|
|
Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communications is understood to have acquired an African company for close to $500 million (over Rs 2,000 crore), through which it plans to offer telecom access services in Uganda. This is the third global acquisition for the company after FLAG in 2003 and Yipes in 2007, and first international acquisition as far as services are concerned. According to industry sources, the acquisition agreement is believed to have been agreed upon late last evening in London and the total deal size is likely to be higher than the $211 million for FLAG and $300 million for Yipes. Formalities of completing the acquisition are expected to be completed during the day. Reliance has recently been allowed to offer GSM technology based mobile services in India along with its existing CDMA operations through out the country. […]
Nonresident Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and Indian refiner Essar Oil are among four companies making preparations to buy a 50% equity stake in Prize Petroleum, a subsidiary of state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. Prize operates three small fields in western India and is considering a rights issue to fund its expansion. “Mittal Energy, Essar Oil, Larsen & Toubro, and Jaiprakash Associates are all doing due diligence for buying up the 50% stake of financial institutions in Prize Petroleum,” said Hindustan Petroleum Chairman Arun Balakrishnan. ICICI Bank, India's second largest lending institution, owns 45% of Prize Petroleum's equity, while mortgage firm Housing Development Finance Corp. holds the remaining 5%. Balakrishnan said his company was not interested in investing further in the explorer. […]
There is now on the ground evidence of gulf interest in the Indian equity markets. It is not just about private equity or secondary markets, gulf investors are looking at direct participation by picking up stakes in retail brokerage houses like Angel Broking and Sharekhan. NDTV has learnt that Angel Broking is making a second placement of equity and there are some new entrants in the running. In its second placement, Angel Broking will raise Rs 250 crore while the first placement last year to IFC for 12.5 per cent was done at Rs 150 crore. “We will be placing a second round of equity by the end of the year. This will be to finance the margin trading business that we are going to get into. For the first time we have seen interest from gulf investors coming in to pick up the stake and we in talks with several people,” said Dilip Thakker, Chairman, Angel Broking. […]
The chief operating officer of Dubai International Capital says the fund is thinking of investing $5 billion in India, China and Japan combined over the next three years. Anand Krishnan said also it's time to buy sluggish Japanese stocks, a news report said today. “It is a good investment opportunity,” he was quoted as saying by Japanese business daily, the Nikkei. The investment company, owned by the ruler of the booming Persian Gulf city-state, has been keen on overseas investment opportunities. […]
George Soros’, Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), Omidyar Network, and Google.org today announced that they were working together to create a $17 million (around Rs 68 crore) Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) investment company for India to create job opportunities and spur greater economic participation for a larger segment of the population. This joint investment company is expected to provide capital to small and medium businesses in underserved markets. Most of the existing SME funds make investments in the $3-$5 million range, leaving out a significant portion of this market. The investment company will target this “missing middle” with equity investments between $500,000 and $3.5 million. Many small to medium businesses lack formal funding options because of a market gap between the microloans offered by microfinance institutions and the larger investments of commercial banks and PE funders, said the press release from Google India. […]
Blackstone has acquired 10.4% stake in logistics major Allcargo Global Logistics (AGL) for Rs 242 crore. The PE major has paid Rs 934 per share, a 30% premium on the last 15-day traded price. AGL is convening a shareholders general meeting on March 19, 2008, to seek their approval. On BSE, the stock of AGL rose 8% to Rs 772.50 on Wednesday. AGL’s CMD Shashi Kiran Shetty said Blackstone could buy shares from the market and increase its stake to a shade below 15%. “We will be utilising these proceeds for the proposed capital expenditure to buy cranes and expand our inland container depot (ICD) business,” said Mr Shetty. The deal involves stake sale through equity shares, fully and compulsorily convertible debentures (FCCDs) and warrants. AGL issued 1,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each at Rs 934/share. It also issued 10.8 lakh FCCDs of Rs 10 each convertible into same number of equity shares on completion of 18 months. AGL also issued 15.13 lakh warrants of Rs 10 each convertible into same number of shares at the option of investors within 18 months. The price range was between Rs 934 and Rs 1,284 per warrant. On subscription, investors would have to pay Rs 194 per warrant. […]
After proving to be a bit hit in most Asian markets, private equity (PE) majors are lining up a bevy of ‘mezzanine funds’ for the Indian market. These funds, which are typically debt-dominated instruments with an equity “sweetner”, basically provide medium-to-long term capital to promoters without significant ownership dilution. While from the lenders’ perspective, mezzanine funds offer a measure of downside risk protection, these funds are widely predicted to gain favour with mid-cap Indian firms, where promoters would relish the opportunity of not ceding considerable shareholding while raising funds. ICICI Venture — India’s largest PE firm — is in the process of closing the country’s first mezzanine fund. ICICI Venture’s ‘India Advantage Fund VII’ would offer $110 million in its first round of fund raising, over half of which has already been committed by limited partners. The fund is among the single largest country-focused mezzanine fund in Asia’s emerging markets and the corpus could be scaled up to $1 billion in the second round of fund raising, according to industry sources. Besides, Darby Overseas Investments — the PE arm of Franklin Templeton Investments — has launched the Darby Asia Mezzanine Fund II, which has secured institutional commitments of $300 million and committed investments through an affiliate in Faridabad-based Escorts Construction Equipment Ltd. Kendall Court Capital Partners’ second fund is also said to be eyeing investments in India. […]
The Tata Group, which pioneered commercial aviation in India is getting back into the airlines business. The Tatas have struck a deal with Singapore-based BJETS to launch a private jet company. BJETS has not revealed the size of Tata Group's investment in the company. However, the Tatas will buy 50 private jets for USD 600-million from BJETS. The company expects to start flight operations in May out of Singapore. In India, operations are expected to be based out of the new Hyderabad international airport. The Vice Chairman of the Tata Group is clearly excited about the deal. “BJETS will set a new standard in the way we fly and do business in Asia. The Indian Hotels Company is very proud to be an investor in this landmark venture. This will further underline the luxury experience which the Taj is known for.” Krishna Kumar says. (Money Control) […]
US-based private equity firm Clear Trade is in talks with five entities including PFC to sell up to 25 per cent stake in its newly-launched $12 billion India-focused power and infrastructure fund. Clear Investments Power Infrastructure Fund, which starts with an initial corpus of $1 billion, would invest in the country's upcoming power and infrastructure projects. According to Clear Trade CEO Palak Jain, the firm is in talks with five entities including Power Finance Corp, Morgan Stanley and Axis Bank-promoted Axis Private Equity to dilute up to 25 per cent in the fund. Apart from Jain, the fund would be promoted by Clear Trade Managing Director Deepak Kavadia and Philip Ho, Managing Director of US-based private equity fund Cornell Capital. “We plan to liquidate 25 per cent stake in the fund to two of the five entities,” she told media over phone. […]
The government is considering a sovereign investment fund with an initial corpus of $5 billion to acquire companies abroad. The investment fund may also be used to bolster the country’s energy security by acquiring coal mines and oil and gas blocks abroad. Prime minister Manmohan Singh has issued a directive to the finance ministry in this regard, and an announcement is likely in the Budget, an official said. According to officials, one of the options available to the government is to create a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which will borrow funds from RBI in the form of long-term securities in foreign currency and lend the same to Indian companies at lower rates. Thus, RBI and the government will be able to earn more on forex reserves, which currently fetch average returns of 3.5-4%. The new fund will be on the lines of the infrastructure SPV being set up in London. It is learnt that the decision to form a fund was taken at a recent meeting of the PM’s council on trade & industry. Along with industry leaders, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, finance minister P Chidambaram and commerce & industry minister Kamal Nath were present at the meeting. The sovereign fund is part of the government’s plan to maintain high economic growth. Kuwait Investment Authority, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and Temasek Holdings are examples of such sovereign funds. Last September, China floated a $200-billion sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp. […]
|
Post your messages.Please refrain from posting offensive messages. IndiaPE accepts no liability for the consequences of your reliance on these postings and messages.
|