Namaste, Sat Sri Akaal, and Salaam. 🫡

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it, and a very very happy morning to everyone else!

Today we’re diving into -
- Blackstone’s bumper $1bn bet on India’s healthcare segment,
- Adani Green’s clean energy moves,
- And Rare Rabbit’s rare(ish) D2C success.

Our read time today is 4 minutes and 47 seconds - faster than Chatur came back on Sep 5… 🤓

Let's dive in. 👇

Market Vibe Check

Blackstone’s dying for a slice of the healthcare sector. 🩻

TLDR -
- Blackstone just paid $1bn for CARE Hospitals & $400mn for a 61% stake in KIMSHEALTH.
- This is their first bet in India, and they’ve chosen life sciences/healthcare as a solid long-term sector.
- Indian healthcare spending as a % of GDP is still very low at 3.6%. This number is gonna go up, and go up QUICK.

Direct from Harlem to Hyderabad…

Blackstone is a New-York-based private equity, and with almost $900bn under management, they’re a BIG whale.

They also just made their first bets on India’s healthcare/life-sciences sector - a $1 billion buyout of Hyderabad-based CARE Hospitals & a $400 million purchase of controlling stake in Kerala-based KIMSHEALTH.

This merged entity is gonna be one of India’s largest hospital chains with 4,000+ beds across 23 hospitals.

Healthcare as a sector is going to be flourishing at the cost of people’s lives -
- Indians have very unhealthy diets relative to most of the world (carb & fat rich, protein deficient)
- India also has the world’s youngest population now - which means an army of grey-haired people in 35-40 years.
- Unhealthy substances like sugar/nicotine/alcohol are VERY easily available

Despite this, there is a serious spending gap. India’s healthcare spending as a %age of GDP is pretty low at 3.6%. Brilliant for people’s health, but things are going to start deteriorating. Anyone building a trusted and reliable healthcare brand has a lot of market share ready for the taking.

Great time to be a doctor, even better time to be a businessman.

Adani Green sees big green. 💸

TLDR -
- Adani Green’s profit passed $45mn, 2.5Xed from this time last year.
- They saw an 87% jump in energy sales with great demand for “cheaper” electricity pan-India.
- They are in talks to raise $1.5bn, $750m of which will be used to repay debt.

A much-needed big win for Adani…

India’s largest developer of renewable/green energy is Adani Green - and their profits 2.5X’ed to $45mn. This is reassuring, since AG has always been the standout amongst all Adani group companies for the sheer amount of debt on it’s balance sheet.

They also clocked an 87% rise in energy sales and are pushing forward with their plan to build the world’s largest renewable energy cluster in Khavda, Gujarat.

Renewable energy has a very high capital expense (startup costs) but negligible operating expense (running costs) when compared to “dirty” fuels.

Adani green is gonna be using this profits to woo investors into giving them $1.5 billion, half of which will go toward debt repayment.

Gujju takeover… 💰

Rare Rabbit hops toward a $320mn valuation. 🐇

TLDR -
- Rare Rabbit is hunting for venture capital to scale their biz at a $300-320m valuation.
- Last year, they did $27m/sales and $2.5m/profit.
- Investors want to get their hands on new-age fast fashion businesses, catering to a very flirtatious and aspirational Gen-Z market.

Ever since the first Rare Rabbit store made it’s home in Bangalore, many millions of people wondered if the founders were crazy.

Taking on the Zara’s, H&M’s and Uniqlo’s of the world was gonna be no easy feat.

15 years later, they’re still alive - and they’re hunting for venture capital to blitz-scale their business.

Rare Rabbit is hunting for money at a valuation between $300-320mn- they saw revenues of $27mn with a profit of $2.5mn.

While the price tag is pretty high, investors are keen to get a slice of companies which own the ENTIRE backend.

Lots of “fintech” or “AI” startups are all just wrappers of different products, mashed together into a single app. But a player like Rare Rabbit owns the entire backend - from the product sourcing, manufacturing, shipping, and all the way to the customer’s hands.

Investors are keen to get a bite on India’s fast fashion wave - cheap clothes by quality and price, but just-right for the flirtatious and broke Gen-Z market.

Time will tell where this bunny hops…

In other news… ☕

Elon marks the value of his own Twitter investment at $19bn (FT)

BlackBerry CEO dips after 10 years (BBG)

Meta starts an ad-free version of Insta/Facebook for Europe (TC)

Pinterest jumps 15% after brilliant earnings (CNBC)

Argentinian Economy Minister threatens to cut fuel exports in the midst of a shortage (BBG)

And that’s the tea the chai for today.

Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoyed it. Have a mauj-masti filled day.

Lots of ❤️,

Team Cutting Chai