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PE funding down 23% at $10.8 bn

The global liquidity crisis and slump in the Indian stock markets have clearly made a dent, and a significant one, to private equity inflow into the country. According to a Venture Intelligence report, investments by PE firms fell 23% in 2008 to $10.8 billion. Arun Natarajan, founder and chief executive officer of Venture Intelligence, said, “This is the first time since 2002 that private equity investments in India witnessed a Y-o-Ydecline.” Compared with 439 PE deals in 2007, there were only 399 transactions in 2008. Information technology and IT-enabled services were most preferred sectors, registering 107 deals in the year. […]

Leverage 2009 – The Venture Capital and Private Equity Conference

Leverage, the Venture Capital and Private Equity Club of IIM Ahmedabad and the Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship bring to you the 1st edition of the Venture Capital and Private Equity Conference on the 6th and 7th of February, 2009. A student run initiative, the business school symposium will bring together industry experts, practitioners, advisors, academicians, and students with the aim of identifying and addressing key issues and trends relevant to venture capitalists, private equity investors, and entrepreneurs keeping in mind the current environment. The theme for the first edition of the Conference, Leverage 2009 is “Venture Capital and Private Equity: Investing and Managing Portfolios in Distressed Times”. […]

Kotak raises $295 mln in Indian realty fund

Kotak Mahindra Bank's realty arm has raised a $295 million private equity fund from offshore clients that it hopes to invest in Indian property sector in the next 18 months, a top executive said. The Kotak Realty Funds Group, had $800 million across three funds, of which $450 million was available for investment, chief executive S. Sriniwasan told Reuters by telephone on Friday. “We have investors from Korea, Japan, the Middle East, the UK and the U.S.,” Sriniwasan said, adding while there was no dearth of opportunities, pricing remained an issue. “We had a reasonably quite nine months prior to this because there was a mismatch in terms of valuation expectations versus what the investors were asking for. […]

Indi Media to buy INX News for Rs 50 crore

A group of investors, led by Vinay Chhajlani, CEO of Webdunia.com India Pvt Ltd, and Jehangir S Pocha, former editor of Businessworld, has bought INX News, the company that runs the English news channel NewsX. Chhajlani and Pocha have formed a company called Indi Media for the purpose. Though the size of the deal is not known, media industry sources peg it at roughly Rs 50 crore. Confirming the development, Peter Mukerjea, chairman of the INX group, told Business Standard: “We did not have the cash to continue funding the English news channel and were looking for an exit. We have now managed to do that.” However, INX continues to be in the broadcasting business through INX Media, which operates a music channel and a Hindi general entertainment channel. […]

Fabindia picks 25% stake in UK retailer EAST

India-based ethnic wear retail chain Fabindia has acquired 25 per cent stake in the UK-based womenwear retailer EAST. Fabindia finance director Sunil Chainani will join the EAST board. Fabindia managing director William Bissell said, “The synergy between the two is apparent not only in the product but also in the approach and sourcing.” The aquisition amount has not been disclosed by Fabindia. However, the valuation could be on the lower side with the sales in UK decreasing. The investors in EAST include Luke Johnson, the Channel 4 chairman and John Singh of Jaipur. […]

Tech Mahindra may evaluate telecom biz of Satyam

Software company Tech Mahindra today said it may evaluate the telecom business of the Satyam Computer Services for acquisition. “We are not interested in the whole company. We may be interested in its telecom business which forms a very small part of Satyam's entire portfolio if customers want us to,” the company spokesperson told PTI. He said the interest areas for Tech Mahindra could be taking over the telecom contracts and the employees associated with the vertical. […]

Changi Airports picks up 26% in Bengal project

Changi Airports International Pte Ltd (CAI), a unit of the owner of Singapore’s main airport, has purchased a 26% stake in a new airport project in eastern India. Changi Airports agreed to buy the stake in Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd in September last year, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation managing director Subrata Gupta said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. The airport project will cost about Rs10,000 crore, Gupta said. He declined to say how much Changi will pay for its stake.(Mint) […]

BSEL Infra sells stake in Pune hotel project

BSEL Infrastructure Realty Ltd said on Wednesday it has sold its 17 percent stake in BW Highway Star Hotel project in Pune. It has sold 1.05 million shares to Kamat Hotels (India) Ltd for 79.41 million rupees and the balance shares to a unit of Unity Infraprojects Ltd ) for 70.58 million rupees, it said in a statement. The project was being developed by the BSEL in a joint venture with Unity and Kamat Hotel, it added.(Reuters) […]

Big question over the credibility of auditors

The Satyam story poses a big question over the credibility of auditors in general, as PricewaterhouseCoopers was auditor of the company. The bankers to Satyam included Bank of Baroda, BNP Paribas, ICICI, HDFC, Citi Bank, HSBC. Anita Gandhi, head-institutional business, Arihant Capital, said, “The Indian technology industry was a very important driver for the country's stock market for nearly a decade. Satyam's fraud is expected to lead a severe blow to the entire industry with investors being more cautious going ahead. This raises serious questions on the entire due diligence process conducted by the auditors of Satyam. What is more surprising is the chairman's confession after his resignation. This means, all along, he did have vested interest in keeping the investors in darkness.” […]

British Air wants to buy 25% in GoAir

UK’S flagship airline British Airways (BA) is looking to pick up a 25% stake in Wadia group-promoted no-frills airline GoAir. Officials from BA and GoAir will meet in London next month to take discussions forward, said two industry sources familiar with the development to ET. Two weeks ago, BA’s merger talks with Australia’s Qantas did not fructify. It is learnt that the third-largest carrier has been seeking a deal with an Indian carrier for a while now. Interestingly, BA tried to reach a code sharing agreement with GoAir last year. “The interest in buying equity stake in GoAir comes in the wake of the development that the Indian government is considering a proposal to allow foreign airlines to pick up stake in domestic carriers,” said one of the sources. GoAir has a market share of 2.3%. […]