Temasek nears deal to buy 20% stake in VFS Global: report

Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state-owned global investment firm, is weighing acquiring a significant minority stake in VFS Global, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Singapore state-owned investor may buy about 20% in VFS, which is majority controlled by US alternative asset manager Blackstone Inc., the report said, citing the people mentioned above, and added that the deal is likely to value the visa outsourcing and technology services firm at $7 billion, including debt.

The people asked not to be identified as the talks are private, but Temasek and Blackstone may announce the deal as soon as Monday.

When contacted, Temasek declined to comment while tagging this development as speculation. In a written response to Press Insider’s query, it said, “We decline to comment on speculation.”

Blackstone bought a majority stake in VFS from Swedish private equity (PE) firm EQT AB for an undisclosed amount in 2022, with the latter holding on to a small stake, along with the Kuoni and the Hugentobler Foundation.

Bloomberg News reported on Friday that the American alternative investment firm was considering a full or partial sale of VFS after receiving proposals from sovereign wealth funds such as Temasek.

VFS Global was founded by Zubin Karkaria in 2001 in Mumbai while he was chief executive at Kuoni Travel.

Headquartered in Zurich and Dubai and backed by majority shareholder Blackstone, along with the Swiss-based Kuoni and Hugentobler Foundation and EQT, the company serves as a trusted partner to 68 governments and operates 3,457 application centers in 153 countries.