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Vodafone seals $5.46 bln deal to buy out Essar

Vodafone said it has sealed a long-awaited deal to buy out its partner Essar from their Indian mobile joint venture for $5.46 billion, ending a highly fractious relationship. The British company, which is the world's biggest mobile operator by revenue, will purchase the 33% stake owned by a collection of Essar companies, giving it a majority 74% shareholding in the venture. The price includes an $880 million payment for taxes, which neither Vodafone nor Essar believe is due and will be returned to Essar if they are proved correct. The deal is part of Vodafone's strategy to only own assets where it has control, and follows the sale of its stake in Polish operator Polkomtel on Thursday. […]

Nomura to launch $500 mln India infra fund in September

Nomura Holdings plans to launch a $500 million India infrastructure fund in September, its country head said, joining the league of firms looking to play a role in financing infrastructure projects in Asia's third-largest economy. The fund, which will invest in Indian infrastructure projects, will mostly target investors in Japan, Vikas Sharma, president and chief executive of the Japanese investment bank's India unit said. “Infrastructure fund is an important piece of the asset class that we want to address. India requires huge amount of infrastructure spends in the next five to 10 years,” Sharma told Reuters in an interview. […]

Advanta India raises $50 mn via FCCBs

Advanta India Ltd, a seed maker that is part of the United Phosphorus group of companies, said in a filing to exchanges that it has raised $50 million (around Rs.225 crore) crore through foreign currency convertible bonds, or FCCBs. The bonds carry an interest rate of 3.5 percentage points higher than the London inter bank offer rate, or Libor, a benchmark rate that is currently at 0.245%. The conversion into equity will be at Rs.282.84 a share, which translates into apremium of 10%, and at a fixed rate of Rs.44.94 to the dollar. […]

Blackstone may fund Embassy’s 22% stake buy in Bangalore IT SEZ

Private equity giant Blackstone may finance south-based Embassy Property Development's purchase of 22% stake in Manyata Tech Park, the country's largest operational tech SEZ located in Bangalore, from HDFC Property Ventures for Rs 540 crore, said sources privy to the development. The PE behemoth is likely to back Embassy's stake purchase through a combination of convertible equity and debt totaling $100 million, or roughly Rs 450 crore, sources added. The transaction, if clinched, could mark Blackstone's biggest real estate investment in India. The stake buyback would raise Embassy's shareholding in the IT business park to 57%. Jitu Virwani, chairman of Embassy Property Development, confirmed the Rs 540-crore share buyback from HDFC Property Ventures, but said he had no immediate plans to raise funds from outside. A Blackstone official was not available for immediate comments. […]

PE firm Avigo capital to take over Spykar Lifestyle

Private equity firm Avigo Capital has brought in Metmin Investments as a copartner to acquire a controlling stake in Spykar Lifestyle , reversing its earlier plan to exit the homegrown jeans brand. “We changed our strategy from exit to build since we have resolved differences with promoters of the company on how to run the business,” Avigo Capital Managing Partner Achal Ghai said. “Spykar will be professionalised soon.” This makes the 19-year-old denim maker the third Indian apparel retailer to be acquired by PE investors this year after Vishal Retail and Weekender. Primus Retail sold apparel brand Weekender to finance firm Madhusudan Securities for Rs100 crore in February, and in March, Vishal Retail sold its wholesales business to private equity firm TPG for over Rs70 crore. Metmin Investments will investRs30 crore for a 30% stake in Spykar, while Avigo will hold another 30% stake. Company's promoters Prasad Pabrekar and Harshada Pabrekar will hold the balance 40%, but the private equity players will work together to control the company. When contacted, Spykar officials refused to confirm the deal. […]

StanChart Private Equity, Merlion India III exits ABG Shipyard

Standard Chartered Private Equity (Mauritius) and Merlion India III have exited from ABG Shipyard by selling their entire 7.078% stake in the firm through open market transactions. In a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), ABG Shipyard said the two firms had sold 3.6 million shares in it within a span of five days from 24 June 2011. Meanwhile, in a separate filing, ABG Shipyard said KBS Trading had increased its stake in the ABG Group flagship by 3.93% to 6.65% on 28 June 2011. […]

PTC India Fin may exit two investments in FY12

PTC India Financial Services , a unit of the country's largest listed power trader PTC India, plans to sell its investment in a power project by Ind-Barath, besides selling part of its stake in Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) this fiscal, a top official said. “As per contractual terms, buyback of shares by Ind-Barath in a thermal power project based in south India may take place,” Ashok Haldia, director on the board of the power sector lender told Reuters in a telephonic interview on Friday. “We invested about 55 crores (550 million rupees) in August, 2008 (in Ind-Barath project), and the exit is likely to be in August or September.” The New Delhi-based financial services firm, in which Macquarie holds 3.46 percent stake and HSBC owns 3.68 percent, expects to earn a post-tax return of 23.75 percent per annum on exiting the Ind-Barath project, he added. […]

For promoters, all roads lead to PE

With the initial public offerings (IPO) market drying and debt getting dearer by the day, private equity (PE) has become the lender of last resort for companies. Deals in the space are increasing and getting bigger, as promoters are willing to take a few steps more on the road to reasonable valuation. Avinash Gupta, head, financial advisory, Deloitte India, also feels promoters are more eager to strike deals than in the past. “Promoters feel fundraising will be tougher in the next six months, due to factors such as increased borrowing interest rates and soft share market. They feel this could be the right time for fundraising.” Even funds have become more reasonable in their expectations, leading to more transactions. “Given the fact of high valuation in pre-recession times and thereafter a lack of general conviction to transact, the current time offers a sense of reasonableness for both, the buyer and the seller, resulting in a greater deal flow,” said Abhijit Joshi, senior partner and CEO, Western Region, AZB & Partners.. […]