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Larsen & Toubro on Tuesday said it has no plans to rope in a private equity partner to jointly bid scam-hit Satyam Computers. “We are not in discussion with private equity firms to jointly bid for Satyam. This is purely speculative,” L&T's Director (Finance) Y M Deosthalee said. He was responding to reports that the engineering major was in talks with Blackstone, the Carlyle Group, Goldman Sachs and Temasek among others to jointly bid for Satyam. […] Bank Muscat said on Tuesday it had sold 40 percent of its holdings in India's HDFC Bank and planned to sell its entire stake. Oman's largest lender said in a statement on the bourse website that it expected 4 million rials ($10.39 million) to 7 million rials in losses in the first quarter related to its equity portfolio. Bank Muscat has a stake of about 3 percent in HDFC. (ET) […] Reliance Money Express, a part of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group announced that the company would acquire UK-based forex firm, No 1 Currency. The company becomes first Indian company to acquire an international foreign exchange company. With the acquisition of the UK's fastest growing independent foreign currency specialist, Reliance Money Express would widen its service offering globally. […] Logistic service provider Allcargo Global has acquired a 5.97-per cent stake in rival Gateway Distripark for Rs29 crore, in an open market deal. Allcargo said that the transaction was “purely a treasury investment” and was funded from internal accruals. Global private equity fund Blackstone Group LP has a 10.39-per cent stake in Allcargo. The 6.1 million equity shares were bought by Sealand Terminals Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Allcargo from the Singapore government's investment arm Temsek Holdings Pte Ltd. […] UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya said in a statement that four global spirits makers including Diageo, the world's largest, evinced interest in acquiring a stake in United Spirits Ltd. or USL, the country's largest liquor manufacturer. UB Group holds around 38% in USL, reports media. Mallya declined to reveal the names of the other three interested parties, as it would be inappropriate to disclose further details at this stage. According to company officials, the group is planning to sell up to 14.9% of a total of 17% of treasury stocks in USL to strategic partners. […] Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd is in talks for a stake sale in its subsidiaries to raise working capital, a top official said. “We have lost close to 100 crores (1 billion rupees) of cash in some divisions and also because of the general recession in the occupancy rates,” Chairman P.S.Saminathan told television channel NDTV Profit. “So we have lost some 100 crores of cash flow which we thought we should replenish.Instead of borrowing more money we have decided to sell off stake in our subsidiaries to put our main company on a growth trajectory,” he said. The company is in talks with strategic players for stake sale in two of its foreign subsidiaries and an Indian subsidiary, he said.(Reuters) […] The Lavasa hill station project of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) is set for a private equity injection, according to people in the know. Details of the investor or the quantum of investment could not be ascertained. However, a source said a group of investors were taken for a site visit to Lavasa over a week ago and the placement is expected by June. HCC officials refused to comment on the private equity infusion. However, they said a likely reason for private equity interest may be that work on the Lavasa project was running one year ahead of schedule at a time most other real estate companies were deferring their developments. […] Sterlite Industries (SIL) has agreed to buy troubled US copper miner Asarco for $1.7 billion. The company on Saturday said it will pay $1.1 billion in cash and a promissory note for $600 million, payable over nine years, for the acquisition. The deal consideration is way below the $2.6 billion SIL had offered Asarco in May last year, when copper prices were at the all-time high of over $8,000 per tonne. It later cancelled the offer citing falling copper prices (currently $3,685 per tonne). On the face of it, this appears to be a good bargain. […] U.S. solar power plant developer eSolar said Tuesday it has signed a $30 million deal with Indian technology company Acme Group that is part equity investment and part licensing agreement. Under the deal, Acme will build up to 1,000 megawatts of solar-thermal power plants in India using eSolar's technology, and could work with other companies that want to build solar plants using eSolar's technology, the companies said. Acme plans to start construction on the first 100 megwatts of a 250-megawatt project in India using eSolar's technology, according to privately held eSolar, of Pasadena, Calif. “Acme's $30 million dollar commitment demonstrates their confidence in eSolar's technology,” eSolar Chief Executive Bill Gross said in a statement. “We are committed to working with the very best partners, such as Acme, to scale deployment as quickly as possible around the world.” […] Aegis Ltd, a back-office unit of India's Essar Group, has proposed to buy global business process outsourcing firm ICT Group for about $128 million in cash. The $8 per share offer price is more than double that of ICT's Friday close of $3.60 on Nasdaq. Aegis said it is seeking support and approval of ICTG board to effect the transaction on a friendly basis. ICT Group provides outsourced customer-care services, primarily to U.S.-based companies, including Pfizer , Washington Mutual Inc WM.N and Virgin Mobile USA and has operations in Ireland, UK, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Philippines, Costa Rica, India and Argentina. […] |