CarTrade buys OLX India’s Auto Business in India for Rs 537 Crore

CarTrade Tech Ltd has announced the acquisition of Sobek Auto India Pvt., a company owned by the auto sales division of OLX India, in a deal worth Rs 537 crore. CartTrade will buy 100% of Sobek’s shares and is making the purchase “to provide synergistic benefits to CartTrade Tech’s existing businesses,” it said in an exchange filing on Monday.

The transaction will be a pure cash agreement and the acquisition is likely to be completed within 30 days.

According to the exchange filing, OLX India Pvt. also sold its classified internet business to Sobek on June 30. Prasas-owned OLX made a “strategic decision” to exit the OLX Autos business in several countries in March this year.

In June, the company said it was looking for buyers for its OLX classifieds platform and auto transaction business in India. It also closed operations in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, cutting 800 employees worldwide. Additional queries sent to CarTrade and OLX India did not receive a response at the time of publication.

By Priyanka Bhowmick