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Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state investment firm, reduced its stake in ICICI Bank Ltd. to 5.9 percent as of Sept. 29, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Temasek’s holding in ICICI, India’s second-largest bank, fell from 8.3 percent a year earlier, according to the Feb. 12 filing. […] US-based pharmaceutical firm Abbott Laboratories on Wednesday announced completing the acquisition of the global drug business of Solvay SA, consequent to which it has made an offer to acquire 20 per cent of Solvay's India business. Abbott Capital India and Abbott Laboratories have made an open offer to acquire 10.09 lakh shares of Solvay Pharma India at Rs 3,054.73 per share, Solvay Pharma India said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The offer would aggregate an outgo of Rs 308 crore. It will open on April 7 and close on April 26. DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd is the banker to the offer. […] A leading English football club are looking to buy a stake in one of two new cricket teams that will compete in next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), according to the tournament’s ringmaster. Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner and the driving force behind cricket’s wealthiest competition, said that he is also holding discussions with MCC about it becoming involved with one of the new IPL franchises. “There is a football club, a very famous football club in the UK, very interested in bidding,” Modi told The Times yesterday in an interview at his office in Mumbai. […] Multiplex chain operator PVR Ltd has terminated its agreement to acquire the cinema exhibition business of DT Cinemas Ltd, a DLF Group company. PVR, in a statement to the BSE, said that both parties mutually agreed not to extend the period for completion of the pact. PVR said the agreement was cancelled as the “condition for acquisition” has not been met by DT Cinemas. Both PVR and DLF officials remained tight-lipped on the specific conditions that were not met. […] Life Insurance Corp of India (LIC) won't be allowed to increase its stake to more than 10 percent in Indian firms, but will be allowed to retain the stake in companies where it already holds more than 10 percent, a finance ministry official said on Tuesday. Sector regulator Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) does not allow insurers to hold more than 10 percent stake in any firm, leading to market speculations that the state-run insurer might be asked to pare its existing stakes. “The IRDA has not asked them (LIC) to pare it down. But they may do it for commercial reasons,” the official, who declined to be named told Reuters. […] State Bank of India (SBI) may pick up a 49% stake in Tata Motors Finance Ltd (TMFL), the vehicle financing unit of Tata Motors Ltd, according to two persons familiar with the development. The deal will allow the country’s largest commercial bank by assets to expand into loans for trucks and buses. The persons familiar declined to be identified as the deal hasn’t been finalized. Shyam Mani, managing director, TMFL, the country’s largest non-banking finance company, declined to comment. “Only Tata Motors shall be able to comment on the matter,” he said. The parent company didn’t confirm or deny the news. […] Tube Investments announced acquisition of a controlling stake in Sedis Group, France through acquisition of 77% equity of its holding company, Financiere C10. The stock opened at Rs 75 and touched high of Rs 81 on the NSE. As many as 736,175 equity shares changed the hands on the counter so far. The company acquired stake directly from the financial investors in FC10 (75%) and a few other shareholders. The management shareholders will continue to hold the remaining shares in FC10 and be associated with Sedis for a period of three years. […] British energy major BP and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries are in the race to buy a majority stake in a Canadian company Value Creation, a media report says. “The company (BP) is in talks to pay about $1.2 billion for a majority stake in Value Creation, a Canadian company that has substantial reserves of the oil-rich sand deposits,” the Sunday Times reported yesterday. The daily further said that “Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate, is thought to have made a rival $2 billion takeover bid, but BP is understood to be the preferred partner.” BP, however, is likely to face fierce opposition from environmentalists and some of its shareholders, as they believe that the deal is expensive and environmentally damaging, the report added. […] Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s plan to buy most of the African assets of Kuwait’s Zain for $10.7 billion may face challenges even before it begins its due diligence. India’s largest wireless company’s plan can’t include Zain’s Celtel Nigeria B.V. unit until an ownership dispute with Econet Wireless Holdings Ltd. on that business is resolved, Econet Chief Executive Officer Strive Masiyiwa said. “Zain Nigeria is not for sale,” Masiyiwa said in an interview in Johannesburg today. Bharti’s third attempt to enter Africa highlights billionaire Chairman Sunil Mittal’s ambitions to expand overseas as competition intensifies at home, where call rates have fallen to less than a penny a minute. Mittal has tried to gain access to other fast-growing markets, including a second failed attempt last year to buy South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd. for about $23 billion. […] The board of Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co. approved the sale of most of the company's African assets to India's Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's largest mobile phone company by subscribers, for $10.7 billion, according to two people familiar with the deal. Bharti declined to comment Sunday. The Indian company is increasingly pursuing growth overseas in the face of price wars and regulatory challenges in the Indian cellular market. Bharti's bid for most of the Africa assets of the Kuwait company, known as Zain, which has over 70 million customers spread across Africa and the Middle East, comes after its talks with South Africa's MTN Group Ltd. for a deal valued at $24 billion fell through last year. […] |