Private equity group India Agri Business Fund will invest $10 million (about Rs 48 crore) to pick up around 22 per cent stake in Gautam Thapar-promoted Avantha Group's food division Global Green Company. The fund will invest another $40 million this year in food and agri sector, said Rajesh Srivastava, chairman & Managing director, Rabo Equity Advisors, the sponsor of the $100 million fund. The investment in Global Green Company will be used to expand the company's domestic business, which is primarily into exports market currently, he said.   more »

The government is considering up to 10 per cent equity dilution in the state-owned aluminium producer Nalco, which may fetch the exchequer about Rs 2,200 crore. "The Ministry of Mines will have to take a decision. We have said that they could consider 5-10 per cent stake sale," Disinvestment Department Joint Secretary Sidhartha Pradhan told PTI. At present, the government holds about 87.15 per cent equity in the navratna company while the rest has been made public.   more »

As part of its strategy to exit from bad businesses, TV18 is selling its entire 50 per cent stake in Jobstreet.com India. The joint venture made no progress and TV18 has taken a hit of Rs 25 million in the entire exercise, a source in the company says. The shares have been sold back to the partner, Jobstreet.com Singapore. Floated in late 2006, the joint venture company was to tap into the rapidly growing job portal space in India and provide consolidated value to Web18, the internet and mobile arm of TV18. The market cap of Info Edge, the holding company of naukri.com, is Rs 25.09 billion. Though Info Edge has other smaller properties like www.jeevansathi.com, www.99acres.com, www.quadranglesearch.com and www.shiksha.com, it definitely provides an indicative valuation of a successful job portal in India.   more »

Bangalore-based diversified business conglomerate Siesta Group is slated to raise $20 million through the private equity (PE) route to acquire three logistics trading firms in three Asian countries. Post acquisition, Ravi Naware, ex-divisional chief executive of ITC’s food business, will head the company’s logistics division. Speaking with FE, Siesta’s chairman and managing director Ashok Chattaraj said, “The company will acquire firms in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shenzhen in China.” It has done all the groundwork for the acquisition and deals will be officially closed in the beginning of the new financial year beginning April, Chattaraj added.   more »

Malvinder to be Parkway chairman; acquisition will form Asia’s largest hospital chain. Fortis Healthcare today announced the largest overseas acquisition by an Indian company in the healthcare space, buying the entire 23.9 per cent stake held by TPG Capital in Singapore’s Parkway Holding Ltd for $686 million (Rs 3,119 crore). Fortis is India’s second-largest healthcare provider after Apollo Hospitals and Parkway is Asia’s biggest hospital operator by sales. The acquisition would form Asia’s largest hospital chain with over 10,000 beds across 64 hospitals in six countries. The deal, announced in Singapore on Thursday, will also see Fortis Chairman Malvinder Mohan Singh appointed chairman of the Parkway board.   more »

Indian diversified conglomerate Siva Group on Wednesday said that it has bought a 50% stake in the Norway-based glacial water company Isklar for around $22 million, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Lotus Venture. "This present acquisition reinforces the vision of Siva Group and we will look forward to expand operations of the brand in other international markets," Siva Group chief executive Vaidyanathan Srinivasan told PTI. He said that Isklar was established as a joint venture between Sabco, a Middle East-based water bottler and Norwegian firm Jova Holdings. After the transaction, Isklar would become a joint venture company with the Indian Siva Group's holding at 50%, with Sabco and Jova Holdings jointly commanding the remaining stake.   more »

Independent News & Media has sold 23.5 million ordinary shares in Jagran Prakashan Limited ("JPL") on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India. This sale represents approximately 7.8% of the issued share capital of JPL and reduces INM's holding in JPL to 5.7% (previously 13.5%). INM said this evening that the proceeds from this share sale were approximately €42m, which will be used to pay down bank debt. Having originally invested €28.5m to acquire its stake in 2005, following this share sale, INM's remaining holding in JPL is worth about €33m at the current market price. In addition, INM has received disposal proceeds of approx. €64m from a combination of this disposal and its disposal in July 2009.   more »

IPL effort to sell two new IPL teams in an auction with a base price of $225 million (about £148 million) fell embarrassingly flat. “The bids that were received were returned without being opened,” Modi said. He added little else in the way of explanation — an omission that will increase suspicions that the IPL has fallen short of the money-spinning bonanza its creator had promised investors. Enthusiasm is likely to have been tempered by the knowledge that a side bought in excess of $225 million is unlikely to make a profit soon. The other indicator of the IPL’s growing value came a month earlier, when the Royals sold a 12 per cent stake for about $15.4 million. The deal valued the franchise at a shade less than $130 million, nearly double the amount paid a year earlier to acquire it. The portion of TV revenues to be distributed among the teams is due to fall to 70 per cent this year, from 80 per cent — the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the owner of the IPL, will keep the rest — and in 2011, it will be 60 per cent. Under such a scenario it appears unlikely that any franchise sold in excess of $225 million would turn a profit in the near future and with each franchise licensed for a mere ten years, time is of the essence.   more »

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), India’s largest media company, is set to acquire 9X, the Hindi general entertainment channel belonging to the loss-making INX Media Pvt Ltd. The deal is expected to cost Zee about Rs 65 crore, sources familiar with the development said. Zee is understood to have walked the road with the INX management, currently being steered by media veteran Pradeep Guha — a former CEO of the Zee group who assumed INX’s chief executive position recently — over the past three-four months. Guha, who also has a small equity position in INX Media, was entrusted with the recast plan by INX’s private equity investors Temasek Holdings, New Silk Route, New Vernon Private Equity Fund and Kotak Private Equity.The decision to exit 9X seems to be an outcome of this recast plan as the channel wasn’t able to hold its own in an arena of white-hot competition. INX has racked up huge losses that, on a carryforward basis, are expected to touch over Rs 800 crore by the end of the current fiscal year for its entire media business.   more »

The Indian government Monday moved a bill in Parliament to cut its minimum holding in the State Bank of India to 51% to allow the state-run lender to raise more capital from the market. Under existing law, government holding in the bank can't fall below 55%. As of December last year, the government's holding stood at 59.41%. The proposed changes in the State Bank of India Act will allow the country's largest lender by assets to issue preference shares. It will also enable the bank to issue bonus shares or privately place shares.   more »