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Zovi, an online clothing brand in India, has raised $5.5 million from PE firm SAIF Partners and angel investors like MakeMyTrip founder Deep Kalra. Kalra has also joined the board of the company. The fund will be utilized for the expansion of its supply chain, inventory and product range. Satish Mani, former senior vice-president of Cleartrip, founded Zovi. Its senior management includes Kavindra Mishra and Sartaj Mehta, both from Benetton India. Setup as an entrepreneur-inresidence project (EIR) where the venture fund picks an entrepreneur to execute a pre-conceived idea, the company will showcase men’s apparel designed in-house, such as formal shirts and belts. Mani will drive operations at the company aiming at broadening its product range to club in women’s apparel by end of this year. […]
Saregama India Ltd has purchased 10% stake in Timbre Media Pvt Ltd, a company set up by ex-Worldspace Satellite Radio employees, to bring back its genre-based programming through direct-to-home TV channels as well as mobile phone radio, it was announced here today. Both the companies are already in talks with leading mobile phone service providers as well as DTH TV service providers to launch the service. Various mobile phone service providers as well as DTH TV service providers are expected to launch their own respective packages separately, with their own pricing in few months. Timbre Media was formed in 2010 and has drawn experience from professionals involved with Worldspace Satellite Radio service earlier, which had a listenership of 1.50 lakh satellite radio sets. […]
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has acquired 26% strategic stake in the Indian franchise of KidZania, an international chain of family entertainment centres. The $3.5-billion Comcraft Group, which holds the franchise for Kidzania in India, had been scouting for a significant minority investor to add value to the Indian project and decided to bring the Bollywood star on board, said people familiar with the development. “He brings strategic value to the deal in that he is a brand himself,” said an official with knowledge of the deal. The Comcraft Group is owned by NRI Chandaria family with diverse interests in about 40 countries across the globe. Mexico-based KidZania is an interactive family entertainment centre or indoor park that allows children between 5 and 13 age group to role-play adult occupations in a miniature city. […]
Vodafone said it has sealed a long-awaited deal to buy out its partner Essar from their Indian mobile joint venture for $5.46 billion, ending a highly fractious relationship. The British company, which is the world's biggest mobile operator by revenue, will purchase the 33% stake owned by a collection of Essar companies, giving it a majority 74% shareholding in the venture. The price includes an $880 million payment for taxes, which neither Vodafone nor Essar believe is due and will be returned to Essar if they are proved correct. The deal is part of Vodafone's strategy to only own assets where it has control, and follows the sale of its stake in Polish operator Polkomtel on Thursday. […]
Nomura Holdings plans to launch a $500 million India infrastructure fund in September, its country head said, joining the league of firms looking to play a role in financing infrastructure projects in Asia's third-largest economy. The fund, which will invest in Indian infrastructure projects, will mostly target investors in Japan, Vikas Sharma, president and chief executive of the Japanese investment bank's India unit said. “Infrastructure fund is an important piece of the asset class that we want to address. India requires huge amount of infrastructure spends in the next five to 10 years,” Sharma told Reuters in an interview. […]
Advanta India Ltd, a seed maker that is part of the United Phosphorus group of companies, said in a filing to exchanges that it has raised $50 million (around Rs.225 crore) crore through foreign currency convertible bonds, or FCCBs. The bonds carry an interest rate of 3.5 percentage points higher than the London inter bank offer rate, or Libor, a benchmark rate that is currently at 0.245%. The conversion into equity will be at Rs.282.84 a share, which translates into apremium of 10%, and at a fixed rate of Rs.44.94 to the dollar. […]
Private equity giant Blackstone may finance south-based Embassy Property Development's purchase of 22% stake in Manyata Tech Park, the country's largest operational tech SEZ located in Bangalore, from HDFC Property Ventures for Rs 540 crore, said sources privy to the development. The PE behemoth is likely to back Embassy's stake purchase through a combination of convertible equity and debt totaling $100 million, or roughly Rs 450 crore, sources added. The transaction, if clinched, could mark Blackstone's biggest real estate investment in India. The stake buyback would raise Embassy's shareholding in the IT business park to 57%. Jitu Virwani, chairman of Embassy Property Development, confirmed the Rs 540-crore share buyback from HDFC Property Ventures, but said he had no immediate plans to raise funds from outside. A Blackstone official was not available for immediate comments. […]
Private equity firm Avigo Capital has brought in Metmin Investments as a copartner to acquire a controlling stake in Spykar Lifestyle , reversing its earlier plan to exit the homegrown jeans brand. “We changed our strategy from exit to build since we have resolved differences with promoters of the company on how to run the business,” Avigo Capital Managing Partner Achal Ghai said. “Spykar will be professionalised soon.” This makes the 19-year-old denim maker the third Indian apparel retailer to be acquired by PE investors this year after Vishal Retail and Weekender. Primus Retail sold apparel brand Weekender to finance firm Madhusudan Securities for Rs100 crore in February, and in March, Vishal Retail sold its wholesales business to private equity firm TPG for over Rs70 crore. Metmin Investments will investRs30 crore for a 30% stake in Spykar, while Avigo will hold another 30% stake. Company's promoters Prasad Pabrekar and Harshada Pabrekar will hold the balance 40%, but the private equity players will work together to control the company. When contacted, Spykar officials refused to confirm the deal. […]
Standard Chartered Private Equity (Mauritius) and Merlion India III have exited from ABG Shipyard by selling their entire 7.078% stake in the firm through open market transactions. In a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), ABG Shipyard said the two firms had sold 3.6 million shares in it within a span of five days from 24 June 2011. Meanwhile, in a separate filing, ABG Shipyard said KBS Trading had increased its stake in the ABG Group flagship by 3.93% to 6.65% on 28 June 2011. […]
PTC India Financial Services , a unit of the country's largest listed power trader PTC India, plans to sell its investment in a power project by Ind-Barath, besides selling part of its stake in Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) this fiscal, a top official said. “As per contractual terms, buyback of shares by Ind-Barath in a thermal power project based in south India may take place,” Ashok Haldia, director on the board of the power sector lender told Reuters in a telephonic interview on Friday. “We invested about 55 crores (550 million rupees) in August, 2008 (in Ind-Barath project), and the exit is likely to be in August or September.” The New Delhi-based financial services firm, in which Macquarie holds 3.46 percent stake and HSBC owns 3.68 percent, expects to earn a post-tax return of 23.75 percent per annum on exiting the Ind-Barath project, he added. […]
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