Why did Ajay Piramal buy Piyush Goyal’s company, Flashnet Info Solutions, in 2014? The Piramal Group told BloombergQuint it acquired the Goyal company “not just for its real estate assets but more for its investments in other companies”.

If that’s the case then why did Piramal sell those assets within months of purchasing the company?

The answer to that question is simply not forthcoming. The deal valuation is also not fully clear, BloombergQuint found after parsing data on the company’s assets.

Here’s what happened...

In July 2014, leading businessman Ajay Piramal’s family-owned Piramal Estates Pvt. Ltd bought Flashnet Info Solutions (India) Ltd., a private company owned by Goyal and his wife Seema, for Rs 47.8 crore.

The transaction was first reported by the Wire in a recent story that also raised questions about alleged inadequate disclosures by Goyal. Goyal, treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was in May 2014 appointed Minister of State for Power, Renewable Energy in the just-formed Narendra Modi-led government. The Flashnet acquisition was finalised around the time he was appointed minister.

Goyal has contested the Wire’s allegations. He told newspaper Times of India that since he and his wife had exited the company at the time of filing his asset details as a minister, there was no mention of Flashnet in the filing.

That’s a straightforward explanation.

What’s confusing is why Piramal bought Goyal’s company, especially at the valuation it did.

This is what BloombergQuint found when it dug into public filings made by Flashnet and Piramal Estates, the acquiring company. These filings were accessed on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs - MCA21 website.