Super Religare Labs, promoted by the Singh brothers, has acquired Dubai-based Mena Healthcare for $20 million. This is the group’s second acquisition after the promoter’s sold their stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories. Super Religare Labs, formerly SRL Ranbaxy CEO Sanjeev Chaudhry told ET, “We have acquired Mena Healthcare facility in Dubai for $20 million. This is the company’s first overseas acquisition.” In August, Religare Wellnness, (formerly Fortis Healthworld) the pharma retail arm of the group acquired rival firm CRS Health. Malvinder Singh, the joint promoter of the group had earlier said that the group would aggressively pursue expanding in the financial and healthcare services space — both through organic and inorganic route. It is learnt that Super Religare, Religare Wellness and Fortis Healthcare are all scouting for acquisitions in the healthcare space in the domestic market also. The rapid expansion of the group marks a distinct change in the company’s business strategy. Religare has rechristened all its group companies, except Fortis Healthcare, under the Religare brand. […]

Daiichi Sankyo Co., Japan's third- biggest drugmaker, completed its acquisition of a controlling stake in India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. to expand in the faster-growing market for generic medicines. The Japanese drugmaker owns 268.7 million shares, or 63.9 percent, the companies said today in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Chief Executive Officer Takashi Shoda, 60, agreed in June to acquire control of Ranbaxy for as much as 198 billion rupees ($4.1 billion) to enter the market for generic drugs, where sales are growing almost twice as fast as demand for branded medicines. […]

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is once again warming up to aviation entrepreneur Capt GR Gopinath after losing out on acquiring Air Deccan last year. ADAG’s private equity arm, Reliance Equity Advisors, is holding talks to invest over $50 million (Rs 250 crore) in Gopinath’s new venture — Deccan Cargo — in return for a significant minority stake in the start-up airline, sources said. Gopinath’s new dream of linking India’s distant hinterlands to the mainstream markets is expected to take off in January next year with fleet of Airbus aircrafts. Others in the fray to pick up a slice of Deccan Cargo include US venture capital major New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Intel Capital, which is seen working out a consortium play to make one of its rare investments outside technology space. […]

Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) is in talks with GE Commercial Finance, the financial arm of GE, to acquire about 35% stake in the latter’s construction equipment finance business in India. Sources close to the development said that GE is looking at hiving off its construction equipment finance business into a joint venture company. IDFC will hold about 35% stake in the JV company and GE Commercial Finance will hold the remaining 65%. At a later stage, a third investor may also be inducted, sources said. Although the exact quantum of investment could not be verified, industry sources said the valuation of the JV company would be around Rs 650-800 crore. […]

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) said it is entering the foreign exchange business by acquiring a 33.5 per cent stake in Wall Street Finance, part of the House of Patels. The House of Patels owns about 65 per cent of publicly held Wall Street Finance. In a similar deal, in 2005, House of Patels sold a 60 per cent stake in Wall Street Exchange (WSE) to Emirates Post Corporation. “Discussions are also on with the group for USA and Canada markets. ADAG finalised the Wall Street Finance deal very fast based on the upward trend in the current exchange […]