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Times Internet Limited (TIL), part of India’s largest media house (Times Group), has recently made a strategic investment equivalent to 50% stake in Webnotions Books India Private Ltd. Webnotions has entered India as the largest online book marketplace under the brand www.a1books.co.in. Webnotions USA was founded in 1995 by Mr. Shinu Gupta. It is based in Netcong, N.J.and has 70 employees. The India branch based in Noida, U.P commenced operations in December 2007. As part of this investment, the Times Group will create value for A1Books by providing brand support to expand its growing market. A1Books shall make available over a million book titles on TIL’s indiatimes.com and will in turn capitalize on the latter’s huge user base in India. A1Books' online book buyers will benefit from the synergies created by this move, as both companies share a joint vision of making quality books easily accessible. […]
UK-based `Genesis Asset Managers has picked up a 5% stake in pipe manufacturer Welspun Gujarat for over Rs300 crore from the secondary market. “The fund house has bought the stake from the open market. This shows the long-term viability of the company,” Welspun Gujarat president Akhil Jindal told PTI on 29 July. Welspun Gujarat’s stock was trading at Rs328 in the afternoon on the Bombay Stock Exchange, down from Rs343.1 from the previous closing. The market capitalization of the company was Rs6,115.53 crore. Another UK-based private equity and venture capital company, 3i acquired 6.6% stake in Welspun Gujarat from the secondary market in October 2007. (Livemint) […]
Country's second largest real estate firm Unitech Ltd has appointed swiss investment banker UBS to look for a global partner to dilute the company's 26 per cent stake in its telecom business. Unitech Wireless, which has received pan-India telecom licences, today said it would launch operations in the first quarter of next year. “We have appointed UBS for searching partners and divestment while management consultant McKinsey has been hired for overall telecom business plan,” Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra told reporters. He said the the company expects to finalise the foreign partner in next two months. “We are talking on the final number with couple of potential players,” Chandra said. […]
More than 100 funds dedicated to private equity investment in emerging markets have raised $35 billion in capital in the first half of 2008, a 68 percent increase over the amount raised during the same period in 2007, according to the latest numbers. Data from the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA) showed the total value of private equity funds raised in the first two quarters of 2008 was greater than the $33 billion raised during all of 2006. Sarah Alexander, president of EMPEA, said: “What began as incipient interest in emerging markets private equity has developed into an acceptance of the asset class as part of mainstream allocation strategy. Economic conditions in the US and Europe appear to be having less impact on fundraising for private equity in emerging markets compared to mature private equity markets.” According to EMPEA’s analysis 104 funds raised a total of $35 billion in capital commitments. Average fund sizes increased 72 percent, from $197 million in the first half of 2007 to $339 million during the first half of 2008. […]
The board of directors of Moser Baer has decided to invest an amount of Rs 1.02 million to acquire 51% of the equity shares in Lumen Engineering. The company is engaged in the manufacture of recordable compact discs (CD-R), rewritable compact discs (CD-RW), pre-recorded CD/DVD, digital versatile discs (DVD-R) rewritable digital versatile discs (DVD-RW) and LightScribe enabled media in its optical storage solutions. (My Iris) […]
If dismal quarterly results and hammered stocks are painting a bleak picture of the tech sector, here is the proverbial silver lining. Venture capitalists (VCs) are surprisingly upbeat. Last week alone, five companies in India have raised funds from VCs like Intel Capital, SAP Ventures, Canaan Partners, Helion Venture Partners and SVB India Capital Partners (venture fund affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank). “There is a lot of money chasing good technology stories,” according to the promoters of companies like iYogi and United Lex who have just raised money. While iYogi raised $9.5 million in Series B financing from SAP Ventures, Canaan Partners and SVB India Capital Partners; United Lex raised $6 million. And so far data bears that out. In an otherwise tough economic environment, VC investments in the first half of 2008 are broadly at par with the numbers last year. In the six months to June, VC firms invested $340 million in 51 deals compared with $363 million in 55 deals in the same period last year, according to VC tracking firm, Venture Intelligence. Other investors, however, have not been able to weather the slowdown. Private equity (PE) deals, for one, have shrunk to almost half in the first half of 2008. The total value of deals announced in the first half of 2008 was $760.17 million against $1.47 billion during the first half of 2007 respectively. […]
Sectors with cheap valuations are on the radar of most private equity funds, most of whom are flush with funds. Owing to the market slowdown in the first half of the year, most PE funds did not deploy cash. Deals clinched in the last few weeks indicate that PE funds are targeting real estate, education and infrastructure companies. Recently, Bahrain’s TAIB Bank acquired a 26 per cent stake in Anant Raj Industries. Lightspeed Ventures and Sequoia Capital invested $18 million (Rs 76.3 crore) in Tutorvista.com, followed by JP Morgan, which has picked up a 33 per cent stake in Alok Infrastructure’s Special Purpose Vehicle. “Real estate, as a sector, has corrected a lot and probably we could see some more correction but there is no dearth of demand. Price has now become attractive for some of the good companies in the sector. One will see lots of deals going forward,” said the country head of an international PE fund. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Realty Index has crashed more than 60 per cent this year from its peak of 13,848 as on January 8, 2008. Promoters too, as the PE funds say, are coming to terms with the reality. The lag effect is showing and the PE funds have realised that they cannot make aggressive projections way ahead of fundamentals. […]
Maintenance products distributor W.W. Grainger Inc. said Wednesday it has paid $5.4 million for a stake in an Indian industrial and electrical wholesale distributor. Along with the $5.4 million purchase price for 49.9 percent of Asia Pacific Brands India Ltd., Grainger put in a $1.1 million matching investment to help expand the business. Asia Pacific had revenue of $47 million in its last fiscal year ended March 31. It has 27 locations across India.(CNN Money) […]
Financial Technologies India (FTIL) has acquired Apian Finance & Investment, a RBI Registered `NBFC` at a cost of Rs 15 million. FTIL has a technology development center in Mumbai providing transaction automation technologies for equities, derivatives, forex and commodity markets. FTIL also offers market infrastructure based shared services involving sophisticated exchange operations and technology infrastructure as a neutral service provider.(My Iris) […]
Sintex Industries, a market leader in the plastic and textiles segment, today announced that through its wholly owned subsidiary Sintex Holdings B.V., Netherlands, the company acquired 90% stake in company holding assets of Geiger Technik GmbH (Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany) for Euro 35 million. Geiger family will continue to hold 10%. This acquisition will assist the company to further enhance its presence in the European Market. Commenting on the acquisition Amit Patel managing director, Sintex Industries, said, “This acquisition offers Sintex a strategic market entrance in Germany which is the capital of the European automotive market. GEIGER makes state of the art unique innovative products which are well positioned in a market where fuel consumption reduction becomes the USP of OEMs. “ “We do welcome the comprehensive commitment of Sintex very much. With their investment, GEIGER will continue to thrive as an innovation leader in the automotive components market and identify additional fields of business. The growing Indian economy and the emerging global footprint of Sintex can be leveraged for propelling GEIGER on accelerated growth plan,“ added Albert Geiger, the managing owner of Geiger Technik GmbH, Germany. […]
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