Funds managed and advised by Motilal Oswal Venture Capital Advisors Private Limited (“MOVCAPL”) and its associates, have invested Rs. 60 Crs in Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd (“Parag/ Gowardhan”), one of the fastest growing dairy in the country and selling under the brand “Gowardhan”. Parag, based out of Maharashtra, is one of the few players that use 100% cow milk for all their products. Its product portfolio includes liquid milk and various dairy products such as milk powder, cheese, ghee, butter, cream, curd, butter milk and gulab jamun mix. Parag has a state-of-the-art Bhagyalaxmi dairy farm spread over an area of 30 acres and equipped with the latest rotary parlour for milking cows. This has been a path breaking initiative by the company and will put the Company in the league of global dairy companies once scaled up. […]

In a pre-IPO placement, Lotus Eye Care Hospital has sold 2.55 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each to publishing house Bennet, Coleman & Company, at a price of Rs 50 each. Lotus Eye Care Hospital proposes to enter the capital market with a public issue of Rs 42-crore to part finance its Rs 55-crore plan for expansion of existing facilities and establishment of new centers with latest technologies. Located in Coimbatore, Salem and Tirupur, Lotus Eye Care Hospitals is one of the leading eye care hospitals in south India. Lotus has been the pioneer in bringing latest world-class technologies into the country. Multi scan Lasik, Epilasik, Zyoptix Z100 are some of the technologies introduced by Lotus. Its hospitals are equipped with ultra-modern fourth- generation instruments, required for critical ophthalmic surgeries. […]

Reliance Technology Ventures Limited (RTVL), the corporate venture capital arm of the Reliance ADA Group, has directed the investment of an undisclosed amount in Pelago, Inc. RTVL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital Ltd. Pelago offers a new break-through mobile and Web-based service that is at the intersection of social networking and local discovery. The service is offered under the brand name â€کWhrrl’. The Whrrl service catalogs peoples’ activities, chronicling an individual’s history of places visited and events attended through icons pinpointed on Whrrl’s built-in mapping application. Whrrl users and their friends can then rate, review, and comment on these places and events. Whrrl shares user-contributed information with others through a real-time micro-blogging feature called the “Whrrld Feed.â€‌ Whrrl users check in via SMS, the Whrrl mobile application, or the Whrrl Web site, instantly updating others on their location or status through their Whrrld Feed. Whrrl’s “passive visitization” technology can precisely detect if a person is walking into a store or merely walking by. […]

Idea Cellular said on Thursday private equity Providence Equity Partners would buy a fifth of its unit Aditya Birla Telecom for $640 million, the latest deal in the world's fastest growing wireless market. The deal, which values the telecom firm at $3.2 billion, is subject to regulatory approvals, and expected to close by August. The funds will be used for network rollout and ongoing operations of Aditya Birla Telecom (ABTL), which has a licence in eastern Bihar and Jharkhand states, Idea Cellular said. Idea will transfer its 16 percent holding in tower company Indus Towers — a joint venture with top telecom operator Bharti Airtel and Vodafone –to ABTL. “ABTL has got growth opportunities in one of the biggest telecom circle going forward (Bihar service area) and also 16 percent equity in Indus Towers,” Managing Director Sanjeev Aga said, explaining Providence Equity's interest in the firm. DSP Merrill Lynch was the sole advisor to Idea on the deal. […]

Private equity majors IDFC Project Equity and Lehman Brothers are in advanced stage of talks to pick up 16.66% in Konaseema Gas Power (KGPL) for around Rs 500 crore, sources told ET. The deal, which is expected to be concluded shortly, values the Andhra Pradesh-based power utility KGPL at around Rs 3,000 crore. KGPL sources confirmed the fund-raising plans and added that about 8.33 crore shares will be placed to the funds at a price of about Rs 60 per share. Out of the total Rs 500 crore, IDFC would invest Rs 200 crore, while Lehman would pick up stake amounting to Rs 300 crore. When contacted, the official spokesperson of KGPL declined to comment on the deal. It is learnt that the funds will be utilised for part- financing a 820 mw plant, which is in the second phase of its 1,280 mw project. The first phase has already been completed. The total cost of the second phase would be around Rs 2,800 crore. KGPL is planning to go public during the second half of 2009, once it receives gas supply and is able to commence power generation. […]