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India Hospitality Corp. said on Tuesday it would buy an Indian restaurant firm and an airline catering company for about $110 million to tap demand in the fast-growing economy. India Hospitality will buy Mars Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. and SkyGourmet Catering Pvt. Ltd. from affiliates of private equity firm Navis Capital Partners and private shareholders, it said in a statement. […] Bangalore-based travel portal VIA has sold an undisclosed stake to NEA-IndoUS Capital Advisors for $5 million (Rs21 crore). This is VIA’s (earlier known as FlightRaja) first round of funding after it was formed in November 2005. It joins the ranks of MakeMyTrip and Yatra Online in Delhi and Cleartrip in Mumbai, who also roped in venture capital funding recently. VIA offers travel services, primarily airline ticketing, through multiple channels, namely offline kiosks, mobile, travel agents and the Internet. Founder-CEO, Vinay Gupta was a consultant at Credit Suisse First Boston before starting VIA. Former Thomas Cook India chief, Ashwini Kakkar, is an investor. The company books 5,000 tickets a day and will use the funds’ infusion to expand its activities into railway and bus ticketing and car rentals. […] The U.S.-based Aptuit will invest $100 million (about Rs. 400 crore) in the next four years in the Hyderabad-based Laurus Labs. It will pick up a majority stake in Laurus Lab and the joint venture will be called Aptuit Laurus. This is the b iggest-ever overseas investment in the contract research and manufacturing services space in India. Addressing presspersons here on Monday from Atlanta in the U.S., CEOs of Aptuit and Laurus, Michael A. Griffith and Satyanarayana Chava said the new drug development company —– Aptuit Laurus — would combine the expertise and infrastructure of both companies to offer integrated services, technology and manufacturing capabilities that spanned the entire drug development cycle. […] JPMorgan's real estate investment arm is in advanced talks with private Indian real estate firm Aparna Constructions & Estates Pvt. Ltd. to invest about $100 million in a project, the Economic Times reported, citing unnamed sources. The investment is likely to be made through a special purpose vehicle, the report said. […] HDFC and Barclays and announced that they would sell their entire shareholding in BPO firm Intelenet to SKR BPO Services. SKR is jointly owned by the management of Intelenet and Blackstone GVP Capital Partners, reports CNBC-TV18. In the country's largest management buyout, Blackstone and the management of Intelenet is buying the whole stake of HDFC and Barclays in Intelenet for about Rs 950 crore. […] Citigroup is keen on selling 80 percent of its business process outsourcing (BPO) arm in India for $700-$750 million, the Mint said on Tuesday, on the heels of Blackstone's acquisition of a back-office firm. Citigroup is in “advanced negotiations” with leading private equity firms for an all-cash deal for Citigroup Global Services, the newspaper said, citing investment bankers close to the deal. […] Bennett, Coleman and Co Ltd (BCCL) has acquired a stake in Bangalore-based Karuturi Networks engaged in the business of floriculture, processing foods — gherkins and information technology. Karuturi has tied up with the Future group and is looking at their outlets for marketing flowers on a revenue-share basis under a brand called Flower Express. The company plans to enter the retail space through shop-in-shops, kiosks and exclusive brand stores through tie-ups with other groups. […] CLSA Capital Partners, a private equity arm of France's Credit Agricole , has agreed to invest $20.3 million in an Indian firm which makes inverters and other power supply systems, CLSA said in a statement on Monday. CSLA ARIA Investment Partners III and CLSA Clean Resources Asia, two funds within the private equity arm, would invest in the New-Delhi-based Luminous Power Technologies for an undisclosed stake […] Private equity heavyweight Blackstone Group said on Monday it agreed to buy Indian back-office firm Intelenet Global Services Ltd. for an undisclosed sum, its first management buyout in India. U.S.-based Blackstone, which along with rival Carlyle has been grappling with stiff resistance from Indian companies unwilling to sell out, will own 80 percent of Intelenet, with the back office firm's management holding the remainder. The Economic Times newspaper said the deal could be worth $200 million, quoting unidentified sources. […] Icelandic bank Kaupthing said on Monday it had inked a deal to buy 20 percent of Indian investment services firm FiNoble Advisors Private Ltd. The purchase price was not disclosed. Kaupthing said in a statement it had an option to buy the remaining 80 percent in the New Delhi-based firm, which has 25 employees, in five years. […] |