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India Glycols acquired a controlling stake of 96.56% in Shakumbari Sugar & Allied Industries, located in Uttar Pradesh. The company acquired the majority stake at a consolidated price of Rs 470 million. India GlycolsCompany has acquired 3,17,24,200 shares of Rs 10 each of Shakumbari Sugar and Allied Industries. Shakumbari Sugar & Allied Industries has a crushing capacity of 3,200 tons per day (TCD) along with a modern distillery of 40 kilo litres per day (KLPD).(My Iris) […] Monginis Foods, an over 100-year-old bakery products brand which was acquired by the Khorakiwalas in 1970, is attracting the attention of investors. It is learnt that Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL) and a few private equity players had made some overtures towards picking up a stake in Monginis Foods. The Khorakiwalas though seem to be unwilling to dilute their holding at this point in time. When contacted, Monginis Foods CMD Zoher Khorakiwala said: “We do not intend to dilute our stake in the near future.” Motilal Oswal, chairman, MOFSL declined to comment. The move comes at a time when Monginis Foods is chalking out a fresh business strategy to take the company beyond brand 'Monginis'. For instance, the firm has forayed into the premium chocolate gifting segment with a new brand called 'Swiza'. Swiza, which has already opened an outlet in the western suburbs of Mumbai, is on the lines of chocolate boutiques such as Fantasie. Being synonymous with 'celebrations' and 'gifting', Swiza is like an extension of the company's cakes business. […] Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Infrastructure Development and Finance Company (IDFC), Lehman Brothers and Singapore-based private equity (PE) firm Amansa Capital together have picked up a 7% stake in Hyderabad-based construction firm B Seenaiah & Company Projects (BSCPL) for Rs 152 crore. B Seenaiah seems to have trebled its valuation since its last stake sale 18-20 months ago when it sold around 19% stake to two foreign investors, New Vernon Private Equity Fund and Tiger Veda for Rs 150 crore. Sources said L&T has routed its investment through two of its group companies, L&T Infrastructure Finance and L&T Capital. This is the second round of PE funding in BSCPL. BSCPL is one of the leading construction firms in road and irrigation projects in India. BSCPL, which has a significant overseas presence, has already completed seven road projects in Afghanistan. IDFC SSKI acted as exclusive financial advisor to BSCPL for the deal. IDFC was also the company’s advisor during its first round of PE funding. […] Private equity (PE) investments into India have surged during the current year; the announced value of deals has crossed $15 billion during the year-to-date, nearly double the $8 billion received in 2006. PE flows confer a number of benefits. At the macro level these include widening the availability and source of capital, increasing the accuracy of company valuations (factoring in their growth potential), enhancing the efficiency of corporate capital structures and facilitating corporate development. At a micro level, benefits include avoidance of bankruptcy or other legal restructuring up to and possibly including governmental intervention or, more positively, providing financing and executive skills lacking in current management. However, for regulators, charged with the multiple objectives of protecting investors, ensuring that markets are fair, efficient and transparent and reducing systemic risk, rise of PE during the past few years poses a number of ticklish issues. A recent paper (comments invited) of the technical committee of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has identified six such broad issues. […] GE has sold about a 4% stake in Genpact, India’s largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, for about $100 million in a private transaction. Following the sale, GE’s stake in the NYSE-listed BPO firm has come down to 18.8% from about 23% earlier. Private equity players General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital Partners have a combined stake of 52% in Genpact. GE has sold 8 million shares at a price of $12.5 per share. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Saturday, Genpact said, “GE has agreed to sell, in a private transaction, approximately $100 million of Genpact common shares to an affiliate of a limited partner in one of Genpact’s other shareholders.” Subject to the lock-up agreement that GE entered into with the underwriters of Genpact’s IPO, the 8 million shares would not enter the public trading market as a result of the transaction, it added. “Genpact is a good partner and continues to provide valuable support to our operations. This transaction is simply a part of our normal and on-going portfolio management activities and we look forward to a long and productive relationship,” a GE spokesperson said. […] The rally on the Indian bourses is stoking strong interest among private equity (PE) funds in brokerages and financial services firms. Domestic brokerages, a majority of whom have been traditionally family-owned ventures, are also showing willingness to infuse PE funding to spread their reach. This is primarily to counter increasing competition from new foreign entrants and also to leverage the global stock market expertise brought in by PE biggies. Among the latest in a string of deals, ICICI Venture Funds Management and Baring Private Equity Asia are slated to invest $44 million in Hyderabad-based Karvy Stock Broking Ltd. US-based PE fund Balyasny Asset Management marked its first exposure to the Indian financial services space by investing $10 million in Prabhudas Lilladher Advisory Services — the holding company of brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher — for a three per cent stake. […] Offshore services provider Jindal Drilling & Industries Ltd will raise Rs 1.54 billion after its board on Friday approved issuing 1.2 million shares to Citigroup at Rs 1,280 each for a 10.5 per cent stake. The funds will be used for capex and business plans, the company said in a statement. Jindal's board also approved acquiring 49 per cent in Singapore-based Virtue Drilling Pte Ltd. ( Economic Times) […] UTV Software Communications Ltd. said on Friday that its British subsidiary UTV Communications (UK) Ltd. has acquired a controlling stake, constituting 62.42% of the issued share capital of Indiagames from Tom Online Games Ltd. Simultaneously, the company has also acquired a 12.11% equity stake in Indiagames by subscribing to the latter's share capital. In addition, UTV UK has an obligation to subscribe to additional shares amounting to 8% of the equity share capital of Indiagames for US$1.5mn. With this, UTV Software, along with its UK subsidiary hold about 66.97% of the existing capital of Indiagames. The total investment after the additional subscription will be about Rs424mn in Indiagames. […] Leading financial services groups ICICI, IL&FS and Kotak have bought a combined 9.55% stake in Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), India’s largest commodity derivatives exchange. The transactions put the valuation of MCX at over $1 billion. ICICI Venture has picked up 3.55% stake, while IL&FS and Kotak bought 5% and 1% respectively. This brings down promoter Financial Technologies's (FT) holding in MCX to 37.5%. The compelling valuation story in exchanges — as earlier reflected in institutional interest in leading bourses like NSE and BSE — has been the driver behind these investments. “We are currently not looking at any further dilution of stake. The equity from the current stake sale will be deployed in improving the exchange infrastructure,” said MCX MD and CEO Jignesh Shah. Earlier during the year, FT had sold 5% stake each to Citi and Merrill Lynch at similar valuations. The comex, it may be mentioned, has already expressed its intention to go for an IPO. […] New Delhi-based realty funding company Red Fort Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd will float a Rs 800 crore fund to finance real estate development projects in India. “The corpus will be mobilised from high net-worth individuals and corporates within India,” Parry Singh, director of the company, told the media here. According to him, the money will be raised by the end of this month and investments out of it will be made from March. Meanwhile, the company has invested around $300 million out of its $400-million fund called Red Fort India Real Estate Fund I, which raised money through foreign direct investments. The company has invested in three projects in Bangalore and in a township project in Hyderabad.The company has also bought 10 acres in Chennai for an undisclosed sum. While the company has decided to build residential apartments here for the middle-income group, it is yet to zero in on a developer. It plans to invest around $100 million in the Chennai market. […] |