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Plans to set up two new plants, market a new technology. Actis Biologics (ABPL), the Indian arm of US-based biotech drug discovery company Actis Biologics Inc, plans to raise about $30 million by selling stake to a clutch of private equity players to build two new plants and market a new process that will help other drug makers cut cost. The company will sell a 15 per cent stake to US- and Europe-based leading private equity investors, Sanjeev Saxena, chairman and founder, ABPL, said. The sale may be completed in the next four weeks. Leading biotechnology companies such as Biocon and Avesthagen are selling stakes to private equity players and other investors to raise money to discover new potential drugs that can be self-marketed or out-licensed to multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies, such as Pfizer, Roche, Astra Zeneca and Amgen. […]
Mumbai-based Topsgrup, the country's second-largest security solutions provider, is looking at two acquisitions to boost its market share from 13.2 per cent to 24 per cent. The Rs 2,500-crore organised Indian security industry, termed a sunrise industry, is dominated by multinational player Group 4 Securicor with a 25 per cent market share. “We have zeroed in on two companies down south: One in the electronic security systems space and the other in manned guarding services. The total cost of acquisition would be Rs 100 crore, that will be fully funded through internal accruals. We expect to seal the deals in the next six months,” Diwan Rahul Nanda, chairman and managing director, Topsgrup, said. The 37-year-old company closed the last financial year with revenues of Rs 330 crore. It foresees its top line touching Rs 600 crore and manpower crossing 1,00,000, through both organic and inorganic means, in this fiscal. […]
Realty major Phoenix Mills Ltd is considering to allot equity stake to Hong Kong based hospitality conglomerate Shangri-La, which has been awarded management contract to operate its (Phoenix Mills') luxury five star hotel in central Mumbai. “We are in discussion with the top management of Shangri-La and are open to allow them to pick up a stake in this hotel project,” Atul Ruia, Managing Director, Phoenix Mills Ltd told HT. Ruia said nothing has been finalized as yet and he did not reveal the quantum of stake that he would offer to Shangri-La. Global hospitality majors normally pick up a stake in hotel properties for stability of their brands, though many still operate through management contracts in lieu of a fixed fee or revenue sharing agreement. Shangri-La has 55 hotel properties at several locations in the world out of which 11 are through management contract. It is fast expanding in the markets of India and West Asia, which offer maximum growth potential. […]
Two-wheeler company Kinetic Motor Co. Ltd is in talks with a private equity fund and other automobile makers, in addition to Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, to raise about Rs150 crore and try revive its flagging fortunes. The Firodia family, which owns the company, is not averse to becoming junior partners and hold a minimum of 26% stake as they want to focus on their auto components business, said a person intimately familiar with the situation. The Pune-based family holds nearly 55% of Kinetic Motor through personal holdings and group firms. Of this, 43% is owned by auto parts maker Kinetic Engineering Ltd. Kinetic’s spokesperson declined to comment. In the past three years, Kinetic has raised Rs52 crore through preferential share placements to Taiwanese scooter maker Sanyang Industry Co. Ltd and the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, and an undisclosed amount from Citicorp Financial India Ltd through convertible debentures. It also tied up with foreign two-wheeler makers Italjet Moto SpA and Sanyang to introduce new products. But its market share remains at less than 1%, and it has posted losses for 19 straight quarters. […]
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has acquired a 73.21 per cent stake in IL&FS Investsmart, a leading retail brokerage house in India, for a consideration of Rs 1,110 crore ($261 million). HSBC has acquired the stake from E*Trade Mauritius ( 43.85 per cent) and an additional 29.36 per cent stake from IL&FS. In addition, HSBC has paid a non- compete fees of Rs 82.45 crore ($ 19.4 million) for a three-year period to IL&FS. “The timing for us was great in clinching this deal. We have picked it up at an attractive price,” said Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, HSBC in india. HSBC will also make an open offer to acquire up to 20 per cent of the remaining shares in Investsmart. Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF) continues to hold about 10 per cent equity in the Indian broking outfit. If HSBC fails to get a good response to the open offer, it might look at delisting Investsmart, which has a market capitalisation of close to Rs 1,275 crore ($ 300 million) […]
Topsgrup has acquired a 51-per cent stake in a security solutions company in the UK. The Mumbai-based company, however, did not disclose details about the equity buy out in the Rs 550-crore turnover overseas company. Diwan Rahul Nanda, Chairman and Managing Director, Topsgrup, told Business Line that this will be the first overseas acquisition from the security solutions industry. Earlier addressing a press conference here, Nanda said Topsgrup has bought out the Bangalore-based Guardwell Detectives Pvt Ltd for Rs 20 crore. He said together the Indian and foreign acquisitions are expected to boost the total revenue of the company to over Rs 1,000 crore during the current fiscal (2008-09). […]
A new player in the micro-finance space, Equitas, will raise up to Rs50 crore as second round of funding through private equity to expand its branch network in southern India. “For our second round of equity funding we are in discussion with private equity players. We hope to raise $12.5 million (about Rs50 crore) in the next two months,” Equitas managing director P N Vasudevan told PTI. The promoters have additonally committed a sum of Rs7 crore to be invested over the next three months, he added. Launched in December last year, Equitas has the distinction of being a micro-finance institution with the largest startup equity capital of Rs13.5 crore. In just four months of operation, the company has opened 15 branches, 10 in Chennai and five in Tricy. It has a base of 25,000 clients and an outstanding portfolio of Rs25 crore. “By the end of the year we should have 100 branches and a client base of 5,00,000 with an outstanding portfolio of Rs400 crore” Vasudevan said. […]
Hyderabad-based Ybrant Digital is looking at acquiring an online marketing company in the US for $100 million (approximately Rs 400 crore) this year, its fourth buyout so far. “We are close to signing an LoI (letter of intent) and expect to seal the deal this year. Some of the areas that the target company operates in include content-based mobile advertising,” chairman and managing director Suresh Reddy said. The zero-debt company would fund the buyout through a combination of debt and equity for which it is currently working out modalities. In 2006, Ybrant had acquired two companies – Serbia-based Seenietix and US-based MediosOne – for undisclosed amounts. […]
Anil Ambani group company Reliance Infratel is diluting 5 per cent stake to a clutch of American and European investors in a pre-IPO placement, a deal that values the company at about Rs 50,000 crore. When contacted, Reliance Infratel officials declined to comment. Sources, however, said that the company has entered into a deal with some American and European investors for the pre-IPO placement. The latest deal values the company at around Rs 50,000 crore while the earlier 5 per cent stake dilution that Reliance Infratel had made, valued the company at about Rs 28,000 crore. The company had earlier privately placed 5 per cent stake to a group of institutional investors. Reliance Telecom Infrastructure sold the stake for Rs 1,400 crore to a host of investors including George Soros, HSBC, Fortress Capital, New Silk, Galleon, DA Capital and GLG Capital. […]
Tata group may sell 49 percent of its phone transmission-towers business to a unit of SREI Group for about $1.9 billion, the Times of India reported, citing an official it didn't identify. Quippo Infrastructure Equipment Ltd., a SREI Group company, is among the leading bidders for the stake in Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure that owns about 13,500 transmission towers, the newspaper said. Citigroup Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. are advising Tata, while JM Financial Ltd. is advising Quippo, the newspaper said. The Tata group owns Tata Teleservices Ltd., the closely held mobile phone operator, and Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd., the publicly listed company that operates phone networks in Maharashtra and Goa states. (Bloomberg) […]
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