Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. shareholder Templeton Asset Management Ltd. has sold its stake in the company for a handsome profit, after fighting on both sides in the years-long legal battle for control of Taro. Templeton sold its shares to Taro controlling shareholder Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. of India. Sun Pharmaceuticals paid $82 million for Templeton's Taro shake, at $16 per share, a 14% premium on the market price. Sun increased its Taro holding to 65.2% from 53.2%. Templeton invested in Taro in 2005, and increased its stake in 2006, when Taro's share was traded at $12. Templeton bought more shares during 2007 at between $6.50 and $7.20 per share. […]

The MobileStore Ltd (TMS), the mobile retailing venture of the Essar Group, is taking an inorganic route to expand footprint in the country. The company is in advanced stages of discussion with two mobile retailing firms for an acquisition. Srikant Gokhale, chief executive officer, TMS, said, “We are in discussion with two players which have 100 and 300 stores respectively with pan-India presence. We will acquire a big mobile retail chain within this calendar year.” He did not name the companies TMS was in talks with. Under the deal, which will not involve cash, TMS will merge the target company into itself by the way of change in the shareholding pattern wherein the latter will become a joint owner of the business. TMS, which has around 1,200 retail outlets in 200 cities at present, is looking to more than double the retail footprint in the coming two years. […]

Dhanlaxmi Bank, one of the fastest growing mid-size private sector banks in India, announced today that it will acquire 15 % stake in Destimoney Securities Pvt. Ltd. (DSPL). The strategic investment will reinforce the Banks commitment to be an integrated financial solutions company. Destimoney Securities is a 100 % subsidiary of Destimoney Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., a full-service financial services provider and an advisory firm which is owned and controlled by New Silk Route (NSR), a private equity firm. New Silk Route is a leading Asia-focused growth capital firm founded in 2006 with $1.4 billion under management, focused on the Indian subcontinent, as well as other rapidly growing economies in Asia and the Middle East. […]

Sun Tyre & Wheel Systems, part of the $6 billion TVS Group of India, has completed the acquisition of Watts Lanka Private Limited, the firm’s solid industrial tyres manufacturing company in Colombo, Sri Lanka. No details of how much was paid for the company or of the extent of the new owner’s expansion plans have been released. Announcing the news Sun Tyre & Wheel Systems said it is “dedicated to serving the world’s material handling industry with a wide range of tyre and wheel solutions covering most applications and operating environments.” Watts Lanka Private Limited (which will be renamed shortly) was a joint venture between Watts Tyres Limited of the UK and KVK Invest JSC of Bulgaria, principal shareholder in Balkancar Zarya PLC. One insider told Tyres & Accessories that, as the sale relates to a purchase prior to Watts’ recent buyout, this had been considered as an option for some time. Sun Tyre & Wheel Systems reports that 95 per cent of its sales overseas are exports with distribution across all continents. Despite expanding its manufacturing facilities in India substantially over the past three years, the firm reports that it still “finds itself seriously short of capacity.” Even during the global recession, the company is said to have recorded a healthy growth rate of 40 per cent. […]

Standard Chartered has increased its holding in Standard Chartered-STCI Capital Markets to 100 per cent by acquiring the remaining 25.1 per cent stake from its local partner, the Securities Trading Corporation of India (STCI). With this, the brokerage entity becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of the foreign bank, which will soon be rebranded to reflect the new ownership. The acquisition of the last tranche comes nearly three years after the initial acquisition was made. In August 2007, Standard Chartered entered into a strategic partnership with STCI by acquiring 49 per cent in UTI Securities, which was then renamed Standard Chartered-STCI Capital Markets. Thereafter, in December 2008, Standard Chartered exercised an option to raise its stake to 74.9 per cent. While the complete acquisition cost Standard Chartered a little over Rs 300 crore, the foreign bank will infuse further capital to ramp up the broking services, including research and investment banking. […]