Reliance Technology Ventures Limited (RTVL), the corporate venture capital arm of the Reliance ADA Group, has directed the investment of an undisclosed amount in Pelago, Inc. RTVL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital Ltd. Pelago offers a new break-through mobile and Web-based service that is at the intersection of social networking and local discovery. The service is offered under the brand name â€کWhrrl’. The Whrrl service catalogs peoples’ activities, chronicling an individual’s history of places visited and events attended through icons pinpointed on Whrrl’s built-in mapping application. Whrrl users and their friends can then rate, review, and comment on these places and events. Whrrl shares user-contributed information with others through a real-time micro-blogging feature called the “Whrrld Feed.â€‌ Whrrl users check in via SMS, the Whrrl mobile application, or the Whrrl Web site, instantly updating others on their location or status through their Whrrld Feed. Whrrl’s "passive visitization" technology can precisely detect if a person is walking into a store or merely walking by.   more »

According to industry sources, Warburg holds stake in WNS, an India-based BPO listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It also holds stake in Metvante Investments(Mauritius), which holds a little over 20% stake in Firstsource. Industry players are speculating Warburg could talk to Metvante to buy out its 20% stake in Firstsouce. The next step would be to go for an open offer. And in case the open offer is successful, Warburg could propose a merger of Firstsource and WNS, in the process create a BPO giant. Warburg Pincus is the majority shareholder in WNS. A senior official at ICICI Bank said that the bank, which as a promoter holds nearly 27% in Firstsource, can not sell more than 5% in the BPO till August 2010. This is because, Firstsource went public last year and as promoters, part of ICICI Bank's holding are under a three year lock-in clause.   more »

Idea Cellular said on Thursday private equity Providence Equity Partners would buy a fifth of its unit Aditya Birla Telecom for $640 million, the latest deal in the world's fastest growing wireless market. The deal, which values the telecom firm at $3.2 billion, is subject to regulatory approvals, and expected to close by August. The funds will be used for network rollout and ongoing operations of Aditya Birla Telecom (ABTL), which has a licence in eastern Bihar and Jharkhand states, Idea Cellular said. Idea will transfer its 16 percent holding in tower company Indus Towers -- a joint venture with top telecom operator Bharti Airtel and Vodafone --to ABTL. "ABTL has got growth opportunities in one of the biggest telecom circle going forward (Bihar service area) and also 16 percent equity in Indus Towers," Managing Director Sanjeev Aga said, explaining Providence Equity's interest in the firm. DSP Merrill Lynch was the sole advisor to Idea on the deal.   more »

Mauritius-based firm Healthcare Investment (HIL) is picking up around 8.5% stake in Apollo Health Street (AHS), the healthcare BPO arm of India’s largest healthcare company, Apollo Group, for around Rs 61 crore. This values the company at just over Rs 700 crore. HIL is learnt to the healthcare investment arm of a leading financial firm. However, ET could not identify the name of the financial firm. AHS is planning to offload 20% stake of its post-issue paid up capital to raise around Rs 160-170 crore from the capital market through its initial public offer (IPO). According to sources, AHS is now allotting 23 lakh shares to Healthcare Investment at Rs 260 per share through issue of equity shares or compulsorily convertible preference shares as part of the pre-IPO placement.   more »

Private equity majors IDFC Project Equity and Lehman Brothers are in advanced stage of talks to pick up 16.66% in Konaseema Gas Power (KGPL) for around Rs 500 crore, sources told ET. The deal, which is expected to be concluded shortly, values the Andhra Pradesh-based power utility KGPL at around Rs 3,000 crore. KGPL sources confirmed the fund-raising plans and added that about 8.33 crore shares will be placed to the funds at a price of about Rs 60 per share. Out of the total Rs 500 crore, IDFC would invest Rs 200 crore, while Lehman would pick up stake amounting to Rs 300 crore. When contacted, the official spokesperson of KGPL declined to comment on the deal. It is learnt that the funds will be utilised for part- financing a 820 mw plant, which is in the second phase of its 1,280 mw project. The first phase has already been completed. The total cost of the second phase would be around Rs 2,800 crore. KGPL is planning to go public during the second half of 2009, once it receives gas supply and is able to commence power generation.   more »

The private equity arm of Axis Bank has invested $30 million (Rs 126 crore) in Delhi-based railway line manufacturer Harish Chandra India Limited (HCIL), through its recently-launched Axis Infrastructure Fund-I. Axis PE has picked up over 25 per cent stake in the company and also two board memberships. Axis has done the first closure of $150 million (Rs 630 crore) of its $500 million (Rs 2100 crore) infrastructure fund. The HCIL investment is the first such deal from the fund raising. Axis is planning to raise the remaining $350 million soon under the name Axis Infrastructure Fund-II.   more »

Private equity (PE) giant Texas Pacific Group (TPG)-controlled Parkway Hospital in Singapore is leading the race to acquire 25-30% stake in Bangalore-headquartered Manipal Hospital for over Rs 500 crore, sources said. The indirect stake buy in one of India’s largest private hospital chains will also be TPG’s biggest play in the domestic market. Parkway, a luxury hospital chain with footprint across five nations in South East Asia, appears close to clinching the transaction pipping another strategic suitor and Thailand healthcare major Bumrungrad. Manipal hit the market for fund raising almost five months back, and received aggressive offers from a clutch of private equity players like Apax Partners, Actis and Sequoia. Following the Parkway acquisition four year back, TPG has been aggressively pushing the Singapore healthcare company, with medical tourism play, into new markets including China. The impending transaction may value Manipal Hospital at around Rs 2,000 crore, with India poised to play a big role in Parkway’s overseas strategy, sources added. TPG Capital has so far invested about $200 million in India, mainly across technology and consumer verticals. Its arm, TPG-Axon, which takes block positions in public companies and invests in real estate, has nearly $1 billion exposure in India.   more »

Three private equity investors — Blackstone, New Vernon and Reliance (part of ADAG) have picked up equity shares and warrants in the Chennai-based Everonn Systems Ltd, a company specializing in e-learning and virtual classrooms. P Kishore, managing director, Everonn told TOI that the company has raised Rs 167.89 crore from the PE investors besides a equity warrant issue to the promoters. Deutsche Securities (represented by Reliance), The India Fund Inc of Blackstone and New Vernon will invest Rs 91.39 crore immediately. The promoters would pump in Rs 50 crore towards the warrant issue. In all the dilution would be around 9% of the company's equity.   more »

A multinational venture capital fund has invested “sizeably” in New Horizon Media (NHM), a closely held corporation having published over 650 books that have sold 250,000 copies, its co-founder K. Satyanarayan said here Wednesday. The company, however, refrained from giving details about the share of the company being given to Beacon India Private Equity Fund, the Indian subsidiary of the international $200 million Baer Capital Partners. Launched four years ago by a former founder of a major cricket website and two IIT graduates, Badri Sheshadri, Satyanarayan and Ananthkumar, NHM has published works of well known journalists and writers in three languages, Satyanarayan said.   more »

Global financial major Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Indivision, the private equity arm of Future Group, are in race to buy into Cox & Kings, one of India's oldest travel services firm. A source said the tour operator is considering a pre-IPO placement of its shares with some investors and is in talks with the foreign financial institutions and private equity funds. However, another source said US-based Merrill Lynch is the frontrunner. The deal is being brokered by City-based Enam Securities. The primary objective of companies opting for a pre-IPO placement is that it sets the benchmark to identify the public issue price. The promoters - the Peter Kerkar family - plans to sell 8-10% to the new investor for Rs 135 crore. The deal, if consummated, will put the valuation of Cox & Kings at Rs 1,350 crore. The company plans to utilize the funds to expand the business, including acquisitions.   more »