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Kings XI Punjab, currently ranked last in this season's IPL table, is up for sale. The promoters of the club have put up an asking price of $300 million (Rs 1,380 crore). Sources said the final price is likely to be settled at around $280 million (Rs 1,288 crore). The buyer's identity is not being disclosed. But it is known consumer goods major Videocon's chairman Venugopal Dhoot is keen on buying a minority stake in an existing team. […] The total M&A and PE (incl. QIP) deals in the month of March 2010 were valued at US$13.83bn (86 Deals) as compared to US$2.57bn (33 deals) and US$4.83bn (67 Deals) in the corresponding month of 2009 and 2008 respectively. The total value of outbound deals (Indian companies acquiring businesses outside India) in March 2010 was US$12.30bn (17deals) as compared to US$0.05bn (4 deals) and US$2.67bn (15 deals) during the corresponding month in 2009 and 2008 respectively. The total value of inbound deals (foreign companies or their subsidiaries acquiring Indian businesses) in March 2010 was US$415mn (9 deals) as compared to US$278mn (6 deals) and US$811mn (5 deals) during the corresponding month in 2009 and 2008 respectively. […] U.S. private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Indian back-office service provider Firstsource Solutions, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. KKR is negotiating to buy a stake totalling about 68 percent of the IT services company from No. 2 Indian lender ICICI Bank, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and U.S.-based banking technology group Metavante, the sources said. A deal has not been finalised, but a sale price could be about $250 million, said two of the sources. None of the sources wished to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media. Firstsource has a market value of $300 million. Private equity investment in India fell more than 60 percent in 2009 when the global financial crisis deepened, but a string of high-profile deals this year suggests a rebound. […] Singapore-based Temasek Holdings on Friday said GMR Energy Ltd (GEL) has signed an agreement with it to raise capital for energy expansion plans. Temasek Holdings would invest $200 million (about Rs 880 crore) through its wholly-owned subsidiary Claymore Investments (Mauritius) Pte, the company said in a statement here. The investment would be through a structured paper compulsorily convertible into equity. “The energy sector within the infrastructure space is an attractive long-term investment area. India may have historically lagged behind in adding new generation capacity; we believe that enabling regulations and private sector participation will allow the sector to add substantially to India’s GDP growth rate,” Temasek Holdings India head Manish Kejriwal said […] Summit Partners, a 25-year-old private equity (PE) firm that has $11 billion under management, said on Friday that it had made its first investment in India with an infusion of $30 million in agricultural biotech firm Krishidhan Seeds Ltd (KSL). The deal, which took three months to close, is also Summit’s first in the agriculture segment. Amit Chaturvedy, vice president of Summit Partners and soon to join the KSL board, said his firm has been looking at entering the Indian market for a year now. The deal took three months to close. “When it came to the Indian economy we did not have a view that we have to invest in a specific sector,” Chaturvedy said. “We just looked for high growth companies and made this investment.” Summit is the latest addition to a list of PE firms, such as Apollo Capital, Bain Capital and Quadrangle, that have made their first investments in India over the past six months. […] Private equity firm CX Partners has bought an 8 percent stake in steel company Monnet Ispat for Rs 150 crore from the secondary market, its first investment since launch in August 2008. “We are looking at a close association with Monnet Ispat and will help build the company further,” said Ajay Relan, promoter of the $500-million firm and former managing director of Citigroup Venture Capital International. A Monnet Ispat spokesman, however, declined to comment. CX bought the stake from a clutch of foreign institutional investors for nearly Rs 390 a share during the last two months. The deal values Monnet Ispat at Rs 1,875 crore against its market capitalisation of Rs 2,083 crore. Monnet Ispat shares fell marginally to close at Rs 435 on the BSE on Thursday. FIIs owned a 33.76 percent stake in Monnet Ispat as per the company's last disclosure to the stock market in December 31, 2009. […] Orbis Power Venture (P) today announced that the fund has acquired 733,085 fully paid up equity shares of the face value of Rs.10/- each of DPSC, one of the country`s oldest power distribution firms representing 17.31% of the share capital of the company at an average price of Rs.709.998 for each share through open market purchase on April 05, 2010. The acquisition of stake was done by Orbis Power Venture (P) along with SREI Infrastructure Finance (SIFL) and India Power Corporation (IPCL). […] Reliance Venture Asset Management, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) enterprise, today said it has completed one round of funding in Tessolve Services, a semiconductor test and product engineering company. Along with Reliance Venture Asset Management, the other co-investors in this 'Series C' round of funding include JAFCO Asia, Qualcomm Ventures and Applied Ventures, the company said in a statement. Reliance Venture Asset Management, however, did not disclose the financial details of the deal. “Tessolve's strong engineering capabilities and its value proposition to customers has made it an industry pace-setter and we are proud to be their partners in success,” Reliance Venture Asset Management CEO Harshal J Shah said. […] Property developer Ackruti City Ltd is looking for “immediate” funding of 2.5 billion rupees and has roped in two partners for its proposed real estate venture capital fund, a top official said on Wednesday. “We have some projects in the pipeline for which, I think, we should be still looking immediately at round 250 crore (2.5 billion rupees),” Chief Financial Officer Bharat Mody told Reuters in an interview. This would be for the 3-4 new projects the company is planning to launch, he said, but did not provide a time frame. The real estate developer had tied up a total of 10 billion rupees in funding by December, Mody had told Reuters earlier. Ackruti has sought Securities and Exchange Board of India approval for its proposed real estate VC fund for which it has roped in Pacifica Fund and Beekman Helix as partners, he said. […] The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), announced today that it will be investing INR 2250 million (approximately USD 50 million) in Jagran Media Network Private Limited, which will hold majority share of Jagran Prakashan Limited (“JPL”). JPL is India’s leading media and communications group, with the group’s flagship brand, Dainik Jagran, being the most widely read newspaper in the world with a total readership of 54.6 million. Jagran Media Network Private Limited will file for necessary approvals for the investment with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (“FIPB”) today. Dainik Jagran, which publishes 37 editions and more than 200 sub-editions across 11 states, has maintained its position as India’s widest read newspaper for the last six years. JPL has evolved into a leading end-to-end media solutions provider with interests across newspapers, outdoor advertising, below the line solutions, internet, magazines and mobile value added services. […] |