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Talks between the promoters of Indian mobile phone services firm Idea Cellular Ltd, smaller rival Spice Communications Ltd and its foreign partner Telekom Malaysia Bhd over a merger or sell-out are progressing, one person close to the situation said, even as a new suitor, Bahrain-based Bahrain Telecommunications Co. or Batelco, has entered discussions in a deal that will pare fully or in part the 40% stake held by the B.K. Modi family in Spice. “Telekom Malaysia and Idea are engaged in talks, and Spice has not got the offer yet. All the three companies are looking into their valuations post the deal. In case Telekom Malaysia and Idea strike a deal, (the promoters of) Spice will exit the mobile phone service business,” this person said, asking not to be identified. “Nothing has happened so far, an announcement will not happen before Tuesday or Wednesday.” Telekom Malaysia owns 39.3% in Spice; the rest is held by public shareholders and institutions. Yusof Annuar Yaacob, executive director and group chief financial officer of Telekom Malaysia, said on the telephone from Kuala Lumpur that he had no specific comment on the stage the talks were in. […]
Private equity-controlled Arch Pharmalabs has acquired a controlling stake in Benzochem Lifesciences, an active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) maker, for around Rs 100 crore. Sources said Arch would buy around 70% stake in Benzochem Lifesciences while the balance 30% will remain with the promoters of Benzochem. When contacted, Arch Pharmalabs CMD Ajit Kamath declined to comment. Benzochem is a privately-held company engaged in API manufacturing for oncology and anti-malarial drug segment. The company has a FDA-compliant manufacturing facility in Tarapur. Benzochem has also filed drug master file (DMF) application for all anti-cancer APIs. The company closed the last financial year with a top line of around Rs 150 crore. […]
Modi group, the promoter of telco Spice Communications that was mulling a stake sale from a long time, is likely to ink a deal with AV Birla group company Idea Cellular for selling its holding. After the sale of Modi group's over 40 per cent stake in Spice to Idea, the two telco might be merged, sources close to the development said. Though Idea's Managing Director Sanjeev Aga and B K Modi of Spice were tight-lipped about the development, industry sources said a deal is likely to be announced this week. Earlier, during its annual general meeting Spice Chairman B K Modi had said he was open to all kinds of proposals for stake sale. Though the exact value of the deal could not be ascertained, it is believed to be at least Rs 60 per share. […]
Clearstone Venture Advisors, a global venture capital fund with over $650 million of committed capital for investment globally, is set to invest in a company in the mobile value-added services (VAS) space in India. The size of the investment will be less than $10 million. The company expects to close the deal in the next four to five months. “Since the mobile touches millions of people in India, it is a great horizontal delivery vehicle — whether for transaction processing, electronics payments or mobile advertising. We do believe that everyone with a mobile phone is part of a digital network. This means they are ripe for some kind of network model or services model over the phone. So we are looking at the entire VAS space for breakthrough opportunities,” said Rahul Khanna, director, Clearstone Venture Advisors. Since starting operations in India in 2006, Clearstone has invested in four Indian companies with a committed capital of about $20 million. These are being funded from the company's third fund which is $210 million in size. […]
Italian modular kitchen company Aran World has announced a 49 per cent equity investment in KitchenWorld India, a modular kitchens and interior designs brand. As part of the deal, KitchenWorld India will now be called Aran KitchenWorld. KitchenWorld India has been Aran's channel partner in India for several years and has nine stores across India. Aran KitchenWorld has plans to strengthen its presence in India with 50 more stores across the country by the year 2010. As a part of this plan, the company has launched its flagship store at Rajouri Garden, New Delhi. Being one of the large format stores, it spreads over an area of 5000 sqft, the flagship showroom includes world class amenities designed by Italian architect. […]
Alok Industries, the Rs 2,200-crore Mumbai-based textile firm, has resumed talks with private equity players to dilute about 20% equity it owns in its unlisted unit, Alok Infrastructure. A realty company, Alok Infrastructure has been looking at options to raise around Rs 600 crore for developing its large land bank, said sources. Alok Industries plans to sell part of its stake in its realty unit to 3-4 private equity firms by August end. The company’s chief financial officer Sunil Khandelwal is currently in the UK for negotiations on this issue. “We are working out different options and strategies for our realty venture and something will happen before August. I am not in a position to divulge anything more now,” he told ET from London. Ernst & Young is advising Alok Industries on the equity dilution in Alok Infrastructure. […]
There’s nothing stopping the ongoing slump in the real estate market. Analysts say land values and the selling price of real estate projects across the country are expected to slide further. At the same time, investors are becoming more cautious in the face of the rising cost of money and growing market risks. The high-risk scenario has resulted in private equity (PE) players increasing their internal rate of return (IRR) expectations from projects. A big PE player says its expectation are up from 20-25% about a year ago to around 25-30%. The director of Investment Advisory, DTZ, a property advisory firm, Ambar Maheshwari , says that the expectations today are more towards structured deals. “There has been a correction in the market and the values are expected to go down further. So, most investors are safeguarding their interests by inking structured deals,” explains Maheshwari. A number of deals are being structured in a way that the investor is entitled to a preferred or a priority return and even capital protection in some cases. […]
Star India Pvt. Ltd, the News Corp. subsidiary that operates India’s leading general entertainment channel Star Plus, and Balaji Telefilms Ltd, the content provider responsible for some of the most successful soaps on Indian television, seem to be on the verge of a split after sharing an eight-year relationship. Star is mulling divesting, partially or fully, its 25.9% equity stake in the country’s largest television content production company, said a person close to the development who didn’t wish to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. “Of late, the exclusivity agreement has been creating a strain between the two partners as Star wants to try out new ideas and producers and Balaji now has many more buyers with a slew of GECs (general entertainment channels) launching,” the person said. The exclusivity agreement refers to the condition put by Star that no Balaji show will run on any other channel during the time slots on which Star had a Balaji serial running. Star, according to insiders in both firms, pays Balaji a premium of more than 200% above market rates for this exclusivity. While Star executives have always maintained that Balaji’s soaps owe their success to Star Plus’ leadership position, Balaji executives have argued to the contrary. Yet, the relationship between the two partners had been going strong till recently. […]
Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M) component arm Systech has acquired a controlling stake in Italian design firm Engines Engineering (EE) for an undisclosed amount. The Bologna-based firm, with annual revenues of about $12 million, develops motorcycle prototypes and two-wheeler designs. The acquisition further underscores reports that the Mahindras are interested in the growing two-wheeler market. ET had recently reported that the Anand Mahindra-led company, that is a market leader in tractors and sports-utility vehicles, has been talking to Indian and overseas players to shape its two-wheeler plans. The company is reportedly keen on high-end Italian design companies MV Agusta and Cagiva, while also showing more than a passing interest in Kinetic Motors and China’s Lifan. “Demand for offshoring of engineering services has been growing rapidly…acquiring this design house provides us the perfect vehicle to penetrate markets like Europe, China and Russia,” said Hemant Luthra, president of M&M’s components unit Systech. “Now that we have a design house in Italy, we will look for one in Germany to further penetrate the European markets, he added. […]
The Indian arm of UK-based Actis Advisers Pvt. Ltd and India’s ICICI Venture Funds Management Co. Ltd are among the handful of private equity firms eyeing a minority stake in Piramal Life Sciences Ltd, the recently demerged drug research company of Nicholas Piramal India Ltd, a person close to developments at the company said. “There are quite a few investment companies already in talks with us, but nothing has been concluded,” said Swati Piramal, a director with Nicholas Piramal. The Mumbai-based Piramal family, which holds a 58% stake in Piramal Life, is expected to sell a 9-10% interest in the company. “The company will engage a merchant banker by next week to handle the transaction,” the person close to the developments added, asking that he not be identified. Based on potential drug compounds it is developing, Piramal Life is valued at around $500 million (about Rs2,025 crore) by finance companies such as Lehman Brothers, Enam Securities Pvt. Ltd and Kotak Securities Ltd. In March, Piramal group chairman Ajay Piramal had said the new research company would bring in a strategic investor after it listed on the bourses. […]
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