Rice processing firm LT Overseas Ltd said on Monday its unit had acquired U.S.-based rice firm Kusha Inc to increase its presence in the United States. The company did not disclose financial details but an Economic Times report had earlier estimated the value of the deal at $20 million. Kusha had revenue of about $40 million, the company said in a statement.(Reuters) […]

Tata Motors will be named on Dec. 21 as the winning bidder in the auction for Jaguar and Land Rover, according to a report in Britain's Birmingham Post newspaper. Tata will pay £1 billion, or about $2 billion, for the two Ford Motor luxury auto brands, said the newspaper, which is based near Jaguar and Land Rover's home in the British midlands. Ford spokesman Mark Truby said the company plans no announcements regarding a sale of the prestigious British brands. He said the U.S. automaker is still on track to announce the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover early next year. Tata is vying with another Indian automaker, Mahindra & Mahindra , as well as U.S. private equity firm One Equity Partners, for the units. Earlier this month those companies had submitted bids that ranged from $1.5 billion to $2 billion, said one person involved in the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are confidential. […]

India's biggest discount carrier, Deccan, will merge with upmarket Kingfisher Airlines to create the nation's biggest domestic airline, officials said. The firm formed by the merger next year will keep the name Kingfisher, the flagship brand of Vijay Mallya's UB Group, officials from the two carriers said after a four-hour meeting. “The merger will bring about synergies across the board and lower the cost of operating both the airlines,” Deccan founder G R Gopinath told a Press conference in this southern Indian city where his airline is based. A merger would marry two airlines that had seemed unlikely bedfellows, with Gopinath earlier this year likening the flamboyant Mallya to someone from Venus and himself to a Martian who would never be able to do a deal. That was before he sold a 26 per cent stake in June to UB Group, accepting a 5.5-billion-rupee ($139-million) lifeline to keep his fleet in the skies as Deccan Aviation reeled under heavy losses. […]

Private banking group EFG International will acquire 75% of Stratcap Securities India to launch its entry into wealth management in India. EFG, a Zurich-headquartered private banking and asset management firm, will establish a base on the ground in India via the acquisition of Stratcap. It will benefit from both Stratcap's existing base of CHF700 million ($607 million) in assets under management and the firm's employee base of 24 people including founder, Atul Sud, who will become chairman of EFG Wealth Management India. The two firms did not disclose details of the consideration. Sud worked in a number of positions in American Express Bank in India before he set up Stratcap in 1995. Stratcap is licensed to offer a range of financial services to a private and institutional client base spanning mutual funds, fixed income and equities. It is a member of both of India’s main stock exchanges, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. EFG already covers the non-resident Indian community in Asia, the Middle East and Europe and Stratcap provides a complementary, onshore presence. EFG, which is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange, currently operates in 50 locations across 30 countries. […]

Australia-based Link Market Services, a provider of registry services and technology to financial market participants in Australia, is learnt to be in an advanced stage to pick up controlling stake in Mumbai-based Sharepro Services. The deal, pegged at around $10 million and likely to be sealed within a month, is yet another example of the interest among foreign capital market intermediaries to build a presence in the Indian capital market. In 2004, Australia’s leading firm in this segment, Computershare formed a joint venture with one of India’s leading share registry firms, Karvy, aiming to offer support to the sharply-growing IPO market in India. Sharepro Services is a Sebi-registered category-I registrar and securities transfer agent with depository connectivity for both NSDL and CDSL. Sharepro Services CEO Chhaya Shah confirmed that talks were on. “Nothing has been firmed up yet. We are still talking,” she told ET. […]