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TiE will rope in VC funds and angel investors. After witnessing a rush of early-stage venture capital (VC) funds and angel investors into the country, the government is taking steps to float a fund to make available seed capital — the earliest stage of funding a business — to entrepreneurs with innovative ideas. This is part of an effort to have a broad programme to foster innovation and take it to global markets. For this, the government is putting together a framework for setting up an innovation promotion council. The fund’s initial corpus of Rs 75 crore will come from the Ministry of Science and Technology. According to information, the Centre is expected to engage The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a network of early-stage VC funds and angel investors with associations in the sub-continent, and Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. […]
Going by the stock movement of Cairn India it is difficult to ignore the reports doing rounds in British media that BP is planning to takeover Cairn India's parent company Cairn Energy Plc. Reports indicate that BP may make 2,800 pence per share bid for the UK based oil company. In the past, BP management has indicated that getting a foothold into India is its biggest challenge. If one is to believe most analyst reports in UK, Cairn is by far the most obvious merger and acquisition candidate in the European E&P sector given that Cairn has a world scale undeveloped resource base in Rajasthan. […]
Private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) on Wednesday said it has acquired 74 per cent stake in East India Petroleum Ltd (EIPL). The stake was bought by GIP through a joint venture with Zeus Inframanagement, a company release said here. GIP holds 80 per cent equity stake in the JV with Zeus Inframanagement. The financial terms of the transaction were, however, not disclosed. EIPL is a privately-owned provider of liquid storage services for petroleum, oil and lubricant products, petrochemicals, liquefied petroleum gas and bio diesel. Its facility is located at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Global Infrastructure Management LLC Chairman and Managing Partner Adebayo Ogunlesi said, “EIPL is an outstanding storage asset, well-positioned in one of the premier ports in the second fastest-growing economy in the world – India.” “It also has significant opportunities for growth as energy consumption increases in India and the country builds storage capacity in line with global capacity levels.” The EIPL facility includes twelve storage tanks for petroleum, oil and lubricant products, petrochemicals and bio diesel with a total capacity of 74,000 kilolitres and three storage spheres for liquefied petroleum gas with a total capacity of 8,400 metric tonnes. […]
Deepak Roy, one-time blue-eyed boy of spirit baron Vijay Mallya, has picked up a 5% stake in Mallya’s arch-rival Kishore Chhabria-led company BDA, makers of Officer’s Choice whisky. Officer’s Choice is the second largest selling whisky brand in the country after Mallya’s UB group owned Bagpiper. This move, according to industry watchers, may trigger off another round of competition given that Mr Roy is seen as a man to contend with in India’s spirit industry. The liquor market hasn’t witnessed any major competitive action after Mr Mallya took over the nearest competitor Shaw Wallace in 2005. Besides the stake purchase, Mr Roy will also take over the management of BDA as its executive vice-chairman and CEO from November ‘07. BDA is an unlisted company. When contacted, Mr Roy and Mr Chhabria declined to comment on the development. Mr Roy who rejoined Mr Mallya in 2002 after a decade-long stint with the world’s largest spirit company Diageo, makers of Johnnie Walker whisky, had left UB group in 2005 over differences with Mr Mallya. Mr Roy had hoped to head the combined UB group spirit business now christened United Spirits. However, Mr Mallya opted to appoint long-time confidante Vijay Rekhi to head the spirit business. […]
Domestic drug maker Wockhardt said on Wednesday it acquired US-based speciality drugs company Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals, which has annual sales of $52 million. Though the company did not disclose the price, sources in the know said Wockhardt paid nearly $38 million for the Illinois-based company. This ends a long wait for the Mumbai-based drug maker, which had been scouting for acquisition in the US market for over two years, and also brings it closer to its Indian rival Cipla, which had signed a supply agreement with Morton Grove in 2004. This acquisition will allow Wockhardt to expand its operation and product portfolio in the world’s largest pharmaceutical market. Shearman & Sterling, LLP advised Wockhardt on this deal while ABN AMRO represented US-based private equity investment firm GTCR, which holds a majority stake in Morton Grove. […]
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a UK-based private equity firm backed by Credit Suisse and General Electric along with Delhi-based infrastructure firm Zeus Inframanagement, has acquired 74% in Hyderabad-based East India Petroleum (EIPL), a privately-owned company for around Rs 500 crore. GIP and Zeus Inframanagement have floated a joint venture to acquire 74% stake. GIP, which owns stakes in London City Airport and Great Yarmouth port, will hold an 80% stake in the JV while Zeus Inframanagement will own the rest. EIPL provides liquid storage services for petroleum, oil and lubricant products, petrochemicals, LPG and biodiesel. India is currently experiencing a strong demand for petro-products to fuel its energy needs. East India Petroleum is based close to Visakhapatnam, one of the biggest ports in Andhra Pradesh. The deal also underlines the attractiveness of India’s energy sector to foreign investors. Significant opportunities for growth as energy consumption increases in India and it builds storage capacity in line with global capacity levels. […]
(Contributed by Dr. Alok Aggarwal, Chairman and Co-founder, Evalueserve) Evalueserve, the global research and analytics firm, has identified three major groups of industries in India that are likely to be lucrative for private equity investors. One such group is that of hi-tech services and products, most of which are currently being exported. The second group consists of services that are mainly geared towards the Indian domestic market. And the third group comprises products and services related to high-end manufacturing and infrastructure. The hi-tech services and products category includes Information Technology (IT) and application development, business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), drug research and clinical research outsourcing (CRO), engineering services outsourcing (ESO), software and solutions related to the consumer Internet, software as a service (SAAS), open source, software-cum-services, and telecommunications (both wireless and wire-line) products and services. This combined group of products and services is expected to grow at approximately 22% per year during the next five years and is likely to contribute about 1.3% out of a total nominal growth of 13% per year (including 5% annual inflation), i.e., approximately 10% of the total growth of the Indian economy. […]
Eyeing a chunk of the India pie, venture capitalists and private equity players will strike deals worth $17.5 billion (Rs 70,000 crore) by 2009. This is a three-fold jump from $5.5 billion at the end of the first half in 2007, predicts a new study from market research firm Evalueserve. Consequently, the total number of deals would soar to 560 as private equity players put in funds into the new engines of growth that drive the Indian economy. The paper mentions that 173 deals have been struck by the end of the first half of 2007. Evalueserve forecasts that beyond the technology-sector focused activity that has driven PE investments in the past, private equity and venture capital firms are now aggressively looking to invest in new areas such as manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, real estate, and construction. […]
Worried over the substantial inflows of foreign funds into the real estate sector, the central bank has asked the government to allow FDI into the sector only after the clearance from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). At present, up to 100% FDI is allowed in realty projects on automatic route with certain conditions like a three-year lock-in on investments and minimum capitalisation of $5 million. RBI wants real estate removed from the list of sectors where FDI can come in through the automatic route. RBI wants inflows routes like participatory notes (P-notes) and private equity contained. The market regulator Sebi is currently in the process of initiating moves to restrict investments coming in through P-notes. Sources said the government, which has completely backed Sebi’s action to restrict P-note flows, may now not relent on other suggestions, especially restricting FDI. Also removing one sector from the automatic list, will be seen as a retrograde measure by foreign investors. […]
Construction firm Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Ltd, which is developing four special economic zones (SEZs) focused on the information technology and back-office businesses, plans to sell up to 10% equity in these projects to private equity (PE) firms. “We are talking to a lot of private equity firms, including (the private equity arms of) Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, but we have not frozen on anybody as yet,” said Ashutosh Pathare, vice-president (commercial sales and business development) at Shapoorji Pallonji. People familiar with the development, who did not wish to be identified, said Singapore government-owned investment management firm GIC and local firm HDFC Realty were also interested in buying a stake in these projects. Several reports in the media had earlier said that Shapoorji Pallonji was considering selling a stake in its real estate projects that are FDI (foreign direct investment) compliant. Currently 100% FDI is allowed in projects covering a minimum area of 10ha for residential developments and more than 50,000 sq. m for commercial properties; such investments come with a lock-in period of three years. […]
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