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Accel Partners, a leading venture capital firm operating in Silicon Valley, Europe, Israel and China, today announced the formation of Accel India Venture Fund. The latest element in Accel’s global strategy, Accel India Venture will focus on early-stage venture investing, delivering active, hands-on strategic and operational guidance in partnership with India’s most promising entrepreneurs. Accel India Venture Fund will be managed by four experienced partners who currently are the Partners of Erasmic Venture Fund (EVF). EVF is one of the leading seed and early-stage investment groups in India, with a portfolio including Mu Sigma, Inbiopro, HolidayIQ, Kaati Zone, Myntra, Sconce, Virident and many other exciting new ventures. Subrata Mitra, Prashanth Prakash, Mahendran Balachandran and Gagan Kumar bring deep entrepreneurial and operational expertise as well as a strong track record of helping entrepreneurs to develop successful new businesses in India. All four individuals will be joining Accel as the Partners of Accel India Venture Fund.Accel India Venture Fund will seek to work with India’s best entrepreneurs from the very earliest stages of the new venture creation process. […]
Private equity fund SUN-Apollo Ventures has invested Rs 300 crore for 35-40% equity in an SPV of Noida-based realty firm Amrapali group. SUN-Apollo is a joint venture between Delhi-based Khemka family’s SUN group and US-based private equity fund Apollo Real Estate Advisors. Apollo’s development and investment portfolio is spread across US, UK, Russia and other European countries, besides India. SUN Group, which has interests in oil & gas, mining, real estate, infrastructure, food & beverage and technology, has been active in India, Russia and other emerging markets. “The SPV will develop a 200-acre township in Jaipur and a 15-acre high-end housing project in Noida. Both projects are likely to be completed in two-and-a-half years,” Amrapali group chairman Anil Sharma said. The Jaipur township will have housing, retail, commercial and IT space. Amrapali group, which has developed six urban residential colonies in the national capital region, is at present executing real estate projects worth Rs 8,000 crore in several cities. […]
The bear market has led to resurgence in private equity deals. “More than 150 deals are expected in the third quarter of 2008. Investors from Mauritius, Europe and Middle East are poised to strike deals with Indian companies with good valuations,” said YEN Management Consultant Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Shirole, who recently visited 10 countries meeting 50 private equity investors. Investors still believe in the strong fundamentals of Indian economy and they are coming to India with a 5-7 year time horizon, Shirole said. Axis is currently evaluating investments in healthcare, renewable energy, hospitality, and logistics.Bangalore-based Lightspeed is also looking at investments in infrastructure-derived industries, media & entertainment, and financial services. YEN Consultant is also mediating 2-3 deals between Middle East and Indian companies in the education and health care sectors. […]
A Choppy market and hardening interest rates may have taken the sheen off bank stocks. But that hasn’t put off deal makers. Federal Bank, a Kerala-based private sector bank, has bought 5% shares of Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) and is in the process of winning the support of other CSB shareholders to go for a full-fledged takeover. Federal Bank is said to have acquired these shares at Rs 250-300 per share. CSB is a small, unlisted private bank, also based in Kerala. The Federal Bank management has entered into an understanding with Chawlas — the NRI family which is the single largest shareholder group in CSB. Chances are that Federal Bank may buy out the Chawlas at a later stage, said a senior bank official. The bank has already spelt out its plans to Reserve Bank of India and on Saturday afternoon general managers of Federal Bank were briefed on the development by the management in a closed door meeting. […]
The largest Indian newpaper publishing house Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd (BCCL), which owne the Times of India group of newspapers, is planning to acquire UK-based newspaper group Trinity Mirror, newspaper reports quoting market sources said. BCCL is in talks with some large shareholders of Trinity Mirror to pick up their stakes before launching a formal offer, the reports said. Trinity Mirror Plc, one of the UK's largest newspaper groups, publishes papers like the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror and has a portfolio of more than 350 media brands, including five national newspapers, over 150 regional newspapers and 200-plus websites. The group employs over 9,000 people in more than 150 centres across the UK, including nine major printing sites, its website said. […]
JM Financial Ltd said on Friday it will sell a 12 percent stake in its fund unit, JM Financial Asset Management, to raise 1.12 billion rupees to fund expansion. “We want to increase our distribution muscle across India and that requires capital,” Vishal Kampani, director of the fund house, told Reuters in an e-mail. “We want to maintain a 25-30 percent plus growth in the AUM over the medium term,” he said, adding he was not looking at raising more capital for at least two years as the business plan was funded. The fund house has seen average assets surge more than 200 percent to 116.55 billion rupees in the last one year, far higher than the 38.1 percent growth of the industry, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India. […]
Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) has picked up a stake in Naaptol Online Shopping Pvt Ltd, owner of the portal naaptol.com , India's new entrant in the comparison based shopping portal. This web portal has brought interactivity and innovation to make purchases more exciting. Speaking about the tie-up with BCCL, Manu Agrawal, CEO Naaptol Online Shopping Pvt Ltd, said, “Our association with the media conglomerate BCCL is a strong step forward in creating the best foothold. With this association, we look forward to carve a space for naaptol.com among the best portals for online shopping.” Listed on the site are a reputed network of sellers and a trusted circle of consumers. With over 20,000 clicks each day, naaptol.com constantly endeavours to cater to the pan India shopping audience. […]
Leading e-learning solutions provider Educomp Solutions on Thursday said it would acquire 76 per cent stake in A-Plus Education Solutions for Rs 10.75 crore in the next two years. A-Plus Education is operating under the brand name 'Purple Leap' and focuses on the area of improving employability of college graduates, Educomp said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. “The company will focus on preparing students currently studying in over 15,000 colleges in the country and will make them workplace ready,” the filing said and added that Educomp would leverage its very large customer base across five million students in India, going up to 10 million by financial year 2009-10. […]
Milestone Capital Advisors, the real estate venture capital fund promoted by Ved Prakash Arya, is planning to launch a private equity fund with a corpus close to Rs 600 crore. The announcement will be made in a few weeks. The PE fund, the first from Milestone's stable, will focus on sectors such as education and infrastructure. “Right now, I am bullish on these two sectors as there is lot of scope for companies to expand and reach a mass base,” said Ved Prakash Arya, managing director, Milestone Capital Advisors. Its fourth real estate fund — Milestone Domestic Fund Part-II — has raised Rs 430 crore and will close shortly. The fund house is proposing to raise Rs 500 crore from this fund. Despite the rough market weather, the fund house's track record and investment strategy have helped in getting investor commitments, Arya said. Realty funds have been finding it difficult to raise funds from high networth individuals (HNIs) and institutions owing to a credit crisis in the US, the impact of which has been felt in India as well. […]
With the economy slowing down Indian players are looking at setting up distressed funds. Edelweiss Alternate Asset Advisors (EAAA), an arm of Edelweiss Capital is looking at launching a $200-million distressed asset fund. Other players, who already have an ARC licence, are also looking at setting up these funds. Till now, only foreign funds have been active players in this market. Siby Antony, executive VP and head-distress investments, EAAA told ET: “We propose to put in a vehicle over the next 6-9 months. We should have everything in place by December. We are not looking at retail NPAs, but SMEs and large corporates. We hope to create value in potentially viable units,” he adds. EAAA is initially looking at $200 million fund which could go up to $400 million depending on investor demand. Edelweiss is in the process of applying to the Reserve Bank of India for an asset reconstruction company (ARC) licence. Mr Antony said initially they would go with a single asset and once ARC is approved, they would go for portfolios. Others, who are in the market to raise funds, include Vision Global which has launched a $200-million fund. […]
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