This, arguably, is one the biggest private equity funding in recent times in wind energy space. Caparo Energy India, wholly-owned subsidiary of Caparo Energy, owned by the UK-headquartered diversified Caparo Group from the lineage of Swraj Paul, is understood to have mandated investment bankers to raise $150 million (Rs 700 crore) through the private equity route. The company, which is into wind power generation in India, is putting in place an aggressive expansion plan. It is charting a two-phased expansion plan, which will see them generate upto 5,000 Mw over the next six years. The first phase will see a generation capacity of 3,000 Mw in another five years, while the other 2,000 Mw will be produced in the second phase. To implement the first phase, Caparo Energy India has already entered into an agreement with Suzlon Energy, to acquire up to 3,000 Mw of wind power generation farms. According to investment bankers close to the deal, the fresh round of equity raising will be used for this expansion. In January, Caparo Energy signed a record Rs 5,700 crore deal with Suzlon Energy to generate 1,000 Mw energy in the future. […]

Private lender IndusInd Bank will acquire the credit card business of Deutsche Bank in India. The German bank today announced that it has entered into an agreement to transfer its local credit card business to IndusInd Bank. The deal, involving over 15,000 credit cards and a total loan portfolio of about Rs200 crore, will mark IndusInd Bank's entry into the credit card business. The deal is expected to be completed in the next couple of weeks, reports quoting IndusInd sources said. IndusInd Bank, which had already announced plans to enter the credit card business, last year, roped in Anil Ramachandran from Deutsche Bank to set up the credit card business. The acquisition will also make IndusInd Bank a full service bank and the private lender said it is planning to expand into a full range of customer-centric products. […]

Debt-laden apparel retailer Koutons Retail India Ltd has said non-banking financial services company IFCI Ltd raised its stake in the company by invoking the shares pledged by the company's founders. IFCI's stake in Koutons Retail has gone up to 10.24% from 5.89% earlier, the company said in a notice sent to the stock exchanges. Koutons Retail's founders and founder groups, who own 32% of the company, had pledged 98% of their shareholding to lenders as of Dec. 31, 2010, data from the stock exchanges showed. […]

UK-based telecom major Vodafone Group has exercised its option to acquire Essar’s stake in their joint venture, Vodafone Essar, which will result in a cash flow of $5 billion for the Indian firm. “Vodafone Group announces that the Essar Group has exercised its underwritten put option over 22 per cent of Vodafone Essar Ltd (VEL). Following the exercise by the Essar Group of its put option, Vodafone has exercised its call option over the remaining 11 per cent of VEL owned by the Essar Group, resulting in a total cash payment of $5 billion,” Vodafone said in a statement today. […]

The Essar Group, through Essar Africa Holdings Ltd (EAHL), has bought 54 per cent stake in Zimbabwe’s state-owned steelmaker, Zisco. The total deal value is $750 million, which includes $340 million of debt. Essar (Middle East & Africa) Resident Director and EAHL Director Firdhose Coovadia told Business Standard, “It’s a significantly distressed asset, operating at very low levels. We will invest $400 million in the joint venture to get it back to production; $340 million will be used to pay off the debt and money owed to employees as wages.” He said the company was looking to restart steel production at Zisco in 12-15 months from the date of getting all other necessary approvals in place. The transaction requires approvals from various Zimbabwean ministries and acceptable terms for the debt obligations of the government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) towards Zisco’s creditors. Essar said, “Upon closing, EAHL and GoZ will also finalise and settle liabilities such as unpaid wages and salaries and amounts due to various local creditors, etc.” […]