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India’s largest utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra will put in a bid below $500 million for the troubled South Korean sports utility vehicle maker, Ssangyong, say banking sources close to the company. On Saturday, M&M board authorized the submission of bid to acquire majority stake in Ssangyong. Sources close to the development say that M&M’s bid will involve equity infusion of around $150 mn into Ssangyong which will give them a majority stake in the company. Besides, M&M will take Ssangong’s debt, aggregating to around $330 mn on its books. Ssangyong’s current debt, it is learnt, is pegged at around $600 million and its lenders may have to take a partial hit in the process. Ssangyong's consolidated debt for the last financial year ended December 2009 stood at $1.02 bn. M&M has declined to comment on the story. […]
GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd., an Indian generator backed by T. Rowe Price Group Inc., plans to raise as much as 15 billion rupees ($326 million) selling a stake in its energy unit to boost generating capacity. The builder of airports and power plants plans to sell securities that can be converted into equity of its unit, GVK Energy Ltd., Chairman G.V. Krishna Reddy said in an interview in Hyderabad, where the company is based. GVK is in talks with private equity firms for the sale, he said. GVK joins Asian Genco Pte in seeking private equity funding as investors prepare to tap rising electricity demand in Asia’s second-most populous nation. India, ranked below Ivory Coast and Sri Lanka for the quality of infrastructure, plans to increase generation by 77 percent in the next seven years to reduce blackouts and drive the world’s third-fastest growing major economy. […]
INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) sold its remaining stake in Indian newspaper publisher Jagran Prakashan for about €32m yesterday to reduce borrowing, but added that it remains interested in future co-operation between the two media groups. The decision ends INM's lucrative investment in Jagran, which began in 2005 when the company bought a 26pc stake in the Bombay-based publisher. The gradual sale of the stake over the past 14 months has yielded a profit of €67.5m for the Irish company. INM, which publishes this newspaper, has been selling some titles and investments to pay off debt since the beginning of the credit crisis in 2007, which forced the company to delay repayments to some bond holders for several months. Oligarch The company sold off the London-based 'Independent' and the 'Independent on Sunday' to Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev's family in April. It continues to own newspapers, radio stations and advertising companies in many English-speaking countries including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. “We have been crystal clear that our immediate and continuing priorities are on reducing bank debt, achieving and sustaining leverage ratios at significantly lower levels and focusing on growing our market-leading brands in our core markets,” INM chief executive Gavin O'Reilly said yesterday. Mr O'Reilly noted that the five-year investment had been a “highly profitable one for INM, and I want to recognise the insight of former CEOs Tony O'Reilly and Liam Healy for initiating this investment”. Gavin O'Reilly will remain as an independent and non-executive director of Jagran following a request from the Gupta family, which is Jagran's majority shareholder. “At the appropriate time, we shall continue to work with Jagran and the Gupta family in exploring other ventures in what is undoubtedly one of the most exciting media markets in the world,” Mr O'Reilly said. The company remained open to “the many exciting possibilities in the Indian media market in the future. I want to thank the Gupta family, and particularly chairman Mahendra Mohan Gupta, for their stewardship and ensuring so many years of successful partnership”, he added. […]
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries today said it will buy its third shale gas asset in the United States for $392 million. Reliance will pay $340 million in cash to acquire a 60% stake in the Marcellus shale-gas acreages held by Carrizo Oil and Gas Inc and its partner, the company said in a press statement. The remainder $52 million would in Carrizo's drilling cost in the Marcellus shale-gas areas of central and northeast Pennsylvania. The Mumbai-based firm in April had bought a 40% stake in Atlas Energy Inc's Marcellus Shale acreage for$1.7 billion. In June, it had agreed to buy a 45% stake in Pioneer Natural Resources Co's Eagle Ford shale natural gas asset in Texas for about $1.36 billion. […]
Mahindra & Mahindra is expected to offer around $300 million to $450 million for South Korean sport utility vehicle maker Ssangyong Motor, the Economic Times reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. The paper said Mahindra's board was likely to approve the bid for Ssangyong at a meeting on Thursday. Mahindra would fund the bid through a combination of debt and internal accruals and that Kotak Mahindra Bank is likely to finance the debt along with other third party bankers that have not yet been finalised, the paper said. The paper said Mahindra was not looking at pledging its shares or opting for an equity dilution to raise the money. Pawan Goenka, Mahindra's president for auto and farm equipment, declined to comment when contacted by the paper. […]
VIP Industries Ltd., India’s biggest luggage maker, is planning to buy a European rival this financial year as overseas companies such as Samsonite LLC expand in the company’s home market. VIP surged as much as 12 percent to a record in Mumbai after Chairman Dilip Piramal said the company, about 6 percent owned by Indian investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, is targeting a luggage maker owned by a private equity firm. The company also plans to form joint ventures to manufacture soft luggage and boost sales, he said. “It is quite a respected name,” Piramal said of the acquisition target he’s identified. “In soft luggage, we will enter into joint ventures with some major suppliers both in India and abroad.” VIP is expanding its product range as economic growth and rising salaries prompts more Indians to travel. The nation’s luggage industry, estimated to be valued at about 20 billion rupees ($433 million) a year, is growing at 15 percent annually, Piramal said. India’s $1.2 trillion economy may grow 8.5 percent in the year ending March 31 and 9 percent the following year, according to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. […]
An investment banker and a company official said that UltraTech Cement Ltd and a subsidiary of Aditya Birla group will purchase around 80% stake in Dubai’s ETA Star group owned Star Cement Co Llc for an enterprise value of USD 380 million. The purchase will be made through UltraTech Cement Middle East Investments Ltd a wholly owned subsidiary of UltraTech Cement. Enterprise value is the market value of the entire business including debt. Mr Adesh Gupta a whole time director and CFO at Grasim Industries Ltd which controls 60% in UltraTech Cement said that “It will be more than 51% stake it will be very high stake. It will give an exit route for ETA group.” […]
Reliance MediaWorks has offered to buy a majority stake in multiplex operator Inox Leisure in an attempt to end a prolonged tussle between the two companies over a smaller cinema chain. Two persons close to the development said the company, owned by billionaire Anil Ambani, has offered Rs 120 for every share to the owners of Inox, valuing the company at a little over Rs 740 crore. But the two sides were still talking about valuation and a final agreement had not been reached, the people close to the deal said. The owners of Inox — the Delhi-based Jain family who also own Gujarat Fluorochemicals — are holding out for a higher price, said to be around `140, they said. The Jain family owns just under 67% of Inox. […]
US-based mobile chip maker Qualcomm today sold 26 per cent stake in its Indian broadband unit to Tulip Telecom and Global Holdings for USD 57.72 million (about Rs 268 crore). Telecom networking firm Tulip Telecom and Global Holdings, owners of telecom infrastructure firms GTL Ltd and GTL Infra, have bought 13 per cent each for a combined value of USD 57.72 million (about Rs 268 crore). Qualcomm now holds 74 per cent in the yet-to-be named unit and has sold the stake to conform with FDI rules under which telecom companies in the country should have a minimum of 26 per cent Indian holding. […]
Bahrain Telecommunications plans to raise its holdings in local communications firm S Tel has been rejected by the Indian government, officials with direct knowledge of the developments told ET. Earlier this year, Bahrain Telecommunications had sought approval to hike its nearly 42% stake in S Tel by an additional 6.3% more for about $53 mn. If the deal had taken place, S Tel’s foreign holding would have risen to 54.61% because another foreign entity – Mauritius-based Telecom Investment Private already has a 5.6% stake in the telco. After deliberating the proposal for nearly six months, the India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the nodal agency for clearing all major foreign investments, rejected it in its last meet on July 12 on security grounds, documents available with ET reveal. […]
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