Wipro buys Oki arm for $2-3 million

Bangalore-based Wipro Ltd announced on 28 September it has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Oki Techno Centre Singapore Pte Ltd (OTCS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of OKI Electric Industry Co Ltd.

“Wipro has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Oki Techno Centre Singapore Pte Ltd, including its intellectual Property Rights in an all cash deal over a period of one year,” a company statement said.Although the company did not mention the financial details of the deal, sources said it has acquired OTCS for $2-3 million.OTCS is a 40-member centre, with customers in Japan in the product engineering space.

Read more in The Livemint article.

Carlyle, TPG eye NIIT Tech pie

New Delhi-based IT company NIIT Technologies is learned to be in preliminary discussions with private equity players Carlyle and TPG to sell a majority stake. Industry sources said a strategic investor is also believed to be interested in the transaction.

Promoters currently hold 40% stake in NIIT Technologies and sources said they may sell anywhere between 25% and 40% in the company. This would trigger an open offer, where investors can buy an additional 20% in the company.

The company had earlier said that it is open to a stake sale to a financial or a strategic investor. “The company will dilute 25% out of the nearly 40% stake held by promoters to a strategic investor and this has been our position. This will naturally lead to an open offer.

With the company having a market capitalisation of Rs 1,309 crore, a 60% stake in the company will cost around Rs 1,000 crore, depending on the premium that investors are willing to pay the promoters.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

UBS, ICICI offload Deccan Aviation stake

UBS Securities, ICICI Ventures and ICICI Bank today sold a part of their shareholding in Deccan Aviation, owner of the low-cost Air Deccan airline.In a series of bulk deals, Money Matters bought all the shares sold by the three entities for nearly Rs 102 crore.

While UBS Securities sold 1.79 per cent stake, ICICI Ventures offloaded 2.31 per cent stake. ICICI Ventures holds shares in Air Deccan through Western India Trustees and Executor Company. ICICI Bank sold 0.91 per cent stake.Prior to the sell-of ICICI Ventures held 6.78 per cent stake, UBS had 2.53 per cent and ICICI Bank 1.05 per cent.

ICICI Bank and UBS sold the Deccan shares at Rs 150 each, and ICICI Ventures sold the shares at Rs 149.96 each.ICICI got Rs 46.9 crore from the sale, UBS got Rs 36.5 crore and ICICI Bank Rs 18.6 crore.

The sale has happened at a time when Vijay Mallya’s UB Group is scaling up its shareholding in Deccan Aviation through a 20 per cent open offer. Priced at Rs 155 a share, the offer was triggered with the Kingfisher group acquiring a 26 per cent stake in the airline. The offer will close on October 1.

Lupin acquires Rubamin Labs

Lupin, the country’s biggest maker of tuberculosis medicines, has bought Baroda-based Rubamin Laboratories (RLL), which will give it an entry into the global contract research and manufacturing services (CRAMS) business. The deal size was not disclosed.

Rubamin manufactures advanced intermediates and specialises in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used in drug-making. The eight-year-old company has a wide customer base in Europe. It has a turnover of about $10 million.RLL belonged to the Rubamin Group, whose main business is mining and metallurgy in India and Congo in Central Africa. RLL was hived into a separate company last year.

Sathish Khanna, president, API, Lupin Group, said Lupin was strong in cephalosporins (antibiotics) and the TB drug range and Rubamin specialised in areas Lupin did not operate, which made it a perfect acquisition.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Merrill Lynch, Citigroup buy 10% in MCX

Global financial services firms Merrill Lynch and Citigroup have picked up five per cent stake each in the country's biggest commodity exchange MCX for a total of about Rs 480 crore.

Financial Technologies (India) Ltd, the parent company of Multi Commodity Exchange of India, sold the stake. FTIL has also entered into agreements to offload three per cent and two per cent stake to two foreign funds - Passport India Investment (Mauritius) and GLG Financials Fund, respectively.The transactions put the enterprise value of MCX at over USD 1.1 billion (Rs 4,400 crore).

FTIL will get about Rs 720 crore from selling 15 per cent stake in MCX, an exchange official said. With the sale, FTIL's shareholding in MCX will come down to 49 per cent, he added.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Deutsche Bank buys 25% in Lodha's SPV

In What could be one of the largest property deals in India, Deutsche Bank Singapore has picked up around 25% stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) owned by Mumbai-based developer Lodha Group for Rs 1,700 crore.

The SPV will set up three FDI-compliant real estate projects over 70 acres in Thane and Dahisar. The Lodha group is currently developing as many as 27 realty projects. The deal is believed to be the single-largest FDI in the real estate sector in India by a financial investor till date.

Sources said investment banking firm Trustcap was the advisor to the transaction.In a separate deal, ICICI Ventures has also picked up a 25% stake in Lodha group’s Simtools property in Thane for Rs 100 crore. Early this year, Tata group firm Voltas had sold its subsidiary Simtools to Lodha Developers. The Lodha group is now developing the property as a real estate project. The Deutsche Bank transaction is the third private equity investment in the Lodha group. Apart from Deutsche

Bank and ICICI Ventures, JP Morgan had invested Rs 274 crore in a debt-cum-equity deal in Lodha Bellissimo — a premium residential property, developed at Apollo Mills in Vile Parle, which the group acquired from National Textile Corporation.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Core Projects to pick up 3 cos for $45 mn

Core Projects and Technologies is buying out US-based KC Management Group, which provides schools management systems, for nearly $30 million; UK-based Azzurri, an educational software provider, for nearly $12 million, and Hamlet Computer Group, an assessment administration systems maker, for $3 million, in all cash transactions.

With its current acquisitions, the company is now looking to change its focus placing itself as an education solutions provider from its earlier approach of being a multi-sector IT solutions provider. The company had raised nearly $80 million through overseas convertible bonds in May and earmarked $60 million for acquisitions.

Core Projects and Technologies director Hari Iyer said the company’s strategy is now become clearer after nearly two years of being in the IT sector and it now aims to have 75% revenues coming from education solutions. He also said the company has planned to shift a majority of its product development by the newly acquired companies to its India development centre, thereby increasing its India staff strength to nearly 1,000 people by the year end.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Mallya buys 50% in Epic Aircraft

Vijay Mallya, chairman, United Breweries (Holdings, has bought a 50 per cent strategic stake in Epic Aircraft for $120 million (about Rs 480 crore)), according to a statement by the UB Group.Mallya, whose UB Group owns the full-service carrier Kingfisher Airlines and also has a 26 per cent in Deccan Aviation (which owns budget carrier Air Deccan), has made the investment in Epic in his personal capacity.

Epic Aircraft, a unit of Aircraft Investor Resources LLC, manufactures private business jets with single and twin engines, capable of carrying six to seven people.While Mallya’s initial focus would be on the US market, which is the largest with 11,000 of 14,000 business jets in the world, he will also use this acquisition to tap the business jets market in India.

As India Inc looks to acquire assets abroad, its CEOs are looking for corporate jets that will fly them to destinations quicker and more comfortably.

Last year, licences were given to 100 people for import of private jets. India has about 150 business jets and it is expected that about 500 would be added in the next 4-5 years.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to certify Epic’s planes. According to sources, Mallya plans to take the help of Airbus to speed up the certification process.

Epic Aircraft hopes that its single-engine turboprop, dubbed Epic Dynasty, will be certified by Canada next year, and it hopes to get certification from the US FAA thereafter.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Alok Industries converts FCCBs worth $2 mn

Alok Industries Ltd has received a notice for conversion of 40 foreign currency convertible bonds totaling $2 million into equity shares.The company has issued 13,64,037 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 61.5875 per share against the FCCBs. The number of FCCBs and amount outstanding following the conversion stands at 894 and $44.70 million, respectively.

Paid up equity capital of Alok Industries has increased to 17,17,36,011 equity shares of Rs 10 each from 17,03,71,974 equity shares of Rs 10 each following the conversion.

Yatra to raise fresh capital of Rs840 cr

Euronext NA-listed Yatra Capital, an India-focused real estate fund, is planning to raise a fresh capital of €150 million (Rs840 crore).This will be Yatra’s second fund. The first fund of €100 million was raised in December 2006. The new fund offer opened on Tuesday and is expected to close over the next three weeks, said Yatra’s founder and managing director, Ajoy Kapoor. The offer consists of a public offering in the Netherlands and a private placement with institutional investors. Since raising its initial capital, Yatra has committed to or acquired investments totalling €88.4 million, mostly in tier-II cities such as Pune. It also has €77.46 million euros of investments in the works.

ABN AMRO Rothschild and Fairfax IS Plc. are the joint global coordinators and joint book-runners to the issue. Yatra has so far invested in 10 properties in tier-II and III cities and is looking for opportunities in major metros. It also is evaluating opportunities in smaller tier-IV towns.

Read more in The Live Mint article.

Praj Ind promoter sells 8.01% stake to Tata Sons

Praj Industries Ltd today announced that its promoter Pramod Chaudhari and his family sold 13.42 million shares, or 8.01% of the distillation equipment maker’s equity, to Tata Sons Ltd in a block deal.Bombay Stock Exchange data showed there was a block deal of 13.46 million Praj shares at Rs251 each in early trade.

“The subject in which we are specialising is of subject of interest world wide,” Chaudhari, the company’s chairman, told a television channel on the interest of investors in the company.

Earlier this year, the board had approved a joint venture with Europe’s Aker Kvaerner Netherlands BV and said it expected its revenue to be Rs1,000 crore in 2007-08.The company was also considering acquisition in Brazil.

Russia's Sistema buys 10% stake in Shyam Telelink

In another round of consolidation, the Russians have arrived to participate in the Indian telcom services sector. Russian telecom major Sistema has acquired 10 per cent stake in Shyam Telelink - the basic telecom services provider in the state of Rajasthan. Shyam Telelink is a group firm of Shyam Telecom.

The deal value could not be immediately ascertained. But the Russian major plans to increase the stake to 51 per cent subject to approval from the Foreign Investment and Promotion Board. The long-term plan is to take the stake up to 74 per cent, as is allowed under the FDI policy.

Shyam Telelinks, that provides services under the Rainbow & Citymobile brand names in Rajasthan, has applied for nationwide mobile licenses.

FTto set up corp bond bourse

Financial Technologies, which is also the promoter of commodities derivatives exchange MCX, has submitted the proposal to the Securities and Exchange Board of India,plans to set up an exchange for illiquid corporate bonds.The company recently got the government approval to set up an energy exchange

The move is a part of Financial Technologies strategy to take advantage of opportunities in the business of running exchanges. The company also has plans to start an exchange for trading in shares of small and medium enterprises.

The company, which also holds 49 per cent stake in the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange, recently received the go-ahead from the CentralElectricity Regulatory Commission to set up Indian Energy Exchange. The proposal submitted by Financial Technologies envisages a demutualised exchange, wherein strategic and financial investors would hold equity stakes. An official spokesperson of Financial Technologies declined to comment.

According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) data, trading in corporate bonds, including over the counter trades and trading through exchanges, stood at Rs 53,664.26 crore between January and August.

In this month (till September 20), the trading stood at Rs 532.66 crore. Market sources said in the absence of primary market reforms, actual trading in bonds would not take place and even a separate corporate bond exchange is set up, it would only diversify the present trading.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

DLF applies for pan-India telecom licence

DLF, the country's largest realty developer, today applied for nationwide telecom licences, days before the Department of Telecom (DoT) is supposed to stop accepting applications.Communications minister A Raja had recently said that DoT would not accept any applications after October 1.

DLF is the fourth realty company to have thrown its hat into the ring for telecom licences in recent days. While Parsvnath Developers was the first realty company to apply in August, Unitech said it would apply for a licence last week. This week, Indiabulls and DLF have also said they intend to apply for licences.

Indiabulls Group firm to diversify into retail, power, telecom

Property developer Indiabulls Real Estate (IREL), a part of the Indiabulls Group, on Wednesday announced its plans to foray into the power, retail and telecom businesses.

IREL plans to open 30 stores in the initial phase which would sell household items in Tier-II and Tier-III cities of the country.On the 500 MW power project in North Maharashtra, Banga, Spokesman for IREL said the construction work would commence soon and the plant would go on stream in two years.Moreover, IREL has also applied for licences to launch telecommunication services in 22 regions of the country.

Meanwhile, in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today, IREL said it will issue 4.3 crore convertible warrants within the next 24 months to its three promoters and two Joint Managing Directors to garner Rs 2,322 crore to fund these proposed ventures.Company Chairman Sameer Gehlaut will invest Rs 1,080 crore and would be allotted two crore warrants, it said in its release.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

US fund to pick up stake in Angel Infin Private

A US-based private equity fund is close to picking up a minority stake in Angel Infin Private, the holding company of domestic brokerage house Angel Broking.

International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private equity arm of World Bank, is another strong contender in the race. Two private equity investors, one each from Europe and Asia respectively, have also evinced an interest in the stake sale.

The due diligence process has been completed and only the final financial negotiations remain, according to sources. The deal is likely to be formally announced shortly. The valuation of the group is close to Rs 1,200-1,300 crore.

The new investor will be issued fresh equity in Angel Infin Private. Angel expects to raise Rs 150 crore from the investor to fund its retail expansion, taking the number of its branches from 80 to 260 in smaller cities.

The company plans to garner around Rs 250 crore through private placement in two tranches. It will raise around Rs 150 crore in the first tranche by diluting around 10-15 per cent. In the second tranche, by next year, it would mobilise another Rs 100 crore by diluting 5-7 per cent holding.

Read more in The Business standard article.

Mittal to invest $20 bn in steel plants in India

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Niwas Mittal has pledged an investment of about 20 billion dollars for building two 12-million-tonne steel plants in India, where the demand for the commodity is growing rapidly.

Arcelor Mittal, world's largest steelmaker, will spend 35 billion dollars on capacity expansion of steel plants across the world, the company CEO said in an interview with the Financial Times.

According to the report, Mittal believed that two plants in India made sense in a country where the demand for steel was growing fast, even though many in the industry had assumed that only one of the two projects would go ahead.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Essar Communications to raise $3.95-bn syndicated loan

Essar Communications, Ruias-promoted telecom company and partner of UK giant Vodafone in India, is planning to raise $3.95 billion of syndicated loan.The loan proceeds would help Essar monetise its liquidity rights agreed with Vodafone as part of the British company's acquisition of Indian mobile operator Hutchison Essar, now known as Vodafone Essar, earlier this year.The funds would also be used for partly refinancing the existing debt and to fund further investment and expansion plans of the group.

Vodafone had acquired a controlling stake in Hutch Essar earlier this year for $10.9 billion from Hong Kong- based Hutchison Telecom International Ltd (HTIL).

The loan was launched by arrangers BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Commerzbank and Standard Chartered on Monday, a statement said here. The fully-underwritten deal would mature in December 2011 and pays a margin of 90 basis points over LIBOR.

Citigroup PE in race for group BPO subsidiary

Private equity player Citigroup Venture Capital (CVC) is learnt to have entered the race for buying Citigroup’s BPO arm — Citigroup Global Services. Sources in the industry say BPO majors Genpact and WNS Holdings and PE firm CVC are the final three players who are interested in the transaction. While NYSE-listed Genpact is believed to be as the front-runner in the deal, CVC may benefit from being part of the Citigroup family.

Citigroup has put its captive BPO outfit, Citigroup Global Services, on the block for some time but valuation of the deal and the lack of commitment of future business from Citigroup is making the transaction protracted.

While valuation was earlier learnt to be hovering around $750-800 million, sources say it has now come down to $600 million. The captive is expected to report revenues of about $200 million this year. This means a valuation of three times its revenues.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Reliance Logistics in JV with Concor

Reliance Logistics (RLPL), an associate company of Reliance Industries, and the public sector Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) have forged a 51:49 joint venture company to provide end-to-end logistics solutions to manufacturers, traders and retailers across the country.

Christened Infinite Solutions, the new JV company will provide customised and standard container transportation by road and rail, distribution and related ancillary services. The company is planning significant investments in trucking, warehousing and material handling equipment assets.

Notz Stucki in race for ICICI’s 63% stake in Infomedia

Notz Stucki, one of the largest asset managers in Europe, has joined the race for ICICI Venture’s 63% stake in Infomedia (formerly Tata Infomedia). Private equity funds such as General Atlantic, Blackstone and Warburg Pincus have also shown interest to buy out ICICI Venture’s stake in the media firm.

The buyer of ICICI Venture’s stake will have to make an open offer, and shell out upwards of Rs 400 crore. On Thursday, Infomedia’s shares closed at Rs 233.90 on BSE, taking the market capitalisation to Rs 461crore.

In India, Notz Stucki is managed by a team led by Anil Singhvi, former managing director of Ambuja Cements. “Notz Stucki is one of the serious contenders for Infomedia,” sources close to the development said.

ICICI Venture acquired Tata’s 50% stake in Infomedia India in 2003 for Rs 123 crore. It later acquired an additional 13% through an open offer.Infomedia publishes the popular business directory Yellow Pages and some well-known niche magazines.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Maruti gets board's nod for joint venture

Passenger car maker Maruti Udyog, which has been renamed Maruti Suzuki, has secured the nod from India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board to establish a joint venture with a Japanese firm for exhaust system components.

The 49:51 joint venture with Japan's Futaba Industrial Company will manufacture exhaust system components at a factory to be set up at Manesar in Haryana with an investment of close to Rs.2 billion ($50 million), official sources said.

Futaba is a leader in exhaust system components for automobiles, in areas such as tubular and fabricated exhaust manifolds, exhaust pipes, catalytic converters and mufflers.The proposal will be put up before Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for a formal nod.

Morepen inks deel with Avenue, to raise Rs 140cr

Morepen Laboratories today said it will raise Rs 140 crore through the issue of equity shares and warrants to US-based Avenue Capital Group and its promoters.
"The entire Rs 140 crore being brought in by the company as fresh capital will be utilised for repayment to banks under Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) scheme for which a settlement has already been arrived at," the company informed BSE.

"Morepen Laboratories today announced the signing of a deal with Avenue Capital through its subsidiary G L India Mauritius III for a 14.99% stake in the company," it added.

As per share subscription agreement signed today, Avenue Capital is subscribing 3.85 crore shares at Rs 20 each for Rs 77.06 crore. In addition to this, the US fund would also subscribe to warrants up to 5% of the enhanced capital base for Rs 27.04 crore.

Besides, promoters would subscribe to warrants that can be converted into 10 crore equity shares, for Rs 60 crore.Post subscription the promoter's stake in the company would stand at 46%, G L India Mauritius (Avenue Capital) would hold 14% and the public holding would be 38%.

FT, PTC India to launch power exchange

Financial Technologies India and PTC India have received approval from the central electricity regulatory commission to set up India's first national level power exchange, Indian Energy Exchange Ltd for trading electricity.Indian Energy Exchange will be a pan-India neutral and transparent electronic demutualized exchange for efficient price discovery in the electricity market.

PTC India has consented to take 26 per cent stake and corporates like Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Rural Electrification Corporation, Adani Enterprises and IDEC will also hold stake in the consortium. The company will invite strategic partners to join the power exchange.

The power exchange will benefit market participants such as the generators, distribution licensees, open access users, trading licensees, industrial consumers, system operators and bankers in many ways.Currently, short term trading constitutes only 3 per cent of the total energy market as against over 15 per cent globally.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Pipavav Shipyard to raise $125m

Punj Lloyd and SKIL Infrastructure, co-promoters of Pipavav Shipyard (PSL), are raising $125 million private equity through pre-IPO deals.

After New York Life, 2i Capital and Trikona Capital infused $75 million — $25 million each — PSL has now roped in Citadel, the $17-billion US fund, and is in final talks with AIG for $25 million each, to take the total PE investments to $125 million.

The shipyard, currently being built at Pipavav, on the Gujarat coast, has attracted many financial investors. Sources said the five US-based investors will cumulatively hold around 40% in PSL, which claims to build a 600-metre-long dry dock, the third-largest in the world after Hyundai’s yard in South Korea and Dubai Drydocks. Dry dock in shipping parlance means a yard for repairs.

PSL is lining up Rs 800 crore (around $200 million) initial public offering (IPO) in the next 2-3 months. It will sell around 10% stake in the IPO. Post IPO, its paid-capital is expected to be around Rs 500 crore. IDBI, IL&FS and Exim will hold around 12%.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Carlyle, Citi eye 15% in Pyramid Saimira

Private equity majors Carlyle Group and Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI) are in the race to acquire a 15 per cent equity stake in Pyramid Saimira Theatre, a Chennai-based theatre chain company.

Pyramid Saimira Theatre is offloading a 15 per cent stake to the private equity investors at around Rs 420 to Rs 445 a share, which is nearly 31.6 per cent premium to the current market price of Rs 338.Sources said two more investors were also in talks with the company for the stake.

In addition to the 15 per cent stake in the listed entity, the group was also likely to sell around 15-20 per cent stake in its unlisted production company, Pyramid Saimira Production.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

OOH Media acquires AdImpact

OOH Media, India’s largest out-of-home television company, has acquired AdImpact, a premier OOH television company based in Mumbai.OOH Media has 3,000 screens across 22 markets in India. With this acquisition OOH Media will get an additional 1,200 screens of AdImpact.AdImpact is now a 100 per cent subsidiary of OOH Media.

Ishan Raina, CEO, OOH Media said, “AdImpact has some wonderful properties, including key Nariman Point buildings, INOX nationally and other excellent properties across Mumbai and Bangalore. These properties are prime location for us and it is always an advantage to own these sites.”

The out-of-home television segment in India is in a nascent stage and has only 4,500 screens till date. “This is just the beginning. Five hundred to 600 screens are being added every month,” Raina said.OOH Media has plans to go public in the next two or three years.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

L&T plans to pick up stake in Feedback

Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the country’s largest infrastructure company, is close to acquiring a stake in Feedback Ventures, a leading integrated infrastructure services firm. L&T’s investment vehicle for the acquisition will be the newly formed L&T Infrastructure Finance.

Sources in the know of the development said L&T Infrastructure’s investment in Feedback would be strategic in nature and bring both the companies closer in the future.Mission Holdings, a group of people who founded the New Delhi-based Feedback Ventures, holds 36 per cent stake. Other shareholders of the closely held company include DLF, HDFC, IDFC and the Thapar group outfit, NewQuest Corporation.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

DRL to bid for US-based Bradley Pharma: Srcs

Dr Reddy's has moved one notch closer to buying out US based generic drug maker Bradley pharma but, a few other big players pose a challenge to the deal.

The battle for US based generic drug maker Bradley pharma is intensifying. The Indian challenge is from Dr Reddy's Labs, which is learnt to have moved into, round two of the bidding process. Bradley’s product portfolio includes a few high profit margin dermatology products and that’s expected to benefit Dr Reddy's. But, that portfolio has attracted attention from Archimedes Pharma and Nycomed. Archimedes is a company promoted by private equity giant Warburg Pincus while Nycomed has the backing from Blackstone.

Read more in The Moneycontrol article.

DLF Assets to raise $1 bn from overseas listing

Billionaire real estate tycoon K P Singh, whose flagship firm DLF recently went public with India's largest IPO, is looking to list his another closely held group company DLF Assets with a one billion dollar issue.DLF Assets is expected to file for REIT (real estate investment trust) IPO in Singapore next month, the company sources said.

DLF Assets, which has been set up for holding completed commercial assets, is owned by DLF Ltd's promoters. It is independent of DLF Ltd. DAPL was set up for bidding along with other companies in potential assets sales by DLF Ltd.

DLF Assets Pvt Ltd (DAPL) had earlier received an investment of 400 million dollars and 200 million dollars from global investing firm D E Shaw and a fund sponsored by investment banking firm Lehman Brothers respectively.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Citigroup's hedge fund unit eyes KVK Energy

Citigroup Inc.’s hedge fund unit Old Lane LP plans toinvest Rs 1.06 billion ($26 million) in India’s KVK Energy & Infrastructure Pvt., as the world’s second-fastest pace of economic growth lures investors.

Old Lane, bought this year by Citigroup, may acquire 26 per cent of KVK Energy, which builds power projects, company secretary Ram Mohan said in a telephone interview from Hyderabad, where KVK Energy is based. He didn’t give a timeframe.

An Indian panel this week will consider proposals from KVK Energy and 17 other companies seeking to invest in India or sell stakes to overseas buyers, according to information posted by the industrial policy department of the government.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Infosys linked to buyout talks for UK's Sage

Infosys Technologies is in the thick of yet another European buy-out rumour --this time involving the UK-based Sage Group.British publications have reported that Sage's stock price on the London Stock Exchange went up on Tuesday on talk that Infosys, CapGemini orsoftware giant Microsoft may be interested in acquiring the company.

The publications said that a couple of institutions picked up shares in Sage even as retail investors in the Britain were rushing out of banking-related stocks following the run on Northern Rock bank.

Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, the Sage Group is a supplier of accounting, payroll, CRM and business management software for large, medium and small size enterprises.

Read more in The Times of India article.

Neha to acquire 3 floriculture firms

Neha International Ltd, a Hyderabad-based floriculture company that exports cut-flowers, plans to acquire three floriculture companies based in Ethiopia.
Neha will acquire a 100% stake in the Mauritius-based Globeagro Holdings, which holds a 99% stake in Alliance Flowers Plc., and 50% stake each in Holetta Roses Plc. and Oromia Wonders Plc.

Neha proposes to offer 75.22 lakh shares of Rs10 each at a price of Rs42 per share, amounting to Rs31.59 crore, to the promoters of Globeagro Holdings. The balance, of some Rs9 crore, would be paid in cash in phases, he said. The transaction is expected to be complete by December.

Neha also plans a preferential offer to its promoters and associates to raise the Rs27.5 crore of funds required to meet the new capital expenditure and working capital needs of the company. “We hope to get consent for these moves at our AGM (annual general meeting) on 10 October. With the cross-border acquisitions, we expect profitability and turnover to go up significantly,” Reddy said.

Read more in The Livemint article.

Biggest-ever rally, Sensex ends above 16K

The Sensex opened with a bang at a new all-time high of 15,941 - up 272 points from its previous close - on the back of positive global cues.

The US Fed, on Tuesday, cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points, for the first time in four years, to 4.75%. A move that resulted in a strong rally across the globe.

The buying momentum was so strong that the Sensex soon crossed a new landmark of 16,000, and went on to extend gains as the day progressed. The index hit an all-time, intra-day high at 16,335 - up 666 points from the previous close.The Sensex finally ended with its biggest-ever single-day gain of 654 points at 16,323.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

UTI AMC to sell 49 pc stake through IPO

Leading mutual fund player UTI AMC on Wednesday said its board has approved a proposal to sell 49 per cent stake through an Initial Public Offer by the end of this fiscal.This will be the first-ever public offer by a mutual fund house in the country.

The four sponsor companies, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, LIC and Bank of Baroda, own 25 per cent stake each in UTI AMC. Post-IPO, their combined holding will come down to 51 per cent.The decision to go for an IPO was taken by the company's board at its meeting yesterday. The government had earlier cleared the IPO proposal.

The mutual fund house was formed after splitting the then UTI following a fiasco in its flagship scheme, US-64, in 2001.he proceeds of the issue will be used to fuel the company's increasing business needs.

Blackstone, GE Capital, HDFC expected to bid for stake in IFCI

Manager of the world’s biggest buyout fund Blackstone Group LP., General Electric Capital Corp. and a group led by billionaire Wilbur Ross are among investors who may bid for a 26% stake in India’s oldest state-owned project financier, the Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd (IFCI).

Ross’s group, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Standard Chartered Plc. and Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC), is vying with Cargill Financial Services Corp., Natixis SA and Newbridge Asia HT LP, IFCI said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The successful bidder would gain access to a market where lending grew 28% last year, and where the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) limits foreign banks’ ownership of local private rivals to 5%.IFCI, which was bailed out by the government in 2003 because of bad debts, in July announced plans to sell a stake to a local or overseas investor to bolster its capital.

Other potential bidders for a stake in IFCI include a group comprising Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd and Morgan Stanley, and a team consisting of Japan’s Shinsei Bank Ltd, India’s Punjab National Bank Ltd and J.C. Flowers & Co., IFCI said. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and Infrastructure Development Finance Co. (IDFC) may also submit offers, the lender said.

Read more in The Livemint article.

Genpact leads pack in race for Citi BPO

An end to the long search for Citigroup BPO’s buyer finally seems to be in sight. Genpact is said to be ahead in the race for the BPO. The decision is expected by the month end. Firstsource and WNS also remain in contention, according to sources.

According to sources, the final valuation will depend on a number of parameters, including the number of years for which Citigroup is willing to give the BPO-committed business. It is currently looking at giving a contract for five years.

However, a final decision is yet to be taken. While the valuation being quoted in industry circles is around $850 million, it could be higher or lower depending on how long the contract would be. Sources also indicated the payment for the deal is likely to be a mix of cash and shares in the winning company.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Indian drug makers eye US firm Par Pharma

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Lupin Ltd and Wockhardt Ltd were named as potential bidders by the Times of India and the Economic Times who are in the race to acquire US-based generic drug maker, Par Pharmaceutical Co Inc.

The Times of India, citing unidentified sources, said Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's Laboratories had withdrawn from the race after showing initial interest in the US generics firm, which is valued at about $700 million.The Economic Times said Ranbaxy may be the front runner.

The spokeswoman for Dr Reddy's said the company was never interested in Par Pharma, while the spokesman for Ranbaxy declined comment.Lupin, Wockhardt and Sun Pharma also declined comment.

Ranbaxy, India's top drug maker by sales, said last month that the United States was one of the regions where it was seeking an acquisition.

RBI may block Citi`s plan to buy 3% in NSE

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may block Citibank India’s proposal to pick up 3 per cent stake in the National Stock Exchange (NSE).Citigroup already holds 2 per cent in the exchange.

A source close to development said the bank proposed to buy shares from the State Bank of India group, which holds 12 per cent (9 per cent by the State Bank of India and 3 per cent by subsidiary, SBI Caps).The bank has submitted a proposal to the RBI.

The banking regulator is of the view that Citibank India is a member of the Citigroup, which already owns 2 per cent stake in the NSE. Therefore, granting permission to Citibank India may lead to conflict of interest among related entities holding stake in the same entity.

As per the demutualisation norms, an individual entity cannot hold more than 5 per cent stake in an exchange. SBI and SBI Capital Markets have already pared their stake by 3 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively ,thus bringing down the combined stake to 12 per cent from 17 per cent earlier.

NSE has institutional holding from SBI, Industrial Development Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank.Thus, NSE has already offloaded 26 per cent stake in favour of foreign investors as permissible under the foreign direct investment norms for stock exchanges.

EXL readies for European buy

EXL Services, a leading business process outsourcing (BPO) company, is on an expansion spree to cater to its US and UK clients. It is planning to acquire a financial BPO outfit in eastern Europe for about of $15 million (around Rs 60 crore). Plans are also afoot to set up another BPO unit in the Philippines, primarily to expand its voice portfolio in the region, for which it will invest around $7 million (around Rs 28 crore).

Rohit Kapoor, president and COO, EXL Services, said, “We are planning to set up a 500-seat facility in the Philippines within the next 4 to 6 months and the centre will primarily expand our voice services for the existing set of our US clients.”

Also keen to add an operating BPO or captive unit in eastern Europe in the next 12 months, EXL feels the cost of acquiring an agent organically is much higher at $20,000 a year compared with $5,000 a year in India. “A running business should give us a readymade clientele and business know-how. We are eyeing companies with revenues of around $10-25 million,” said Kapoor.

The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, which contributes nearly half of EXL’s revenues, clearly remains a key buyer of the company’s outsourcing services in the UK, with companies driven to reduce their costs further and skills shortages through outsourcing.

Read more in The Business standard article.

Patni stake sale stalled

Mumbai-based Patni Computer System’s stake sale has been stalled, perhaps indefinitely, according to sources close to the development.

The reason for the delay has been attributed to a lack of “common meeting ground” between the brothers. “While the two brothers kick-started the stake sale, they now do not want to dilute their entire stake in the company and want to continue having some rights and privileges in the company,” said the source.

It has been rumoured that private equity players such as the Texas Pacific Group and Apax Partners were in the final lap of purchasing the shares of the two Patni brothers and that due diligence was in progress.

The two Patni brothers — Ashok and Gajendra — who want to sell their stake, together own about 29 per cent stake in the company, which is the country’s sixth largest IT services company. While General Atlantic Partners, which holds a 16.38 per cent stake in the company, has no plans to exit in the immediate future, as a financial investor, it will consider a stake sale if the price is attractive. Other institutions holding stake in the company include Merrill Lynch and UBS. However, any stake sale will be possible only after receiving Narendra Patni’s consent since he has the first right of refusal. Sources said that even if Narendra Patni did agree to a stake sale by his brothers, he was unwilling to give up control over the company.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Indian Hotels buys 10% in Orient-Express

Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), the owner of the Taj chain of hotels, has acquired a 10 per cent stake in the NYSE-listed Orient-Express Hotels for nearly Rs 850 crore through open market operations.

This acquisition may be a precursor to an association with Orient-Express, which owns or part-owns and manages 35 hotels in 25 countries.

The Tata group company has also written a letter to James B Hurlock, chairman of the Orient-Express board, seeking an appointment to discuss a possible alliance with the company.

Sources in the know of the development said IHCL might scale up its stake in Orient-Express, depending on the outcome of the meeting. Samsara Properties, an IHCL subsidiary which has bought the shares of Orient-Express, has borrowed enough funds to scale up holding.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Tata Investment Corp hits 20% upper circuit on open offer

Tata Investment Corporation hit 20 per cent upper circuit early on Monday after Tata Sons made an open offer of Rs 600 per share to public share holders to acquire additional 29.29 per cent stake.

At 10:06 am, Tata Investment was at Rs 540.10, up Rs 90 with volume of 1550 shares. The open offer is at 33 per cent premium to the share’s closing price of Rs 450 on Friday on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

This price is also well in excess of the minimum price of Rs 439 based on SEBI formula, as per the announcement on the BSE website. Tata Sons and other Tata companies currently hold 60.61 per cent in Tata Investment Corporation.

This will not result in de-listing the company's shares from the stock exchange.

De Beers eyes 51% in Rajesh Exports

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.

The Bangalore-based Rajesh Exports shot into the limelight in 2004 when its revenues jumped more than 13 times in a single year to close at about Rs 3,000 crore.This was due to the commissioning of its new Bangalore-based manufacturing unit, the world’s largest jewellery making unit. The market capitalisation of the company too has shot up from just about Rs 43 crore in FY03 to Rs 2,650 crore now.


Read more in The Economic Times article

Cabin crew schools eye IPOs, PE deals

Three firms that train cabin crew and other staff for India’s booming aviation sector are looking to sell shares as part of an initial public offering (IPO) next year to raise money to fund their expansion plans. Some of the firms are also wooing private equity (PE) funds.
Air Hostess Academy Pvt. Ltd (AHA), Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training and Avalon Aviation Academy are the firms lining up IPOs. Apart from training cabin crew, these firms also train people in various aspects related to the functioning of airports and airlines, including ground handling, ticketing and customerrelationship.

Air-hostess training firms that operate at the scale Indian ones do—Frankfinn has 65 schools across the country and AHA, 32—may well be unique to the country. The rush to set up such schools in the country is reminiscent of a similar boom in the early 1990s, when firms such as NIIT and Aptech set up IT training schools all over India to feed its growing software industry. Avalon is promoted by Aptech.

Read more in The Livemint article.

Centre postpones national airline IPO

The Centre has decided not to proceed with an IPO for the national carrier till the company formed by merging Air India and Indian Airlines is able to deliver a good financial performance and attract a good price. While IA has been making losses for years, AI has not been able to touch the record profit level of Rs 333 crore of 1992. In the past five years, the Maharaja has been making profits in the range of Rs 110 crore and Rs 14 crore on an equity base of Rs 153 crore.

So in the interim, the government has decided to offer a 5% to 7% equity to employees as ESOPs. The ministry is going to move for Cabinet approval for this in coming weeks. “The merger has left some employees unhappy. By making them feel as owners of the new carrier, we want to enlist their full support in the proposed turnaround of AI,” said the official. Meanwhile, National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL) (formed by merging AI and IA) is hoping for major savings with proposed route rationalisation.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

PE deals hit record $10.8 bn in 8 months

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.

Cross-border deals continue to outpace domestic M&As as in the re-cent past. There were a total of 30 domestic deals with an announced value of $660 million as against 32 cross-border deals worth $2.71 bil-lion.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

DRS Group to raise Rs 100cr

The DRS Group, Hyderabad-based Rs 200 crore logistics company, is raising Rs 100 crore from private equity investors as part of its second round of funding plans.The company is in talks with a few private equity investors including an overseas investor from the US. It plans to use the money to fund expansion of its third-party logistics business.

The group is in advanced stages of completing the second round funding and will announce it within this month. The company is planning to divest 10-12 per cent equity to raise Rs 100 crore, Agarwal told Business Standard.In March this year, the DRS Group divested 20 per cent equity and raised Rs 100 crore from Kotak Mahindra Bank’s private equity arm.

The company provides 3PL logistics service to companies like Reliance Retail, Future Group, MRF Ltd, Hyundai Motors, Lifestyle and Aditya Birla Group among others.Agarwal said the DRS Group is also foraying into three new business areas — shipping, courier and railway cargo. It plans to acquire an existing company in each of these new areas to expand its business.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Nomura in talks to buy stake in Enam

Nomura Holdings is in talks to buy a stake in unlisted Indian financial services group Enam to help it expand in Asia’s third-biggest economy.Executive vice-president Hiromi Yamaji also said that its investment banking business has seen a considerable increase in deals in its pipeline that are larger than 100 billion yen ($870 million) including cross-border deals.

There were reports in June Nomura may buy a 35% stake in Enam for Rs14 billion (Rs1,400 crore, $348 million) in what would be Nomura’s second attempt to forge a joint venture with an Indian firm following a failed attempt in the 1990s with UTI Securities.Yamaji said Nomura was exploring various options in India including Enam.

Nomura posted a quadrupling of net profit in the April-June quarter, boosted by a handful of big deals in its investment banking division including a share issue by air conditioner maker Daikin Industries Ltd.

Read more in The Livemint article.

Moser Baer ramping up solar power biz

Moser Baer Photovoltaic, the solar photovoltaic cell manufacturing arm of optical storage disk maker Moser Baer, is in the final stages of discussions with a few state governments to set up a greenfield manufacturing facility.

The company, which is adding capacity to produce 500 MW of solar power by 2010, expects $1.5 billion in revenues from the solar energy segment.

The company, which currently has capacity for 40 MW, is doubling it by the first quarter of the next fiscal. By the turn of the decade, it would have capacity for half a billion giga watt of solar power, for which it would have invested close to $1 billion.

On fundraising, Ravi Khanna, Chief Executive Officer said since the facilities would be coming up in phases, a large part of the required capex would be met through internal accruals. “These are early days for external fundraising and we have all options before us,” he said.

Read more in The DNA Money article.

Videocon, BPCL to buy Brazilian oil company

A consortium of oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Limited (BPCL) and Videocon Industries has decided to buy Brazil’s EnCana Brasil Petroleo Limitada for about $165 million (about Rs 675 crore).

Videocon, a diversified group whose businesses range from power to home appliances, and Bharat PetroResources Ltd (a subsidiary of BPCL) are equal partners in the consortium that will buy EnCana Brasil Petroleo from Canadian natural gas producer EnCana Corp and 749793 Alberta Ltd, the companies said in separate statements to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

BPCL, which did not disclose financial details, said the deal was for interests in 10 deepwater offshore exploration blocks in four concessions in Brazil.

The sale, which will be effective retrospectively from January 1, 2007, is subject to regulatory approval, pre-emptive right associated with certain assets, and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Ess Dee plans to buy Alcan arm

Ess Dee Aluminium, whose promoter Sudip Datta once depended on Alcan for the bulk of his income, has joined the race to acquire the packaging business of the Montreal-based giant which was recently taken over by Rio Tinto. The Mumbai-headquartered Ess Dee is the second domestic contender, the other being Essel Propack.

Bankers in the know of the development said there was a third contender as well — Australia’s Amcore. Rio Tinto, the new promoter of Alcan, has already begun talks with the three companies, they said, adding that the deal size is expected to be around $1 billion (Rs 4,000 crore), or 1.2 times the turnover of the target.

Rio Tinto, which recently acquired Alcan for $38 billion, decided to pull out of the packaging business as it does not fit into Alcan’s core area of operations and has been looking for a buyer for the past two months. Alcan makes packaging material for food and beverages, medical and pharmaceuticals as well as cosmetics and tobacco industries.

For Ess Dee, the successful acquisition of the packaging business of Alcan will give it presence in 13 countries —something which, otherwise, will take at least 10 years. Ess Dee posted net profit of Rs 37 crore and net sales of Rs 141 crore last year.It is learnt that DSP Merrill Lynch and Enam are advising Ess Dee on the acquisition.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Koutons to raise Rs 146 cr in IPO

Leading apparel manufacturing company Koutons Retail India on Friday announced that it would set up an integrated manufacturing facility at Gurgaon in Haryana to augment its production capacity.

It would also set up its exclusive brand outlets throughout the country, Koutons Retail India Chairman D P S Kohli told reporters here today.

He said to fund these projects the company would be coming out with an IPO, which opens on September 18 and closes on September 21.The company proposes to raise up to Rs 146 crore through a 100 per cent book-building process by issuing 35.24 lakh equity shares of face value of Rs 10.The price has been fixed at Rs 370 to Rs 415 a share.

Bank of India to have 51 pc stake in life insurance JV

Public-sector Bank of India, which has formalised an agreement with Dai-Ichi of Japan for setting up a Rs 250-crore life insurance firm, will have a 51 per cent stake in the joint venture, a top bank official said on Friday.

Dai-Ichi, the sixth biggest life insurer in Japan, will have a 26 per cent stake in the JV, while another partner Union Bank of India will hold 23 per cent, BOI Executive Director K R Kamath told a press meet here.

The name of the company, is likely to be 'Star Union Dai-Ichi' and the registration process was going on, he said.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Blackstone may pick up stake in Bombay Dyeing

There are reports that Blackstone may be interested in picking up a stake in Bombay Dyeing. However, while Bombay Dyeing may be in talks with private equity players including Blackstone, etc. the point to be noted out here is that there are two things which might actually be something that might worry investors from believing whether the deal might happen or not.

Firstly, the total promoters stake currently stands at 43%, Bombay Dyeing being the flagship company of the Nusli Wadia group, and if they give out about 14.5-15%, the promoters stake goes well below 30% which is something that a flagship company of a traditional group might not be too keen to do.

If that is debatable, another point is the fact that the positives for Bombay Dyeing currently are as follows. 2 million odd sq ft of property at Dadar and Worli. The present value of the properties on a very conservative basis comes to around Rs 4,000-5,000 odd crore. The current market cap of Bombay Dyeing is around Rs 2,500 odd crore.

The point to be raised out here is the fact that, if indeed the properties are valued at Rs 5,000 odd crore, considering the way real estate in Mumbai is moving up, and the kind of triggers the company may get as a result of the development of those properties, why would a promoter who holds only 43% of his stake might be willing to dilute 15% of it in a company which is values at almost half the times on a conservative basis right now.

If indeed the development does happen and the market cap does go up to about Rs 4,000-5,000 odd crore of the NAV of the properties, then indeed they might get much more for the same 15% or they might actually have to dilute only 7.5% for raising the kind of money that they are looking to raise right now.

Read more in The Moneycontrol article.

Citigroup VC favourite for Pyramid Saimira stake

Private equity major Citigroup Venture Capital (CVC) has emerged as the front-runner for acquiring stake in Pyramid Saimira Theatres (PSTL) and its subsidiary Pyramid Saimira Productions (PSPL) for around $100 million (around Rs 400 crore). The companies are expected to make an announcement by month-end.

Other global financial majors like Caryle Capital, ABN Amro and Grant Thornton are also in talks to acquire a 14.9% stake in PSTL and 26% in PSPL.

According to sources close to the development, a 45-day due diligence by CVC is in its final stages, on completion of which the companies are expected to announce the deal.

When contacted, PSTL director Nirmal Kotecha admitted that that the group was in talks with five-six private equity majors for offloading stake.PSTL was looking at raising funds of around $150-200 million for its acquisition and expansion plans.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

MobileNXT divests 35% stake to TV18

Bangalore-based MobileNXT Teleservices, the Rs 24 crore mobile retail chain has offloaded a 35 per cent stake to media firm, TV18. No transaction details have been disclosed.

Romy Juneja, chief operating officer, MobileNXT, said, “This deal is the first of its kind between a media firm and a mobile retail chain. We have already planned an ambitious expansion plan which will be executed over the next three years.”

MobileNXT was promoted by Vijay Menon and Romy Juneja with an initial investment of under $2 million raised from Avendus Advisors, an investment bank based in Mumbai, and some high net worth individuals like Dan Sandhu, in April 2006.

With this partnership consumers will get a combination of online and offline channels where they can check all details on the net, as well as shop at the store. MobileNXT will also be a window to Indian expats.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

MobileNXT will benefit from TV18 for content, whether it is ringtones, movies, snippets, creative aspects like entertainment, web creative as well as media advertising.

Muthoot goes for a split:Sources

There is action brewing at the closely-held Muthoot Pappachan Group. Sources close to the Kochi-based company claim the family is headed for a split. By way of evidence, they point to the fact that John and Thomas Muthoot - the two brothers who head the group - are in the middle of restructuring the business. When contacted, George Muthoot said, ‘‘There is nothing like that.''

Investment banking sources added that foreign banks and private equity players have also expressed an interest in buying into the financial services and real estate arms of the company.

For banks, Muthoot is an attractive proposition because it has a network of 550 branches in Kerala. This network can be leveraged by them to push products across south India. The company also operates in Maharashtra and parts of North India.

Then there is the real estate business, which sources say, have bought the group significant revenues. The IT parks that the company has built in Kochi are fully sold out and include occupants like Wipro and Cognizant. More recently, it has bid against international developers to participate in the Smart City project in Kochi at an estimated cost of Rs 15 billion.

The group earned a reputation for itself by building on the money lending and chit fund businesses that used to be hugely popular in Kerala. Over the years, it diversified into financial services, real estate, automobile distribution and more recently alternative energy like wind power. The group's turnover is not in public domain.

Read more in The Times of India article.

MindTree says will seal buyout deal this fiscal

MindTree Consulting Ltd is actively scouting for acquisitions in the telecom and home appliances space, and is likely to finalise a deal before the end of this fiscal.The Bangalore-based IT consulting firm, which raised Rs 200-odd crore early this year through an IPO, is looking to grow inorganically to enhance its delivery capacity in niche areas.

“At any given point in time, we are evaluating 2-3 targets. We will surely be making an acquisition during this fiscal. It will be a niche company to fill up gap in our current offerings. The buyout will be done to enhance our delivery capacity and not to expand our market,” said S Janakiraman, president and CEO, research and development services, MindTree Consulting Ltd.

Janakiraman said the size of the deal would be anywhere between $5 million and $10 million, and could even be bigger if it fulfils the requirement of the company.And since the acquisition will be driven by the intent to improve delivery capacity, Janakiraman said it would either be in India or any other low-cost country.

Read more in The DNA Money article.

SBI plans to raise Rs 10,000 cr by December

The country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), plans to raise Rs 10,000 crore by December, a top bank official has said."We plan to raise Rs 10,000 crore by December and we are evaluating various options of fund-raising," SBI Chairman O P Bhatt told reporters on the sidelines of a banking conference here on Wednesday.

The process of consolidation within the SBI group had been kicked off recently with the decision to merge State Bank of Saurashtra with the group.However, no timeframe has been set for consolidation with the other associate banks of SBI.

Bhatt said there had been a fall in credit demand but this month has seen a pick-up.
On NPAs, he said the issue was not a concern for the industry at the moment. However, with the economy growing at nine per cent in the last two years and with bank credit growing at 30 per cent in the last four years, substantial assets had been built up.

Read more in The Economic Times article.