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ABG Shipyard is all set to take over Western India Shipyard (WISL) in a Rs 200-crore deal (around $48 million) to be announced in a few weeks. ABG will get management control of WISL and the 40% stake held by financial institutions led by ICICI Bank. Sources said the deal will not be followed by an open offer as it is a court-initiated sale. The total debt of WISL has gone up to Rs 280 crore. ICICI Bank, which has been coordinating the sale on behalf of lenders for over a year, is believed to have sorted out most of the pending issues with the highest bidder – ABG Shipyard. A host of court cases and various issues related to conversion of debt into equity and other concessions, which lenders were seeking from bidders, had delayed the sale of the company, said sources. Senior ABG Shipyard officials confirmed they were in talks with ICICI Bank, but refused to divulge further details. On Thursday, shares of Western India Shipyard fell 5% to Rs 16.5 on BSE. As per the closing price, the company’s market capitalisation stands at around Rs 179 crore. […]
Holcim Group has made an open offer to acquire 306,553,600 shares, representing 20 per cent equity shares of Ambuja Cements Ltd., at Rs 154 per share. It acquired 3.9 per cent stake from the promoters of Ambuja Cements at Rs 154 per share for around $ 220 million. Prior to the latest developments, Holcim held 32.3 per cent in Ambuja Cements. After the recent acquisition and if the open offer gets successful, its stake in Ambuja Cement will go up to 56 per cent. The total investment of $ 1.34 billion for the take over would be financed entirely through internal resources and existing credit facilities. Ambuja Cements will be increasing its annual cement capacity from 18 to 21 million tonnes by the end of the year. An additional five million tonne are under construction in Bhatapara (State of Chhattisgarh) and Rauri (Himachal Pradesh), which will come on stream in 2009. […]
Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered said on Thursday it had acquired a 49 percent stake in Indian broker UTI Securities Ltd for around $36 million in cash.
Under the agreement with Securities Trading Corporation of India Ltd, Standard Chartered has options to raise its stake in stages to 100 percent by 2010.
UTI offers broking, wealth management and investment banking services across 60 cities in India.(Reuters)
The National Stock Exchange ( NSE) is planning to pick up stakes in the Chennai Stock Exchange and the Bangalore Stock Exchange. According to sources close to the development, the exchange could pick up 5 per cent each in these exchanges as per the demutualisation norms laid down by the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India. A fax query to the managing director of the NSE did not elicit any response. Most of the regional stock exchanges will have to divest 51 per cent of the stake to institutional or individual investors. The government has fixed a limit of 5 per cent as the maximum holding by an institution or an individual. However, no final decision has been taken as yet since the board will have to approve the stake purchase, said the sources. […]
India’s second largest cellco by subscribers, Reliance Communications, today denied a newspaper report it was in talks with Maxis Communications to buy a controlling stake in the latter's Indian unit Aircel Cellular, according to Reuters. ‘There is no proposal or discussion for acquisition of either a controlling or minority stake in Aircel by Reliance Communications,’ a company spokesman said.(Telegeography)
Sajjan Jindal-controlled JSW Steel Ltd has bought three steel firms in the US controlled by his elder brother Prithvi Raj Jindal for $900 million. The three firms are Texas-based Jindal United Steel Corp, Saw Pipes USA and Jindal Enterprises LLC. JSW will acquire 90 per cent stakes in these companies, while some of the existing shareholders will retain the remaining equity. The company will fund the acquisition through a recourse debt of $380 million to be raised against the guarantee of JSW Steel, and a non-recourse debt of $560 million which will be raised in the acquired companies. In a non-recourse loan, the borrower does not have direct personal liability, although there is a collateral. “The total enterprise valuation is $900 million and we are taking 90 per cent. So we will be paying $810 million for the 90 per cent stake, and we are investing $130 million towards the working capital of these companies,” JSW Vice Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal said. JSW has formed a 100 per cent subsidiary in US and Netherlands to raise finances to fund the acquisition. […]
NRI millionaire Karan Billimoria’s Cobra Beer is taking 76% stake in Regal Breweries, a joint venture with local partner NV Group promoted by prominent bottler and distributor Ashok Jain. Regal Breweries is coming up with a greenfield brewery at Patiala in Punjab with an initial investment of Rs 70/80 crore. This will be UK-based Cobra Beer’s first equity investment in India. The Patiala plant will have an initial capacity of 3.5 lakh cases monthly, but could ramp up later. Cobra Beer of Indian origin, a growing brand in UK made popular through the curry restaurants, has banked on contract bottling tie-ups for servicing the local market. Cobra Beer India COO Poonam Chandel confirmed the move to pick up 76% stake in a JV with Ashok Jain’s NV Group. Mr Jain is a spirits bottler with plants in Maharashtra, Goa and Haryana catering to MNC drinks giants like Diageo and Bacardi. The deal with Cobra marks his foray into beer. Meanwhile, Cobra is expanding its contract filling network. After starting with Mount Shivalik Group in Rajasthan, it has extended the bottling arrangements to Impala Brewery in Goa, Iceberg in Patna, Manav Breweries in Agra and Mikal in Orissa. Cobra is claiming monthly volume depletion of around 3 lakh cases and is projecting overall sales of over 2.5 million cases in FY08. […]
The New York-headquartered Lehman Brothers has picked up 26 per cent stake in ECL Finance, the non-banking finance company of Edelweiss Capital, for close to Rs 180 crore. The acquisition comes within days after Lehman Brothers bought the institutional broking business of Brics Securities, a Mumbai-based broking house. In March, the Mumbai-based financial services company Edelweiss announced its foray into the non-banking financial space and asset management by investing a total of Rs 400 crore in the new ventures. The NBFC would be looking at mortgage business and other credit instruments. R Balakrishnan, who will head the NBFC business, was appointed executive vice-president of Edelweiss. Lehman Brothers’ acquisition of a substantial stake in the NBFC is the latest in the string of investments by foreign companies in the Indian NBFC sector. Recently BNP Paribas bought 50 per cent stake in an arm of SREI Infrastructure, AIG Capital and bought 75 per cent in Chennai’s Vivek Hire Purchase. Barclays bought Chennai’s Rank Investments. […]
Vision Corporation, engaged in entertainment business, on Monday said it has decided to acquire 51 per cent stake in shipping and logistics company Pol India Agencies Ltd (PIAL). A board meeting held on Friday decided to acquire 51 per cent equity stake in PIAL at a price yet to be mutually discussed and negotiated, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. […]
Reliance Communications Ltd is in talks with Malaysia's Maxis Communications to buy a controlling stake in its Indian unit Aircel Cellular Ltd, the Mint said on Monday, citing sources from the two firms. Reliance Communications is the number two mobile services firm in India, the world's fastest-growing mobile market with more than 6 million people signing up for mobile phones every month. Maxis is Malaysia's largest mobile operator. The newspaper quoted unidentified officials at Reliance Communications and Aircel as saying that the two firms were exploring options such as buyout or a joint venture. A Reliance Communications spokesman declined comment on the report, while Aircel could not be immediately reached. […]
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