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Engineering and construction firm Jaiprakash Associates said on Friday it had won a bid to buy 45 percent of small-sized energy explorer Prize Petroleum for an disclosed sum. The stake in the unlisted company was put on the block by ICICI Bank , India's No. 2 lender, and its unit ICICI Venture Funds. Prize operates three small oil and gas fields in western India and was founded by state-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd , which owns 50 percent, and Indian banks. In January, Hindustan Petroleum Chairman Arun Balakirshnan had told Reuters ICICI wanted to exit the joint venture as it was not not keen to invest in the exploration firm. […]
In the largest deal in the domestic information technology (IT) space, MindTree Consulting is set to acquire mid-tier outsourcing product development (OPD) and testing player, Aztecsoft, for around Rs 400 crore. Both are Bangalore-based firms. The deal is expected to be concluded in a couple of days, according to sources familiar with the situation. Both Aztecsoft and MindTree spokespersons, when contacted, declined to comment on the issue. Yes Bank is the banker for the deal. MindTree will be buying the 34 per cent stake held by private equities, e4e and Canaan Partners, and then make an open offer under the Takeover Code. The non-institutional public shareholding is 46.27 per cent, while institutional public shareholding is around 17.5 per cent. The promoters hold 36.21 per cent. The acquisition is expected to kick off consolidation of mid-tier IT firms in India, which are feeling the heat of a rising Indian rupee, a US slowdown and a dip in global IT spends. Moreover, while it will lend the much-required scale to MindTree, the synergies between the two companies are evident. […]
Trent Ltd, the Tata group firm which is in the business of retail, has acquired the 24% stake it already didn’t own in retail chain Landmark Bookstore that was held by co-founder Hemu Ramaiah. The deal, for an undisclosed amount, was signed on Wednesday. Ramaiah, the CEO of Landmark, confirmed the deal and said that she had resigned from her post. She is now in the process of starting a retail consulting firm called Shop4Solutions. In 2005, Trent acquired a majority 76% stake in Landmark and its subsidiaries— 75% from Nataraj Ramaiah, Hemu Ramaiah’s brother, and 1% from the latter — for Rs103.6 crore. Trent runs the Westside and Star Bazaar chains. After the acquisition, Himanshu Chakrawarti, a Trent executive, was named COO of Landmark. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he would be named CEO. Chakrawarti said he was not the right person to comment on the subject. An executive at Trent declined to comment on the issue and the firm’s head of marketing Neeti Chopra did not respond to telephone calls and an email from Mint. Ramaiah declined to comment on the value of the deal although a person familiar with the transaction said it was at least Rs100 crore. […]
Indian steelmaker Essar Steel Holdings Ltd. said it would buy U.S. steel producer and distributor Esmark Inc. in a cash offer of $17 a share, deepening its global reach and providing it with a large integrated steel producer and customer base in the U.S. The total value of the deal is about $1.1 billion, according to Esmark officials. If the deal goes through, Essar Steel — a unit of Essar Global Ltd. — will own Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, a 2.5-million-short-ton integrated steel mill in West Virginia, and a Midwest distribution network. Along with the cash payout to shareholders, Essar Steel agreed to lend Esmark $110 million to refinance debt and provide needed liquidity.The deal continues the aggressive expansion by cash-rich Essar Steel, which last year bought Canada's Algoma Steel Inc. for $1.6 billion and iron-ore reserves in Minnesota for $1.65 billion, and this month broke ground on a 2.5-million-metric-ton mill in Trinidad. Essar Steel had been looking for an integrated producer in the U.S. and bid for the Sparrows Point steel mill in Maryland but was beat out by Russia's OAO Severstal. […]
IT software and services provider 3i Infotech on Tuesday said it has acquired Regulus Group, a US-based payment and document processing company, for nearly $100 million, in a move that would increase the Indian company’s overseas presence, besides increasing its revenue. The cost of the acquisition is approximately $80 million, with an additional $20 million based on earn-outs linked to its performance in the next two years. The acquisition is an all-cash deal, funded by debts raised on Regulus and guaranteed by 3i Infotech, to be serviced over a period of seven years, the company said. The company plans to close the deal within three months. “We expect revenue from Regulus to start accruing to us by the end of second quarter this year,” 3i Infotech managing director and CEO V Srinivasan told ET. Regulus had reported $148 million in revenue for the year-ended December, 2007. […]
UAE’s Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) on Tuesday said that it would spend up to $4 billion (Rs 16,000 crore) to acquire a licence or buyout an Indian telco, while also adding that Spice Telecom was amongst the possibilities. “Our aim is to buy into an operator that covers most of India, and Spice is one possibility,” Mohammed Omran, chairman of the Arab world’s second-biggest telecoms firm, told international media in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. “The market value for shares (in India) have gone down a little so it’s a good time for us to consider entry,” Mr Omran told Reuters. The report also adds that Etisalat, during this month, was in talks with several Indian companies including Spice, but had not finalised any deal so far. Spice apart, the UAE-based telecom major is also in talks to pick up stake in Videocon-owned Datacom and realty major Unitech, both of whom were awarded telecom licenses recently. […]
Berger Paints India Ltd on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement to acquire Poland-based Bolix S A (Bolix) for 38 million dollars. Berger Paints will acquire Bolix, a leading provider of external insulation finishing system, in an all-share deal from Advent International, a global private equity group. The acquisition will be carried out at an estimated net purchase price of around 38.6 million dollars, the company said. The buyout will be made through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berger Paints India Ltd in Cyprus. […]
Essar Communications Holdings Limited (ECHL), the telecom subsidiary of Essar Global Limited, has acquired a strategic stake in Obopay Inc., the pioneering service provider for payments via mobile phones. Consequent to this, K B Rajendran, Senior Vice President – Business Development, Essar has been elected to the Obopay Board of Directors. Commenting on the investment K B Rajendran said, “We are excited with our investment in Obopay which gives us an opportunity to be involved in this promising business segment. Obopay has introduced significant mobile payment innovations in the U.S. and recently in India as well. We look forward to working with Obopay to build upon the integration of the mobile phone into the lives of consumers worldwide.” Obopay, Inc. recently announced closing of its fourth round of venture funding, raising $20 million, and the addition of two new board members K B Rajendran, Senior Vice President, Essar Global Limited and Robert G. Hottensen, Jr., Senior Vice President for Public Equity at Olayan America Corporation to their board of directors. […]
Mayfair group is planning to raise Rs 250 crore through IPO, private equity and internal accruals. “We may go for the private equity within a month and by mid-2009 will enter the market with the IPO”, he said. While it is expected that the IPO will help raising Rs 117 crore, private equity will bring in another Rs 40 crore. The group, which has a total of 1.52 crore shares of face value Rs 10 each, will dilute upto 40-45 % of its stake. Equity fund Companies from India, the US and a few other countries were in touch for the private equity offer, Ray said. […]
The Ramesh Vangal-promoted Katra group is set to foray into the media industry soon. Vangal is close to acquire stake in Radaan Mediaworks India Ltd, promoted by actor Radhika Sarathkumar. Sources close to the development said Vangal would buy out at least 50 per cent of Radhika’s stake in the entity. Since Radhika holds 51.42 per cent in Radaan (2.78 crore shares), buying half her stake would also trigger an open offer. At a later stage, Vangal, keen on holding a majority stake in the company, may infuse capital through issue of fresh shares. Talks have been initiated and a deal may be arrived at soon for share transfer for a consideration of around Rs 10 per share, which works out to around Rs 14 crore. The Rs 2 share closed last week at Rs 6.30 on the NSE. […]
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