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India’s power sector will be a key destination for private equity (PE) players to park their money, with close to $1.64 billion worth of infrastructure funds, mainly in power, awaiting their launch. According to industry experts, once the liquidity situation improves globally, the sector will see good investment momentum. This is despite the fact that PE investment in the power generation sector dropped by around 80 per cent between April and September 2009, to $157 million (around Rs 770 crore) from $902 million (Rs 4,419 crore) a year earlier. The number of deals also dropped to six from 17. According to Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on PE and mergers and acquisitions, investments in this sector for a comparative period in 2006 were $122 million, which increased to $495 million in 2007. “For the first time in the last four years the sector witnessed a negative growth”. […]
Outsourcing provider Cognizant plans to acquire UBS India Service Center Private Ltd. (UBS ISC), a Hyderabad, India-based captive service provider to UBS Group. No price tag for the deal was made public. As part of the transaction, UBS and Cognizant have entered into a multi-year agreement under which Cognizant will provide a range of business process outsourcing (BPO), knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), IT, and remote infrastructure management services to UBS divisions around the globe. […]
Tata Motors Ltd.(TTM), India's largest auto maker by sales, said Tuesday it has acquired the remaining 79% stake in Spanish bus maker Hispano Carrocera S.A. Tata Motors bought the additional stake by exercising an existing call option with the other shareholder, Spain's Investalia S.A., the Mumbai-based auto maker said. Tata Motors had purchased a 21% stake in Hispano in February 2005. […]
Private equity fund Warburg Pincus and Citigroup’s private equity arm Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI) are among investors rushing to exit as they plan to sell stakes in Indian companies such as real estate developer Emaar MGF in initial public offerings, exploiting the record stocks rally this year. Morgan Stanley fund and foreign venture fund Monet will sell a part of their stake in the TV channel distributor Hathway Cable and Trinity Capital will exit IL&FS Transportation Network, filings with the regulator show. “Five years is an average investment holding period for PE investors,’’ says Rajeev Gupta, managing director, Carlyle India Advisors, which owns stake in the nation’s biggest mortgage company Housing Development Finance Corp. […]
Malaysian oil firm Petronas has bought 2.3 per cent stake in Cairn India for US$240 million to raise its holding in the company, which gave the nation its largest oil find in recent times, to near 15 per cent. Petronas International Corp, which held 239.83 million shares, or 12.64 per cent, in Cairn, will buy 43.6 million additional shares from Cairn UK Holdings Ltd – the parent firm of Cairn India, the company said in a statement here. After the buyout, Petronas' holding in Cairn India will rise to 14.94 per cent. […]
The government today approved Norwegian telecom company Telenor's proposal to raise stake in its Indian joint venture Unitech Wireless to 74 per cent, the maximum permitted in the sector. The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its nod to Unitech Wireless Tamil Nadu for enhancing foreign shareholding by Telenor Asia (Singapore) up to 74 per cent, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma told reporters. Telenor would for now pump in an FDI of Rs 3,740 crore for raising the stake to 67.25 per cent from the present 49 per cent. The Norwegian company had in August this year obtained Foreign Investment Promotion Board approval to enhance stake to 74 per cent. All foreign investments over $600 million (over Rs 2,800 crore) are to be approved by the CCEA. […]
Venture Capital firm Matrix Partners has invested Rs 20 crore in Ver se Innovation, a Bangalore-based provider of classified services on mobile phone. Ver se Innovation, which provides mobile classified services in categories like jobs, matrimonials and real estate, was seed-funded by OnMobile Global, a mobile VAS player incubated by Infosys, India’s second largest IT services firm. Besides, OnMobile had a global distribution agreement with Ver se Innovation. Post the funding, Aravind Rao, chairman and CEO of OnMobile, and Rishi Navani, co-founder and MD of Matrix India, will join the board of Ver se Innovation. “We are excited about the consumer mobile services opportunities in India and what Ver se has been able to accomplish in a short period of time. We look forward to partnering with Ver se team, and we highly value the partnership with OnMobile Global, said Rishi Navani, co-founder and MD of Matrix India. […]
Aditya Birla Private Equity Fund, which is looking to raise Rs 1,250 crore, has finalised some investments, including 0.5 per cent in the country’s oldest exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, said sources close to the development. The sources said the fund is likely to pay Rs 21 crore for the 0.5 per cent in BSE, thereby valuing the exchange at Rs 4,200 crore ($0.9 billion). When asked, the BSE spokesperson declined to comment. According to analysts, BSE’s rival and the market leader, National Stock Exchange, has been valued at $2.5 billion. Financial Technologies-promoted MCX-SX, yet to start operations, has been valued at $1 bn, based on its sale of stake to IFCI. […]
Some of the world’s largest buyout firms that made a beeline for India a few years ago now say they may have misjudged the market. Firms such as KKR and Co. Lp and Carlyle Group Ltd say the world’s third fastest growing economy has more companies that need growth capital than those ready for buyouts. In other words, these global private equity (PE) firms with large funds and specializing in taking over companies are wary of acquiring controlling stakes in Indian firms in the current environment. They would rather make growth-stage investments like smaller private equity firms do, typically in the $10-35 million (Rs46-161 crore) bracket. […]
New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) said in an announcement to the Bombay Stock Exchange that it would buy back the 26% stake NBC Universal Inc. holds in its non-news subsidiary NDTV Networks Plc that runs several channels, including entertainment channel NDTV Imagine. The firm didn’t spell out the financial aspect of the deal. Late on Tuesday evening, website contentSutra.com reported, citing a person familiar with the development, that NDTV is in talks with Time Warner Inc. and Malaysia’s Astro All Asia Networks Plc to replace NBC. NDTV declined comment for the contentSutra story, which couldn’t independently be verified by Mint. NDTV is buying the stake through its arm NDTV Networks BV. In May 2008, NBC had acquired the 26% stake in NDTV Networks for $150 million (Rs689 crore today). […]
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