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Private sector lender Dhanlaxmi Bank plans to acquire about 70 per cent stake in a mutual fund, a top bank official said here on Thursday. “We plan to acquire 70 per cent stake in an existing mutual fund and expect approval for the same from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by next week,” Dhanlakshmi Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Chaturvedi told reporters on the sidelines of a press meet here. […] As the Twenty20 format Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament draws closer, the buzz around team owners selling partial or even full stakes in their franchises gets stronger. Leading the pack are Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils, which are reported to be in advanced discussions with prospective investors. Although two-wheeler maker Hero Honda Motors Ltd officially denied Wednesday morning’s media report that it was buying out Kings XI Punjab for $260 million (Rs1,212 crore), the team—owned by a consortium of investors, including Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Mohit Burman—did not dismiss the possibility of a stake sale completely. “We are on the lookout for serious investors and have been in discussion with several interested parties, including two to three foreign entities,” said Burman, board member of Dabur India Ltd and director and co-owner of Kings XI. “But we have not finalized anything. There is nothing on paper.” […] The promoters of Indian Commodity Exchange Ltd, (ICEX) the country's third-biggest bourse, may sell about 5% stake to an overseas exchange in the next six months, a top official told Reuters on Thursday. ICEX, whose owners include Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd. and MMTC Ltd, offers contracts primarily in metals and energy, and was the fourth bourse to begin operations in the country. “We are looking at divesting about 5% stake to a strategic partner, which helps us grow, we are looking at international exchanges,” Ajit Mittal, chief executive officer of ICEX, told Reuters in an interview. […] Tikona Digital Networks, the wireless Internet broadband service provider, said on Wednesday that it has offloaded a 70% stake to three private equity investors, including Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, Indivision India Partners and Oak India Investments, and has secured funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore to fund its expansion plans. The broadband service provider will use the funds to expand its network coverage to 50 cities by 2010 from 10 cities, currently including Mumbai and Hyderabad. Tikona was founded in 2008 by former Reliance Communication management members — Rajesh Tiwari and Prakash Bajpai. While Bajpai was serving as the president and CEO at Reliance Communications’ broadband division, Rajesh Tiwari was the group director at Reliance-ADAG. Both quit the firm in late 2007 to started their own venture. […] Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure is in advanced discussions with a couple of private equity funds to raise nearly Rs 1,500 crore for its power subsidiary GMR Energy, to enable it to fund its planned expansion. Refusing to close the names of the PE firms and the exact quantum of funds, citing a non-disclosure agreement, group chairman GM Rao told ET that the deal would be closed in the next two weeks. Kotak Mahindra Capital and Rothschild are advising the group on the fund-raising. A source close to the development said the instrument for fund-raising would be a combination of equity and debt and not plain vanilla equity financing. […] Singapore-based Nalanda Capital has sold most of its stake in Kalanithi Maran owned Sun TV Network Ltd for Rs 2.86 billion. On Wednesday, Nalanda Capital sold 7.73 million shares for a price of Rs 370 per share, more than double of what it had invested to pick up the stake. The bulk deal was executed at the BSE. […] |