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Europe’s largest telecom firm, Deutsche Telekom, is picking up a 17% stake in Indian start-up Devas Multimedia for $75 million, or about Rs 317 crore. Deutsche Telekom is routing its investment in US venture capital-backed Devas through its wholly-owned Asian arm. The deal values the firm at Rs 1,865 crore or about $443 million. Bangalore-based Devas is a niche satellite-based multimedia services company with plans to deliver content via a hybrid satellite-terrestrial network to mobile devices. It works in the area of software development and research & development (R&D) for multimedia content creation and transmitting content using internet, satellite and terrestrial broadcasting. Deutsche Telekom would subscribe to upto 28,349 equity shares, amounting to about 17% of Devas’ paid-up share capital. […]
Until recently, the world's biggest movie machine, the Indian film industry, had gained an unsavoury reputation because of suspect funding sources, back-room deals and the general lack of transparency in the movie-making process. But this notion changed after films were given 'industry' status and legitimate or 'white' funds started pouring in. Today, you have the who's who of the corporate world—such as Anil Ambani and the Mahindras—entering the business for its growth prospects. VC funds are expected to bring in high standards of corporate governance into the film industry as they demand more accountability from producers and ensure that the project is completed as per the plan. […]
An ICICI Venture associate fund and a Singapore-based private equity (PE) player are in talks to invest Rs 300 crore in Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS). The hospital will use the fund for Indian and overseas expansion. KIMS CMD M Sahadulla told ET, “We have been talking to several PE players to fund our expansion plans. We have now zeroed in on two funds—an ICICI associate fund and a Singapore-based healthcare focused PE player.” However, he did not disclose the amount of stake that KIMS would offload to these two funds. Mr Sahadulla added that apart from funds from PEs, KIMS was also looking at a strategic partner who would stay with the hospital for a longer period. […]
Workshop on HEDGE FUNDS INVESTMENT AND RISK ANALYSIS will be held on 20-21 October 2008in Singapore. […]
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has called off its plan to acquire 26 per cent in the Ahmedabad-based National Multi Commodity Exchange (NMCE). The deal was terminated just before the resignation of BSE Managing Director and CEO Rajnikant Patel. Patel quit late on Thursday evening, citing personal reasons. A release issued by BSE today said that its present Chief Operating Officer (COO) Mahesh Soneji will look after the interests of the exchange until a new appointment is made in place of Patel. NMCE Managing Director Kailash Gupta confirmed that the stake sale agreement with BSE has been terminated. Patel was also on the NMCE board as an independent director, but Gupta said a further course of action relating to Patel’s role in NMCE would be decided once the commodity exchange’s board meets next month. Reliance Capital had recently picked up 26 per cent stake in NMCE. […]
Close on the heels of its acquisition of EnPointe Global Services, Allied Digital Services (ADSL) is in 'the final stages of buying a similar infrastructure management services (IMS) capability' in the UK, sources close to the development said. IMS involves IT asset management, remote control for problem resolution, patch management, operating system imaging & migration, software license monitoring etc. In June DNA Money had reported about ADSL's intent to make an acquisition in the IMS space in the US, Europe and India. A month later, ADSL announced its acquisition of a 80% stake in US-based EnPointe Global Services for $28 million. […]
A slowdown in private equity(PE) dealmaking in India has not altered the plans of new PE firms including some bulge-bracket funds to set shop here. The latest to join the group is US billionaire Leon Black’s Apollo Management, which has appointed an Indian expat based at its UK unit to head the Indian operations. The firm joins a group of fund houses such as European buyout major Candover, Englefield Capital and Babcock & Brown. While a few of these new players have roped in the talent available within the country to head their businesses, others are bringing executives from across the shores. US-based Apollo Management has appointed one of its partners from the UK unit, Mintoo Bhandari, to head the India operations. According to sources, he is in the process of putting together a team in Mumbai. Globally, Apollo is estimated to have an asset base of more than $20 billion. Its portfolio includes companies like Linens n Things, the second largest home furnishing retail chain in the US, besides AMC Entertainment, which is America’s second largest theatre chain, and Countrywide (UK). It focuses on underperforming companies and distressed assets. Some of the sectors in which it has invested include chemicals, supply chain management, BPO, media, healthcare and transport. […]
Hinduja group BPO HTMT Global Solutions said it is in buyout discussions with two US companies and one UK firm to strengthen its portfolio and added that it has lined up Rs 25-crore to spend on expanding its Durgapur operations. “Two of the companies we are targeting have a revenue close to $50 million, and the revenue of the other firm on our radar has revenue nearer to the $150 million mark ,” HTMT Global CEO Partha Sarkar said on the sidelines of CII’s ‘ICT East’ summit. “We have a $110 million reserve to fund the buys.” However, Sarkar did not elaborate on when HTMT Global hoped to close any of the deals and the segments in which the target companies operate. […]
Raman Roy’s Quatrro BPO Solutions has lined up a $300-million war chest for acquisitions. The company has teamed up with two foreign private equity firms and has bid for three US-based BPOs. The cumulative value of these three bids is around $250 million. Of this, one of the bids alone is worth $150 million for a BPO outfit in the mortgage space. “We are in negotiations with the managements and promoters of all three companies where we’ve placed our bids. The three firms operate in niche areas where there is hardly any activity in India,” Quatrro BPO Solutions CMD Raman Roy said. […]
DreamWorks SKG is near an agreement to get $550 million in funding from Indian billionaire Anil Ambani, allowing Steven Spielberg's film studio to split from Viacom Inc., according to a person with knowledge of the talks. A deal may be reached as soon as next week, said the person, who declined to be identified because the agreement isn't final. The studio will borrow $400 million and no additional outside equity will be required, the person said yesterday. The investment from Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group would give Spielberg, 61, the backing he needs to leave Viacom as soon as November. DreamWorks partners Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg sold the studio to Viacom for $1.6 billion in 2006. […]
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