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Founder-chairman V.G. Siddhartha of Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co. Ltd (ABCTL) has bought back the entire stake that venture capital investor Sequoia Capital acquired in the company that runs the Café Coffee Day chain of coffee shops, said two persons close to the development. It’s the latest in a series of stake buy-backs by company promoters. Sequoia had invested $20 million (Rs.110 crore today) in 2006 for an undisclosed stake in ABCTL, which runs 1,300 cafes that it plans to […] South African media giant Nasper is leading $150-million investment in online retailer Flipkart, a deal which is said to secure the company’s finances for next three years. Iconiq Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s hottest wealth managers with the likes of Mark Zuckerberg as clients, will be another new investor, while existing shareholders Tiger Global and Accel Partners make follow-on investments in the latest round of fund raise. The Nasper-led deal values India’s e-commerce leader at around $800 million. MIH India, […] Indian exhibitor PVR Cinemas is set to receive a $19.3m cash injection after selling a 10% stake to L Capital Asia, a private equity fund backed by French luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH). PVR and L Capital are also setting up a joint venture to invest in companies operating entertainment, gaming, food and other leisure facilities in shopping malls. L Capital will invest $9m in the joint venture and PVR is contributing Blu-O Entertainment, its bowling alley […] Sahara Group has agreed to buy a controlling stake in New York’s landmark Plaza Hotel for $570 million, Elad Properties said. The 105-year-old luxury hotel overlooking New York’s Central Park, is jointly owned by Elad Properties and Saudi-based Kingdom Holdings Co. Elad said it would receive 1.6 billion shekels ($400 million) for its 60 percent stake, while Kingdom will receive the rest. Kingdom, the investment vehicle of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will hold a 25 percent stake once […] Intensifying row with its minority stakeholder, Norway’s Telenor-controlled Indian venture Uninor on Wednesday put on auction its entire telecom business for a minimum of Rs 4,000 crore, a move opposed strongly by Unitech. The Nordic countries’ biggest phone operator wants to scrap the joint venture with Unitech and migrate its business to a new company to seek fresh operating licences as the JV’s 22 telecom permits were among the 122 quashed by the Supreme Court in February. Telenor, which holds […] Private equity giant Carlyle Group has acquired about 10% stake in Infotech Enterprises in a booster deal for India’s mid-tier IT services story. Carlyle picked up shares through stock exchange transactions on Wednesday, joining another private equity investor General Atlantic Partners, which holds 12.39% stake in Infotech Enterprises. The two investors together control a stake almost equal to 22.82% promoter holding, setting stage for an interesting private equity play in the technology services company with $330 million revenue. […] Malaysia’s Maxis Communications Bhd. has held preliminary discussions with bankers representing Sistema JSFC about the sale of its Indian unit Aircel Ltd. to the Russian firm, the Economic Times reported Wednesday, citing an executive close to Maxis. The executive said Maxis will “listen to offers in the wake of regulatory and policy uncertainty” in India, according to the report. Maxis Communications owns 74% of Aircel, with the balance held by India’s Sindya Securities and Investments Pvt. Ltd. Sistema has an […] Blackstone Group is set to acquire 36% ownership in the tenanted office space portfolio of southern developer Embassy Property Developments for about $230 million (Rs 1,300 crore), said bankers close to the transaction. This will be Blackstone’s biggest real estate deal in India, giving it part ownership of more than 12 million sqft office towers housing prominent technology names that drive the outsourcing economy. Embassy, one of the top business park builders in the country, is demerging the FDI […] Private equity investments dipped 34% in the June quarter compared to the same period last year. PE firms invested $1,848 million acorss 102 deals during the April-June quarter, said PE/VC tracker Venture Intelligence in its latest report. Investments dropped 34% from $2,798 million across 126 transactions in the year-ago period. The largest transaction during the period was Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners’ investing Rs 1,200 crore in Continuum Wind Energy, a Singapore-headquartered developer of wind assets in India. Close on the […] India still remains a promising economy for Temasek even though the PE fund’s investment has dropped in the past one year, said Rohit Sipahimalani, co-chief investment officer and head, India, and co-head, the Middle East. “There’s a lot of uncertainty, but times like these also create opportunities. We will take advantage of the uncertainty, but will remain cautious,” Sipahimalani said. In January, Temasek picked up a 4.9 per cent stake in Godrej Consumer Products for Rs 685 crore. […] |