With this, Hero MotoCorp’s stake in Ather will rise to 39.7% from 36.7%, according to the filing.
It did not share the identity of existing investors from whom it bought the shares.
Ather Energy counts the likes of venture investor Tiger Global and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC among its investors, according to data from Tracxn.
In September, the electric scooter maker had raised Rs 900 crore in fresh funding from Hero MotoCorp and GIC. Prior to that, Hero had partially led a $128-million fundraise into Ather in January 2022.
Besides this, the two firms have also been closely collaborating, with Hero MotoCorp saying it has signed an agreement with Ather Energy to create an interoperable fast-charging network for two-wheelers in India. The grid, announced on December 6, will cover 100 cities with over 1,900 fast charging points, Hero MotoCorp had said in a regulatory filing.
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In October, Ather had expanded into Nepal with a store in Kathmandu, its first international foray. The firm is also working on introducing a new ‘family scooter’ in early 2024, as opposed to the performance-focused 450 series of scooters it currently sells.Ather’s losses widened by more than two-and-a-half times year on year to Rs 864.5 crore in FY23. The firm’s revenue from operations had grown 4.3 times to reach Rs 1,784 crore during the same period.
Hero’s investment in Ather comes when Ola Electric, the leader in the electric two-wheeler market, prepares to file a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) by next week in preparation for an initial public offering (IPO), as ET reported on December 12.
Ola Electric is looking to raise between $700 million and $800 million (Rs 5,836.3 crore and Rs 6,670.1 crore) at a valuation of between $7 billion and $8 billion (Rs 58,363 crore and Rs 66,701 crore) through the IPO in early 2024, people in the know had told ET.