Emirates Telecommunications Corp may compete with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and Russia's Altimo for a $1 billion stake in India's Tata Teleservices Ltd., al-Khaleej newspaper reported. Etisalat is likely to make the best offer, the United Arab Emirates newspaper reported, without saying how it got the information. "We have already mentioned we are evaluating several opportunities in India," Etisalat Chairman Mohammed Omran told Reuters. "We haven't decided to select one at this stage. It is still too early," he said, declining to comment directly on the newspaper report. A Tata Teleservices spokesman declined to comment on the specifics of the story, saying "we continue to evaluate all options." State-owned Etisalat said last month it was looking to invest as much as $4 billion in India, either buying into a telecom provider or a licence.   more »

Amidst speculations of diluting stake to Mahindra and Mahindra, Kinetic Motors on Wednesday said it was looking to mop up Rs 100-125 crore in the next three months for expansion. "We plan to raise anything between Rs 100-125 crore within the next three months," Kinetic Motors' Managing Director Sulajja Firodia Motwani told reporters, declining to comment on reports of possible stake sale to M&M. The fund would be deployed for capacity expansion as well as for introducing new products. "We are yet to decide the means of raising funds," she said. (ET)   more »

The problem is emanating from the reckless lending in the USA over decades, and especially in the residential mortgage market over the past 6-7 years that has brought severe strain to the global credit markets. Real estate prices in the US had risen significantly in the last 15 years backed by some very lenient lending practices. This was all possible because such loans along with other types of debts were pooled and packaged into special vehicles (CDOs-Collateralised Debt Obligations) and sold globally to investors who were looking for higher yields against the backdrop of falling interest income from more traditional investment options such as debt issued by the US treasuries. The repercussions of the US sub-prime crisis and the slowdown are sure to show up in the rest of the developing world. India is not likely to be any different. We have already seen some amount of rationalisation of real estate prices, particularly in the residential sector. Along with high overall growth, the size of high and middle-income group population has exploded in India and their affordability levels have improved tremendously. The nationwide shortage in housing units is placed at a massive 20-25 million units. And the explosion in the IT/ITES sector will remain for a while.   more »

L&T has received several bid offers from Indian and overseas companies for its ready-mix concrete (RMC) business. The successful bidder would be announced shortly, according to sources. Among the foreign companies are Holcim and Lafarge. Holcim already has Gujarat Ambuja Cement and ACC. Its RMC business is handled through ACC Concrete Ltd which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of ACC. ACC Concrete, has less than half the number of RMC units than L&T and the L&T acquisition could well catapult Holcim to the number one position in the ready-mix business in the country. Lafarge would like a stake in L&T’s RMC business as it will give the company a footprint in the western and other parts of the country. L&T’s RMC business is worth over Rs 1,000 crore. The Aditya Birla group is also said to be interested in L&T’s business but this could not be confirmed.   more »

The top managements of Bharti Airtel and South African telco MTN Group and the Lebanon-based Mikati family (which holds 9.8 per cent) are looking at a 50-50 cash-and-stock deal option as part of possible merger talks against an earlier 60:40 structure. Banking sources said with the MTN shareholders asking for a higher price than what Bharti had initially offered, the Indian telecom company might now pay 50 per cent of the money in cash and the rest through shares in Bharti Airtel. The sources added that MTN is also believed not to favour signing an "exclusivity" contract with Bharti Airtel under which it would be bound not to talk to any other competing bidder till the negotiations with them have been concluded.   more »

Bangalore-based John Distilleries, a group company of Paul John Enterprise, is eyeing to raise Rs 150 crore through the private equity route to fuel its capacity expansion. The company is in discussions with a UK-based private equity fund for this infusion by diluting not more than 25%. Interestingly, this is the PE fund which initially funded Foster's beer during its growth stages. John Distilleries Limited, an Indian distilling firm with capital of Rs 800 crore, is the 4th largest liquor company in the country in terms of volume. The company promotes its products across India and has an annual turnover of over Rs 600 crore. The company manages to sell over 7.5 million cases per annum. The company also plans to increase its capacity to 9 million cases a year from the current 7.5 million cases per annum. John Distilleries currently derives majority of its sales from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra and is expanding its presence to Chattisghar, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab. (Top News)   more »

The lull in initial public offerings (IPOs) presents opportunities galore for private equity funds, which seem to have become the first port of call for companies in urgent need of capital. Ironically, this very lull has also become a bane of sorts for some funds, which are already invested. Some private equity funds that had invested into companies in the past, and may have planned an exit now, have had to defer their plans as investor appetite is at its nadir. Notably, exits for a private equity investor are primarily through IPOs, rather than mergers, acquisitions or strategic sales. “There are companies in our portfolio, which may have been ripe for IPOs had the market sentiment been positive,” says K Srinivas, managing partner at BTS Investment Advisors, which has been investing in Indian small and medium enterprises since 1997.   more »

The UK-based promoter-director Bhulo (Bhupendra) Kansagra of Delhi-based low-cost carrier SpiceJet is willing to divest the family stake in the airline if the valuations are right. The Kansagra family owns 12.91 per cent in the airline, which is publicly listed, and has a 10 per cent share in the Indian market, and a market capitalisation of $250 million. However, the company has been asking for a steep premium valuing the company at $600 million to $700 million. The SpiceJet stock started attracting attention a few weeks ago following a major spurt in trading volumes, which raised speculation of a promoter sell-out. Speaking to Business Standard from London, Kansagra said, "I am aware of media reports in India that SpiceJet is being wooed by several private domestic airlines but no one has come to me with a concrete offer   more »

Tight liquidity conditions may have dented private equity (PE) investments in large corporates, but closely-held family businesses in India are increasingly bringing in PE firms as strategic partners, backed by a growing trend among promoters that valuations need to be more realistic. Volume of PE deals in mid-sized family businesses has been growing sharply, according to senior executives of various PE firms. Most of the deals are in the process of being signed and are confidential. In the listed-entity sphere, PE investments could be in the $14 billion to $16 billion range, according to research firm Four-S Services. The research added that there have already been 84 PE/venture capital deals worth nearly $4.1 billion in the first two months of 2008.   more »

The US-based PE fund Bain Capital PE, which has assets worth $40 billion under management, is setting up shop in India. Bain Capital, one of the top five PE funds in the world, has invested in companies such as Home Depot Supply and Burger King. It has appointed veteran in-vestment banker-turned PE investor Amit Chandra as its country head and MD for India operations. Sources say that Bain Capital is evaluating big India deals in the range of $100-200 million and would be setting up office in Mumbai.   more »