Bhavish Aggarwal paid $2.3M to top up collateral as Ola Electric shares slid: Report

Ola Electric’s founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal infused $2.3 million in cash to shore up collateral for borrowings against shares of the EV-maker, Bloomberg reported citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Aggarwal had raised Rs 250 crore for Krutrim AI, which is developing a range of AI capabilities, including large language models, cloud infrastructure, and AI-optimised chips. However, he had raised the money by pledging Ola Electric equity, and since March this year, he has reportedly topped up funds after shares of the company plunged below Rs 50 apiece.

The report added that the loan didn't reach a point where the lender would force him to add more collateral or repay part of the loan, a situation known as margin call.

Additionally, the report said that even though Ola Electric shares have plunged by about 43% year-to-date, the shares he had pledged are still worth more than twice the loan amount.

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Aggarwal had pledged about 8% of his 30% stake in Ola Electric. Avendus Group, InCred Alternative Investments Pvt and Modulus Alternatives Investment Managers had lent him the money in exchange for bonds issued by Krutrim, carrying coupon rates of around 14.9% to 15.9% and backed by Ola Electric shares, according to data published by Bloomberg and one of the sources cited in the report.

“We previously disclosed the promoter pledges through stock market notifications. There are no share pledges or material developments beyond those already notified. We decline to comment further on speculative reports,” a spokesperson for Ola Group said in response to queries sent by YourStory.

The report comes a day after South Korean automotive major Hyundai Motors exited the company by offloading its stake in the company by selling shares worth Rs 552 crore in an open market transaction. Following this, Kia Corporation also sold around 2.71 crore shares in the company in open market transactions.

Shares of the Bengaluru-based company were trading at Rs 49.03 as of 3:15 PM on Thursday after this news broke.

(Disclaimer: Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, is an independent director at Ola Electric.)