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US-based investment firm Wexford Capital LLC has entered India with a $100 million private equity fund through Baseline Partners Ltd, a new private equity firm that is eying investments in the range of $10-25 million in medium-sized companies over the next one year. Howard Endelman, Partner, Baseline Partners said Wexford, which has assets worth $7 billion under its management across the globe, has committed to India for a minimum 12 years and is willing to increase the corpus from $100 million if there are good investments. Wexford manages four hedge funds with $4 billion in assets under management. It also manages a series of PE funds and has invested over $3 billion in private equity, focusing mainly on energy and natural resources, transportation and life sciences companies. It has been active in the Indian stock markets through the hedge funds, but this is the first time it is getting into the private equity area. […]
Private equity firm Blackstone Group has invested $65 million for a stake in Indian engineering firm MTAR Technologies Pvt Ltd, the U.S. company said late on Wednesday. MTAR makes machined parts for nuclear, space and defense projects, as well as engine and structural components for aerospace and defense applications, it said. The funding is a mix of primary and secondary equity. The Economic Times newspaper said Blackstone had bought 26 percent in MTAR. “We are very enthusiastic about this investment as we foresee a huge growth opportunity for MTAR both in domestic and global markets,” said Akhil Gupta, chairman of Blackstone Advisors India Pvt Ltd. Blackstone has said it had a huge pipeline of deals in India, and has made a series of investments recently, including buying a majority stake in apparel firm Gokaldas Exports Ltd and $150 million in Nagarjuna Construction Co Ltd. First Securities was the advisor to the transaction.(Reuters) […]
Usha Martin Ltd. (UML) has decided to sell the entire equity in its subsidiary company, UM Cables, to the Manchester-based B3 Cable Solutions. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect has been signed and the ownership changeover is expected to take effect early next year, subject to due-diligence and necessary approvals. UM Cables, with its modern manufacturing facility at Silvassa near Mumbai, is among India’s leading manufacturers of optical fibre and copper telecom cables, with a strong domestic and international customer base. P. Bhattacharya, Joint Managing Director, UML, said the ownership change would allow the company to concentrate on its core business of minerals, speciality steel and wire rope, while creating good opportunity for the cable business. This acquisition will help B3 to strategically position itself in the resurgent optical fibre cable business and also in the fast growing Asian region. […]
The sale of a 26% stake in IFCI may be delayed till the end of the current fiscal since banks and FIs are yet to give a firm commitment on whether they would convert their debt into equity. Besides, at this stage it’s also unclear whether the Centre would want to convert its Rs 923 crore loan into equity. As a result the eight bidders in the fray do not have clarity on what exactly constitutes the 26% stake in IFCI. It appears that banks are in favour of converting a part of their debt into equity. This would, however, increase the number of shares and in turn impact valuation of the 26% stake. Last month, the IFCI board had decided to offer 30 odd banks and FIs, which had helped in restructuring its liabilities, the option to convert a part of their debt, worth Rs 1,479 crore, into equity. […]
DTH major Tata Sky is now considering a second round of funding of $150-200 million and is in conversation with various private equity players such as Providence, Carlyle, Blackstone, Goldman Sachs and Apax Partners. Tata Sky is looking at diluting about 10% stake. The current holding structure of Tata Sky looks like this: 20% with Star (FDI), 10% with Temasek (FII) and 70% with the Tata’s. By law, a DTH operator in India has to be have a minimum holding of 51% by an Indian entity. Singapore-based PE player Temasek had bought about 10% for about $56 million. The valuation of the company in three months has risen more than two-fold. “We have been approached by several private equity players. If and when we decide to go in for a second round of funding, we will let you know,” said Tata Sky CEO Vikram Kaushik. […]
The billion dollar private equity club is growing. Notwithstanding the presence of pure play PE majors, banks are also raising $1 billion India-focused funds through their PE arms. Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), which has global assets running into trillions of dollars, is the latest one to come into India with an estimated $1.1 billion for growth stage companies and real estate ventures. According to company officials, HSBC India has recently raised a $500 million realty fund, which will run parallel to the growth fund investments in the range of $600 million. Naina Lal Kidwai, group general manager and country head, HSBC India, said, “At the Asia PE fund level, of which India is an arm, we have recently closed a $1.5 billion fund. According to our estimates, 40 per cent of that is expected to be committed to India.” […]
Delhi-based auto component group Amtek is close to acquiring a UK-based automotive machinery company Triplex Ketlon Group. According to automotive industry sources, the size of the deal is pegged at an estimated Rs 600 crore ($155 million). When contacted by ET, group CMD Arvind Dham and CFO Santosh Singhi declined to comment. Triplex Ketlon was acquired by the UK-based Barr family in September 2003. According to the company’s website, Triplex, it has three manufacturing sites — at Hereford, Stratford-upon-Avon and Paddockwood. The company supplies fully-machined components and sub assemblies to passenger car makers, commercial vehicle makers and tier-I manufacturers. The auto component sector has seen some aggressive deal making in recent times with Bharat Forge, M&M and Amtek being the most active in the deal space. M&M sealed two deals this year (German forging company Jeco and Schoneweiss) and has reportedly emerged highest bidder for a third-Italian gear maker, Metalcastello. As more and more vehicle manufacturers look at sourcing from India, local auto component makers are looking to scale up through both domestic and overseas acquisitions. […]
Private equity (PE) investment in India has overtaken China this year to emerge as the biggest Asian destination (excluding Japan) for PE funds. Investments have crossed $10 billion between January-October as against $8.3 billion recorded in China in the same period, says a report from investment advisory firm IndusView. China received $13 billion worth of PE investments in 2006 compared to $7 billion in India during the same period. The equation has, however, changed since then with India leading the Asian charts this year. Real estate and infrastructure emerged as the top sectors attracting PE investment in India this year accounting for half of the total PE money flowing into India through 52 deals. Out of this, real estate received $2.6 billion through 32 deals. Real estate as a sector was closely followed by telecom with $ 2.1 billion worth of PE investments. […]
You know Venugopal Dhoot for his consumer durables empire. But he now wants to be the retail rajah. Dhoot's first consumer durables retail venture Next is already a hit and now NDTV has learnt that Videocon is getting into music retail by picking up majority stake in Planet M. Planet M stores were owned by Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd which was set up in 1999. It has 150 stores across the country and has been planning to open 500 stores in the next four years across metros, mini metros and Tier II cities. Planet M has been growing at 40 per cent over the last four years. Even though no official announcement has been made yet sources say that the deal was sealed last weekend. What is interesting is that BCCL itself is a strategic investor in Videocon. But with Dhoot looking at the retail space aggressively, it makes a strategic fit. According to the sources, the deal could be worth around Rs 125 crore-Rs150 crore. […]
The promoter family of Unitech is close to acquiring up to 40% of Orissa Sponge Iron and Steel (OSISL). Prakausli Investment — a closely-held investment company owned by the Chandra family — has acquired 15% stake in the company, through a preferential allotment, triggering a 20% open offer to buy the shares of other shareholders. In addition, the investment company would also convert another 27,50,000 warrants into shares, accounting for an additional 4.13% stake in Orissa Sponge. Sources say Prakausli Investment is shelling out about Rs 82 crore for the 19.42% stake and it will have to pay extra for the open offer. If the open offer is fully subscribed, the investment company of the Unitech promoters will own around 40% in OSISL. Before the expansion of the company’s equity base, the majority 51% stake in Orissa Sponge was held by Torsteel Research Foundation in India, and its managing director BK Mahanti, a local entrepreneur. In addition, George Soros’ Quantum Fund, and IDFC, who are both shareholders in Unitech, have each bought a 2.5% equity stake in the company. Sources close to the deal say the Unitech promoter family is making a strategic investment in the loss-making OSISL as a backward integration exercise for the promoters of the country’s second-largest real estate company. […]
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