The investment in Patanjali Foods is a new wager by GQG on India after it invested nearly $2 billion in the troubled conglomerate of infrastructure tycoon Gautam Adani in March. Ramdev, whose yoga channel is watched by millions, is the face of Patanjali and a non-executive director.
In the past, he ran a controversial campaign for India's prime leader, Narendra Modi, calling modern medicine a "stupid bankrupt science" during the pandemic. In a filing to Indian stock exchanges, GQG said it had acquired 21.5 million shares in Patanjali, 5.96 per cent of total shares of the biscuits-to-edible oils seller.
GQG did not disclose how much it paid for the stake but the clearing price for professional bidders was Rs1,103.8 per share, according to the BSE stock exchange. This would suggest GQG paid about $290 million.
GQG is betting heavily on India’s economic growth. In a blog posted on its website in June, GQG praised Modi for making business-friendly reforms and “following the playbook” of world leaders including Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore.
GQG’s founder and chief investment officer, Rajiv Jain, was the first major investor to bet on the Adani Group after US short seller Hindenburg Research hit the conglomerate with a short selling attack in January this year.