|
|
Rajesh Exports Ltd. plans to sell a stake to domestic and overseas funds, Chairman Rajesh Mehta said in a phone interview. The Economic Times reported De Beers and a U.S.-based fund are interested in buying 51 percent of the company and will pay a premium for the controlling stake. Rajesh Exports is India's largest exporter of gold jewelry, according to its Web site. “Several funds including foreign institutional investors have shown interest to buy a stake,'' Mehta said. “I am not willing to comment on any particular buyer or investor.'' He didn't say why he plans to sell shares. (Bloomberg) […]
Another big-ticket buyout could be on the cards. A US-based buyout fund and diamond industry giant De Beers are learnt to have evinced interest in jewellery maker and retailer Rajesh Exports for acquiring 51% stake from its promoters. According to industry sources, while the suitors are yet to make a formal bid, the separate offer by both parties will be to acquire majority control at a premium to the current market price of the listed firm. The market capitalisation of Rajesh Exports is currently at Rs 2,650 crore. The share price of the company went up by 12.4% last week to close at Rs 729.50 on BSE on Friday. An acquisition of 51%, if it goes through, will also trigger a mandatory open offer for an additional 20% of the company. It remains to be seen whether the promoters, who hold 61.5% in the company, agree to sell. When contacted by ET, Rajesh Exports’ chairman Rajesh Mehta said: “I have no comments to make on any such offers. I can only say that we recently attended an investors’ conference in the US and there is a lot of interest from FIIs in the company.” Despite repeated attempts, De Beers India country head Rajiv Bhandari could not be contacted for comments and an email query sent to him failed to elicit any response. The media contact person for De Beers Diamond Jewellery was unavailable for comment. […]
Thanks to the two big-ticket deals, Tata-Corus and Hindalco-Novelis, domestic and overseas deals are now almost equal in value, in the first half of this year. “The first half of this year has seen mergers, acquisitions and takeovers on the domestic front to the tune of $25.5 billion as against overseas deals worth $25.6 billion,” said associate director of Ernst & Young Navroz Mahudawala. He was speaking at a seminar organised by FICCI on Dynamics of Growth Through Mergers, Acquisitions & Takeover. The average size of mergers and acquisitions has grown to around Rs 300 crore recently, he added. While the telecom sector has contributed nearly 41% of M&As in India, broking and asset management have also contributed significantly in 2007. “The pharma sector contributes around 6% as the deal size in this sector is considerably small. However, the sector might have the highest number of deals among all sectors,” Mr Mahudawala said. Most of the deals are by debt method he said. […]
For the first time, private equity (PE) investments in India have crossed the $10-billion mark in a calendar year. And that too, with over three months still to go in 2007. The magnitude of the growth can be gauged by the fact that in 2006, the total value of PE deals announced stood at $7.86 billion. With the PE industry on fire and with strategic mergers & acquisitions (M&A) building on the big-budget deals struck early this year, the total value of equity deals involving Indian companies is now nudging the $60-billion mark. For the January-August period, the total value of PE deals announced stood at $10.8 billion spread over 267 deals, according to the latest dealtracker of advisory firm Grant Thornton. PE funds have been flexing their muscles in equity transactions in the country, and even surpassed strategic M&As in the value of deals struck during June and July. In June and July, PEs totalled $4.6 billion while M&As were valued at $2.66 billion. But in August, M&As clawed back with the cumulative value of deals pegged at $3.37 billion over 62 deals compared to $1.22 billion worth of PE deals through 30 deals. […]
UK-based private equity firm Bluewater International Investment Ltd plans to invest Rs 500 crore in India to tap the lucrative healthcare sector by setting up a multi-speciality hospital with a medical training centre. The company, which has already lined up multi-million dollar investments in India's real estate space, is also contemplating tie-ups with various foreign and domestic varsities for accreditation of its proposed medical training centre. “Indian healthcare sector has seen an exponential growth in the past couple of years and a lot of PE funds are eyeing the sector for their investments. Instead of investing in a running firm, we are planning to foray into the sector on our own with a planned expenditure of Rs 500 crore,” Bluewater Investments Chairman and Managing Director Ved Goswami said. He said the firm plans to set up a multi-speciality medical facility in India with equity participation from global healthcare professionals. “Though Bluewater would hold a majority stake in the venture, we would seek equity participation from various international medicine practitioners also. We also want to set up a medical training institute for which we are in the process of tying up with domestic and foreign medical schools,” he said. […]
It was a particularly trying moment in the negotiations. Blackstone, the US private equity giant, was in last-minute negotiations with the promoters of the Andhra Pradesh-based Ushodaya Enterprises, owners of Eenadu and ETV, to buy a stake in their media business. Broad details had been agreed upon and documents were being prepared when the deal makers realised that the structure can be tweaked slightly. A plain vanilla equity structure (with cash being brought in lieu of equity shares) was fine, but a higher return can be squeezed out if preference shares could be added. The question then was about the fixed dividend on the preference shares. The Blackstone team debated the issue for a long time, but it was proving to be a knotty problem. The dividend should be high enough to cover Blacktone’s interest costs otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. Akhil Gupta, the chairman and managing director of Blackstone Advisors India, didn’t bat an eyelid. “4.5%. It should be at least that much to cover the interest Blackstone is paying globally,” he told his team. In the end, they didn’t have to worry. Blackstone and Ushodaya opted for equity shares. But the incident highlighted Mr Gupta’s level of preparedness and attention to detail. […]
The members of Vadodara Stock Exchange (VSE) raised Rs 12 crore by divesting over 51% of its total equity as part of its demutualisation process. The deadline set by Sebi for the second and last set of stock exchanges to complete their demutualisation process came to an end on Friday. “With September 14, 2007, being the last date to complete the demutualisation process, VSE has completed the process well within the deadline set by market regulator,” VSE MD Dipak Raval said. Around 29 investors have picked up stake in 15-year-old regional stock exchange. Some of the investors include companies like Financial Technologies, one of the promoters of Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX). Other players include Amod Stamping, Lisa Finevest and Pratham Group company-Pratham Investment. A senior official of Reliance Group has also been allotted 2% in VSE. According to Mr Sanjiv Shah, Sebi nominee on VSE board, eight corporate houses have been allotted 26% of VSE’s total equity. “We expect that with prominent corporate houses as VSE’s shareholders, the market value of the exchange would go up further,” added Mr Shah. […]
The race for IFCI has entered the final stage with 10 bidders – both domestic and international – in the fray to acquire up to 26% stake in India's oldest financial institution. While the names of bidders will only be known on Saturday afternoon when the expression of interest is opened, the only name that was confirmed was a consortium comprising Japan's Shinsei Bank, US investor JC Flowers and state-run Punjab National Bank. PNB and IFCI had earlier agreed on a merger proposal brokered by government but deal fell through since the bank's management felt that the FI did not fit into its portfolio. But a change of management at the bank and IFCI's recovery have forced a rethink. While there were reports of Blackstone, Cargill, WL Ross and IDFC too submitting bids on the last day, at least two players – IDBI and Life Insurance Corporation – who already hold stakes and were widely expected to bid were absent. […]
The Aditya Birla Group is set to broaden the ambit of its financial services business by foraying into new segments that offer high growth. The Birlas are looking at the option of entering into real-estate funds, private-equity fund, brokerages and non-life insurance businesses, according to a source familiar with the matter. An Aditya Birla Group spokesperson declined to comment. The group is now present in life insurance, retail and corporate financing, asset management and distribution businesses. It has partnerships with Canadian financial services major Sunlife for its life insurance and asset management businesses. […]
Ipca Laboratories has acquired 100% shareholding of a small formulation product dossier registration-cum-distribution company in Australia. According to a release issued by Ipca to the BSE today, the Australian company currently holds five formulation registration dossiers. The release, however, did not mention the name of the Australian company. “The Australian company also has a wholly-owned formulation dossier registration-cum-distribution company in New Zealand currently holding three formulation registration dossiers in New Zealand,” the release added.(Business Standard) […]
|
Post your messages.Please refrain from posting offensive messages. IndiaPE accepts no liability for the consequences of your reliance on these postings and messages.
|