February 2010
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Tikona raises Rs 500 cr from PE cos

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. […]

GMR looks to raise Rs 1,500 cr from PE cos

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. […]

Nalanda Capital gets Rs 2.86 bn from Sun TV stake sale

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. […]

Education to get boost on govt reform

India's education sector is likely to see heavy investments from private equity funds over the next couple of years betting on increased government spending and as private players plan expansions, officials said. The sector, pegged at USD 86 billion, is seeing fresh interest from foreigners and large funds who are pumping in money in services, technology and infrastructure, they added. “The education market in India is roughly worth USD 50 billion in the private sector and all parts of the educational value chain are offering good investment opportunities,” said Rajesh Singhal, managing partner of private equity firm Milestone Religare Investment Advisors Pvt Ltd. […]

GMR Infra in PE talks to raise $322 mln

Indian conglomerate GMR Infrastructure is in advanced talks with private equity firms to raise about 15 billion rupees ($322 million) for its power unit, the Economic Times reported, citing the group's chairman. G.M. Rao told the newspaper the deal would be closed in the next two weeks, but did not disclose the names of the private equity firms that would provide the funds. The group is also talking to some funds to raise $400 million for its airports division, the paper said, citing Rao. In December, sources told Reuters GMR is in advanced talks with Singapore investment firm Temasek to raise $150 million by selling shares in its power unit. […]

Venture funds upbeat on MFIs

Sector seeks capital to meet 15 per cent capital adequacy from April 2011. Lured by its 100 per cent growth and the fact that it seems immune from adverse global developments, private equity companies and venture capitalists are upbeat on investment in micro finance institutions (MFIs). According to Reserve Bank of India guidelines, MFIs will have to maintain a 15 per cent capital adequacy ratio from April 2011. At present, the requirement is 10 per cent, which they have to increase to 12 per cent from April 2010. […]

M&A activity in India more than doubled to $3 bn in Jan 2010

Merger and acquisition activity in the country more than doubled in the first month of 2010 as deals worth nearly USD 3 billion (about Rs 13,950 crore) were announced amid improved signs of liquidity, a study said. According to the monthly deal report of VCEdge, a financial research provider, the M&A deal value during January 2010 stood at USD 2.8 billion, a whopping 126 per cent rise over the same period last year. In terms of deal count there was also an upward trend, as there were around 53 deals in the first month of the year, as compared to 32 deals witnessed during a year-ago period, the report added. […]

PEs preferring China, India for investments in 2010

Private equity funds are looking at emerging markets as their investment destination in 2010, and India has emerged as the second most preferred country after China for investment, says a survey. According to a survey by global PE research firm Preqin, the Asian countries are receiving considerable investor interest, with 45 per cent of respondents saying that this region is attractive at present. Supported by strong fundraising targeted at the country for the past couple of years, China was voted as an area of interest by just over half of respondents, followed by India for which 41 per cent voted in favour, Preqin said. […]

DAR Capital eyes 26% stake in Valuable Media

DAR Capital, promoted by non-resident Indian Arun Rangachari, will pick up 26% stake in Valuable Media Ltd (VML) for Rs 100 crore. The DAR Capital Group has already identified the media and entertainment domain as a destination for big investments. It has committed over Rs 650 crore investments on movies and cricket. VML, the Mumbai-based promoters of UFO Moviez, has sought approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to raise Rs 100 crore from DAR Capital. Valuable Media will use the fund to launch—small mall technology (SMT)—a satellite-based digital distribution of films in smaller towns and also to push its consumer box business in India and other markets. […]

PE investments double to $386 mn in Jan

Private equity investments in India doubled in the first month of this year, as deals worth over $386 million were announced amid improving signs of liquidity, a study says. According to the monthly deal update report of VCEdge, a financial research provider, private equity deal value in India was at $386 million in January 2010 against $191 million in January 2009. The deal volume, however, was virtually unchanged with 25 deals recorded past month, one less than what was registered in the same month last year. […]