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ABG Shipyard is likely to pick up a 40 per cent stake in Western India Shipyard for Rs 225 crore. According to sources, the board of directors of ABG Shipyard in its Wednesday's meeting approved the merger proposal. ABG bought the shares held by institutional investors ICICI, IDBI, Bank of India, State Bank of India and UTI. The original promoters of Western India Shipyard, Western Paques India, Western India Industries and Gadgil Western Corp now hold over 8 per cent stake in the company while retail investors hold the remaining. The institutional investor's holding of over 15 per cent in the company was subsequently increased to 40 per cent after a capital restructuring procedure. “The acquisition is more or less a distress asset sale. The consortium of banks, which are hold majority stakes in the company wanted to exit, as the company was continuously making losses,” a Mumbai-based analyst, who did not wish to be identified, said. […]
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which has been struggling over the last few months to gain control over Israel’s Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, may need to pay a higher price than expected to woo the Israeli drug maker’s shareholders, analysts said. Sun had agreed last May to buy Taro Pharma for about $454 million, or $7.75 per ordinary share. However, the deal had hit a roadblock as a section of Taro’s shareholders insisted that the price offered by Sun was too low. In July, Sun released Taro from its non-solicitation agreement, allowing the Israeli company and its investors to weigh other offers. “While it is unlikely that Sun will lose Taro to another buyer, it could end up paying more than it had initially planned,” said a senior industry analyst. Sun bought 18% in Taro in May and has increased its stake to 25% through conversion of warrants. Out of the 6.8 million warrants it had, the Indian company has converted three million, at a price of $6 per share. It also has the option to infuse capital into Taro by converting the remaining warrants. If the merger agreement is defeated at Taro’s general annual meeting, Sun Pharma may need to launch a new tender offer to the shareholders of the Israeli drug maker. While Taro’s promoters have a contractual obligation to sell their stake to Sun, it remains to be seen whether such an offer would be attractive to shareholders at a price of $7.75 per ordinary share. Taro Pharma shares, traded in the Pink Sheets electronic quotation system, were hovering about $7.80 on Wednesday. […]
Info Drive Software Ltd has announced that the Company has signed an indicative Term Sheet along with a Non Disclosure Agreement for acquiring majority stake of 51% with a leading provider of Enterprise Technology Solutions. The Company is driven by offerings around Systems Integration, Infrastructure Management, Software Services and Biometric Solutions. The Company, with over 900 employees, has built a formidable track-record of customer satisfaction, & loyalty backed by highly matured and successful partnerships with Global IT Providers. The Company addresses the Information Technology requirements of Corporate, Small and Medium enterprises and has a blue chip client portfolio spanning across Corporate India, Global IT/BPO Companies, MNC's and Educational Institutions. The Company, is in the process of finalizing the Definitive Agreement and would be convening a Board meeting to take on record the final agreement once it is signed.(Equity Bulls) […]
3i Infotech Ltd. said on Tuesday that it has acquired a strategic stake of 26% in Taxsmile.com India Pvt. Ltd. (Taxsmile), with a commitment to acquire a majority stake over a period. Taxsmile is a company engaged in Internet-based tax filing and tax advisory space for individuals. The company believes that given the growth in the number of tax payers in the country and the position taken by the Government in the area of e-governance, this sector will see a huge growth in the years to come, 3i Infotech said. This acquisition along with the recent acquisition of a majority stake in HCCA Business Services, a company in the area of HR and payroll management, gives a strong position to penetrate the market in the initial period of growth, 3i Infotech said.( India Infoline) […]
Kemwell Pvt. Ltd, a leading provider of contract manufacturing and development services for pharmaceutical products in India and Sweden, is in talks with private equity (PE) funds for diluting its stake. It is also looking at acquisitions in Sweden and the US. Explaining the rationale behind such future acquisitions, PerAke Oldentoft, board member, Kemwell AB said, “It is much more expensive to set up a greenfield facility. It also saves time and money.” Kemwell AB is the Swedish arm of Kemwell Pvt. Ltd. It already has a manufacturing facility at Uppsala in Sweden, which employs 170 people and manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients, tablets, capsules and suppositories. In addition to its Swedish facility, the company also operates four manufacturing facilities in Bangalore. The company says its strategic moves will help it take a crack at the global market for contract manufacturing of prescription drugs, which is estimated to grow to $43.9 billion (Rs1.8 trillion) in 2009. A study by audit firm KPMG , on the Indian pharmaceutical industry’s collaboration for growth, argues that India and China alone could potentially account for 35-40% of the outsourced market share for active pharmaceuticals ingredients, finished dosage formulations and intermediates. […]
Arysta, the target, is a leading crop protection and life sciences firm. Another big-ticket global acquisition by an Indian company is brewing. United Phosphorus and Tata Group enterprise Rallis India are in the race to acquire the world’s largest privately held crop protection and life sciences firm, Arysta LifeScience Corporation, from private equity firm Olympus Capital Holdings. Sources close to the development said these two Indian companies were among the six contenders for the Tokyo-based firm. The acquisition is expected to cost nearly $2 billion (Rs 8,200 crore), or nearly double Arysta's turnover of 124.1 billion yen (Rs 4,400 crore) last year. Other bidders include an Israeli firm, Australia’s Nufarm and Blackstone, the global private equity fund. “Six companies have been invited to submit their non-binding bids. A decision on the sale of Arysta is expected by the end of October,” said a banker in the know of the developments. […]
The publisher of southern editions of The Indian Express newspaper, Express Publications (Madurai) Ltd, plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) sometime soon. Before that, it plans to sell stake to a private equity firm. The company is working on an aggressive expansion plan and the funds raised through these will help it bolster its operations and expansion. The company is known as The New Indian Express group because it was carved out from the old group in 1999 following a family litigation that started after the death of the founder of the group, Ramnath Goenka; the other part became The Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai). The company has appointed YES Bank to look for private equity investors. “Private equity is the logical route for the group to take,” said Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, chairman and managing director of Express Publications. The New Indian Express is published from 14 centres in the South. Apart from The New Indian Express, the group also publishes two vernacular dailies, Kannada Prabha and Dinamani, a Tamil daily, and claims a combined circulation of around 5,50,000 for all its publications. Though the split between The New Indian Express Group and The Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd, is complete, the two still share content and advertisement. However, both companies have dismissed the possibility of a merger. […]
In its bid to expand its footprint in the entertainment business, Anil Ambani-controlled Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is negotiating a buyout of India’s largest online movie rental company Seventymm Services Pvt. Ltd, which delivers video compact discs and digital video discs to homes of around 25,000 customers. Reliance Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, part of ADAG, is already into movie rentals under the brand of Big Flix. Seventymm chief operating officer Subhankar Sarkar denied buyout talks, but two senior ADAG and Seventymm executives, both of whom did not want to be identified, said negotiations were at an advanced stage. Terms of the potential acquisition were not immediately available. An ADAG spokesman said in an email that the group does not comment on speculation. An executive at venture fund Matrix Partners India, a local arm of US-based firm Matrix Partners, which is one of the key investors in Seventymm with a $7 million (Rs28.7 crore) investment, too declined comment. Other backers of Seventymm include venture capital firms such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson and ePlanet Ventures. […]
Reliance Industries Limited, a leading energy and chemical group in India, will acquire Hualon Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd, the polyester producer in Malaysia which is under receivership. Ernst & Young Malaysia (E&Y) was appointed the receivers and managers of Hualon effective Nov 30, 2006 with the appointment of Lim Tian Huat, Adam Primus Abdullah and Stephen Duar, all of E&Y. The acquisition, when consummated, would be Reliance's second international acquisition in the polyester sector of Reliance after the successful takeover of Trevira in Germany in 2004, E&Y said in a statement here today. Reliance said it reached an agreement with E&Y to acquire the assets of Hualon, which is a leading polyester (fibre, yarn and resin) manufacturer with a capacity of half a million tons per annum. This includes its downstream textile manufacturing capabilities spread over two locations in Malaysia namely, in Nilai and Melaka. Reliance Industries is India's largest private sector company on all major financial parameters with a turnover of US$25.51 billion (US1=RM3.51). Reliance said the acquisition of Hualon, one of the largest exporters in Malaysia, would consolidate its position further as the world's largest polyester manufacturer with 2.5 million-tonne capacity, 25 percent increase from the current capacity and increase in revenue by around US$1 billion. […]
SCOTLAND's largest call centre operator has been bought by Hero Group in a deal worth £40 million. Telecom Service Centres, the Isle of Bute-based operator with more than 3,000 staff, mainly in Scotland, has been sold to the New Delhi-based Hero Group, and will now form part of the Hero ITES company and be renamed TSC Hero. TSC chief executive Ken Hills yesterday insisted the move would not lead to any jobs being shifted offshore, and that the company's UK operations were targeting more growth. There would be very little change in the day-to-day activities of the company, he said. “The change I'm looking for and the reason we wanted to do the deal was to get access to more capital from a longer-term strategic investor to help us on to the next level of growth, but day to day I don't think the guys will see a huge amount of change,” Hills said. While UK companies have outsourced thousands of call centre jobs to countries such as India, recent years have seen many return the jobs to the UK, with research showing customer retention rates are much lower for companies that use foreign call centres. Some companies now promote the fact they use “UK only” call centres. […]
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