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A downturn in demand for housing and the shortage of debt and investor capital in the real estate business may be bad news for realtors. But, it comes as a huge investment opportunity for private equity (PE) players. Such firms say it is a good time for them to strike deals with developers facing a cash crunch for completing their projects and fund expansion. “India is a land of scarcity and due to the downturn, more opportunistic distress investments will be made now,” says Aashish Kalra, co-founder and managing director, Trikona Capital, a real estate fund management firm. PE firms have invested around $5.8 billion in real estate cos in the first half of 2008. Real estate firms have seen a blip this year as high inflation, put at 12.1% by latest government estimates, a 13-year high, and rising interest rates as well as steep property prices have turned away buyers. […]
US private equity investor Wilbur Ross and Goldman Sachs will invest $100 million (around Rs 420 crore) in India’s second-biggest budget carrier SpiceJet under a definitive agreement signed today. The money will be invested in two phases, dependent on shareholder approval and certain unspecified conditions. Under the earlier agreement, signed on July 15, Ross was supposed to invest $80 million (Rs 336 crore). Fresh equity warrants are being issued to Goldman Sachs under the preferential issue guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). […]
ICSA India, a city-based embedded software solutions and technology provider, is planning to adopt the inorganic route for its foray into the US and Southeast Asian markets. The company, which provides software to monitor and reduce transmission and distribution losses in power, water, oil and gas sectors, is in talks with two players that have a wide network and marketing strengths to reach out to power utilities in the US and Southeast Asia. “We are looking at a size of between $25 million (around Rs 105 crore) and $50 million (Rs 210 crore) for each acquisition. We expect to strike a deal in the US by this year end and in Southeast Asia next year,” G Bala Reddy, chairman and managing director of ICSA, said. […]
IDFC Private Equity, US investment major DB Zwirn, sovereign wealth funds Singapore’s GIC-managed Indivest, Qatar’s Oman Investment Fund and Quippo Infrastructure are pumping in Rs 781 crore ($185 million) in Quippo Telecom Infrastructure. The fresh investments is through a mix of rights issue and entry of a new investor-Oman Investment Fund-which is picking 18.74 per cent in Quippo Telecom for Rs 480 crore, say sources. The balance Rs 301 crore is being brought in by existing investors in Quippo including Quippo Infrastructure, DB Zwirn, IDFC Private Equity and Indivest. Indivest and IDFC Private Equity are picking 12.19 per cent stake each in Quippo Telecom. Quippo Telecom is the telecom towers arm of Quippo Infrastructure, which is one of the largest infrastructure equipment rental firm in the country. […]
In a bid to spot more fundable product start-ups here in India, Palo Alto, California-headquartered venture capital firm Artiman Ventures is building its focus around what it calls an entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) programme. The firm, which likes to invest in early-stage “white market opportunities”—emerging sectors with few existing players—in the product space, is setting up an incubation centre within its office and has signed up three teamsso far. “We have seen extremely good (business plan) proposals, but very few people with exposure to product-marketing, so we want to stimulate more fundable plans,” says M.J. Aravind, a partner at Artiman, declining details on the in-house teams or the product areas they are working on. While programmes built around resident entrepreneurs are not new, it has been implemented selectively among VCs and has been a practice more common among large companies aiming to increase the reach of their technologies and services. […]
Special lectures, courses planned for aspiring entrepreneurs. Venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) firms appear to have caught the fancy of business schools this year. Be it for creating awareness among aspiring entrepreneurs to raise funds, or merely understaning the operations of a VC/PE firm, management institutes have increasingly begun interacting with the industry. While some have announced setting up of a PE club for aspiring entrepreneurs, others are planning courses, special lectures and seminars to create awareness about the booming sector. Students of the Post Graduate Programme for Executives (PGPX) at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), will go through a course on PE in their last term between December and February. […]
Even with high inflation, a progressively weakening rupee and slower growth estimates, the venture capital industry in India continues to grow exponentially. Close to $1 billion worth of deals took place last year and about $340 million worth of deals have already been closed this year. A research report by Deloitte released during a recent meet of the Venture Capital Association of India says VCs invested $158 million in just 26 deals between April- June this year. This includes new emerging fields such as film production, education and logistics this year. […]
After acquiring Chinese logistics firm Shenzen Dida, Mumbai-based Direct Logistics has firmed up plans to acquire two freight forwarding companies — one each in North America and Western Europe — for a total cost of Rs 400 crore. Confirming the development, Direct Logistics CMD Sunil Devrani told ET that the proposed acquisition is in line with the company’s plan to enhance its global presence. “The recent increase in trade volume in the US and Europe from India and China would help the company if it has presence in these foreign shores. The acquisitions will help Direct Logistics derive better economies of scale by having operations in India and other countries.” […]
Eyeing a bigger share in the domestic market, the Bank of Rajasthan will ramp up operations and is planning to raise Rs 250 crore by way of private equity placements for funding expansion. The bank plans to scale up its presence in the domestic market and has sought RBI approval to open 30-35 branches in FY’09, taking its total branch strength to around 500 from the current 463, bank’s managing director and CEO, Mr P.L. Ahuja, said. With a view to finance its expansion programmes, the bank is looking at raising around Rs 250 crore.(Asian Age) […]
Australian Firm, IPGA, through its wholly owned subsidiary, iProperty Group Asia Pte Ltd, entered into an agreement to acquire controlling stake in Horizon Infoventures, owner of Indian Online Property Portal, RealAcres.com, reported the media. The Online portal based in Mumbai has over 2.11 lakh property listings on its websites and about 1-lakh unique visitors each month. The company focuses on the western Indian market, though maintains property portals for major cities across the country, the report said. IPGA would own 60% of the shares in the business, with an option to acquire the balance of 40% based on future earnings. […]
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