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Infrastructure company Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) has acquired 26% equity in consulting and engineering firm Feedback Ventures Pvt. Ltd for Rs40 crore. L&T was one of Feedback’s largest clients in 2006-07, the company said in a press statement. Promoters of Feedback Ventures also increased their holding to 46%, buying out investors such as real estate company DLF Ltd, while infrastructure finance company Infrastructure Development Finance Corp. Ltd reduced its equity stake to 16%. With this new status the Feedback Ventures management hopes to significantly enhance its presence in most infrastructure sectors by working alongside L&T, both domestically and internationally. The company, which employs 800 professionals, provides engineering and project management advisory services. (Livemint) […]
Italy's Prysmian Group is poised to fork out a minimum of Rs 130 crore to acquire a majority 60% stake in Kolkata-based Nicco Corporation’s industrial cables business. Nicco will spin off its cables business into a distinct JV company, christened Nicco Cables, in which Prysmian Cable Moulding, Netherlands will hold 60% while the balance 40% stake will be held by Nicco. Nicco has just inked a JV agreement with Prysmian Cable Molding. “The entire cables business of Nicco will be transferred into the new company in which Prysmian will have a 60% shareholding,” Nicco chairman Rajive Kaul told ET on Tuesday. Nicco is likely to receive a consideration of Rs 130 crore for transfer of its cables division. According to the contractual arrangement, the Nicco Cables board will consist of five directors, three of them including the managing director will be appointed by Prysmian and other two, including the chairman, will be appointed by Nicco. Rajive Kaul will be chairman of the new company, while Prysmian will be responsible for managing the JV’s operations. […]
Global investment group Eton Park will spend 5.01 billion rupees ($127 million) for about 5 percent in the asset management arm of Indian financial services firm Reliance Capital Ltd RLCP.BO, the Indian firm said on Wednesday. The funds will be used for domestic and international expansion, Reliance Capital said in a statement. The transaction is subject to approvals and is expected to close in January 2008, it said.(Reuters) […]
Private equity firms are likely to pick up stake in Bengal Faith Health Care, the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed to set up the Bardhaman Health City, a Rs 1,000 crore PPP (public-private partnership project) to come up on a 60-acre plot near Durgapur Expressway(NH-42). “We are in talks with some private equity firms who have evinced interested in acquiring stake in Bengal Faith Health Care (BFHC) and we are open to offloading stake in the SPV”, said S S Chakraborty, chairman of CES Infratech, a joint venture between Consulting Engineering Services (India) and West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC). […]
Bollywood is beginning to enjoy the benefits of corporatisation. As the world’s largest film industry organises itself into a bigger and better-managed entity, it’s being helped along by a steady infusion of funds, not the least from private equity (PE) investors, who have been pouring money into sectors like infrastructure and real estate. Although PE activity was slack in 2007—and no one is willing to give out details—experts believe that the New Year may see a lot of development on that front. With the industry growing at a frenetic pace, everyone agrees that filmmaking in India is no more the job of an individual producer or financier. Second, the growth of the film industry has attracted PE players the most. Third, with the onset of corporatisation, foreign investors feel investment in the film industry is a safe bet. According to a study by FICCI-PricewaterhouseCoopers, the size of the entertainment industry, which was pegged at Rs 8,400 crore in 2006, is likely to double by 2011. So, how are PE funds being routed to the industry? Experts say equity is coming into the industry through both foreign and domestic routes. According to reports, some of the big film production houses are in the race for PE funds to fuel their business growth plans. The trend began last year when PE investors like 3i, Cisco and Oman International Fund invested Rs 552 crore in the media and entertainment house Nimbus Communications—producer of films like Sarhad Paar, which flopped, and the Sanjay Dutt-starrer Yakeen. PE funds have got more aggressive plans in the movie sphere in the future. […]
The $150-million early-stage technology venture capital fund, IDG Ventures India, and part of the IDG Ventures global network of venture capital funds, has announced its investment of $ 2.5 million in innovative network security and vulnerability management startup iViZ, founded by an IIT Kharagpur alumni who has introduced the world's first automated and on-demand penetration testing product. Kolkata-based iViZ has addresses the over $10 billion global security and vulnerability management market where losses due to identity theft in the US alone have been estimated at at annual $ 48 billion. The security and vulnerability management market has been growing annually at over 18 per cent. . ''It is our privilege to support iViZ founded by Bikash Barai and Nilanjan De,'' said Sudhir Sethi, chairman and managing director, IDG Ventures India. ''This investment is based on our thrust of investing in disruptive software product firms out of India with a potential to scale globally. Security is a key market for us. iViZ has built a highly committed and innovative team whose first product has already generated significant market traction and is well positioned to be a leader worldwide,'' iViZ received recognition as being amongst Asia's top five security startups in the Global Security Challenge held by London Business School in September 2007. The company plans to utilise the investment to build its sales team in North America, Europe, Middle East/APAC and India and to significantly enhance its product development initiatives. […]
Asia-focused British bank Standard Chartered said on Tuesday it plans to invest $50 million in Indian brokerage UTI Securities Ltd until 2010. It also said it has received the Reserve Bank of India's approval for its 49 per cent acquisition in UTI Securities. The bank has the option to raise its stake to 100 per cent in phases by 2010, it said in a statement. UTI Securities offers broking, wealth management and investment banking services across 60 cities in India. (Sify) […]
TV18 has acquired strategic control in Infomedia India and will buy upto 53% stake, reports CNBC-TV18. TV18 will acquire 40% stake from ICICI Venture and 20% via open offer. TV18 has acquired 40% stake from ICICI Venture for Rs 178 crore. Infomedia will issue 50 lakh fresh warrants to TV18 and 10 lakh fresh warrants to ICICI Venture. TV18 will make open offer for 20% in Infomedia at Rs 237.08 per share. TV18 has an option to buy up to 13% from ICICI Ventures if the open offer fails.(Money Control) […]
IDFC Private Equity, the private equity investment arm of infrastructure financing firm Infrastructure Development Finance Co. Ltd (IDFC), is raising a $600 million (Rs2,364 crore) fund, its third since it set up operations as the country’s first pure play infrastructure PE investor in 2002. The proposed fund has an upper limit of $700 million on the final corpus and is expected to close fund-raising in March 2008, said a person familiar with the development who did not wish to be named. The firm’s president & CEO Luis Miranda declined to comment. The third fund from IDFC PE comes at a time when pure play infrastructure funds (ones that do not invest in real estate), backed both by domestic and overseas investors, have become popular in the country. In October, UK’s 3i Group Plc. raised $500 million in the first close of its proposed $1 billion 3i India Infrastructure Fund. The fund has already invested $328 million across two deals—Soma Enterprise Ltd and Adani Power Pvt. Ltd. Separately, IDFC PE’s parent, the state-owned IDFC is itself in the process of closing first-round commitments for a mega $5 billion mega infrastructure fund, which includes debt and equity. Co-investors in this fund include Blackstone Group, Citigroup Inc. and the ministry of finance-backed India Infrastructure Finance Co. (IIFC). […]
Private equity firms may not have it going there way always, especially in the equity market space. Blackstone, the world’s largest PE group, which was listed recently, is having a tough time in the stock market. Blackstone was listed on June 22, 2007, at $35. From there it has been one downhill ride. It currently quotes at around $22, down 37% from its listing price. Blackstone’s IPO price was $31, its current share price is around 30% lower. Considering the IPO valuation was around $33.5 billion, investor wealth of around $10 billion appears to have been wiped out from the IPO price. Fortress Investment Group, the only other significant global listed PE player, isn’t doing well either. Fortress shares are down 42% from the date of listing in February 2007, though in Fortress case, the shares had shot up sharply on the listing day. Its current share is around the same as its IPO price of $18.5 per share. This underperformance in share price may not be linked to the company’s performance. Blackstone has delivered over 20% annual returns for around 20 years, which is around twice of the US market returns over the same period. But this just goes to show that even companies in the business of creating investor wealth can’t get it right always. […]
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