i-flex Solutions has acquired 100% stake in Castek Software. According to a release issued by i-flex to the BSE today, i-flex board today approved the acquisition and the transaction is expected to close by March 2008. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Castek is a provider of core insurance-business processing systems for large- and mid-sized Property and Casualty (P&C) insurers. In August 2005, i-flex had entered into an equity financing arrangement with Castek, that allowed i-flex to become its largest shareholder. Since then, i-flex held 59.9% of Castek's shares on a fully diluted basis. On completion of the latest transaction, i-flex will own all the outstanding shares of Castek and it will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of i-flex.( Business Standard) […]

Leading private sector banker, HDFC Bank acquired 4.50 million equity shares of Rs 10 each in HDB Financial Services for an undisclosed sum. Upon this acquisition of shares it has become subsidiary of the bank. Recently, the bank reported a substantial jump in net profits for the quarter ended June 2007. During the quarter, the company experienced a 34.24% rise in profits to Rs 3,212.30 million from Rs 2,393.00 million in the same quarter, last year. The interest earned for the quarter rose 41.32% to Rs 21,258.80 million as against the corresponding quarter of the previous year. HDFC Bank was set up in 1994 by India`s leading housing finance company Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC). The bank offers a wide range of services which can be classified into three categories; namely treasury, wholesale banking, and retail banking services. The bank at present has an enviable network of over 684 branches spread over 316 cities across India. All branches are linked on an online real-time basis. The bank also has a network of about over 1,695 networked ATMs across these cities.(My Iris) […]

Pawan Kumar Ruia, who owns Dunlop and Jessop & Company, has finally achieved his goal of making an overseas acquisition. Ruia has bought 30% in Malaysian firm Industronics Berhad for an undisclosed sum. Industronics manufactures display boards, rail and traffic signalling systems. It is a listed outfit in Malaysia, has subsidiaries in China, Singapore and Vietnam, and has undertaken electronics projects globally. “We acquired the company three months back but did not disclose it for technical reasons. The group has formed a SPV called Bloom Billions to buy Industronics shares. Bloom Billions is owned by two investment outfits belonging to the group,”Ruia said. The Malaysian firm’s existing promoters would hold 21% even after the Ruia stake buy. The rest of Industronics is owned by the public. Ruia said the decision to buy into Industronics was prompted by the synergy of operations with Jessop. “Jessop is an engineering giant, while Industronics is best known as a total solutions provider for state-of-the art public information system under Olympex brand and has expertise in traffic and ail signalling systems. So, it will be a win-win situation for both,”he added. […]

Mumbai-based Metropolis Health Services, which operates one of India’s largest path lab chains with over 45 facilities, is in advanced talks to acquire a 60% stake in a London-based path lab chain. The target company, it is learnt, operates eight path laboratories across the UK. It is learnt that the Rs 100-crore Metropolis will shortly start the due diligence exercise and the deal could close as early as December. The deal size is pegged at around £3 million. Confirming the development, Metropolis Health Services chairman Sushil Shah told ET: “We are in fairly advanced acquisition-related talks with a UK-based path lab chain. We cannot share further details now.” Incidentally, Metropolis Health Services also proposes to offload about 10-12% to raise nearly Rs 80 crore to part-finance growth plans. It is in talks with two overseas private equity firms in this light. “This is one of the options we are evaluating. However, we may also raise debt from banks in case we do not get the desired valuation,” said Mr Shah. Metropolis expects to come to a decision on the private equity deal in two months. Last year, ICICI Ventures had invested Rs 35 crore in Metropolis and holds nearly 18% in the company. Metropolis is currently on an overseas expansion drive. At present, it runs six overseas facilities in Sri Lanka, UAE and Seychelles. “All our overseas path labs are run in partnership with a local player. In line with this strategy, we are interested to acquire majority ownership in the UK lab chain,” said Mr Shah. The company is also finalising plans to enter the US market. It is in talks with two hospital chains in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to roll out facilities. “While the US plans are yet to mature, we will soon set up four labs in South Africa, a network of labs in Thailand and facilities in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Kuwait,” Mr Shah said. […]

Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Enterprises on Friday announced inclusion of a third partner, the over $300 million, UK-based Del Monte Pacific Ltd, in its joint venture Field Fresh Foods Pvt Ltd. Field fresh, an agro-based company was a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and UK's EL Rothschild Ltd, with both holding 50% each. However, now Bharti will hold 50% share, Del Monte 40% stake and EL Rothschild’s stake will get diluted to 10%. The development is essentially seen as a back-end support to the Bharti Retail initiative, which has entered into a technical alliance with the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart. Field Fresh will also be serving the wholesale or the business-to-business models, which means it will also serve stores like the Metro Cash and Carry and the Bharti-Wal-Mart stores, which are going to come up by December 2008. Field Fresh was essentially an export agro-based company and has been exporting fresh fruits and vegetables to various markets including UK, the Middle East and Europe. But now with the retail scene becoming increasingly attractive, Field Fresh will now be venturing into food processing as well. […]