|
|
Private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) deals in India are seeing an uptrend again. Though the first half of 2009 was dismal overall, the number of such deals and the amount of investment therein has risen in the past couple of months. And if market sources are to be believed, the numbers will only get better going forward. Vikram Utamsingh, head of private equity advisory group at KPMG, believes some funds that were busy adding value to their portfolio companies after the global meltdown are now looking at fresh investments. […]
Abbott Laboratories Inc said it plans to widen its array of nutritional brands in India by paying $130 million for the nutrition businesses of Wockhardt Ltd, certain Wockhardt subsidiaries, and Carol Info Services Ltd. The suburban Chicago healthcare company said the cash deal for the businesses, which have 600 employees, is expected to close in the second half of 2009 and is not expected to affect its full-year profit forecast. Abbott, which has operated in India for a century and has 1,500 employees there, already sells a number of nutritional products in the world's second-most-populous country. They include Abbott's infant formula Isomil, PediaSure for children ages 1 to 13, adult nutrition brand Ensure, and Glucerna nutrition products for diabetics. […]
Ess Dee Aluminium, a leading provider of packaging solutions, is in advanced talks to buy Comital, an Italian firm almost five times its size, for $125-150 million. A deal will help Ess Dee Aluminium expand its presence in the consumer packaging business and ramp up global operations. “We have been looking overseas for acquisition opportunities. But I have no comments to make on any specific transaction,” said Sudip Dutta, CMD of Ess Dee Aluminium. Mr Dutta owns close to 60% of the publicly listed firm, which provides packaging solutions for drugmakers and food industry. Comital is majority owned by Milan stock exchange-listed investment group Management & Capitali. Comital group had revenues of $403 million for the year ended December 2008. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the banker facilitating the transaction. […]
The Bangalore-based Healthcare Global (HCG) is gearing up for its overseas debut even while negotiating with a few private equity players to close its fourth round of funding. The oncology major is in advanced talks with PEs including a US-based one, to raise Rs 50 crore. So far, the Rs 110-crore specialised healthcare operator has raised about Rs 50 crore from IDFC Private Equity, Evolence India Life Sciences Fund and PremjiInvest. This time around, India Venture Advisors, the Piramal-group healthcare focused private equity fund is also in the fray. Having made considerable headway in its talks with HCG, it is ready to infuse Rs 60 crore. However, further details on the deal are not available. […]
NDTV Profit was the first to report this last week and now in the latest development, troubled infrastructure firm Maytas, which has asked to be sold, may find no dearth of bidders. Maytas was pushed into the limelight after its founders ended up in the dock for cooking up India' biggest fraud at sister firm Satyam. The race to acquire Maytas Infra is heating up and is likely to be as closely watched as the race for Satyam. Big infrastructure companies have jumped onto the bandwagon, and are all vying for a piece of the Maytas Infra pie.Even as buzz about the beleaguered Maytas Infra scouting for strategic partners grows louder, Hong Kong-headquartered brokerage and investment group CLSA has picked up a total 6.86% equity in the company. CLSA is learnt to have mopped up the entire equity through open market transactions in the month of July through its Mauritius arm CLSA (Mauritius) Limited. […]
India Financial Inclusion Fund (“IFIF”) has affirmed its commitment to infuse capital into one of the microfinance industry’s pioneering bellwethers, Sonata Finance Private Limited (“Sonata”) in the near future. IFIF, set up in August 2008 and advised in India by Caspian Advisors Private Limited (“Caspian”), focuses on making equity investments into microfinance institutions and microfinance enablers in the country that are directly or indirectly associated with bringing about the financial inclusion of the poor and thus further developing a microfinance ecosystem. A microfinance institution (MFI) that commenced operations in January of 2006 in the eastern part of the Uttar Pradesh state in India, Sonata has in just three years, reached out to nearly 85,000 women clients, in more than 15 districts with a portfolio outstanding of over Rs. 42 crores in loans to the poor. […]
Pizza Corner-owners Global Franchise Architects (GFA) is considering raising funds through private equity investment or through venture capitals as it looks to a 30-40 per cent compounded growth in the next three-four years. The food service chain, which also owns food service brands such as Pizza Corner, The Donut Baker, Coffee World and The Cream and Fudge Factory, is considering raising funds by the end of the year, said Joseph Cherian, Chief Executive Officer, GFA India, and MD, Global Services. He did not say how much funds the company plans to raise or how much of a stake it intends to offload. […]
India’s largest private equity player ICICI Venture is rejigging its core management team. The PE firm is hiring Prashant Purker, former managing director (global finance) of Lehman India, as president. Mr Purker was responsible for Lehman’s operations in debt, equity and client-based risk solutions group in India. He has over 20 years of industry experience, having previously worked with ICICI Bank. Three senior members of the core team — Sumit Chandwani, Jayanta Banerjee, KS Jangbahadur — are being redesignated as presidents and will look after specific verticals like technology, healthcare, infrastructure and MBOs. Besides Mr Purkar, ICICI Venture is set to hire another senior member of the PE industry as president. The new team is being handpicked by Vishakha Mulye, MD & CEO of ICICI Venture, who stepped in earlier this year. Ms Mulye was travelling and could not be contacted for her comment. […]
Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India has invested 400 million rupees ($8.2 million) in telephone and web search services provider, Just Dial, the firms said in a joint statement on Thursday. Sequoia Capital India's managing director Sandeep Singhal will join the board of Just Dial, which has over 90 percent of the market share and reaches out to about 400 million mobile customers and 40 million internet users, they added. The number of calls Just Dial receives has more than tripled to 200,000 per day in three years, the statement said adding over 100,000 small and medium enterprises advertise on Just Dial. […]
UTI Asset Management Company has set up a private equity fund worth $500 million in partnership with Germany's HSH Nordbank and Kuwait's Noor Financial Investment Company, the firm said on Thursday. The fund will mainly tap offshore clients and invest in unlisted infrastructure firms engaged in sectors such as roads, ports, power, logistics, airports and energy among others, the money manager said in a statement. (Reuters) […]
|
Post your messages.Please refrain from posting offensive messages. IndiaPE accepts no liability for the consequences of your reliance on these postings and messages.
|