India’s VRL Logistics gets $33m from New Silk Route

The transaction was originally reported by The Hindu Business Line, which said the capital would be used for expansion and debt repayments, adding that VRL's proposed IPO would be placed on hold. Trilegal has since confirmed that it advised VRL on the deal, while S&R Associates acted for NSR. Darius Pandole, a partner at NSR, has joined the VRL board.

VRL was founded in 1976 and claims to be the largest fleet-owner in India with more than 3,400 vehicles. It runs tourist buses and trucking, and has also expanded into courier services, express cargo and air chartering. An ICRA report cited by VCCircle said the company had an operating income of INR8.9 billion for the 2011 fiscal year and is projecting revenues of INR10.4 billion for the current year.

The deal closed one week after KKR and Goldman Sachs together invested $53 million in TVS Logistics, a supply chain manager that services the auto, distribution, electronics and component manufacturing industries. KKR put in $47 million, while Goldman contributed $6 million, adding to an earlier investment it made in the company.

India's broad logistics sector is worth about $150 billion, or 13% of the country's GDP. Within that, the organized logistics segment is worth $30-50 billion and outsourced logistics services in particular are growing 20% year-on-year. The sector is said to be fragmented and badly in need of consolidation.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Support services
• Expansion
• NSR New Silk Route Partners
• Logistics
• India
• KKR
• Goldman Sachs
• Growth capital