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Stock broking firm Geojit Financial Services on Friday said the company's board has approved the offer from French banking major BNP Paribas to acquire a 35 per cent stake in one of its subsidiaries. BNP Paribas would acquire a 35 per cent stake in Geojit Technologies, which is into software development. “The Board of Directors of Geojit Financial Services has in principle decided to surrender its membership in various commodity exchanges held by its wholly-owned subsidiary. “This is to enable BNP Paribas to get approval from RBI for the open offer subsequent to their acquisition of 27.18 per cent stake in March 2007,” the firm said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Further, the board has accepted the offer of compensation of Rs 40 crore by BNP Paribas for surrendering memberships in various commodity exchanges. During 2007-08, Geojit Technologies had started developing software for the French firm for some of its European operations. […]
Diversified business group Videocon is talking to U.S.-based Motorola for acquiring the latter’s mobile handset business. However, these talks are at ‘initial’ stages. It is also studying General Electric’s invitation for bid for its appliances division, which produces refrigerators, air-conditioners and ovens. Revealing this, Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman and Managing Director of the Group, said, “The talks with Motorola are at very initial stage.” He, however, did not spell out a deadline for finalising the deal. In the wake of Motorola’s plans to separate its mobile business from other operations, consumer electronics major Videocon had made a bid to acquire Motorola’s mobile handset business which is stated to be worth about $3.8 billion and account for 15 per cent market share globally. […]
Bharti has decided to disengage from the ongoing talks with the South African telecom major, MTN, to explore the possibility of a merger between the two “emerging markets” telecom giants. Bharti has already conveyed its decision to pull out of the talks to the MTN board, after discussions that continued till late last night could not achieve a breakthrough. According to a statement issued by the Bharti group, the decision to pull out of the talks was prompted by its consideration that the new structure proposed by the MTN board would not have been in the interest of Bharti Airtel's minority shareholders and in its plans for growth as an Indian telecom multinational. A few weeks ago and at the invitation of MTN board, Bharti had entered into exploratory discussions on the possibility of combining the two 'emerging market' telecom giants. A number of structures were discussed and evaluated between the lead bankers on both sides. An in-principle agreement was also reached on May 16 and a term sheet was initialled between the two lead bankers. […]
Subhash Chandra, owner of the Essel group, has exited from Centrum Capital Ltd, a listed financial services firm that offers project finance, investment banking, wealth management and brokerage services. Chandra, who is believed to have picked up about 14% stake in Centrum through a preferential offer in late 2006 or early 2007, sold his stake in the stock market in tranches in March. At an average price of Rs1,304 per share of Centrum in March on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Chandra could have realized some Rs111 crore for his stake. Chandra’s acquisition price is not known though one person familiar with the transaction said, “he has made good money.” Shares of Centrum, which used to be known as Centrum Finance, closed at Rs850 a share on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Their 52-week high was Rs1,670 a share. Chandra, who is also chairman of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, was not available for comment. Following Chandra’s exit, Indivision Fund of the Future Group, which owns thePantaloon and Big Bazaar chain of retail stores, acquired a 14.9% stake in Centrum, initially by buying 10% through a preferential allotment and later by buying shares from the stock market.Meanwhile, people familiar with Chandra’s thinking said the media baron initially bought the Centrum stake through trading companies to enter financial services. […]
M&M, India’s largest utility vehicle maker, has signed a term sheet with Kinetic Motors, the Pune-based two-wheeler manufacturer, in its bid to acquire a majority stake in the company. A term sheet is a non-binding agreement setting forth the basic terms and conditions under which an investment is to be made in a company. M&M is looking to acquire 76% stake in the company valued at about Rs 120 crore. It is doing due diligence of Kinetic’s books and assets. A deal could fructify in the next two months if the due diligence proceeds smoothly, sources said. ET first reported on May 15 that M&M has been in talks with Kinetic Motors to acquire a majority stake. At present, though, there are no PE players in the race to invest in Kinetic Motors. M&M is one of India’s leading manufacturers of general-purpose utility vehicles, light commercial vehicles, tractors and SUVs. Kinetic Motors has presence in both motorcycles and scooters. […]
Johnson Matthey is likely to invest in the JV through its Dutch subsidiary Matthey Finance BV either by subscription to fresh shares or purchase of existing shares of Macred India from Dr Reddy’s or both, it is learned. The JM group which controls about a third of the world market in bulk opiates provides technology to only those companies in which it could get a substantial stake. It has no other partner in India. The JM group has the capacity to meet 31% of the world’s morphine demand and 29% of the world’s codeine requirement.The government has received a request from the UK-based company for picking up 49% stake in Marced India, government sources said. The application is to be considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) this week. […]
Small-cap software developer Logix Microsystems is close to buying a US-based software firm for about $20 million to beef up its auto dealer-centric software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. Logix, with a market cap of $75 million, provides business and technology solutions to blue-chip companies in the US, Far East, Middle East and India. According to Logix managing director Sanjay Soni, the slowdown in the US economy has prompted most auto original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their dealers to take steps to cut operational costs using information technology. Through this planned acquisition, Logix hopes to cash in on this opportunity. SaaS can help companies slash the total cost of ownership (TCO) of IT infrastructure by 40% due to its pay-per-use nature. This way, user companies save the cost of owning infrastructure such as hardware and software and maintaining it. […]
Assimilating the take over of United Western Bank, IDBI Bank now is gearing up to acquire at least one more bank in the current fiscal in a bid to expand its branch network across India. Speaking to FE, Yogesh Agarwal, chairman & managing director, IDBI Bank, has said, “We have identified few private sector, also some of the public sector banks, and have already initiated the negotiations with them. A deal to buy at least one private sector bank is not ruled out completely in the current financial year. However, the merger with a public sector bank solely depends on wish and the policy adopted by the government of India.” Agarwal explained that IDBI Bank has got experience of two mergers. Even the government of India now looks at IDBI Bank as a focal point around which future mergers and acquisitions will take place. The bank is open to further acquisitions as past two acquisitions have accurately taught the bank to identify the prospective takeover targets within the Indian banking industry. […]
Archies, India’s No. 1 greetings card and gift company, is exploring the possibility of an alliance with a foreign entity. The company has a 60 per cent market share in the social expression industry, which includes greetings cards, gifts and accessories. “We are open to such strategic alliances with international players. We could either bring in equity partners or go for brand tie-ups. There could also be a round of private placement to fund our growth plans,” said Anil Moolchandani, chairman and managing director of Archies. Archies plans an additional 180 stores by 2010, which will require an investment of around Rs 30 lakh per store. At present, Archies has 105 exclusive outlets. It has also signed up with more than 250 malls and over 350 franchisees across the country. The focus of the franchisee outlets will be Tier II and Tier III towns. […]
New Delhi-based e-learning company Educomp Solutions has informed that it has invested US$ 24.5 million for acquiring 51% stake in US-based Learning.Com. Learning.Com, founded in 1999, offers web-delivered curriculum and assessment, serves nearly two million students in schools across the United States and has partnership with schools and districts throughout the United States. The deal includes the purchase of existing shares as well as an infusion of new capital into the company. Through this deal, Educomp has got distribution access to over 800 districts. This will also leverage its substantial content development and IT capabilities to reach out to North American markets. This is Educomp's second strategic investment after the acquisition of Singapore-based Ask n Learn. […]
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