Ola founders seek CCI nod for hiking stake in cab aggregator

New Delhi: Founders of Ola, Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, have sought Competition Commission of India (CCI) approval for increasing stake in ANI Technologies, which owns the cab aggregator.

The acquisition will be made through Lazarus Holdings, which is incorporated in Singapore, and is a special purpose vehicle which will be used as an investment holding company.

“The proposed combination pertains to the indirect acquisition of less than 10% of the share capital of ANI by Ankit Bhati, Bhavish Aggarwal and MacRitchie through Lazarus from certain existing shareholders of ANI,” a notice with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said.

MacRitchie Investments is an indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore-based investment company Temasek Holdings. According to reports, Temasek has invested over $200 million in the Bengaluru-based company.

Ola, which competes against US-based Uber counts among its investors names like Softbank, Tiger Global, Tencent and Sequoia Capital, among others Mergers and acquisitions beyond a certain threshold require the approval of the CCI.