.6 Mn between 2014 and November 2022, according to Inc42 data.  

It is prudent to note Lenskart has expanded to international markets such as Singapore, the US and the Middle East in the last few months. 

In June 2022, Peyush Bansal-backed unicorn bought the Japanese online eyewear brand OWNDAYS for nearly $400 Mn.

Lenskart operates more than 2,000 stores globally, including 1,500 stores in India. In FY22, it posted a consolidated loss of INR 102.3 Cr against a profit of INR 28.9 Cr in FY21. Meanwhile, its revenue from operations soared 66% to INR 1,502.7 Cr in FY22 from INR 905.3 Cr in FY21.

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