Hero MotoCorp increases stake in Ather Energy to 40% with additional investment

Hero MotoCorp has announced it has increased its stake in electric two-wheeler maker Ather Energy to nearly 40 per cent. The company has infused an additional ₹140 crore into Ather Energy and said that it’s buying shares of the company from another investor, taking its equity stake from 36.7 per cent to 39.7 per cent. The acquisition will be complete by January 31, 2024, it said in a regulatory filing.

Hero did not reveal the identity of the existing investors from whom the company bought the shares. That said, Ather Energy counts Tiger Global, GIC, Innoven Capital, Sachin Bansal and others among its investors. This decision follows a prior investment in September 2023, when Ather Energy secured ₹900 crore from Hero MotoCorp and GIC through a rights issue. At the time, Ather said that it would be utilising the investment towards new product development and expansion of its charging and retail network.

Ather Energy and Hero MotoCorp have also been collaborating over a shared fast-charging network for their respective electric scooter lines. The inter-operable EV charging network will be utilised by owners of Ather and Vida owners and will cover 100 cities with over 1,900 charging points.

Ather’s ledger books have been in the green with the company reporting a revenue of ₹1,806 crore in FY2023, rising from ₹413 crore in FY2022. It is currently one of the top three electric two-wheeler players in the market competing against Ola Electric and TVS Motor Company.

Ather is now gearing up to introduce a new variant of the 450X in the market soon. Dubbed the Ather 450X Apex, it promises to be the fastest e-scooter from the manufacturer and will come with a host of other upgrades on the feature front. The Bengaluru-based manufacturer is also working on a family electric scooter. which is expected to be its most affordable and we should hear more details about it sometime next year.

Check out Upcoming EV Cars in India, Upcoming EV Bikes in India.