Private sector Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) Tuesday said its board has approved merger with India’s largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, through a share swap. BoR’s managing director and chief executive G. Padmanabhan said the board has given its in-principle approval for the merger. The share-swap ratio is likely to be decided by May 23. In a regulatory statement, BoR said: “The dominant shareholders of the Bank of Rajasthan (transferor bank) have entered into an agreement on May 18 with the ICICI Bank (transferee bank) for proposing an amalgamation of both the transferor bank and transferee bank.” […]

Godrej Consumer Products is in talks with a clutch of private equity investors to raise USD 125 million, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. The company is in talks with US giants Carlyle Group and Blackstone, as well as India's ChrysCapital and Standard Chartered Private Equity, the sources said. Godrej has hired JM Financial Ltd to arrange the deal, sources said. […]

Chennai-based VGN Developers Pvt Ltd is planning to raise Rs 600-700 crore private equity (PE) fund to support its proposed investment of around Rs 3,000 crore in various residential projects. The company has developed two million sft of residential projects in the last four years. Over the next 3-4 years, it is planning to develop another 7-8 million sft, said Pratish Devadoss, managing director, VGN Developers. “The total investment, including land, would be around Rs 3,000 crore,” said Devadoss. The company is planning to fund the project through internal accruals, debt and equity. “We just signed an agreement with a PE player, who will invest around Rs 80 crore. Going forward, we are planning to raise another Rs 600-700 crore,” he said without disclosing the name of the PE player. […]

ICICI Bank, India's No. 2 lender, is in talks to buy a holding in Bank of Rajasthan from the Tayals, who control the small private-sector bank, the the Economic Times reported on Thursday. The Tayals, who had about 29 percent holding at end-December according to the Bombay Stock Exchange data, are also negotiating with other suitors, the newspaper said, quoting unnamed sources. Bank of Rajasthan has a market value of $324 million, and ICICI has indicated it is willing to pay more than the market price for the stake, it said. “There are differences on valuations and talks have not progressed … a deal could be sometime away,” the paper quoted a a senior banker familiar with the negotiations as saying […]

EIH Ltd has announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on May 05, 2010, has approved the acquisition of the 45.85% equity interest of Amex Investment Ltd, Hongkong (“Amex”) in its international hotel joint venture company. EIH Holdings Ltd British Virgin Islands for US$45 million. The acquisition will be undertaken by EIH Ltd, through its wholly owned subsidiary EIH International Ltd, British Virgin Islands. A letter of intent for the acquisition has been signed with the principal shareholder of Amex. The proposed transaction is subject to a number of conditions including mutual agreement of the formal transaction documents and applicable regulatory approvals. The joint venture currently has the business interests in Hotel Investments and Hotel Management Contracts. The JV has equity investments in existing Oberoi hotels in Mauritius, Bali Indonesia, Lombok Indonesia and Sahl Hasheesh Egypt. The JV has Long term hotel management contracts for each of those hotels in which it has invested as well for The Oberoi Zahra, Nile Cruiser in Egypt, in which there is no investment. The JV also has Long term hotel management contracts for new Oberoi hotel projects under construction or under planning in Dubai, Marrakech Morocco, Greece and a second hotel in Mauritius. […]