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Foseco India sold 20% stake in the company to Cookson Group Plc. for about Rs 536.4 million through an open offer. Cookson Group Plc has bought 1,277,292 equity shares, representing around 20% stake in Foseco India, at a price of Rs 420 a share. Following the acquisition of 20% stake in Foseco, the shareholding of the public in the firm stands at 13.52%. Prior to the public offer, the public shareholding stood at 33.52%.(My Iris) […] In order to strengthen its existence in insurance, banking and financial services segment, India’s fifth-biggest IT services company, HCL Technologies has acquired US-based Capital Stream, an IT solutions supplier for lending and straight-through processing for banks and finance companies. HCL has acquired Capital Stream in an all cash deal of about USD 40 million (Rs 160 crore). Ram Krishnan, corporate vice-president at HCL Technologies, told, “Financial lending has always been our focus and we have been trying to acquire capabilities to provide solutions in the commercial lending processes. This acquisition provides us that capability.” The recent deal will improve HCL’s capacity to offer end-to-end solutions via product and multi delivery capability to commercial as well as retail financial institutions. […] Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communications is understood to have acquired an African company for close to $500 million (over Rs 2,000 crore), through which it plans to offer telecom access services in Uganda. This is the third global acquisition for the company after FLAG in 2003 and Yipes in 2007, and first international acquisition as far as services are concerned. According to industry sources, the acquisition agreement is believed to have been agreed upon late last evening in London and the total deal size is likely to be higher than the $211 million for FLAG and $300 million for Yipes. Formalities of completing the acquisition are expected to be completed during the day. Reliance has recently been allowed to offer GSM technology based mobile services in India along with its existing CDMA operations through out the country. […] Nonresident Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and Indian refiner Essar Oil are among four companies making preparations to buy a 50% equity stake in Prize Petroleum, a subsidiary of state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. Prize operates three small fields in western India and is considering a rights issue to fund its expansion. “Mittal Energy, Essar Oil, Larsen & Toubro, and Jaiprakash Associates are all doing due diligence for buying up the 50% stake of financial institutions in Prize Petroleum,” said Hindustan Petroleum Chairman Arun Balakrishnan. ICICI Bank, India's second largest lending institution, owns 45% of Prize Petroleum's equity, while mortgage firm Housing Development Finance Corp. holds the remaining 5%. Balakrishnan said his company was not interested in investing further in the explorer. […] There is now on the ground evidence of gulf interest in the Indian equity markets. It is not just about private equity or secondary markets, gulf investors are looking at direct participation by picking up stakes in retail brokerage houses like Angel Broking and Sharekhan. NDTV has learnt that Angel Broking is making a second placement of equity and there are some new entrants in the running. In its second placement, Angel Broking will raise Rs 250 crore while the first placement last year to IFC for 12.5 per cent was done at Rs 150 crore. “We will be placing a second round of equity by the end of the year. This will be to finance the margin trading business that we are going to get into. For the first time we have seen interest from gulf investors coming in to pick up the stake and we in talks with several people,” said Dilip Thakker, Chairman, Angel Broking. […] The Tata Group, which pioneered commercial aviation in India is getting back into the airlines business. The Tatas have struck a deal with Singapore-based BJETS to launch a private jet company. BJETS has not revealed the size of Tata Group's investment in the company. However, the Tatas will buy 50 private jets for USD 600-million from BJETS. The company expects to start flight operations in May out of Singapore. In India, operations are expected to be based out of the new Hyderabad international airport. The Vice Chairman of the Tata Group is clearly excited about the deal. “BJETS will set a new standard in the way we fly and do business in Asia. The Indian Hotels Company is very proud to be an investor in this landmark venture. This will further underline the luxury experience which the Taj is known for.” Krishna Kumar says. (Money Control) […] Disney will acquire an additional 17% for around Rs8.05bn. Disney presently holds 14.85% in UTV Software. It will also make an open offer for 20% more Shares of UTV Software Communications Ltd. climbed on Monday after Walt Disney Co. said it would acquire a majority stake in the Indian media and entertainment company. The US media major is also likely to pick up a minority stake in UTV's new broadcasting venture. As per the agreement, Disney will acquire an additional 93,52,500 shares of UTV Software at a price of Rs860.79. The total investment by Disney in UTV Software would be around Rs8.05bn. Disney presently holds 34,00,000 shares, representing 14.85% of the equity share capital of UTV Software. UTV will also issue on a preferential basis of 45,32,000 warrants convertible into equal number of equity shares to Unilazer Exports & Management Consultants Ltd., one of the promoter group entity at a price of Rs860.79. The total investment by Unilazer in UTV Software would be around Rs3.9bn. UTV Software will issue shares against warrants, subject to receipt of the FIPB approval. […] Acquisition to help dairy major gain toehold in South, access natural vanilla for ice-cream. Cooperative dairy products manufacturer Amul plans to buy Kochi-based Vanilla India Producers Company (Vanilco), which processes and markets natural vanilla. The acquisition will help the dairy major gain a foothold in the southern markets and secure natural vanilla stocks ahead of a launch of natural vanilla-based ice creams in March. Vanilco Managing Director Paul Jose said the companies had received in-principle approval for equity participation. Further rounds of discussion will take place after the launch. “There is strong possibility for the equity participation leading to a merger of the two companies. The amount of investment and other details will be decided later. I don’t think that there are many hurdles to this as Amul is one of India’s top consumer companies,” Jose said in a telephonic interview. Vanilco, a company formed in 2003 by 2,500 vanilla growers, already has an agreement with Amul to supply it 20 tonnes of natural vanilla essence annually, mainly for the Real Vanilla ice cream range. […] Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications is looking for a possible takeover of French IT services group Capgemini, a report in the online edition of The Times on Thursday said. When contacted by media, a Reliance Communications spokesperson declined to comment. The report said that Reliance Communications has held early-stage talks with Capgemini. Quoting sources, the report said, “Times Online can reveal the French-based group has met with Reliance Communications, the technology and telecoms arm of Anil Ambani's Reliance ADAG group in recent months.” “The initial discussions failed to make progress after the parties could not agree on a price,” it added. According to the report, Reliance Communication's interest confirms Ambani's hopes to build a significant IT business. “A move on Capgemini would give it access to a client base in continental Europe and catapult it among the world's top ten IT groups by market share,” it said. In recent months, there were also reports that Capgemini had held talks with India's leading IT firms Wipro and Infosys on a possible takeover. However, the rumours were denied by Wipro and Infosys later. […] The New York Stock Exchange will buy a 5 percent stake in the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd., the nation's biggest commodity bourse, the Economic Times reported, without saying where it got the information. The stake acquisition may be announced later this week and comes after the government's decision last month to cap foreign investment in commodity exchanges at 49 percent, the newspaper reported. Joseph Massey, deputy managing director of the Multi Commodity Exchange declined to comment. The exchange will hold a news conference to announce a global strategic initiative, an e- mailed invitation from the company said late yesterday. MCX is the world's third-biggest gold bourse and accounts for more than four-fifths of gold futures traded in the South Asian nation. Fidelity International Ltd. has a 9 percent stake in the exchange, while Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. own 5 percent each. (Bloomberg) […] |