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A US-based private equity fund is close to picking up a minority stake in Angel Infin Private, the holding company of domestic brokerage house Angel Broking. International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private equity arm of World Bank, is another strong contender in the race. Two private equity investors, one each from Europe and Asia respectively, have also evinced an interest in the stake sale. The due diligence process has been completed and only the final financial negotiations remain, according to sources. The deal is likely to be formally announced shortly. The valuation of the group is close to Rs 1,200-1,300 crore. When contacted, Dinesh Thakkar, chairman and managing director said, “We will be announcing the name of the investor by the first week of next month.” “The funds would be infused into our holding company, which is a NBFC (non-banking finance company). This will be our main business. The new investor will help us to increase our international presence and build on the asset side by providing us with finance and back-end support,” he added. […]
Tata Group is in talks with Britain-based speciality tea firm Liberty Tea to expand its share of the global beverages market, the Economic Times reported on Monday, quoting group sources. The discussions are at an initial stage and Tata Tea Ltd , the world's second-biggest branded tea firm, is examining the synergies that an acquisition could bring to Tata's current presence in Britain, the newspaper said. A spokesman for the Tata Group, which has diverse interests including steel and cars, could not immediately respond to the report. Tata Tea, which acquired Britain's Tetley for $432 million in 2000, has been expanding its overseas presence and buying herbal and fruit tea brands in the United States and eastern Europe to boost its market presence. In June, Tata Tea said it would buy almost 26 percent of Mount Everest Mineral Water Ltd and make an open offer for another 20 percent in a deal it said was worth up to 2.1 billion rupees ($52.8 million). The deal for a controlling stake was announced one week after Tata Tea said it would receive about $1.2 billion for selling its 30 percent stake in U.S. vitamin water maker Glaceau to Coca-Cola Co. ( Reuters ) […]
Private equity investors have pushed through exit transactions in India worth $534.7 million (Rs2,133.5 crore) in the first nine months of 2007, just a few notches short of the $589 million worth of transactions concluded in all of last year. It is estimated, based on potential deals in the pipeline, that before the year closes, the total value of exits would have scaled $1 billion. This would, however, still be well below the peak in 2005 when the total value of exits concluded by private equity investors stood at $3.3 billion. These numbers do not include exits by early-stage venture capital investors. The internal rate of return (IRR) on these exits—IRR is the profit earned after returning money to the limited partners and settling fund manager fees—cannot be ascertained yet. However, the growing size of deals and multiple exit routes used indicate that India is fast gaining credibility for returning value to investors and augurs well for future fund-raising for this market. Three of the eight disclosed exit deals this year are over $100 million against just one in 2006. ICICI Venture Funds Management Co. alone has pulled off three significant exits—from ACE Refractories Ltd, Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd and Deccan Aviation Ltd, and currently leads the pack in terms of total value of exits this year, at $161 million. […]
Usha Martin Group, a $750 million conglomerate, has acquired UK-based outsourcer Converso Contact Centres for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is aimed at spearheading the group's plans to accelerate its business process outsourcing (BPO) operations in India, South Africa and the UK. The investment is expected to create 1,400 new jobs in India and South Africa. Prashant Jhawar, vice chairman of the group said, “Our strategy is to continually develop and diversify our business operations globally and we see the BPO market as having high growth potential. To exploit this opportunity, we are investing in both new and existing international locations and plan to build facilities for a total of 2,000 contact centre seats globally – both on-shore and off-shore. This will meet the demands of major blue chip organisations and give them the choice of leveraging domestic and overseas BPO capabilities.” […]
Mobile retailing company UniverCell Telecommunications (India) is in parleys with private equity players to partly offload the company’s equity to help propel its next phase of growth. The Founder, Sathish Babu, said: “They were engaged in talks with several equity players and expect to close a deal very shortly.” Speaking to Business Line after launching five stores in Hyderabad, Babu said that this move would eventually lead to the company coming up with a public offer in 2009-2010, offering exit route to private equity. He said: “The company, which has about fully owned 75 stores, plans to set up 25 more by the end of this month and take this number to 170 before the fiscal end. We are in an accelerated expansion phase.” (Sify) […]
Reliance Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited (RTIL), the telecom infrastructure unit of Reliance Communications that manages the communication towers hived off by the parent, plans to invest Rs 8,000 crore by March 2008 and take its tower strength to 23,000 from the current 14,000. The company also has a target to erect 50,000 towers by 2010. RTIL also has plans to dilute equity in the company. “We are looking at the option of either an IPO or of selling an equity stake in a period of 6 months to one year,” says Gaurav Wahi, spokesman for Reliance Communications. A Reliance document, quoting some Mumbai brokerages analysts, sats RTIL’s equity valuation based on market value stands at Rs 27,000 crore, while the overall enterprise valuation based on assets stands at Rs 36,000 crore. Reliance officials say the equity valuation is based on a price of Rs. 135 per share of Reliance Communications, which has a market capitalisation of around Rs. 120,000 crore. […]
India-dedicated private equity funds raised $663 million in the first six months of 2007, a long way from the $16 billion targeted for the full year, according to recent research released by the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association. The association, which represents 167 private equity firms with more than $400 billion in assets under management, expects at least $12-15 billion to be raised for Asia in the remaining six months of the year and sees India and China accounting for a lion’s share. Out of the $21.7 billion raised in the first half of 2007, Asia, including China and India, accounted for $11.6 billion. Last year, India alone raked in 15% or $2.88 billion of the $19.4 billion raised for Asia.Meanwhile, India-related fund-raising, post-June, has received a boost with the $1.25 billion ChrysCapital Investment Advisors-backed ChrysCapital Fund V announced in July. And a slew of $1 billion funds are expected to hit the market by the close of the year, though growth and early-stage deals will dominate investment themes. Overall, 107 funds focused on emerging markets—Asia, Europe, Latin America, West Asia and Africa—raised $21.5 billion during the period under review. About 162 funds raised $33.2 billion for these markets in all of 2006. The association does not include Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan in its definition of Asia. […]
Private sector lender IndusInd Bank is looking to acquire a bank in the next two years, a top official told NDTV Profit channel on Thursday. “We need to bulk up before the market is thrown open in 2009 or sometime beyond,” Bhaskar Ghose, managing director and CEO, told the television channel. India's central bank has said it would review foreign ownership in Indian banks after 2009. “We would typically look at banks with a relatively higher CASA (current account and savings accounts) ratio,” he said refering to higher low-cost deposits. (Sify) […]
Notz Stucki, one of the largest asset managers in Europe, has joined the race for ICICI Venture's 63% stake in Infomedia (formerly Tata Infomedia). Private equity funds such as General Atlantic, Blackstone and Warburg Pincus have also shown interest to buy out ICICI Venture's stake in the media firm. Infomedia publishes the popular business directory Yellow Pages and some well-known niche magazines. When contacted, Anil Singhvi, managing director Notz Stucki India, declined to comment. Sources said Yes Bank is advising Infomedia on the deal. The buyer of ICICI Venture's stake will have to make an open offer, and shell out upwards of Rs 400 crore. On Thursday, Infomedia’s shares closed at Rs 233.90 on BSE, taking the market capitalisation to Rs 461crore. […]
Domestic venture capital company – RE Capital India Fund has now identified resorts as part of its development ventures. Ishan Singh, managing director of the company informed Express Hospitality that the company has already invested in two properties and is looking to invest more in the future. He said, “We have zeroed in for a property in Sona, Haryana which will be operated as a resort property. The 15 acre resort property is within an IT SEZ zone and is going to have 60 rooms in all.” […]
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