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Kolkata-based McNally Bharat Engineering is set to acquire a 68.28 per cent stake in Sayaji Iron & Engineering Co, representing the entire holding of the existing promoters, for Rs 59 crore. The Williamson Magor group and GP Birla company has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire the shares at Rs 221.60 a share. According to the provisions of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) takeover code, McNally would make an open offer for another 20 per cent. […] Real estate developer Landmark Group on Thursday said it will invest over Rs 4,200 crore in developing 12 properties across the northern region in the next three-four years. “Currently our 12 projects are undergoing in North India, which will be completed in the next three-four years. We will be investing about $1 billion (about Rs 4,200 crore) in developing these projects,” Landmark Group Director Amit Kumar said. The company would fund the projects through internal accruals and raisings from private equities, he said. “We will try to fund our projects through our own resources, but also, we do not mind private equity players' participation. Starting from 25 per cent, we are ready to sell up to 40 per cent to PE players in different projects,” he added. […] Global financial giant HSBC said on Saturday that it plans to acquire 73.21 per cent stake in domestic brokerage firm IL&FS Investsmart for a consideration of $241.6 million (around Rs 1,002.5 crore). The acquisition, which would enable HSBC to grow its presence in the domestic brokerage space, will be performed through the group's Indian subsidiaries, including its security arm, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India), HSBC said in a statement to day. “The investment is of strategic importance to HSBC as it gives us foothold in one of the largest retail broking markets in the world. The acquisition is consistent with our strategy of investing primarily in faster growing emerging markets,” the HSBC Gro up Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific, Mr Sandy Flockhart, said. HSBC would acquire the 43.85 per cent stake from E*Trade, Mauritius, one of the promoters of IL&FS, while an additional 29.36 per cent from IL&FS, the group said. […] Emirates Telecommunications Corp may compete with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and Russia's Altimo for a $1 billion stake in India's Tata Teleservices Ltd., al-Khaleej newspaper reported. Etisalat is likely to make the best offer, the United Arab Emirates newspaper reported, without saying how it got the information. “We have already mentioned we are evaluating several opportunities in India,” Etisalat Chairman Mohammed Omran told Reuters. “We haven't decided to select one at this stage. It is still too early,” he said, declining to comment directly on the newspaper report. A Tata Teleservices spokesman declined to comment on the specifics of the story, saying “we continue to evaluate all options.” State-owned Etisalat said last month it was looking to invest as much as $4 billion in India, either buying into a telecom provider or a licence. […] Amidst speculations of diluting stake to Mahindra and Mahindra, Kinetic Motors on Wednesday said it was looking to mop up Rs 100-125 crore in the next three months for expansion. “We plan to raise anything between Rs 100-125 crore within the next three months,” Kinetic Motors' Managing Director Sulajja Firodia Motwani told reporters, declining to comment on reports of possible stake sale to M&M. The fund would be deployed for capacity expansion as well as for introducing new products. “We are yet to decide the means of raising funds,” she said. (ET) […] The top managements of Bharti Airtel and South African telco MTN Group and the Lebanon-based Mikati family (which holds 9.8 per cent) are looking at a 50-50 cash-and-stock deal option as part of possible merger talks against an earlier 60:40 structure. Banking sources said with the MTN shareholders asking for a higher price than what Bharti had initially offered, the Indian telecom company might now pay 50 per cent of the money in cash and the rest through shares in Bharti Airtel. The sources added that MTN is also believed not to favour signing an “exclusivity” contract with Bharti Airtel under which it would be bound not to talk to any other competing bidder till the negotiations with them have been concluded. […] Bangalore-based John Distilleries, a group company of Paul John Enterprise, is eyeing to raise Rs 150 crore through the private equity route to fuel its capacity expansion. The company is in discussions with a UK-based private equity fund for this infusion by diluting not more than 25%. Interestingly, this is the PE fund which initially funded Foster's beer during its growth stages. John Distilleries Limited, an Indian distilling firm with capital of Rs 800 crore, is the 4th largest liquor company in the country in terms of volume. The company promotes its products across India and has an annual turnover of over Rs 600 crore. The company manages to sell over 7.5 million cases per annum. The company also plans to increase its capacity to 9 million cases a year from the current 7.5 million cases per annum. John Distilleries currently derives majority of its sales from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra and is expanding its presence to Chattisghar, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab. (Top News) […] L&T has received several bid offers from Indian and overseas companies for its ready-mix concrete (RMC) business. The successful bidder would be announced shortly, according to sources. Among the foreign companies are Holcim and Lafarge. Holcim already has Gujarat Ambuja Cement and ACC. Its RMC business is handled through ACC Concrete Ltd which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of ACC. ACC Concrete, has less than half the number of RMC units than L&T and the L&T acquisition could well catapult Holcim to the number one position in the ready-mix business in the country. Lafarge would like a stake in L&T’s RMC business as it will give the company a footprint in the western and other parts of the country. L&T’s RMC business is worth over Rs 1,000 crore. The Aditya Birla group is also said to be interested in L&T’s business but this could not be confirmed. […] The UK-based promoter-director Bhulo (Bhupendra) Kansagra of Delhi-based low-cost carrier SpiceJet is willing to divest the family stake in the airline if the valuations are right. The Kansagra family owns 12.91 per cent in the airline, which is publicly listed, and has a 10 per cent share in the Indian market, and a market capitalisation of $250 million. However, the company has been asking for a steep premium valuing the company at $600 million to $700 million. The SpiceJet stock started attracting attention a few weeks ago following a major spurt in trading volumes, which raised speculation of a promoter sell-out. Speaking to Business Standard from London, Kansagra said, “I am aware of media reports in India that SpiceJet is being wooed by several private domestic airlines but no one has come to me with a concrete offer […] Bharti Airtel today said that it is holding discussions with South African telecom company MTN Group that are aimed at “combining the strengths of the two leading emerging markets players and, accordingly, is veering towards possible structures to achieve this objective”. The company also made it clear in a statement today that this may not require it to make any “bid” for MTN at all. Top bankers close to the deal said the statement is significant because it suggests that the two companies might look at a merger option (among other things) under which MTN shareholders could get a combination of cash and equity in Bharti Airtel in return for the Indian company acquiring control in MTN. It is not clear, however, how the merger would be structured, given that India has a foreign direct investment limit of 74 per cent and Bharti Airtel already has substantial foreign stakes from SingTel and other investors. […] |