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Info Edge India, which owns naukri.com, jeevansaathi.com and shiksha.com, will buy 40% stake in New Delhi-based education content developer Applect Learning Systems for Rs 6.5 crore. The company has already paid Rs 1 crore for the stake and will disburse the rest over the next 18-24 months, after Applect achieves some pre-determined milestones. Info Edge has tapped into its reserves, which stand at about Rs 300 crore, for the stake buy. Applect Learning is a subsidiary of IMS Learning Resources, which provides coaching for higher education entrance exams. It provides content development services with a focus on education in the K-12 segment. […]
Global financial giant JP Morgan Chase is investing Rs 130 crore for 33% stake in an SPV of realty firm Alok Infrastructure, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mumbai-based textile maker and retailer Alok Industries, according to banking sources. Alok Infrastructure’s SPV, which is receiving the JP Morgan funding, will develop a realty project at a prime location in Mumbai. Alok Infra owns land at several prime locations in Mumbai, some of which it bought in high-profile transactions in the past one year. Alok Infrastructure had been in negotiations with some private equity players to offload equity in the main company. A falling stock market and a sluggish realty sector of late has, however, brought down the valuation of realty firms forcing Alok Infra, as many other realty companies, to go for investment at the project or SPV level. Alok Infra may be looking at raising more funds through private equity route for its different projects. […]
Andrew Yule may soon invite expression of interest (EoI) for divesting its 26.2% stake in Tide Water Oil — the company which owns the automobile lubricant Veedol. “The divestment process will be initiated after receiving the valuation from appointed consultants. We will prefer a company which not only offers better value but also aligns with the company’s future plans,” a senior official in the ministry of heavy industries said. The government has simultaneously initiated the process of appointing a consulting firm to undertake valuation exercise. The process is expected to be completed in two-three months. Sources said major oil companies like RIL, Total and Chevron were interested in buying the stake. […]
Five post-graduate programme (PGP) students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) have set up a Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) club to help students get hands-on experience by involving PE/VC players from India and abroad. Unlike finance clubs run by most B-schools in the country, this club exclusively focuses on PE and VC funding. The lack of opportunities and experience in the PE and VC space led five students to set up the club called 'Leverage'. With around 50 students interested in being members, the club will be a forum for students interested in all aspects of private equity and venture capital. […]
Canara Bank, India's second largest public sector bank, is all set for an aggressive play in the venture capital business. The bank has sought the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) approval for a venture capital fund. The fund will not be sector specific. The fund will be the largest one (Rs 500 crore) from the bank, which floated a venture capital subsidiary way back in 1989. The VC arm has so far floated four funds, the total corpus of which is Rs 112 crore and has invested in around 80 companies. Senior officials of the bank confirmed that they have sought approvals from the regulatory body, after which they will be hard-selling this product to other government-owned institutions for participation. Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Vijaya Bank, Andhra Bank and Small Industries Development Bank of India have earlier participated as investors in its earlier fund, the corpus of which was around Rs 60 crore. […]
Providence has emerged as the biggest private equity(PE) investor in the first half of this year in India while ICICI Venture, Sequoia and Citigroup have been the most active firms in terms of number of PE transactions announced. The period, which coincided with the first major prolonged market correction over the last three years, also saw PE activity dipping in volume terms for the first time year-on-year. In all, there were 186 deals worth $7.09 billion during H1 2008 against 195 transactions with a value of $6.77 billion during the first half of last year. Moreover, even as new PE firms set shop in the country, the number of funds striking at least one deal has dropped considerably from 125 funds in H12007 to 90 in H12008, according to data compiled by advisory firm Grant Thornton. Says Grant Thornton, partner, specialist advisory services, CG Srividya, “Last year, the flow of PIPE deals was very strong, but this has come down due to the market crash. Secondly, some large global banks have become more cautious in striking deals, which has affected transaction volume.” […]
After infusing money into real estate projects, Red Fort Capital Advisors is now planning a new infrastructure fund with corpus in excess of $600 million by 2008-end. Red Fort Capital – which manages three active funds under its aegis including an offshore and a domestic fund for Indian real estate market, as well as a hedge fund for listed Indian entities – is already in talks with some of its existing investors for floating the new fund, which would invest in infrastructure projects in the country. It may also rope in new investors to the proposed fund. “The new fund is likely to be over $600 million and will focus on projects such as ports and power, amongst others. In fact, some of our existing investors approached us for a fund in the infrastructure, a sector whose risk profile is very different than the real estate segment. Globally, the returns for infrastructure projects are in teens whereas in India it averages at about 20 per cent,” Mr Subhash Bedi, Director and Partner, Red Fort Capital Advisors, told Business Line. […]
Swan Telecom, which has received licences to operate mobile phone services in 13 out of the 22 telecom circles in India, is in talks with foreign companies for diluting 26 per cent of its equity for around $470 million. “Arrangements are being worked out for selling a 26 per cent stake in the company,” said Shahid U Balwa, managing director, Swan Telecom. The talks are happening considering a total equity value of the company around $1.8 billion. Including debt, the company's enterprise value is pegged around $2.2 billion. Meanwhile, real estate major Unitech's talks to sell 26 per cent stake in its mobile operations have picked up pace, with the company holding several rounds of talks with three international players for the deal this week. The company holds the licences through several unlisted subsidiaries. […]
Mumbai based BSE listed, Greycells, that operates EMDI vocational institutes in India and middle-east announced its acquisition of 26% stake in another Media and Entertainment vocational education company: AAT. According to FICCI Pwc 2007, Indian Media and Entertainment industry is growing at a CAGR of 24% and will be Rs. 51900 cr by 2010. Currently 4 of the top 10 career aspirants choose Media and Entertainment. Also the gross enrolment in higher studies is expected to double to 12% in a decade from the present 7%. This presents a great opportunity to vocational education specialists like Greycells and AAT. Both the institutes, at present, have combined student strength of 1800. They have aggressive plans to increase to 10,000 levels in next couple of years. […]
Mobile WiMax products and professional services provider Soma Networks on Friday said that it has secured an additional $51-million of equity financing. Investors include Daiwa Securities Group, Daiwa Securities SMBC Principal Investments Company, Ridgeway Capital Partners and India Knowledge Fund and SBICAPS, amongst others, a press release issued here stated. India Knowledge Fund is a private equity fund of Japan-based SBI Holdings Inc. The financing has been earmarked for continued expansion of international operations and deployments, including ongoing support of the industry's largest WiMax network with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). Earlier this year, BSNL and Soma had announced an agreement to roll-out a mobile WiMax network across three of India's fastest-growing circles–Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa and Andhra Pradesh, the release said. […]
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