Amansa, SBI MF lead Rs 413 Cr secondary round in Tonbo Imaging

Amansa Investments, SBI Mutual Fund and HDFC Life Insurance Company have bought secondary shares in defence electronics maker Tonbo Imaging India Ltd for over Rs 413 crore, valuing the company at approximately Rs 4,000 crore. The deal was first reported by YourStory.

Tonbo Imaging, which supplies imaging and sensor systems to defence and aerospace customers, is widely expected to file for an IPO in the next 12 months. The secondary transaction allows early backers to exit or rebalance holdings without diluting the company’s cap table before the public offering.

The valuation multiple reflects the premium that institutional investors are willing to pay for companies in India’s rapidly growing defence-tech sector. Government push for indigenous defence production and recent geopolitical tensions have accelerated order pipelines for firms like Tonbo, which counts the Indian armed forces and global primes among its clients.

Secondary deals of this size are still rare in India’s deep-tech space, where most funding rounds remain primary. When NABVENTURES closed its Rs 450 crore agritech tranche earlier this month, the capital was earmarked for new investments rather than share purchases from existing stakeholders.

The Tonbo transaction also underlines the growing role of domestic mutual funds and insurers in pre-IPO rounds. SBI Mutual Fund and HDFC Life’s participation mirrors the anchor round that AceVector raised last month ahead of its IPO, where Helios Mutual Fund was a key investor. For Tonbo, the next milestone to watch will be the IPO filing itself, which is likely to test whether public-market investors share the same appetite for defence electronics valuations.

Sources: yourstory.com