Hands On Trades Private Limited (HOTPL), a provider of storage and auxiliary services for Blinkit, has been acquired by Zomato Hyperpure Private Limited, the food delivery service's business-to-business (B2B) restaurant supply division.

Zomato acquired the ancillary service for about $8 million in cash. It has not acquired the B2B trading business under HOTPL as it no longer fits strategically with its plans, the company said in a letter to shareholders on June 24. "Our existing Rs 222.8 crore investment in HOTPL is protected through our liquidation preference right," it said.

In a disclosure to BSE, Zomato notified the exchange that the acquisition of the ancillary business, as well as Blinkit (formerly Grofers), was complete. Zomato acquired Blinkit in an all-stock deal for Rs 4,447 crore. About 97% of shareholders voted in favour of the deal on July 27.

“Further, the company has completed acquisition of 100% shareholding of BCPL from its shareholders. Accordingly, BCPL became a wholly owned subsidiary of the company with immediate effect i.e. from August 10, 2022. This is to further inform the exchange that Zomato Hyperpure Private Limited, a material subsidiary of the company, has acquired the warehousing and ancillary services business of Hands On Trades Private Limited,” Zomato wrote in its filing on Thursday.

After the acquisition, Zomato plans to start integrating Blinkit on multiple fronts, starting with customers and delivery fleets. It may also consider moving Blinkit to the Zomato app.

It is reported that Blinkit is expected to shut most of its own backend fulfilment warehouses and merge them with Hyperpure.