Lava acquires B Mobile; signs global licensing deal with Motorola

Indian handset brand Lava International has acquired Latin American handset brand China Bird Centro America S.A. for $50 million and has signed a global licensing deal with Lenovo-owned Motorola to launch Moto-branded features phones, the company revealed in its the Draft Red Herring prospectus (DRHP).

Panama-based China Bird Centro America S.A operates under the B Mobile brand to sell features and smartphones in the Latin American market. B-Mobile is a low cost handset provider in Latin America with a distribution network consisting of mobile carriers, retailers and local distributors.

B-Mobile Group reported annual revenues of approximately $$72 million and EBITDA margins of 6.30% during the twelve months ended December 31, 2020. It offers 20 different products, including feature phones, smartphones and other wireless devices.

“From time to time, we may evaluate potential acquisitions that would further our strategic objectives…our Company recently acquired 100% of the equity share capital in China Bird Centro America S.A on September 16, 2021 for a consideration of $50.54 million pursuant to the share swap agreement dated August 4, 2021,” Lava revealed in its the Draft Red Herring prospectus (DRHP).

Lava said that the acquisition of the B-Mobile Group will provide it with access to an established market and consumer base in 31 Latin American countries and allow it to benefit from the “immense growth of mobile handset market in Latin America. We also intend to continue to explore other acquisition targets to further our business and geographic presence.”

Lava will soon launch Moto-branded feature phones in India and will launch it in other markets later. Lava is also doing pan-India distribution for Motorola.”

Lava International plans to raise Rs1,400 crore-Rs1,500 crore via an initial public offering (IPO). It has recently filed the draft prospectus with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Lava’s IPO consists of a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 500 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) component of 43,727,603 equity shares. Lava was founded in 2009 by HO Rai, SN Rai, Sehgal and Bhalla. HO Rai is the chairman and managing director of the company.

Lava is among those Indian companies approved under the government’s Production Linked scheme (PLI) to avail of incentives by boosting local handset and IT hardware manufacturing and exports.

Lava already makes Nokia branded smartphones through its contract manufacturing business. Technology Reading