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Hinduja group company HTMT Global Solutions has set aside $110 million (Rs 440 crore) for acquiring companies abroad. “We have set aside a cash of $110 million for acquisition. We are looking at acquisitions in the US and Europe. Especially in Europe where we have limited presence,” HTMT Global Solutions CFO Anand Vora said. In 2006, HTMT had acquired a US-based BPO firm, Affina, for $30 million. At present, the company offers BPO services in healthcare, BFSI and telecom sectors in the US. […] Baring Asia is investing $100 million to pick up 40 per cent stake in RSP Architects & Planners India, thereby marking big buck private equity’s foray into architectural consultancy space, sources said. The Hong Kong fund’s investment values the decade-old Bangalore-headquartered architect at $250 million, or Rs 1,000 crore. RSP India has about 360 employees on board, and is seen as a leading design and engineering architect for the sprawling IT campuses and parks. The firm’s portfolio of works include Microsoft campus in Hyderabad and the International Technology Park at Bangalore, while most of the country’s top real estate players figure in its client list. […] Famy Care, the world's largest contraceptive pill producer based out of India, is planning to divest about 15 per cent of its stake to private equity firms to fund its expansion plans. The company, which is fully owned by JP Taparia and sons Sanjeev and Ashutosh, has initiated discussions with four-five global private equity funds for the stake sale, sources said. Famy Care had recently formed a strategic alliance with the third largest off-patent generic drug maker Mylan Laboratories of the US, to sell 22 women healthcare products in the US market by 2010. Famy Care is one of the world's biggest producers of generic intra uterine device Copper-T and oral birth control pills such as Mala-D. The company also makes various contraception products such as injectables, tubal rings and emergency contraceptives, catering to a $7.5 billion global market for women reproductive health products. […] Deal making has shifted gears. The size of an individual merger and acquisition (M&A) deal as well as the number of such deals have plunged significantly this year. While volume has shrunk by 10-20% year-on-year, indicating a clear slowdown on deal street, their values have crashed by 60% for the January-July period due to lack of bulge bracket M&As. Private equity (PE) deals have also hit a low with the total value of transaction dropping to $650 million as against the two-year monthly average of $1-1.5 billion. July was the worst month for M&A this year, 43 deals worth $583.95 million were sealed compared with 51 deals worth $5.35 billion in June. […] Greater Pacific Capital (GPC), a London-based strategic investment firm, will acquire 38% stake in Ahmedabad-based BPO, Azure Knowledge Corporation, for a consideration of $32.5 million, the company said on Tuesday. GPC will subscribe to around 26.4% shareholding for $10 million in the first phase while the balance will be invested in 2010 based on Azure’s performance evaluation. The strategic investment will enhance Azure’s position as a specialist company in the two upcoming and promising domains—financial services and knowledge-based customer interaction services. It is in line with GPC’s investment model based on identifying and taking stake in strong, high potential public and private companies in the highest growth industries within India and China, the company said in a statement. […] In one of the largest private equity deals in the real estate sector this year, financial services major Credit Suisse has invested $100 million (about Rs 430 crore) in Hyderabad-based Indu Projects for a minority stake. Indu Projects is a leading name in the construction and real estate sector in Andhra Pradesh in which, about two years ago, Citigroup's private equity arm had invested about $50 million. Since the stock markets went into a tailspin at the beginning of the year with real estate companies among the worst hit deals in the sector have dried up. In this deal, Credit Suisse invested directly in the company, and not through a special purpose vehicle in one or more projects which is more common in this sector now, sources said. […] Voltas Ltd, an engineering projects company belonging to the Tatas, today, announced acquisition of a Mumbai based firm. The Tata group company said it would acquire 51 per cent stake in Rohini Industrial Electricals for Rs 62 crore with an understanding that it could increase its holding upto 100 per cent in future, a release said here. Rohini Industrial, a 25-year old company with a turnover of Rs 120 crore last fiscal, is engaged in undertaking large turnkey electrical and instrumentation projects and commands healthy profit margins. […] Global interest in Indian automotive strengths is reviving. US-based automotive giant Federal-Mogul is learnt to have acquired a 51% equity stake in the recently-delisted Perfect Circle — part of the New Delhi-based, Rs 3,000-crore Anand group — to strengthen its presence in India. The foreign company had recently acquired the engine bearings unit from the Anand group’s Gabriel. The combined sales of the engine bearings division and that of Perfect Circle is estimated to be around Rs 300 crore. While the acquisition of the controlling stake in Perfect Circle is at Rs 17 crore, it is a strategic step that will complement Federal-Mogul’s recent move to build an automotive friction components manufacturing facility in Chennai, besides taking over business from an Indian group that makes components for almost all vehicle and engine parts manufacturers in the country. […] India’s housing finance regulator, National Housing Bank (NHB), will pick up 12.5% stake in Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of non-banking financial services firm Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Ltd (MMFSL), for an undisclosed sum. NHB would also help the home loan firm raise funds in the next two years and would eventually get 12.5% stake of the capital raised, said Uday Phadke, vice-chairman of MMFSL. NHB has so far invested Rs5.80 crore in Mahindra Rural Housing for its stake. This figure could go up depending on the capital raised. The capital base of Mahindra Rural is expected to be Rs100 crore in the next three-four years, said MMFSL’s managing director Ramesh Iyer. […] The erosion of value in equities since the past year has presented first-time private equity funds opportunities to invest in potential blue-chip companies. But, converting such openings into deals may be some distance away for these first timers, who are having a tough time raising funds amid worsening macro-economic conditions and waning risk-appetite of potential investors. Industry officials and watchers said limited partners (LPs), which are institutions that back private equity funds, are being very choosy about investments in first-time funds and are preferring to put money in established funds. […] |