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PE investors eyeing distressed property deals

Foreign private equity investors are eyeing the Indian real estate market to buy properties from small and mid size developers badly hit by the economic downturn. A clutch of big investors from the EU and Middle East are expected to invest $400-500 million in distressed land deals. These include Spain’s Nova Capital; Germany’s SachsenFonds, Qatar based Barwa International and Al Aqueela, UK’s Matrix Partners and Aberdean International. “In the next six months, we will see lot of distressed real estate deals in India. […]

Microfinance finds favour with PE players

Private equity players have made investments of $230 million in the microfinance sector in the last two years and the outlook for this segment looks upbeat as it provides a refuge from the global financial market turmoil. According to data compiled by Venture Intelligence, a research service focussed on private equity and venture capital, the microfinance sector witnessed as many as 14 deals worth $230 million during January 2007-March 2009. “Microfinance is sufficiently insulated from the global financial downturn. Besides, this sector provides a good way for investors to diversify their portfolio at a time when the urban and manufacturing-related sectors are witnessing a slump,” Venture Intelligence Managing Director and CEO Arun Natarajan said. […]

Carlyle to Keep Pace of Spending in China, India Amid Slump

Carlyle Group will keep its pace of spending in China and India, taking equity investments in companies linked to basic consumer products, education, medical services and energy to grow amid a global slowdown. Carlyle Asian Growth Partners aims to keep spending on average between $200 million and $300 million a year in China, said Wayne Tsou, managing director and head of the fund. He didn’t give an investment target for India. “These companies are the most enterprising and they are most attuned to opportunities in the market,” Tsou said in an interview in Beijing yesterday. “More than 80 percent of the energies of my fund and team are spent looking at China and India opportunities.” […]

Future Group to acquire 60 % stake in Dhar & Hoon

Future Group has announced that it will acquire a 60 per cent stake in Dhar & Hoon.The acquisition will be made by group company Future Brands, which is headed by Santosh Desai. The acquisition would enable the agency to work extensively in new media like the retail, mobile and the internet space. Speaking about the deal, Desai said, “The acquisition is in line with the objective of Future Brands to offer a full range of branding services to group companies as well as business partners. The new entity will be branded D&H Blurb Communications.” “The objective is to build a brand that comes from Indian reality and to build our overall service offering for our brands and clients. We are looking at aligning some brands with Dhar & Hoon as the creative custodian for those brands. I personally feel that the agency has a potential to grow as an independent agency.” Desai added. […]

PE exits halve in FY09 as stock valuations dip

The number of investment exits, or selloffs, by private equity (PE) firms has more than halved to 21 transactions in the year ended March 31, 2009, against the previous year, according data compiled by Venture Intelligence, a firm that tracks PE and venture capital investments in India. In terms of value, PE firms encashed $976 million through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2008-09 as against $1.63 billion, for 50 deals, in the previous fiscal. PE firms, which invest in a company looking for capital appreciation, exit through various routes, including a trade sale to a strategic acquirer, public listing, recapitalisation and secondary sale to other PE investors. Trade sale is the most common exit route for PE firms. […]

PE`s appetite for educational cos rises

With an estimated US$40bn market for private institutions and a CAGR of 8.6%, it is no surprise that PE & VC investors are looking to ramp up the 30 investments (worth over US$300mn) they have already made in Education-related companies, the Venture Intelligence report indicates. Over 80% of Private Equity and Venture Capital investors surveyed by Venture Intelligence in its newly released “Private Equity Pulse – Education” report, plan to make an investment in Education companies during the next 6-8 months. […]

IFCI, UTI & IDFC buy 16.62% each in Sabarmati Gas

IFCI Venture Capital Fund, UTI and IDFC Project Equity Co are set to pick up 16.62% stake each in Sabarmati Gas (SGL), a Gujarat-based city gas distribution firm jointly promoted by Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC). “SGL board has approved allotment of 49.86% stake to the three investors at Rs 80 per share including Rs 70 per share as premium,” said a BPCL official, who didn’t wish to be named. The total value of the deal is estimated at Rs 80 crore. Post the deal, the two promoters, GSPC and BPCL, will hold 25% stake each in the company, the rest 0.126% to be held by 12 individuals. […]

Tech Mahindra beats out rivals for Satyam stake

Tech Mahindra Ltd. was named the successful bidder for a one-third stake in Satyam Computer Services, effectively gaining control and likely catapulting it into the heavyweight league of software-services businesses. Venturbay Consultants Pvt. Ltd., a unit of Tech Mahindra, will pay 17.6 billion rupees ($351 million) for 302.76 million Satyam. The 58-rupee-a-share-offer is a 23% premium to Satyam's closing price of April 9. The decision ends a prolonged search to select a strategic investor for Satyam. It comes three months after former Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju unveiled the bombshell that prompted India's largest corporate-account fraud inquiry. […]

VC investments shrink to $49 mn, down 58%

Reflecting the current economic slowdown, venture capital (VC) firms invested just $49.2 million (around Rs245 crore) in 14 companies in the three months to 31 March, contracting nearly 58% from the $116 million invested a year ago, calculations made from Thomson Reuters data show. All new companies took a hit when it came to deals. However, early-stage companies accounted for a majority of deals in the January-March period. At the beginning of the year, VC firms had predicted a slowing of deals, citing the welfare of existing portfolio companies as their biggest concern for 2009. […]

Satyam goes for just one-tenth of pre-scam price

Once quoted at a price of Rs 542 per share, Satyam Computer on Monday went under the hammer for Rs 58 a share- about one-tenth of the level the IT company enjoyed about a year-ago, when no one had any inkling about the scam being perpetuated there. Tech Mahindra, which emerged as a winner in the race to acquire fraud-hit Satyam Computer, has bid the highest price of Rs 58 per share and would have to shell out an aggregate of about Rs 2,889 crore for 51 per cent stake in the company. Based on the bid price, market capitalisation of the expanded equity base of Satyam would be around Rs 5,600 crore. Months before the scam at Satyam had come to light with confessions of its founder and former chairman B Ramalinga Raju, the Satyam scrip had hit a 52-week high of Rs 542 in May last year. The IT firm's market capitalisation had been over Rs 36,600 crore at that time. […]