Malaysia sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd is said to be in discussions to lead a $400 million funding round in Oyo Hotels & Homes Pvt., Bloomberg reported on Thursday, quoting to people familiar with the matter.

The Indian hotel-booking firm backed by Softbank Group, is seeking to raise funds for expansion and cutting debt, the people reportedly said. According to the report, Avendus Capital Pvt. is advising the company on the fund raise.

Founded by Ritesh Agarwal, Oyo filed for an initial public offering for the second time in March, after slashing the target amount to be raised by about two-thirds, Bloomberg reported. While the travel market has improved from the so-called Covid pandemic-era, Oyo — once valued around $10 billion as India’s Airbnb — is yet to decide on a timing for the IPO, the report added.

Talks are still ongoing and Khazanah can still decide to not invest, said the people.

Oyo is also holding talks with other investors for the fund raise, they said. Oyo reported 13 billion rupees ($156 million) net loss in the twelve month ending March 2023, according to Bloomberg‘s report.

Representatives for Khazanah and Oyo didn’t respond to Bloomberg’s emails seeking comments. A spokesperson for Avendus declined to comment.

Khazanah has been ramping up investments in India with banking companies including logistics provider Xpressbees and fast food chain Wow! Momos.

Oyo said it is a global platform that aims to empower entrepreneurs and small businesses with hotels and homes by providing full-stack technology products and services that aims to increase revenue and ease operations; bringing easy-to-book, affordable, and trusted accommodation to customers around the world.

Oyo offers 40+ integrated products and solutions to patrons who operate over 157,000 hotel and home storefronts in more than 35 countries including India, Europe, and Southeast Asia, according to its Linkedin Page.

The company said it operates a unique business model that helps its patrons transform fragmented, unbranded and underutilized hospitality assets into branded, digitally-enabled storefronts with higher revenue generation potential and provides its customers with access to a broad range of high-quality storefronts at compelling price points.

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