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ADAG hits PE road with $2 bn fund

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is hitting the private equity road braving the market turmoil. The group is promoting a $2-billion yet-to-be named fund as a standalone entity, and not as part of Reliance Capital, sources said. The group has put in place a fund team that is already chasing deals of at least $50-75 million in size. The general purpose fund has already raised over $500 million with Anil Ambani as anchor limited partner, sources added. Mr Ambani’s infusion is believed to have come from his personal holding companies – Batista and AAA. “The fund hopes to close a few transactions before achieving financial closure. It may have 4-5 LPs besides Mr Ambani himself who is not treating it as just a route for deploying his personal wealth,” a sources explained. In context, sectoral observers said Mr Ambani’s PE play may be different from his peer and Wipro Chairman Azim Premji who recently floated $1 billion PremjiInvest mainly pouring in his personal wealth. […]

Trikona Capital Expands Urban Rejuvenation Platform in India

Trikona Capital Ltd., the leading fund management firm for institutional investment in infrastructure and real estate, today announced the expansion of its urban rejuvenation platform in Mumbai to continue to foster socially conscious development. The announcement supports Trikona's overall urban rejuvenation initiative to build 100 million square feet of saleable space over the next decade. Trikona has inked a new four-acre project in Bandra, the sought after residential area adjacent to Mumbai's central business district, to fund the refurbishment of middle-class homes and the development of luxury housing. The $40 million deal is a co-investment in the project with German fund manager SachsenFonds. In the past twelve months, Trikona has developed a strong strategic partnership with the fund manager and announced sales of assets to SachsenFonds totaling $170 million. […]

PE deals in Q1 leap 50% to $2.8 bn

Private equity (PE) investments clocked $2.8 billion in the first quarter of the current financial year, an increase of 50% compared to the corresponding period in 2007-08. This is even as the PE deal activity in terms of number of deals have gone up only marginally. The biggest investment this year has been made by Aditya Birla Telecom, a subsidiary of mobile telephone services provider Idea Cellular, which raised $640 million from Providence Equity Partners. The first three months of FY’09 has registered 77 deals as against last year when 74 deals worth $1.9 billion were signed during the first quarter, according to Venture Intelligence which tracks private equity and venture capital sector in India. Telecom, infrastructure, power and healthcare sectors have seen the most number of deals last quarter besides attracting the big-ticket investments. These sectors attracted large number of deals at a time when funds have been wary of investing as the global economy is expected to slow down and there is a sharp correction in corporate valuations across sectors. […]

Jacob Ballas buys stake in Themis

Mauritius-based private equity fund New York Life Investment Management Jacob Ballas India Fund has acquired a “minority” stake in Mumbai-based drug maker Themis Laboratories for about Rs 90 crore. The unlisted private company, which develops and commercially manufactures formulations on contract basis for big domestic and multinational companies operating in India, will use the fund to expand its business into the regulated American and European markets. When contacted, company sources confirmed the development, but declined to indicate how much stake has been divested. Themis’ products account for about Rs 450 crore in the retail market, but the company’s turnover would be less than that considering that it is not directly marketing them. Themis Labs MD Janak Shah told ET the investment would help the company’s foray into the regulated markets to be a significant player in new drug delivery systems. […]

WNS buys Aviva BPO in India for $230 mln

Back-office firm WNS (Holdings) Ltd has acquired insurer Aviva's BPO in India and Sri Lanka for $230 million, the Economic Times said on Thursday, without citing sources. Mumbai-based WNS is expected to make an announcement on Thursday, the newspaper said. The acquisition of Aviva Global Services will give WNS $1 billion worth of outsourced work committed to Aviva over an eight-year period, the paper said. A spokesman for WNS called the report “speculative”. WNS will fund the buyout through a $200 million line of credit from ICICI Bank , with buyout firm Warburg Pincus , which owns a majority stake in WNS, contributing around $30 million, the paper said. WNS, which draws about half its business from British and European operations, in April acquired a British auto insurance claims-processing services provider, Call 24/7 Ltd.(Reuters) […]

LANDMARK PICKS UP 25% SHARE IN TIRUPUR PROJECT

Landmark, part of the real estate investment group of the Dalmias, has entered a mixed-use development project in Tirupur, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The project envisages 20 acres of residential, retail, commercial & hotel development with a built up area of 1.9 mn. sft., resulting in an estimated revenue of approximately USD 140 million. Landmark has taken up a 25% stake in the project, which is being set up by Prime Textiles, one of the reputed industrial groups in Tirupur. Tirupur is widely considered the “Manchester of India”, and accounts for $3 billion of knitted apparel export. Prime Textiles, manufacturers in textile sector who recently forayed into real estate, has in its fold an ideal land situated in the heart of the city that will be put to use for the project. The first phase of realty development by Prime Textile is at an advanced stage of progress. […]

75% PIPE deals giving negative returns

A whopping 75 per cent of private investments in public equity (PIPE) deals of 2007 have gone sour for their investors, according to a study by Delhi-based NEXGEN Capitals. However, there is a silver lining to the PIPE deals story in India. Banking, financial services and insurance, telecom, and retail are the sectors which seemed to have survived the market meltdown. Retail was the top performer with returns of 41 per cent. An analysis of 63 PIPE deals stuck last year shows that infrastructure sector has been the worst performer. In 2007, the infrastructure sector saw PIPE deals worth Rs 5,912 crore but the marked-to-market value of these transactions has eroded nearly 50 per cent to Rs 2,967 crore as on July 7. NEXGEN Capitals, which is the merchant-banking arm of Delhi-based brokerage SMC Global Securities, said total investment of Rs 21,857 crore in PIPE deals last year stood at Rs 19,223 crore, down 16.7 per cent. […]

Tanti group venture buys Chinese wind energy firm

Tanti group of companies, the promoters of Suzlon Energy Ltd, jointly with Bahrain-based Arcapita Bank, has acquired Honiton Energy Holdings, a Chinese wind energy firm. The company has not disclosed the value of the deal. The joint venture partners will invest $2 billion by 2012 to develop a 1,650-MW portfolio of wind farms in the Inner Mongolia region of China. The acquisition is being channelled through Colossus Holdings, a Singapore-based holding company of the Tanti group. The group directly and indirectly owns 66 per cent of Suzlon Energy, the world’s fifth leading supplier of wind turbines with a 10.5 per cent global market share. […]

WL Ross to buy fresh SpiceJet equity

Budget airline SpiceJet seems to have made some headway in its talks with the American turnaround investor Wilbur L Ross for infusion of capital in the form of equity. A source close to the development said the budget airline is considering issuing fresh equity in the name of the billionaire’s company —- WL Ross & Co. The source said that the airline board will meet on Wednesday to clear the proposal. “They (SpiceJet) are looking at issuing preferential shares to Ross & Co. The board will be meeting on Wednesday (to clear the proposal),” said the source. The price of the preferential share will be worked out on the basis of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) formula —- 26 weeks average share price or the average share price over the last 14 days, whichever is higher, the source said. […]

Japan's Nomura to pick up stake in LIC's AMC unit

Japanese fund manager Nomura Asset Management is set to pick up a stake in LIC MF Asset Management Company which manages LIC Mutual Fund. In a statement issued in Japan, Nomura Asset Management Company, the fund management unit of Nomura Holdings, said it has agreed to invest in an asset management unit of Life Insurance Corporation of India. Agency reports quoted Riyo Azechi, a spokeswoman for Nomura Asset stating that the Japanese fund manager will work together in India with LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Company on the asset management business. Speaking to ET, LIC MF chief executive Sushobhan Sarker said that a memorandum of understanding has been signed with Nomura whereby both companies would look at ways of working together. He said that the outcome of these explorations would decide whether Nomura would pick up a stake in LIC MF or not. A team comprising of officials on both sides would be constituted to take the partnership forward. […]