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Valuemart Info Technologies acquired a 74% stake in Datatalk Services (India) (Datatalk) a Bangalore based IT and BPO company. The shareholders agreement with Datatalk was signed on Nov. 28, 2007. After acquisition, Datatalk will be a subsidiary of Valuemart. The acquisition will help the company to acquire premium clients and broad base our service offerings in the BPO segment. Datatalk, a Bangalore based BPO, offers direct marketing, customer acquisition and retention and telemarketing services in the domestic market to prestigious clients like Airtel, Club Mahindra, Deutsche Bank, Nestle, Pepsi, Tektronics and Zee Television among others. Datatalk currently operates a 100-seat facility, in Bangalore and will set up an additional 200-seats capacity for its clients in Bangalore and Hyderabad in the next six months. […]
Global private equity player Sequoia Capital has invested Rs 100 crore in Hyderabad-based contract research organisation GVK Biosciences. The investment comes close on the heels of Sequoia picking up an 18% stake in Hyderabad-based CRO SAI Advantium, signaling the PE major’s interest in the contract research space. GVK Biosciences plans to use the money to fund acquisitions in the CRO space and also add to its existing capacities. “We are looking at targets both in India and abroad for expanding our work. Low-cost destinations are not a priority for us because we are open to making acquisitions even in the US and Europe,” GVK Bio president Manni Kantipudi told ET. According to him, the acquisitions would be made to compliment the company’s existing activities in the pre-clinical and clinical research areas. […]
Private equity (PE) investors have become bearish on returns, according to a half-year survey conducted by private equity advisory group Deloitte Corporate Finance Services India Pvt. Ltd among 40 PE firms across September and October. A majority (52%) expected returns to decrease in the next six months compared with 23% in their survey for the first half of 2007. One survey respondent, who was not named, qualified this concern by saying: “Investments made two or three years ago that exit in the next six months will do very well. More recent vintages will see more muted returns.” Also, one in five respondents expected a decrease in new funds being raised for India. No respondent expected a slowdown in investment activity The slight cooling down in PE market sentiment largely comes from the rise in the number of PE funds in India— a phenomenon that has raised company valuations. Increasing competition has also caused PE firms to focus more on the factors that differentiate them as companies look for more than money. Despite the outlook on returns, none of the respondents expected a slowdown in investment activity (65% expected increased activity versus 84% in the last survey). […]
India Infoline announced the approval of an equity investment of USD 76.7 million (approximately Rs 3 billion) into its consumer finance subsidiary India Infoline Investment Services (IIIS) by the Singapore-based investment institution Orient Global, which will acquire a 22.5% stake. The capital will be primarily utilized for the expansion of IIIS`s subsidiaries, Moneyline, which is in the business of personal and auto loans, and India Infoline Housing Finance, which is in the business of home loans. Moneyline will make use of the group`s expansive network of 600 branches to provide credit to a large segment of the populace which currently does not have access to organized credit. Moneyline plans for an active presence in 60 cities by the end of 2008. With a combination of decentralized distribution and service, supported by centralized risk management and back office operations, Moneyline aims to leverage technology to reduce costs, deliver superior service and offer a pleasant overall borrowing experience to the customer. […]
Balaji Telefilms, Ekta Kapoor-promoted production house, plans to offload 10-15 per cent stake in its wholly owned subsidiary Balaji Motion Pictures. Sources said the company is valued at Rs 1,000 crore. Centrum Finance is said to be the financial advisor to the company. Sources added that the company is in talks with private equity investors. It is considering roping in only one private equity, instead of a cluster of investors. However, the plan is at a nascent stage. Balaji Telefilms CEO R Karthik said, “We are adequately funded to take care of our needs. We are weighing various options to fund our future growth. However, it is premature at this stage to comment on any specific instrument.” Balaji Motion Pictures in the past has produced films such as Kya Kool Hai Hum, co-produced Shootout at Lokhandwala with Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt’s banner White Feather Films. […]
Deutsche Bank, IL&FS, Lehman Brothers and Sabre Abraaj are looking to pick up an equity stake of around 10% in Ramky Estates and Farms, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Rs 1,600-crore Ramky Group. “We are in talks with these private equity funds to raise around $100 million (Rs 407 crore). The plan is to raise money in 2008,” said a company official. The Ramky group has raised around $128 million (Rs 532 crore) for two of its subsidiaries — Ramky Infrastructure and Ramky Enviro Engineers. IL&FS and Sabre Abraaj have picked up a 13.5% stake in Ramky Infrastructure for $28 million (Rs 125 crore), while Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and IL&FS have picked up a 10% stake in Ramky Enviro Engineers for around $ 100 million (Rs 407 crore). “We are looking at a similar pattern for Ramky Estates and Farms as well,” the official said. Crisil is in the process of evaluating the real estate company. […]
Private equity firm Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citigroup, National Australian Bank and Shinsei Bank are likely bidders for an equity stake in India’s oldest fund house, UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC). Close to 25 overseas institutional investors have evinced interest in picking up a stake in the country’s third largest mutual fund. UTI AMC plans to offload 20% stake through a private placement and 29% through an initial public offer. However, no single investor would be able to hold more than 5%. “Merchant bankers are in the process of readying the information memorandum which will be given out to prospective investors as a part of the pre-marketing exercise before they give their bids. However, all institutional investors will have to match the initial public offer price if it is more,” a source involved with the process told ET. The private placement is expected to be completed by January while the initial public offer is slated for February-March. The listing process has to be completed before March 31, 2008. The fund house could raise about Rs 6,000-8,000 crore through the combination of private placement and initial public offer. […]
India's Reliance Communications (RCOM) is reported to be planning to sell another 5% stake in its wireless tower business (RTIL) by the end of this year. The Economic Times reports that JP Morgan has invited bids for the stake – which it aims to sell for more than the $345 million that the company got for the 5% it sold earlier this year. The sale at the time valued the tower operations at US$6.75 billion. Reliance wants the business to achieve an enterprise valuation of US$9 billion – which would require the extra 5% to sell for at least US$450 million. The tower business currently counts Reliance' CDMA network as its prime customer and also provides services to Reliance's GSM network. There have been regular rumours that several operators are considering merging their tower operations to create an independent rival to RTIL. […]
Reliance Entertainment, part of Anil Ambani's Reliance Group (ADAG) has acquired Anirights Infomedia, an animation company based in Pune. Reliance Entertainment is planning big investments in animation projects. This acquisition boosts Reliance Entertainment's plans for the entire value chain in the entertainment business, complementing its presence in movies, music, gaming, mobile portals and radio. According to Nasscom, the Indian animation industry was estimated at $354 million in 2006 and is expected to reach $869 million by 2010. The Indian gaming industry was estimated at $48 million and is expected to cross $424 million by 2010. Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment said that the acquisition was completed sometime in the past three months, without giving a specific time or Reliance Entertainment's investment in the animation company. […]
Leading foreign investors like Goldman Sachs and Blackstone are in final stages of negotiations to buy 26% stake in India Infoline Distribution Co (IILD), the distribution subsidiary of the brokerage firm India Infoline. The investors are willing to offer $100 million for the strategic stake in IILD. The Mumbai-based broking firm’s move to offload stake comes after the proposed deal with Merrill Lynch fell through. Merrill Lynch, which had shown interest to invest in the subsidiary, later backed off citing technical reasons. When contracted by ET, India Infoline vice-president (planning and strategy) Harshad Apte confirmed that they are in talks with some funds. However, he refused to divulge any further details. “We cannot give any specific names,” he said. On Friday, shares of India Infoline rose 2.50% to close at Rs 1,114.90 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. […]
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