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DLF Ltd, the largest real estate developer in India, has announced its equal partnership with Aman Resorts, to enter into definitive agreements to acquire a controlling interest in the Aman Resorts Group. The entire transaction, when completed, is estimated to be valued at $400 million with an assumed debt of approximately $150 million. Aman Resorts is one of the world's leading hospitality and lifestyle businesses and currently owns and operates 22 luxury hotels, many with residences, in 12 countries. Several of the properties, such as the famed Amanpuri in Phuket and Amandari in Bali have received numerous awards over the years. In addition to expanding its resort locations, Aman Resorts is developing projects in key gateway cities around the world, the first of which is scheduled to open in New Delhi, India, in 2008. It has ambitious growth plans with many new properties in various stages of development. […]
Canaan Partners, the two-decade old, US-based early stage venture capital firm with $2.5 billion under management is planning to raise its eighth fund, targeting a corpus of $650 million. The seventh fund from which the VC is presently investing is $450 million. The company, which styles itself as venture catalysts, has been increasing its exposure in India and has so far understood to have committed close to $50 million in four companies during the past year and half, including investment in BharatMatrimony.com and techtribe.com Canaan India head Alok Mittal confirmed that Canaan is in the process of a new fund of around $650 million and added that the India team is being expanded to handle the hike in the deal flows. “We do not have a target of how much we will have to invest in India, but we are certainly looking for more opportunities,” Mittal added. The move by Canaan to raise its next round comes close on the heels of venture firms like Matrix India Partners, Sandalwood […]
Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd. said on Wednesday that its Board has approved the acquisition of a 51% stake, for cash, in Dimple Chie Advertising Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai. Dimple Cine Advertising has an all-India presence and is a one-stop cinema solution provider for both on-screen and off-screen advertising business capable of all types of cinema campaigns. Keynote Corporate Services Ltd., Mumbai, was the advisor to Pyramid Saimira on this transaction.(India Infoline) […]
Valuemart Info Technologies acquired a 74% stake in Datatalk Services (India) (Datatalk) a Bangalore based IT and BPO company. The shareholders agreement with Datatalk was signed on Nov. 28, 2007. After acquisition, Datatalk will be a subsidiary of Valuemart. The acquisition will help the company to acquire premium clients and broad base our service offerings in the BPO segment. Datatalk, a Bangalore based BPO, offers direct marketing, customer acquisition and retention and telemarketing services in the domestic market to prestigious clients like Airtel, Club Mahindra, Deutsche Bank, Nestle, Pepsi, Tektronics and Zee Television among others. Datatalk currently operates a 100-seat facility, in Bangalore and will set up an additional 200-seats capacity for its clients in Bangalore and Hyderabad in the next six months. […]
Global private equity player Sequoia Capital has invested Rs 100 crore in Hyderabad-based contract research organisation GVK Biosciences. The investment comes close on the heels of Sequoia picking up an 18% stake in Hyderabad-based CRO SAI Advantium, signaling the PE major’s interest in the contract research space. GVK Biosciences plans to use the money to fund acquisitions in the CRO space and also add to its existing capacities. “We are looking at targets both in India and abroad for expanding our work. Low-cost destinations are not a priority for us because we are open to making acquisitions even in the US and Europe,” GVK Bio president Manni Kantipudi told ET. According to him, the acquisitions would be made to compliment the company’s existing activities in the pre-clinical and clinical research areas. […]
Private equity (PE) investors have become bearish on returns, according to a half-year survey conducted by private equity advisory group Deloitte Corporate Finance Services India Pvt. Ltd among 40 PE firms across September and October. A majority (52%) expected returns to decrease in the next six months compared with 23% in their survey for the first half of 2007. One survey respondent, who was not named, qualified this concern by saying: “Investments made two or three years ago that exit in the next six months will do very well. More recent vintages will see more muted returns.” Also, one in five respondents expected a decrease in new funds being raised for India. No respondent expected a slowdown in investment activity The slight cooling down in PE market sentiment largely comes from the rise in the number of PE funds in India— a phenomenon that has raised company valuations. Increasing competition has also caused PE firms to focus more on the factors that differentiate them as companies look for more than money. Despite the outlook on returns, none of the respondents expected a slowdown in investment activity (65% expected increased activity versus 84% in the last survey). […]
India Infoline announced the approval of an equity investment of USD 76.7 million (approximately Rs 3 billion) into its consumer finance subsidiary India Infoline Investment Services (IIIS) by the Singapore-based investment institution Orient Global, which will acquire a 22.5% stake. The capital will be primarily utilized for the expansion of IIIS`s subsidiaries, Moneyline, which is in the business of personal and auto loans, and India Infoline Housing Finance, which is in the business of home loans. Moneyline will make use of the group`s expansive network of 600 branches to provide credit to a large segment of the populace which currently does not have access to organized credit. Moneyline plans for an active presence in 60 cities by the end of 2008. With a combination of decentralized distribution and service, supported by centralized risk management and back office operations, Moneyline aims to leverage technology to reduce costs, deliver superior service and offer a pleasant overall borrowing experience to the customer. […]
Balaji Telefilms, Ekta Kapoor-promoted production house, plans to offload 10-15 per cent stake in its wholly owned subsidiary Balaji Motion Pictures. Sources said the company is valued at Rs 1,000 crore. Centrum Finance is said to be the financial advisor to the company. Sources added that the company is in talks with private equity investors. It is considering roping in only one private equity, instead of a cluster of investors. However, the plan is at a nascent stage. Balaji Telefilms CEO R Karthik said, “We are adequately funded to take care of our needs. We are weighing various options to fund our future growth. However, it is premature at this stage to comment on any specific instrument.” Balaji Motion Pictures in the past has produced films such as Kya Kool Hai Hum, co-produced Shootout at Lokhandwala with Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt’s banner White Feather Films. […]
Deutsche Bank, IL&FS, Lehman Brothers and Sabre Abraaj are looking to pick up an equity stake of around 10% in Ramky Estates and Farms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Rs 1,600-crore Ramky Group. “We are in talks with these private equity funds to raise around $100 million (Rs 407 crore). The plan is to raise money in 2008,” said a company official. The Ramky group has raised around $128 million (Rs 532 crore) for two of its subsidiaries — Ramky Infrastructure and Ramky Enviro Engineers. IL&FS and Sabre Abraaj have picked up a 13.5% stake in Ramky Infrastructure for $28 million (Rs 125 crore), while Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and IL&FS have picked up a 10% stake in Ramky Enviro Engineers for around $ 100 million (Rs 407 crore). “We are looking at a similar pattern for Ramky Estates and Farms as well,” the official said. Crisil is in the process of evaluating the real estate company. […]
Private equity firm Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citigroup, National Australian Bank and Shinsei Bank are likely bidders for an equity stake in India’s oldest fund house, UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC). Close to 25 overseas institutional investors have evinced interest in picking up a stake in the country’s third largest mutual fund. UTI AMC plans to offload 20% stake through a private placement and 29% through an initial public offer. However, no single investor would be able to hold more than 5%. “Merchant bankers are in the process of readying the information memorandum which will be given out to prospective investors as a part of the pre-marketing exercise before they give their bids. However, all institutional investors will have to match the initial public offer price if it is more,” a source involved with the process told ET. The private placement is expected to be completed by January while the initial public offer is slated for February-March. The listing process has to be completed before March 31, 2008. The fund house could raise about Rs 6,000-8,000 crore through the combination of private placement and initial public offer. […]
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