Small / Startup company of BIG Corporate House

I am starting this thread to discuss any small companies with marketcap less than 5000Cr but who belong to a very big corporate house. Such companies can be huge wealth creator if promoter are willing to take it ahead. Examples:
Mahindra:
Mahindra Logistics (Investment phase, invested last month)
Mahindra EPC (No focus, so not interested)

Reliance:
Just Dial (Invested a small amount, as promoter is not yet on board)
Sterling Wilson (Not invested as EPC company)

Not sure if this thread will catch an eye of fellow members but if such information is collected it can be of very big help for all.

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Thank You @vireshsangwan for starting this thread. This is my first post, so would definitely like feedback on my ideas and thought process.

Firstly I would like to comment on the time horizon with these companies, with no visible triggers that we are discussing here, these companies are long term bets, and coupled with the fact that these are startups, it makes sense to invest with a horizon of a minimum of 3-5 years.

However the advantage to holding these companies is that they can potentially become huge in that time horizon if things go right.

These are high risk, high reward companies with no thesis apart from a big promoter group backing them and so should be sized appropriately at a portfolio level to protect from the downside. This is like venture investing with equity.

On the ideas front, Max India, which is the holding company of Antara Senior Living is one of the ideas I’ve been tracking closely. It is related to the Max Group headed by Analjit Singh which after selling off Max Hospitals to Private Equity has interests in Real Estate, Insurance and Senior Care.

The interesting thing about this idea is that it is operating in the Senior Care space, which is poised to see huge growth on the demand side. Typically in these industries, how a company captures the supply side and is able to reach best profitability profile is what matters the most.

The management is completely professional, the business is being headed by a professional who was part of Max Hospitals team and he is being assisted by Analjit Singh’s daughter Tara Singh Vachani. So the management does have experience with scaling these business ideas and taking them to the next level.

The thing that attracts me on the valuations front is that the company holds treasury assets roughly valued at 450 Crores but the market cap is less than that. These assets would be used for the scaling up the four business verticals. In my view, this roughly means that the market feels that the future value of these investments is not even yielding the same present value. Which attracts me to the company.

There is a detailed thread on Max India which you can perhaps look at if you are interested in the business.

Disc: Invested

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I appreciate the initiation of this thread and its potential to benefit all members. Well tbh I am skeptical about Reliance’s investments in companies and their genuine efforts towards ensuring the long-term success of these companies. I would like to highlight the data and numbers of the investments made by Reliance in the following companies:

Company Name Investment Price Current Share Price
Balaji Telefilms ₹164 ₹39.80
Just Dial ₹1,022.25 ₹673.15
Sterling & Wilson Solar ₹375 (primary/secondary) / ₹405 (open offer) ₹297
Alok Industries Not disclosed ₹15
Den Networks ₹72.66 (preferential) / ₹90.03 (open offer) ₹34
Hathway ₹32.35 (preferential) / ₹32.81 (open offer) ₹13.10

For example, when Reliance acquired stake in Just Dial, they stated that the acquisition would help boost their digital ecosystem for millions of their partner merchants, micro, small, and medium enterprises. They also mentioned that they would leverage Just Dial’s database of merchants and its platform to provide various services, including discovery, transactions, payments, logistics, and credit.
(IMO they’re going to use this database of their partner merchant for Jio financial services)

Similarly, Reliance said that the acquisition of Hathway would help accelerate the rollout of their fiber-based broadband service, JioGigaFiber, and that they would benefit from Hathway’s cable network infrastructure and customer base.

My point is that I do not believe that Reliance acquires stakes in companies solely for the purpose of generating profit or improving the company’s prospects for the benefit of its shareholders. Rather, I believe that they do so to gain access to the resources or network that the company has built in its early years and leverage it to expand or gain a competitive edge in their existing businesses.

If they are genuinely interested in ensuring the success of these businesses, they would name them around their brand rather than leverage their existing network.

We all often believe that when a large corporation purchases a stake in a business, the acquired company will gain access to the resources and management expertise of the larger corporation. However, this is not always the case, especially when it comes to family-owned businesses. In many cases, family-owned businesses are tightly knit and have a strong focus on maintaining their legacy and ensuring the success of their core business. Moreover, the fall in share price of the acquired company may not necessarily be due to the lack of support or resources from the acquiring corporation. There could be other factors at play.

These are just my observations and opinions, and I acknowledge that I may be incorrect or misinterpreting the available data and news. Also I apologize in advance if I have made any mistake, this is my first time interacting on this site.

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I am already invested around 8% into it. Thanks for the suggestion. Idea is to invest in companies where upside can be unlimited and downside limited. That is the core of investing (lose less in mistakes, gain multifold in right guesses).

Having said so, for max india its available at marketcap of less than the cash that company holds. Proven mgmt, great space and very less equity. Lets keep fingers crossed.

Apart from this, I am hugely invested 5% in Mahindra Logistics and 1.5% in just dial. Looking for more such names. Thanks

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I share the same thought with reliance but could not resist buying JD at 4600cr mcap with 3900cr in cash. All ad spending moving to digital, and they planning to build b2b marketplace. Will wait till 2025 and will make an exit if no business improvement or reliance’s interest (direct interest like one of their family member on board) in business. Till date they have not shown any interest.

Journey for next one year should be ok, with not much risk to investment.

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Okay, when you mentioned that they have a 4600cr market capitalization and 3820cr in cash, this statement would have made them undervalued if it were true.

According to the best of my understanding after looking at the annual report, they have 22.50 cr in cash, and the remaining 3797.5 cr is invested in different mutual funds and bonds. This is definitely a good thing, but if they have such a significant amount of money invested, it must be yielding them a good return. However, if we look at the last 10 years’ data, we can see that in only one year, they have sold more investments than bought, so I really don’t know when these investments will become profitable for them and generate other sources of income.

This can never be a bad thing; the only problem is the time horizon and management decisions to actually make money on these investments and let those returns show up in their income statement so that it actually makes sense.

But its a good finding nonetheless and thank you for sharing this:)

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Arvind SmartSpaces - Real Estate arm of the Arvind Mills group

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PNGS Gargi Fashion Jewellery Ltd listed in BSE SME is from the PN Gadgil &Sons. PN Gadgil & Sons is a 200 old company with turnover of 5,500 cr.

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Listing some of the companies from big corporate house.
Small/start up company of big corporate house.

  1. Mahindra EPC
  2. Kaya (Marico group)
  3. Nelco (Tata gp)
  4. Max India
  5. Arvind Smart space (Arvind Mills group)
  6. Emami Realty Ltd
  7. Shriram Properties
  8. Apollo Sindoori (Apollo Hospital)
  9. Shriram Asset Management Company Ltd
  10. Amal Ltd (Arvind Mills group)
  11. The Anup Engineering (Arvind Mills group)
  12. Krebs Bio (Ipca Lab)
  13. Makers Lab (Ipca Lab)
  14. Resonance Specialities (Ipca Lab)
  15. Digicontent (Hindustan Times group)
  16. RPG life science
  17. Kirloskar Electric
  18. Max Ventures
  19. PNGS Gargi Fashion Jewellery(PNGadgil and Sons)

There must be other names.

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