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Amit Bhatia, son-in-law of Arcelor Mittal chief LN Mittal, is negotiating with three Indian private equity funds for a sizeable stake as per its larger plans of stepping up investments in India. One of the funds he is negotiating with is run by a prominent Indian business family. The investments in India would be made through his PE fund Swordfish Investments and hedge fund Swordfish Capital Management. “We are very close to picking up a very substantial stake in an Indian fund, which we would also co-manage. I plan to close this deal by the end of this year and hope that it will propel me into a role of actively managing a fund in India. I am keen on picking up this stake because I would like to have a direct role in taking decisions and not just playing the role of a silent investor,” Mr Bhatia told ET in an exclusive interview. The deal would also provide Mr Bhatia a foothold in the Indian market and help him launch the group’s operations here. He is of the opinion that the Indian market is very attractive right now given the fact that the US and the European markets are showing signs of slowing down. […]
ACK Media, an entertainment and education company has acquired a controlling stake in Amar Chitra Katha and the Tinkle family of magazines. Sources put the deal at over Rs 10 crore and the stake was well over 90 per cent. Anant Pai will continue to be Editor Emeritus and Chief Story Teller for ACK Media, while Samir Patil would take over as chief executive officer. Samir Patil, said, “If ACK Media can reach out to a fraction of India’s 300 million+ youngsters with content that stimulates the imagination and encourages critical thinking, in ways that complement the formal educational system and contemporary family upbringing, I would consider it a great success.” ACK Media is planning to tap licensing opportunities that lay in the popular characters and content of the both the popular magazines for different media like television and mobile phones. […]
Firefly eVentures Ltd, the wholly owned Internet subsidiary of HT Media Ltd, has acquired social networking site Desimartini.com in an attempt to enter one of the fastest growing segments in the Indian Internet space. HT Media said the transaction was for less than $10 million. “Localisation is the norm all around and as broadband penetration improves, we can see phenomenal opportunity and growth in the Internet in India. This acquisition in the social networking space is the first step towards expanding our Internet base. We are exploring other new online businesses such as gaming, e-commerce and classifieds,” said Amit Garg, Business head – Internet, HT Media. Garg said HT Media plans to launch online portals in jobs, matrimonials, real estate and auto verticals – areas where the classifieds pages of newspapers currently dominate and where the Hindustan Times has a strong presence in some markets. Desimartini.com, launched by Pahwa Knowledge Based Services late last year, is funded by the Pahwa group of companies and has a membership base of 250,000. It attracts around 2.5 million page views a month. Desimartini.com competes with homegrown players such as the Minglebox.com, Ibibo.com, Indyarocks.com, and Bigadda.com. […]
Capital18, the venture capital and private equity arm of the Network18 Group, has picked up an undisclosed stake in interactive marketing and technology services agency Webchutney. Sidharth Rao, CEO, Webchutney, “We at Webchutney will look for growth through capital investment. The investment by Capital18 will be used to make for rich interactive applications, for which we are looking at key partnerships and hiring and developing our own creative studio in future.” Sarbvir Singh, Managing director, Capital18, says, “The digital advertising agency business is rapidly scaling up and the future for digital advertising is bright in India. We feel that Webchutney is the right kind of agency to partner with and will drive the business together.” Webchutney was founded in 1999 and has about 100 employees. The agency serves clients such as Airtel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, HSBC, MakeMyTrip, Zapak and Bookmyshow.com. The company is looking at expanding the operations to Chennai and Hyderabad.(Television Point) […]
George Soros' Quantum Fund has picked up an undisclosed stake in India-based Future Capital Holdings (FCH), the financial services arm of retail czar Kishore Biyani's Future Group, The Economic Times reported without naming sources. Och-Ziff Capital, one (NYSE:COF) of the world's largest hedge funds, has sold part of its 10 pct stake in FCH to Quantum, the report quoted the unnamed sources as saying. It added the deal is believed to value FCH, which is expected to launch its IPO within a few weeks, at 1 bln usd. FCH chief executive Sameer Sain declined to comment, the paper said. According to the report, the move is part of the investment strategy of Soros to pick up stakes in the booming Indian real estate, retail and financial services sectors. Quantum Investment Fund currently has a stake in India's Reliance Capital.(CNN Money) […]
Tata Capital, the financial services arm of Tata Sons, is learnt to be closing its first private equity deal. The company, formed in June 2007 to mark the group’s re-entry into financial services, is learnt to be in advanced stages of discussions with Solapur-based auto component manufacturer Precision Camshafts for buying a 32% stake for Rs 36 crore. This would value the company at nearly Rs 110 crore. An e-mail sent to Tata Sons did not elicit a response as the official spokesperson was not available for comment.Sources in the industry said Tata Capital was looking to close the deal over the next few weeks, which would mark its foray into private equity. The company is also looking to close a few more transactions, which are also in the sub-$50 million range. Precision Camshafts is the largest manufacturer of camshafts in India. It supplies camshafts to automakers including Tata Motors, Maruti, GM, Hyundai and Ford. […]
Notwithstanding the sub-prime crisis in the US, private equity deals have grown faster in the second half of the calendar year with global biggies Goldman Sachs sealing five deals, followed by Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley with three each in September and October this year. According to Grant Thornton’s dealtracker, 207 PE deals valued at $7.46 billion were announced during the first six months of 2007. The total deal value has nearly doubled in the last four months, with the number of PE deals increasing to 336, valued at $13.62 billion, during the first 10 months of the year. “Large funds who want to make significant investments in India are coming here. The sub-prime crisis in the US has impacted the share price of the big Wall Street firms but has not led to diminished interest from them in the India growth story,” said C G Srividya, partner, corporate advisory services, Grant Thornton India. […]
New York-based JC Flowers, one of the world’s largest private equity firm focused solely on the financial services sector, has picked up 36 per cent stake in the State Industrial Corporation of Maharashtra (Sicom), the investment arm of the Maharashtra government, for close to Rs 350 crore. The deal values Sicom at Rs 972 crore. Sources said JC Flowers won the bid for the stake, which was put up for sale early this year by the Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI or UTI-1). SUUTI had invited bids from financial and strategic investors for selling its stake in Sicom. The other two contenders for the stake were L&T Infrastructure and another US-based private fund. Sources said for JC Flowers this was a good investment as Sicom, as an NBFC (non-banking financial company) had the rights to confiscate assets in case of defaults. […]
Subhash Chandra's Essel Sports is looking at raising up to Rs 200 crore by divesting 25 per cent to private equity companies to finance its troubled Indian Cricket League (ICL) and other domestic cricket projects. Confirming this, Asish Kaul, executive vice-president of Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd and Essel Group spokesperson, said: “Several companies have come forward to associate themselves with Essel Sports. Indian and foreign institutional investors have also shown interest in being equity partners.” He added that no decision has been taken yet since “the company’s focus has been to get ICL off the ground”. The move comes at a time when the high-profile ICL is to begin from December 1 in Chandigarh with six teams playing against each other. […]
Indiareit Fund Advisors, the venture capital firm controlled by the Piramal Group, plans to invest in a housing project along Mumbai's eastern coast, seeking to overcome a land shortage and rising prices in the city center. Mumbai-based Indiareit will invest 1.5 billion rupees ($38 million) in Samira Habitats, a company that's developing luxury villas and apartments in Alibag, on the mainland across from the Mumbai island, Managing Director Ramesh Jogani said in an interview yesterday. “It will be a way out of Mumbai's congested infrastructure,'' Jogani said. “The projects will make Alibag a base of primary homes, instead of holiday and weekend homes as in the past.'' Residential prices in south Mumbai have more than doubled in the past three years, as India's booming economy bolstered the spending power of local residents and prompted overseas companies to bring in workers. Mumbai also has the second- priciest offices in the world after London, according to CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.'s semi-annual Global Market Rents survey. […]
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