Reliance Communications and MTN may swap shares

South Africa's MTN Group and Reliance Communications are discussing a possible combination, just days after India's top mobile firm Bharti Airtel ended talks with MTN after failing to agree how to structure a deal.The Two companies may swap shares or take big stakes in a new company as regulatory hurdles and both firms' global ambitions seem to rule out a $66 billion emerging markets telecoms merger.

Analysts said Reliance Communications' chairman, Anil Ambani, who owns two-thirds of India's No.2 mobile operator,like Bharti Airtel would also not want to cede control, casting doubt on media reports that MTN, valued at around $38 billion, planned a reverse takeover of Reliance, which has a market value of about $28 billion.

The two firms might transfer shares to a separate entity in which they would both hold significant stakes, or swap shares in a way to get around potential regulatory hurdles.MTN could take a stake of below 15 percent in Reliance Communications, avoiding having to make an open offer for a further 20 percent, and Reliance could take a minority stake in MTN that avoids regulatory triggers.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

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RCom, MTN in exclusive talks over merger
Bharti may rope in SingTel for MTN buy

SRF to acquire Thai tyre co for Rs 1 bn

SRF Ltd announced tday that it has agreed to acquire Thailand based tyre cord company Thai Baroda Industries Ltd (TBIL) for Rs 1 billion.TBIL has an annual production capacity of about 12,000 tones of dipped nylon tyre cord fabric, with annual sales of about $50 million.SRF's combined annual production capacity for tyre cords will rise to 65,000 tonnes following the deal, the tyre cord maker said.

UTV New Media acquires 76% stake in IT Nation

UTV New Media, the digital media arm of UTV Software Communications, today announced its foray into the digital media space with the acquisition of a controlling stake of 76 per cent in 'IT Nation', a leading online infomediary, for Rs 15 crore.

UTV New Media envisages an investment of around Rs 120 crore over the next two years into the internet space with a portfolio of 10 portals. UTV will acquire 20,000 music titles, including Jodhaa Akbar and upcoming Akshay Kumar starrer movie.

The investment will also include online technology space with IT Nation and in the online business space with UTVi.Com, the business website for the recently launched UTVi business channel.

The intention is to create digital assets such as images, music, ring tones and videos for the catalogues. Also in place are relationships and arrangements with 65 mobile operators across the world to distribute the mobile content.

RCom, MTN in exclusive talks over merger

Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communications on Monday announced entering into an exclusive negotiations with South Africa's telecom giant MTN to discuss potential combination of their businesses.

The development comes just two days after South African company deviated from agreed terms with India's largest telecom player Bharti Airtel, who pulled out of 3-week long negotiations.The two companies have agreed for a 45-day exclusivity to work out the details for merging their businesses.

If the negotiations are successful, the combination of MTN and Reliance Communications would create a global wireless juggernaut, larger even than developed-market giants such as AT&T.

Last week, Bharti Airtel had decided to pull out as MTN had proposed a structure which would have made the Indian telecom giant a subsidiary of South African company, contrary to the agreed terms between the two firms prior to entering the discussions.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Reliance Comm buys UK's Vanco for $77 mn

Reliance Communications Ltd, India's No.2 mobile operator, said today that its Reliance Globalcom unit has bought UK-based global managed network services provider Vanco for $77 million.

Reliance Communications, which earlier on Monday said it had started exclusive talks with South Africa's MTN Group that could create a $63 billion telecoms giant, said the acquisition of Vanco would add $365 million in annual revenue.

Reliance Globalcom will pay $76.9 million for "100 percent equity of Vanco Group free of debt",.

Principal PNB raises Rs 2.33 bn in debt fund

Principal PNB Asset Management Co has raised Rs 2.33 billion through its 91-days debt oriented scheme.The money from the fund will be used to invest in government securities, debt securities and money market instruments.The Principal Fixed Maturity Plan-91 days-Series XIV, which closed for subscription May 21, had two options - growth option and investment option.

Bajaj Auto listed on BSE; Bajaj FinServ on NSE

Bajaj Group on Monday listed two of its companies on the stock exchanges after it was demerged from Bajaj Holdings and Investments.Group Chairman Rahul Bajaj listed two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto on the Bombay Stock Exchange, while Group Vice- Chairman Madhur Bajaj listed Bajaj FinServ on the National Stock Exchange.

Bajaj Holdings and Investments has 30 per cent stake each in Bajaj Auto and Bajaj FinServ.

Bajaj Auto would continue to launch new models in association with Kawasaki and KTM. It plans to raise its stake in KTM to 30 per cent from 25 per cent in due course of time, he said.

Bajaj said if the government allows higher FDI in insurance then its German partner Allianz has the call option to raise it from the present 26 per cent to 49 per cent in the insurance joint venture.

However, Bajaj said he doesn't see the FDI hike in insurance cap happening now. It would be taken up by the next government in the Centre, the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Two European bids in MTN fray

The race for South African telecom major MTN Group is hotting up with the possibility of two other players evaluating a bid or a strategic relationship with the company. Banking sources say European telecom major Deutsche Telekom and Russian telco Vimpel Communications are also studying the possibility of talking to the MTN Group.

With over 50 million customers, Vimpel Communications has a market capitalisation of $42.5 billion, which is similar to MTN. The company operates in various markets in Russia and the CIS countries, which include Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, and Armenia, amongst others, under the "Beeline" brand name.Deutsche Telekom has over 106 million mobile customers and operates in Germany, the US, the UK, Austria and the Netherlands, amongst others. It has a market capitalisation of $74 billion.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Educomp buys out US-based Learning.com

Education service provider Educomp Solutions is buying a 51% stake in US-based e-learning company Learning.com for $24.5 million.The company is tapping internal accruals and reserves to fund the buy, which is its second strategic investment after the acquisition of Singaporean K12 company Ask n Learn.

Founded in 1999, Learning.com provides web-delivered curriculum and assessment, and has as many as 2 million students in schools across the United States. With this acquisition, Educomp will get distribution access to over 800 US districts, through which it can reach out to the North American market.Prakash said Educomp hopes to take its own basket of offerings to American schools and bring Learning.com’s products to its 4 million users in India and Southeast Asia.

Read more in The DNA Money article.

State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur to consider stock split

The board of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, an associate bank of State Bank of India, will meet on May 22 to consider splitting the face value of the bank's shares from Rs 100 to Rs 10 per share.After clearance from the board, approval from the Executive Committee of Central Board of State Bank of India is also required.

Govt disinvestment policy halts NTPC follow-on public offer

The Finance Ministry today said the NTPC follow-on public offer has been rejected as under the present disinvestment policy government stake in a navratna company cannot be sold.

Last week, Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh had said that there was a proposal by NTPC to approach capital market through an FPO but the Finance Ministry has rejected it.

Notably, the Power Ministry had approached the department of disinvestment in the Finance Ministry in August 2007 for approval of the FPO that could fetch the company nearly Rs 6,000 crore to part finance the expansion programme.

After the FPO, government shareholding in NTPC would have come down to 84.75 per cent from the present level of 89.5 per cent.NTPC, in 2004, had raised Rs 5,386 crore through an initial public offering by way of raising fresh capital and diluting government's stake.

ONGC Videsh in talks to buy Canadian oil co

ONGC Videsh (OVL) — the foreign investment arm of ONGC — is in talks to take over a mid-sized listed Canadian oil company having hydrocarbon blocks including oil sand assets. OVL is negotiating to pick up 100% equity stake in the firm for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition would put OVL in a strategic position in the North American energy space. Code-named as “Project Crystal”, the target company is listed in TSX Venture Exchange in Canada and Stockholm Stock Exchange, Sweden. OVL, which is yet to begin due diligence, is tight-lipped about the company or the valuation.

The acquisition, if it goes through, will give OVL a foothold in oil sands, which gained currency following the spike in global oil prices. Canada is known to have high deposits of oil sands which are now being explored as a viable source of hydrocarbons. With oil prices ruling at over $125 a barrel, several non-conventional hydrocarbon sources like gas hydrates in India are being researched.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

M&M revs up for Italian ride

The tractor and utility vehicle maker is learnt to have set sights on Italian motorcycle marque brands — Cagiva and MV Agusta — famed for designing high-end, high-performance superbikes that are a rage on the speed motorcycle circuit.

M&M is keen on entering the two-wheeler space and has been talking to a number of Italian and domestic two-wheeler brands. The utility and tractor major is understood to have held talks with Ducati at one point in time, but it failed to materialise.

While it’s too early to peg a value to the deal size, the Italian company is estimated to have posted a combined revenue of euro 141.3 million in 2007 (around Rs 1,057 crore) and a loss of euro 34.4 million during the same year.Although India is a large two-wheeler market with annual sales of over 7.5 million units, the country can’t still boast of high-end, high-performance bikes.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Actis to raise Rs 125 cr from 15% stake sale to PE firms

Actis Biologics (ABPL), the Indian arm of US-based biotech drug discovery company Actis Biologics Inc, plans to raise about $30 million by selling stake to a clutch of private equity players to build two new plants and market a new process that will help other drug makers cut cost.The company will sell a 15 per cent stake to US- and Europe-based leading private equity investors. The sale may be completed in the next four weeks.

Private equity investors are keen to invest in drug discovery companies having a good pipeline of products since a successful new drug could reap more revenues from global sales.

The deal would be structured to reduce a 15 per cent shareholding across shareholders of ABPL. Actis Biologics Inc holds 30 per cent equity in ABPL. The promoters' group led by Sanjeev Saxena has another 35 per cent, while contract research company Innovasynth holds 26 per cent and the rest is with private investors such as Walchand Industries.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Bharti Airtel, SingTel to float SPV for MTN

Billionaire Sunil Mittal, the founder of Bharti Airtel, plans to set up a separate company in partnership with Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) that will be the vehicle for acquisition of the South Africa-based MTN Group.

The special purpose vehicle (SPV) will raise funds, including bridge loans. The company will later explore the option of selling American depository receipts (ADRs) or global depository receipts (GDRs) to repay the bridge loan.The SPV may be registered in a tax-haven country, like Mauritius or Bahamas.

The move to float an SPV will help Bharti Airtel to continue being listed on Indian stock exchanges, while MTN's promoters will be given a stake in the SPV. The quantum of the stake will depend on the cash-share ratio, which is yet to be finalised between Bharti and MTN. Bharti Airtel would raise funds by diluting the equity of the SPV and, if needed, the promoters' stake in Bharti and that of its partner SingTel to part-finance the deal.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

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Bharti, MTN in talks for 50:50 cash-share deal
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India second largest seller of carbon credits: WB

India has emerged as the second largest seller of carbon credits in the global market with six per cent share in 2007, while China tops the list with a huge 73%, a World Bank report said.

"India and Brazil, at 6% market share each, transacted the highest volumes after China in 2007," said the report 'State and trends of the carbon market 2008'. Certified emission reduction (CER), that are traded on the global climate exchanges, are carbon credits issued by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board for emission reductions achieved by CDM projects and verified under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol.

Pointing out that high price expectation for CERs in India and Brazil is hindering growth, the report said the sellers in these two nations favour sale of already issued CERs in the range of £ 15-16.50 per CER instead of selling forward CER streams.

Bombay Dyeing likely to spin off realty

Textile major Bombay Dyeing is considering demerging its real estate business into a separate company, according to sources.The hiveoff will be followed by an initial public offering.Company officials refused to comment, saying Ness Wadia alone can speak on this.Wadia could not be contacted as he is in the thick of the IPL cricket extravaganza.

The Street, nevertheless, is betting on the move.Analysts said a spin-off helps Bombay Dyeing get better valuations.They expect concrete plans to be announced by August.

The development plans for the textile major’s Worli and Dadar properties are huge: about 10 million square feet for IT parks, retail hubs, commercial and residential projects, hotels and serviced apartments.The capex involved will run into hundreds of crores.The company has already begun sales of residential projects valued at around Rs 500 crore.

Sources said Bombay Dyeing plans to sell only 0.4 million sq ft, of its residential development at Dadar, and commercially lease the remaining 3.9 million sq ft including at Worli.

Axis PE invests Rs 120 crore in HCIL

Private equity firm, Axis Private Equity (Axis PE) informed that it has picked up around 25 per cent of equity stake in infrastructure development firm Harish Chandra (HCIL) with an investment of Rs 20 crore.

Axis PE's strategy is to invest in companies involved in infrastructure development like transport, energy, oil and gas pipelines, urban infrastructure and development of hotels.The company, with this fund, wishes to rapidly scale up its business and wants to deliver benefits to its investors and the nation.

The fund, Axis Infrastructure Fund, which had set a target of raising USD 500 million, has already mopped up USD 150 million within a period of six months from its launch.The company has kept a minimum deal size of USD 20 million. The fund has a life of 10 years with five years for investment and five years for disvestment.

74% FDI cap on satellite radio

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), whose ambit also covers the broadcasting business, has prepared guidelines on satellite radio operations that will limit foreign direct investment (FDI) to 74 per cent and introduce licence requirements for transmission and content.Currently, WorldSpace is the sole satellite radio service provider in the country but it has been operating without a licence in the absence of guidelines for the sector.

As part of its recommendations, which are expected to be announced in a few days, the regulator has proposed a one-time entry fee of Rs 2.5 crore and an annual revenue share equivalent to 4 per cent of radio companies' gross revenues.

The licence conditions will also prohibit radio companies from selling commercial airtime to advertisers. Service providers will also need to register every channel they air. News content will be permitted only from state-owned Doordarshan and All India Radio.

The Trai recommendations will impact the radio business of WorldSpace, requiring it to reduce its foreign equity from 100 per cent to 74 per cent and discontinue broadcasting private news channel stations in India other than paying the entry fee and sharing revenue with the government.

The company, which offers fee-based services, has seen a marginal drop in subscribers in its India subscriptions in 2008 – it also provides services in Europe and other Asian countries – to 162,026 subscribers against 163,075 in the fourth quarter of 2007. The company posted a net loss of $36.8 million for the first quarter of 2008.

Sebi may allow NRIs to manage FII funds

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is shortly expected to allow non-resident Indian (NRI) fund managers to manage the investment portfolios of foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

"We are looking into the issue because we have received many requests. We will permit NRI fund managers who have at least a year's experience in managing FII funds as long as they do not put their proprietary funds into it," confirmed a senior Sebi official.

Sources said fund managers are regulated in their home countries and the restrictions on investing proprietary money were aimed at ensuring that there is little scope for manipulation besides putting checks on possible round-tripping of funds.

The move would overturn a 2000 provision that was inserted in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (FII Regulations), prohibiting NRIs and overseas corporate bodies (OCBs) from investing as FII sub-accounts or as FIIs.

Sebi has already registered several funds that are managed by people of Indian origin. The restriction is only on OCBs and NRIs registering themselves as FIIs.An amendment to the regulations removing this prohibition will allow several hedge funds to register as FIIs or sub-accounts.

Some of these funds have sought Sebi permission to invest in India as FIIs but their applications have not been processed. In certain cases the regulator has sought clarifications since NRI money or managers were involved.

"There are quite a few applications from investment advisors where NRIs account for a majority stake in the entity. These have been put on hold. An amendment will send a clear message to NRI-sponsored fund management companies that they can expect to receive FII registration without any hassle if they comply with criteria prescribed in the regulation," said Suneet Barve, a senior associate with law firm Nishith Desai Associates.

"I believe Sebi ought to permit NRIs and investment management companies owned by NRIs to be registered as FIIs. There is no reason to discriminate against investment companies that are owned by people of Indian origin," said Somasekhar Sundaresan, a partner with legal firm J Sagar Associates.

"If it is investment of NRI funds that is felt undesirable, Sebi can simply get such NRI-owned investment management companies to undertake that they will not invest their own funds through the FII route," he added.

HSBC buys 73% in IL&FS Investmart

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has acquired a 73.21 per cent stake in IL&FS Investsmart, a leading retail brokerage house in India, for a consideration of Rs 1,110 crore ($261 million).HSBC has acquired the stake from E*Trade Mauritius ( 43.85 per cent) and an additional 29.36 per cent stake from IL&FS. In addition, HSBC has paid a non- compete fee of Rs 82.45 crore ($19.4 million) for a three-year period to IL&FS.

HSBC will also make an open offer to acquire up to 20 per cent of the remaining shares in Investsmart.Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund (SAIF) continues to hold about 10 per cent equity in the Indian broking outfit.

If HSBC fails to get a good response to the open offer, it might look at delisting Investsmart, which has a market capitalisation of close to Rs 1,275 crore ($300 million).

Earlier this year, E*Trade Financial Corporation had said that it had been hit by the sub-prime crisis in the United States. In order to concentrate on its core business, it was looking to monetise its holding in the Indian venture.Sources said IL&FS is involved in several businesses and was keen on exiting this venture.

A few months ago, IL&FS had put its broking arm on the block and several domestic and foreign brokerage houses had evinced interest in acquiring it, including the Aditya Birla group, Indiabulls and Religare Securities.

Godrej, Videocon may bid for GE's appliance business

Leading investment bankers such as UBS, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs have sounded out the Godrej Group and Videocon on a possible bid for General Electric’s appliances division.

The Indian durable makers are closely studying the feasibility of acquiring the US giant’s appliance business, which makes refrigerators, air-conditioners and ovens. The Godrej Group had an earlier joint venture with GE that broke up in 2001. Investment bankers have estimated the deal size at $3-4 billion. Sources said the division, with sales of $7.2 billion, had an EBITDA of around $450 million. It accounted for 4% of GE’s revenues of $173 billion.

Reliance Big ties up with Clooney, Cage, Hanks & Pitt

Reliance Big, the entertainment arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, on Sunday took a giant leap into Hollywood by entering into a slew of development deals with production houses promoted by leading Hollywood names such as George Clooney, Nicholas Cage, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Chris Columbus, Jim Carrey and Jay Roach.

The move is in line with the company’s vision of becoming one of the largest entertainment conglomerates in the world. The Hollywood entities involved in the development deals, brokered by Los Angeles-based Creative Artists Agency, are Cage’s Saturn Productions, Carrey’s JC 23 Entertainment, Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Columbus’ 1492 pictures, Hanks’ Playtone Productions, Pitt’s B Entertainment and Roach’s Everyman Pictures.

Reliance Big is hoping to have a slate of 10 films, estimated at around $1 billion, ready for release by 2010. The above-mentioned actors will be responsible for the creative aspects—script, casting and production.The company sees the development deals as the first major investments in Hollywood and a building block in the creation of a virtual studio or a new-generation media company, and an integral part of the company’s long-term strategy for media investments in Hollywood, to become a fully-integrated movie company with substantial holdings in production, distribution and exhibition. The deals also ensure that the company will have the complete Indian rights for the films that Reliance Entertainment co-finances.

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Welspun, GHCL may be eyeing Linens ’n Things

The market was rife with speculation on Wednesday that textile majors Welspun India Ltd and Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd (GHCL) were in the race to buy US-based Linens ’n Things for $1.1 billion.But the two companies denied any plan to acquire the New Jersey-based home textiles and houseware retailer.

Linens ’n Things, which operates over 570 stores in the US and in six provinces in Canada, had filed for bankruptcy late last month and was planning to close down 120 stores.The company had posted losses of $242 million in 2007 on sales of $2.79 billion. This prompted speculation that it was up for grabs.On the other hand, both Welspun and GHCL have a history of foreign acquisitions.

Bharti, MTN in talks for 50:50 cash-share deal

The top managements of Bharti Airtel and South African telco MTN Group and the Lebanon-based Mikati family (which holds 9.8 per cent) are looking at a 50-50 cash-and-stock deal option as part of possible merger talks against an earlier 60:40 structure.

Banking sources said with the MTN shareholders asking for a higher price than what Bharti had initially offered, the Indian telecom company might now pay 50 per cent of the money in cash and the rest through shares in Bharti Airtel.

MTN is also believed not to favour signing an "exclusivity" contract with Bharti Airtel under which it would be bound not to talk to any other competing bidder till the negotiations with them have been concluded.Issues relating to who will be the chairman of the merged entity — Bharti's Sunil Mittal or MTN group Chairman M C Ramaphosa — are also under discussions.

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Bharti may rope in SingTel for MTN buy

Bharti seeks Middle East funds for MTN bid

Cals may raise funds via FCCBs

Spice Energy-promoted Cals Refineries plans to raise fund through foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) to partly fund its capital expenditure of $1 billion to set up a 5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) refinery at Haldia.

The company raised $200 million through a global depository receipt on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in November, attracting investments from the Dubai Investment Group, a part of Dubai Holding, and London's RP Capital. It is further planning to raise $100-200 million from a strategic investor for which it is considering the offers.

The company did not disclose the amount that it wishes to raise through FCCB. It declined to comment calling the plan to be at a "premature stage."

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Cals Refineries buys Petro Canada`s units for $110 mn

RPG group to set up JV with leading international food chain

The Harsh Goenka-spearheaded RPG group is close to finalising a joint venture with a leading international major to set up a coffee shop-cum-specialty-food chain in the country.The RPG group will hold a majority 51 per cent stake in the joint venture.

The JV will be run under the brand name of the international major and the agreement is expected to be inked shortly adding that the first chain of 15-20 outlets would be set up in Bangalore.

The RPG group plans to set up 250 such outlets in other major metros and cities over time.However the identify of the international major could not be known. The RPG group is a highly-diversified conglomerate with interests in tyres, retail, IT, power, telecom and power transmission and plantations.

The business plan for the venture is presently being fine-tuned.The business' concept would be more or less similar to those of other chains such as Barista or Cafe Coffee Day but the JV would give a strong focus to food offerings unlike other chains.

Baring Private Equity Asia raises $1.52 billion

Barings Private Equity Asia, which has over $2.5 billion in assets under advisory, has raised $1.52 billion, thus becoming the largest regional growth equity fund in Asia.

At a time when the highly leveraged US and European buyouts are showing signs of stress, private equity funds focused on growth investing in Asia, a strategy which largely does not use financial leverage, are continuing to attract interest from around the world.The fourth fund from Baring Asia had an original target of $1 billion, but raised its fund raising limit to account for the high investor demand. It had to still turn away a substantial amount of investors.

The fund is targetting companies in the alternative energy, media, financial services, consumer and industrial sectors, with operations in China, India, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It plans to invest around $500-750 million in India.

The fund's prominent investments in the country cover brokerage houses Sharekhan ($65 million) and Karvy Stock Broking ($44 million), IT company Mphasis BFL (partially exited), Bhushan Power & Steel Company, and edible oil player KS Oils.

Baring has been investing in the Asian region since 1998. It has an active portfolio of 28 companies and its combined revenues stood at $4.5 billion for 2007.

Lafarge buys L&T concrete unit for $349 mn

Lafarge, the world’s second-largest cement maker, has acquired Larsen and Toubro’s (L&T) Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) business for $349 million (Rs 1,480 crore). The deal will help Lafarge access L&T’s 66 plants and also make it the country’s largest RMC maker.Leading cement manufacturers Holcim, AV Birla Group and Heidelberg were also in the race to buy the business.

Lafarge has routed the acquisition through its building material firm Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete. A formal announcement is expected on Thursday. Lafarge is believed to have informed the Paris stock exchange. Lafarge India is not a listed entity.JM Financial advised Lafarge on the transaction, while Citigroup Global Markets advised L&T.

Each unit of L&T Concrete has a capacity to produce 5,000-6,000 cubic metres of concrete a month, while the total capacity is estimated to be around 3-4 million cubic metres per annum. RMC is widely used in the building and construction industry in India, where L&T has a 25% market share.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

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Lafarge leads race for L&T Concrete

Cals Refineries buys Petro Canada`s units for $110 mn

Cals Refineries, owned by the privately held Spice Group, has bought two distillation units and a delayed coker plant of Petro Canada for $110 million to enhance its capacity of processing complex crude oil that has high sulphur content and is heavy with density.

The company is in the process of setting up about 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity refinery at an investment of $1 billion in Haldia by relocating an existing refinery of Bayernoil in Ingolstad, Germany.

Cals Refineries had signed a memorandum of understanding with the world's third largest energy company, BP, for a crude oil supply and product offtake deal a few months ago. Cals Refineries raised $200 million through a global depository receipt (GDR) issue on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in November, attracting investments from the Dubai Investment Group, a part of Dubai Holding and London's RP Capital. It is now hoping to raise a further $100-200 million from a strategic investor.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

No fresh oil bonds, but no fuel price rise: Deora

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Tuesday indicated there will be no hike in petro products prices for now, though the finance ministry had rejected his demand to issue fresh oil bonds to counteract the losses of state oil companies due to global rising oil prices.

Deora met Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to seek issue of oil bonds worth Rs.440 billion, amounting to 57.1 percent of the Rs.770 billion losses incurred by the state-run oil marketing companies during 2007-08.

“They are not ready for it. So, we have requested the finance minister to issue as much as possible,” Deora told reporters.

Queried if this will lead to the rise in domestic prices, Deora said the matter did not come up in the talks. He pointed out that the decision will have to be taken by the union cabinet.The central government currently issues bonds for 42.7 percent of the oil firms' losses, with another 33 percent coming from upstream oil companies.

Finmin awaits law ministry advice on SBI-SBS merger

The board of SBI and State Bank of Saurashtra had already given their nod for the proposed merger in August last year despite opposition from a section of bank employees.The proposed merger would be the first of its kind among public sector banks.The finance ministry has sought the law ministry’s advice on the merger which is yet to come. Once the advice comes, the proposal would go to the Cabinet for approval

Speaking on the merger, SBI chairman OP Bhat had earlier said “other formalities regarding the merger have been completed and only the government approval remains.” Since State Bank of Saurashtra was a 100% subsidiary of SBI, the merger was only a technical process, he had said.

SBI also convened a meeting to consider merger proposal with other associate banks in January but was postponed later following opposition from the unions.

M&M in talks to buy Kinetic Motors

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the country’s largest utility vehicle maker, is in talks to acquire Kinetic Motors, the Pune-based two-wheeler manufacturer. The move signals M&M’s interest in the two-wheeler segment, which has seen sharp growth and fierce competition in the past few years. The maker of Scorpio has been trying without success to get into the segment for the past few years.

People close to the development said both companies are in the final stage of due diligence and M&M is expected to pick up a majority stake in the company. Kinetic Motors has been valued at close to Rs 150 crore and the deal size is expected to be in the range of Rs 70-80 crore.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Omnitech Info to raise $ 35 mln via shares, bonds

Omnitech Infosolutions Ltd said on Wednesday its board has approved raising up to $35 million through various means such as American Depositary Receipts, Global Depositary Receipts, placement to institutions or overseas convertible bonds.

ICICI investment in VC arm under lens

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken a hardline approach to the country’s largest private bank ICICI’s investments in ICICI Venture — the country’ biggest private equity fund. The regulator feels that ICICI may be using its venture capital arm to make investments which could have been difficult from the bank’s books.

ICICI Venture is a subsidiary of ICICI Bank. Besides owning I-Venture, the bank also invests in some of the funds managed by the VC. Just as in mutual funds, a string of financial investors subscribe to such funds where the bank also joins in.

RBI has told ICICI Bank to include its investments in the VC in fulfilling the exposure limits that the bank has to stick to. Under prudential norms, the maximum exposure a bank can take to a company or a business group is linked to its capital. Earlier, banks used to float non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to sidestep this regulation and lend to corporates.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Lakshmi Mittal to buy 3.9% in Indiabulls' Singapore trust

Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, the world's richest Indian, has committed to buy units equivalent to a 3.9 per cent stake in Indiabulls Properties Investment Trust, which is in process of listing in Singapore.

Mittal will purchase 91 million common units of IPIT at the offering price that will be determined through a book building process, but would "not be obliged to subscribe and pay" for any of the units if the subscription cost exceeds 100.1 million Singapore dollars (about 73 million US dollars).

Indiabulls Real Estate, part of diversified Indiabulls group with interests in financial services, power, retail and realty businesses, last week filed a prospectus with Monetary Authority of Singapore for an initial public offer of IPIT, estimated to raise about USD 300 million.

Read more in

The Economic Times article.

Legatum to invest $40 m in Unitus Equity Fund

Exactly a year since it invested $25 million in leading microfinance institution Share Microfin, Legatum on Tuesday, announced a $40-million investment in the second tranche of the Unitus Equity Fund.

Legatum is a Dubai-based private international investment firm, focused on sustainable development.It has made this investment jointly with Omidyar Network, a US-based a philanthropic investment firm, wherein both would invest $20 million each and function as co-anchors of the fund.

The Unitus Equity Fund II would focus on investing in start-up microfinance institutions, organisations based in areas where there are not many MFIs present as of now and also look at MFIs based in urban areas.The fund would also invest in technology companies and other ancillary companies, which provide assistance to MFIs in the form of mobile banking platforms, kiosks, etc.

The fund would focus on the second and third rung of MFIs, which need to build on scale and efficiency, so that operational costs come down and funds could be disbursed at more affordable rates, the official added.

Axis Bank planning ringgit bonds: Source

Axis Bank is planning a 500 million Malaysian ringgit ($156 million) bond issue by early June and has appointed bankers to manage the sale, a bank source said.The bank has appointed Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland as arrangers to the issue.

Videocon to foray into hospitality, hydropower

After foraying into the telecommunications and thermal power sectors, Venugopal N Dhoot, chairman and managing director (CMD), Videocon Industries today said the group is sewing up plans to enter into hospitality and hydropower. The company is in talks with the Uttarakhand government for various projects.

A five star hotel and construction of a Dehra Dun-Mussoorie ropeway are the immediate proposals of the company in the hill state. Besides this, Videocon is also interested in acquiring a heritage building in a Mussoorie hill resort.
Videocon is eyeing for ten acres of land for the construction of five or seven star hotel on the foothills of Mussoorie. An amusement park is also on the cards near the proposed hotel.

As far as hydropower is concerned, Videocon expects to produce nearly 2,000 mw in the first phase of the plan. Already, company officials have held talks with the top state government authorities. The company has also held talks with the Uttarakhand Power Corporation (UPCL) for selling the power.

HB Stockholdings gets Sebi nod for DSIL open offer

The battle for control of DCM Shriram Industries (DSIL), the Delhi-based sugar-to-industrial fibres company, is set to intensify with Harish Bhasin's HB Stockholdings getting the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) approval to launch the open offer for purchase of 22.88 per stake in DSIL.Bhasin already owns over 25 per cent in the company. If the open offer succeeds, Bhasin will end up with a stake in excess of the 40.7 per cent held by the promoters, led by Tilak Dhar.

Bhasin has invested Rs 22 crore in the last five-and-a-half months to increase his stake in DSIL from 12.87 per cent to 25.05 per cent through open market purchase of shares. The DSIL promoters, sons of Late Lala Bansi Dhar, have in turn raised their stake in the company from 32.54 to 40.7 per cent through an issue of warrants.

Bhasin had announced the open offer on November 19 last year. The price of the open offer was Rs 70 a share and was subsequently revised to Rs 120.However, since HB Stockholdings bought some shares for Rs 127, the open offer price automatically stands revised at Rs 127. However, HB may consider revising it depending upon the market conditions.

Read more in The Business Standard aricle.

Bharti seeks Middle East funds for MTN bid

Leading mobile operator Bharti Airtel Ltd has contacted Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds in a search for additional cash to back a bid for a majority stake in South Africa's MTN Group Ltd, a media report said on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the situation.

However, there is no agreement yet, the report said. Bharti, which has said it is in talks with MTN but has not yet made any bid, is reported to be considering offering 160-165 rand a share for a 51 per cent stake in MTN that would cost $19 billion.

A person familiar with the talks said that late last week that Bharti may raise that to 175 rand per share. The sources have said that Bharti has already negotiated about $12 billion in financing from a group of banks that includes Standard Chartered PLC.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

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SingTel involved in Bharti-MTN bid talks

JBM Auto signs JV with Ashok Leyland

JBM Auto Ltd said on Monday it has signed a joint venture with Ashok Leyland Ltd to supply sheet metal components.The venture, in which JBM holds 74 per cent stake, will invest Rs 100 crore, the company said in a statement. The commercial operations will start from 2010.

TPG may buy 30% stake in Manipal for Rs 500 cr

Private equity (PE) giant Texas Pacific Group (TPG)-controlled Parkway Hospital in Singapore is leading the race to acquire 25-30% stake in Bangalore-headquartered Manipal Hospital for over Rs 500 crore. The indirect stake buy in one of India’s largest private hospital chains will also be TPG’s biggest play in the domestic market.

Manipal hit the market for fund raising almost five months back, and received aggressive offers from a clutch of private equity players like Apax Partners, Actis and Sequoia.The impending transaction may value Manipal Hospital at around Rs 2,000 crore, with India poised to play a big role in Parkway’s overseas strategy.

Following the Parkway acquisition four year back, TPG has been aggressively pushing the Singapore healthcare company, with medical tourism play, into new markets including China. TPG Capital has so far invested about $200 million in India, mainly across technology and consumer verticals. Its arm, TPG-Axon, which takes block positions in public companies and invests in real estate, has nearly $1 billion
exposure in India.

Manipal Hospital operates a network of 17 hospitals in India and Nepal with around 2,500 beds.The deal will not cover the Manipal Group’s flagship Kasturba Medical College (KMC) at Manipal and a satellite hospital in Mangalore that are managed by a trust.Inclusive of this two, the group is arguably India’s largest private hospital network.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

ADAG goes to Hollywood with blockbuster plans

In an audacious foray into Hollywood, Reliance Big Entertainment (RBEL), the entertainment arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), is learnt to be in negotiations to produce three major movies featuring mainstream Hollywood stars. A large delegation from ADAG is currently preparing for a major international announcement on May 19 at the Cannes film festival, where these plans will be unveiled. This will be the first time an Indian entertainment firm makes an entry into Hollywood.

RBEL could announce a slew of international films. The group is trying to rope in Hollywood actors like Tom Cruise, George Clooney and Will Smith. The buzz is that ADAG is also trying to line up Angelina Jolie for the announcements at Cannes.

The movies will target the global audience and will be mainstream Hollywood releases.The estimated deal size is said to be in the region of $300 million, one of the biggest inked by an Indian entertainment company.

It is unclear whether the company is planning to ink deals with Hollywood studios or with the stars themselves. It is also not clear if the Hollywood stars will finally make an appearance at the ADAG event at the festival.

Recently, RBEL, which runs cinemas in India through its Adlabs subsidiary, entered the US market under the brand name ‘BIG’. The company has acquired more than 200 theatres across 28 locations in North America, including New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, San Jose, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Seattle.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Bhel completes acquisition of Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels

Navratna company Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) has formally taken over Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels (BHPV). This became a zero liability takeover for Bhel after the central government and the Andhra Pradesh government agreed to share all the financial liabilities of the ailing public sector company.

The authority letter to this effect was handed over by Department of Heavy Industry secretary Satyanarayana Dash to Bhel chairman & managing director K Ravi Kumar here on Saturday. Meanwhile, Bhel has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh generation company (APGenco) for setting up the country’s largest integrated coal gasification combined cycle power plant at Vijayawada.

As per the strategic plan 2012 adopted by the company, BHEL envisage's power sector to contribute 70% to the company’s turnover by 2011-12 with 30% contribution from industry related businesses taking Bhel’s sales turnover to Rs 45,000 crore by 2012."As setting up another plant would need massive investments and long gestation time, supporting an existing entity like BHPV makes better business sense", Mr Kumar said.

Blackstone, Reliance buy into Everonn

Three private equity investors — Blackstone, New Vernon and Reliance (part of ADAG) have picked up equity shares and warrants in the Chennai-based Everonn Systems Ltd, a company specializing in e-learning and virtual classrooms.

The company has raised Rs 167.89 crore from the PE investors besides a equity warrant issue to the promoters. Deutsche Securities (represented by Reliance), The India Fund Inc of Blackstone and New Vernon will invest Rs 91.39 crore immediately. The promoters would pump in Rs 50 crore towards the warrant issue. In all the dilution would be around 9% of the company's equity.

The company needs funds to invest in three areas. (a) ICT Business — introduce computer education in government schools, (b) setting up virtual classrooms which will increase to 700 colleges across the country from the present 250 and (c) set-up i-Schools which will have content from virtual classrooms plus content on intranet.

Rel Retail, Citi tie up for consumer finance

Mukesh Ambani Group company Reliance Retail and Citibank are understood to have agreed to float a joint venture for consumer finance.The two partners are believed to have decided on giving Sandeep Soni, who heads Citibank's new strategic initiatives for alliance and partnerships, the charge of the new venture.

Great Offshore to buy SeaDragon for $1.4 bn

Great Offshore is set to acquire Cayman Islands-based SeaDragon Offshore for $1.4 billion. The acquisition will help the company to make ultra deep water discoveries.
Great Offshore faced tough competition from other firms such as Mercator and Essar to buy SeaDragon. The market turmoil has delayed the deal further. SeaDragon would give Great Offshore access to rigs that could be deployed for ultra deep water discoveries.

SeaDragon makes two such rigs and it would take two years to complete them. Globally, there is a greater demand for rigs because of an increase in exploration activities. ONGC too plans to foray into ultra deep water discovery and is actively looking for a buyout.

SingTel involved in Bharti-MTN bid talks

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd is actively involved in the takeover talks between India's top mobile firm Bharti Airtel Ltd and South African operator MTN Group Ltd, a source familiar with the situation said on Monday.

However according to sources it was premature to speculate if SingTel -- which is Bharti's largest shareholder with over a 30 percent stake -- would provide any form of financial support to Bharti for the bid as the deal was evolving.

SingTel, Southeast Asia's largest phone company, declined to comment.Bharti also said in a separate statement it had not made any offer to buy the whole or part of MTN.

The Asian Wall Street Journal, quoting an unidentified source, said on Monday that Bharti was considering raising its offer to around 175 South African rand ($22.63) a share for control of MTN, and an official bid could come this week.

Read more in The Economic Times article

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MTN sets terms for deal with Bharti
Bharti may rope in SingTel for MTN buy


Also read related story in The Economic Times article.

GE Money finds no takers for personal loans, mortgage biz

GE Money India is learnt to have found no takers for its wholly owned personal loans and mortgages portfolios with the interested parties quoting nearly half of the company's expectation. The bidders say this could eventually lead to the proposed divestment plan being scrapped.

The bidders have recently informed Morgan Stanley, advisor to GE Money India that their valuations are in the range of $150-200 million. GE Money had pegged the base price of these two businesses at $400 million - the amount it had invested in them - and was looking for a premium over this.

Code-named 'Project Intrepid', GE has put GE Money Housing Finance (excluding home loans distributed through a JV with Wizard home loans) and the personal loans business known as GE Money Financial Services on the block four months ago.Nearly 40 companies showed initial interest but a few firms including Tata Capital, Future Group, Indiabulls, the Aditya Birla Group and Carlyle carried out the due diligence.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Bull run: PE fair sees $1.3b investment

India's bull run in the private equity (PE) sphere gets hotter, as a whopping $1.3 billion in PE funding was cemented at the recently held India Private Equity Fair 2008, in Mumbai. The event, was organized by Yen Expo, part of Mumbai-based merchant banking firm, Yen Management Consultancy.

The fair was attended by a large number of PE players, venture capital firms, high-net worth individuals and angel investors. As per a report by consultancy firm Grant Thornton a total of 32 PE deals valued at $560 million were announced in April 08. March saw greater PE action as funding worth $1.2 billion has entered the country.

PE players like Goldman Sachs, LightSpeed Venture Partners, Axis Private Equity, Actis PE, Tano Capital have a combined investment line up of $500 million, deals of which will be signed in the coming months.

The sectors to benefit this PE windfall include real estate, hospitality, infrastructure, pharma, biotech, automotive, telecom, media and IT. Large PE deals of over $100 million have come down in recent months, but going forward the deal size is likely to grow bigger at $200 million and above.

VoiceStream buys stake in Helios Outsourcing

Scotland- based VoiceStream group of companies has acquired 75 per cent stake in the Chennai-based firm Helios Outsourcing. The $25 million (around Rs 104 crore) VoiceStream will invest around $3 million (Rs 12.5 crore) to develop Helios as India' niche outsourcing outfit and grow the business to $85 million (around Rs 354 crore) in three years time. The VoiceStream with its majority stake in Helios will have three of its directors onto the board of the company. Helios Outsourcing is a privately held corporation created in conjunction with several companies based in the UK, the US and Australia to provide offshore outsourcing services to them.

Lafarge leads race for L&T Concrete

French cement major Lafarge SA, the world's second-largest cement maker, has emerged the frontrunner in the race to acquire the ready-mix concrete (RMC) business of engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

The construction giant sold its cement business to the Birlas in 2003, now UltraTech Cement, but retained the RMC division. The company is the leader in the RMC segment with a market share of 25 per cent. The revenue is Rs 1,000 crore annually.

In December last year, L&T had decided to hive off its RMC business into a separate entity called L&T Concrete. The company's plans to hive off its non-core businesses.
L&T has 66 RMC plants across the country with an overall annual installed capacity of around 4 million cubic metres.Industry analysts said RMC constitutes 3 per cent of the total cement business at present, but the growth opportunities are enormous with spending on infrastructure on the rise.

Lafarge entered the Indian market in 1999, with the acquisition of Tata Steel's cement business. This acquisition was followed by the Raymond Cement facility in 2001.Swiss cement major Holcim was also in the race as both cement firms see this business as the future of the cement industry.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

UPS arm in talks to buy AFL for Rs 300 cr

UPS Jetair Express, domestic arm of the US-based logistics major United Parcel Services (UPS), is in talks to acquire Mumbai-based logistics company Air Freight (AFL).According to sources, both parties have been engaged in discussions over the last few months and the deal is expected to be valued at around Rs 300 crore.AFL however denied that it is talks with UPS Jetair Express.

UPS is looking at acquiring both the existing divisions of AFL; the third party logistics (3PL) arm, AFL Logistics and the express courier arm, AFL Wiz. According to sources, the FY 07’ turnover of both the entities is close to Rs 150 crore and Rs 30 crore, respectively, although, both are loss-making companies.The figures could not be confirmed as AFL is not a public-listed company.

If the deal gets through, it will strengthen UPS’ operations in India considering that three of its major global competitors—DHL, FedEx and TNT—have already created significant presence in India through acquisitions of domestic companies.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Canara, HSBC & OBC insurance JV gets regulatory nod

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), on Thursday gave its approval to the proposed life insurance joint venture company of Canara Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and HSBC Insurance (Asia-Pacific).

The JV, in which Canara Bank will hold a majority 51 per cent stake, will be known as Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited and has already been capitalised at USD 81 million (Rs 325 -crore).

HSBC Insurance, which is understood to have invested around Rs 177 crore in the JV, will have a 26 per cent stake in the company while OBC will hold 23 per cent stake.

While officials of were not available for comments, it is understood that the investment by Canara Bank and OBC are Rs 102 crore and Rs 46 crore respectively. Canara Bank, in which the Government has a 73.17 per cent stake, has over 2,600 branches and an asset size of USD 45.2 billion, while OBC has a branch network of 1,402 while its asset size stands at USD 22.61 billion as on March 31, 2008.

Citigroup considers $400 bn of asset sales

Citigroup Inc will identify, today, as much as $400 billion in non-core assets that could be sold as part of a cost-cutting effort.The asset sell-off was likely to take years and some of the non-core holdings may never be sold.

In todays meeting with analysts, Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit would confirm his pledge to cut Citigroup's cost base of more than $60 billion by about 20 percent.

Indiabulls to invest Rs 10 bn in retail biz

Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd plans to invest 10 billion rupees to expand its retail business in the next 2-½ years.The real estate firm, which also houses the group's retail and power businesses, expects lease rentals of 10 billion rupees from two of its properties under development in Mumbai by the end of the next financial year.

The finance firm plans to launch its first mutual fund scheme by October.The Indiabulls group plans to focus on agri-based spot trading for its proposed commodity exchange, which is awaiting approval from the commodities market regulator.
Currently, all the three commodity exchanges only offer trading in futures.

Govt to divest residual 26.12% stake in VSNL

The government is planning to divest its residual 26.12 per cent equity in the Tata-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), now called Tata Communications.

It is unlikely, however, that the government will decide to sell its entire residual stake in the stock market before it resolves the issue of the surplus land of around 773 acres that was kept outside the disinvestment process.

The government owns nearly 53 per cent of the land bank and does not want to be reduced to a minority shareholder in VSNL since this would lower its control and realisation from the eventual sale of the land.

VSNL was a listed company when the government disinvested 25 per cent of its paid-up equity capital through a strategic sale in February 2002 to the Tata group. This reduced the government's stake to 27.97 per cent, of which 1.85 per cent was sold to VSNL employees. According to the shareholding agreement, the Tatas could exercise a "call" option for the government's residual shareholding, except one "golden" share, anytime between February 13, 2006, and February 12, 2007, at a fair value of the called shares. However, the Tatas did not exercise the option.

The golden share allows the government to appoint one non-retiring director on the Board, and grants it affirmative voting rights on the sale of the land or any change in its use.

Read more in The Busines Standard article.

PremjiInvest puts $20 mn in HealthCare Global

HealthCare Global Enterprises said that PremjiInvest, a fund sponsored by Wipro's Azim Premji, has invested $20 million in the company.Healthcare Global manages a network of 10 cancer care centres across India.

"The investment would enable us (to) ramp up fast across various geographies besides enhancing our core research initiatives and bring cutting-edge technologies," HealthCare Global's Chairman and CEO Ajai Kumar said in a statement.

PremjiInvest's chief investment officer, Prakash Parthasarathy and Bobby Mustafa have been inducted into the board of HealthCare Global, the company added.

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Premji buys 2% in Koutons for Rs 20 cr

MTN sets terms for deal with Bharti

Negotiations between the top management of Bharti and MTN are entering a crucial phase. MTN, it is learnt, has put forth a condition that the South African telco’s CEO and group president, Phuthuma Nhleko should be the chief executive of an integrated management committee, combining top executives of both the firms, in case the Indian company manages to emerge as the acquirer.

The discussion on an integrated management committee signals that top honchos of MTN, including Mr Nhleko, could be interested in acquiring shares of Bharti Airtel. The MTN management, including Mr Nhleko, holds 13% stake in the company.

Bharti’s plan to acquire a majority stake might cost it over $20 billion, going by MTN’s market capitalisation of $40 billion. Bharti has commitments from Standard Chartered Bank and Goldman Sachs for loans of $12 billion. Other banks may join the consortium as the discussions progress.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Related Story:
Bharti may rope in SingTel for MTN buy

RIL, Essar Oil eye ONGC`s `unviable` Kakinada refinery

After the UK-based Hinduja group, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) proposed Rs 26,500-crore refinery at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, has found new suitors in Reliance Industries (RIL) and Essar Oil.This is despite ONGC maintaining its stand that the refinery is not financially feasible unless the Andhra Pradesh government gives it more incentives.

The 15-million-tonne-per-annum refinery will be implemented by Kakinada Refinery and Petrochemicals (KRPL). While ONGC's subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) holds 26 per cent stake in KRPL, IL&FS holds 51 per cent and the remaining stake is held by the Andhra Pradesh government.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

LIC wants to dilute stake in IFCI

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) wants to dilute its holding in IFCI even as the Delhi-headquartered non-banking finance company is awaiting cues from the government on its future strategy.


Sources said LIC has approached the IFCI management to lower its holding from 11.39 per cent to 8.39 per cent, the level it was at prior to conversion of debt into equity earlier this year.On its part, IFCI is seeking a legal opinion on how to go about the process.The sources also said the IFCI management is yet to hear from the government on the strategy it should adopt for restructuring the operations, which have been in a pause mode for almost a decade.

The NBFC has communicated the failure of the process to rope in a strategic investor to the government and also reported the apprehensions that some of the bidders had regarding the convertible bonds issued to the Centre, which helped it tide over the financial crisis. IFCI was saddled with high cost debt and was finding it tough to pay bondholders prompting the government to step in.

Read more in The Business Standartd article.

Tricom to buy Godrej unit for Rs 196.3 million

Back-office services provider Tricom India Ltd said its board has approved acquisition of Godrej Global Solutions Ltd for Rs 196.3 million.

Godrej Global is a subsidiary of Godrej Industries Payment will be in cash and through optionally fully convertible debentures.Godrej Global provides back office services in healthcare, data capture and data conversions.In 2007/08, the Godrej unit has revenue of Rs 165 million, it said.

Reliance Infra buys back shares of Rs 343cr

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure, formerly known as Reliance Energy announced that it has bought back shares worth Rs 343.12 crore since the commencement of buyback offer on March 25.The firm has so far bought back 26.82 lakh equity shares since the start of the offer.Reliance Infrastructure bought back two lakh equity shares on Tuesday.


Earlier, shareholders of the company had approved the buyback of equity shares up to an aggregate amount of Rs 2,000 crore.The last date for the buyback is March 4, 2009, a year from the date of the board's approval for the offer.

Bharti may rope in SingTel for MTN buy

India's largest private telecom company Bharti Airtel is believed to have held discussions to rope in Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel), which directly and indirectly holds 30.5 per cent in the company, to bid for South African telecom major MTN Group.

MTN's largest shareholder with 23 per cent is the Alpine Trust, which is controlled, in turn, by two shareholders that have pooled their shares in the trust.One is Newshelf664, a company floated by MTN staff and management and the other is M1, controlled by the Makati family. The other major shareholder is PIC, a South African government-owned pension fund, which has 13.5 per cent. The rest of the shareholding is widely dispersed.MTN is listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange.

An initial entry in the company might be through the buyout of the Alpine Trust stake. Alpine has a market capitalisation of around $33 billion. If Bharti considers buying 51 per cent, the bill will be over $20 billion (Rs 80,000 crore).Goldman Sachs is believed to have agreed to provide debt of up to $12 billion, while the remaining will be taken care of by Stanchart by issuing Bharti's equity to MTN shareholders.

eYantra to sell 18% stake to Mauritius VC firms

eYantra Industries, a Hyderabad-based corporate gifts and brand merchandising company, is set to dilute 15-18 per cent of its equity stake to two Mauritius-based venture capital firms to raise an undisclosed amount in Series A funding. Media house Bennett, Coleman & Company (BCCL) acquired a minority stake in eYantra last June.

The equity dilution could be extendible to 25 per cent to one of the two VC companies (which have a combined committed capital in excess of $2 billion,) to obtain further financing through a Series B round. The company would utilise the funds to support its expansion plans.

The expansion plan involves setting up an apparel manufacturing facility in the Apparel Park at Gundlapochampally on Hyderabad's outskirts at an investment of Rs 3.5crore, initiating a brand-building exercise for customer acquisition, besides going in for geographical diversification.

The seven-year-old company reported revenues of Rs 25 crore last year with its intranet-based customised online brand stores eTail contributing Rs 8 crore and corporate retail division cTail Rs 16 crore. The company expects revenues to touch Rs 60 crore this financial year.

Tata Power eyes shipping biz

Tata Power plans to foray into shipping. The company will invest $500 million through its Singapore-based special purpose vehicle, TPC Energy Asia, to prepare a fleet of nine vessels to transport coal from Indonesia to its plants located in the western coast of India.The company has already signed charter agreements for three ships.

Analysts said the India-bound freight rates are expected to be firm as companies such as Vedanta, Reliance Power and other ultra mega power projects begin shipment of coal. It is not just the prospect of high rates that is weighing on the minds of power producers, but also the possibility that ships too may not be available.Tata Power may consider commercial use of spare ship capacity later

Reliance Power, which is developing two ultra mega power projects, is reportedly considering a foray into the shipping business to cut the transport cost.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

HPL buys L&T stake in power joint venture

Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) today announced that it has acquired Larsen & Toubro's 51per cent stake in HPL Cogeneration (HPLCL), the joint venture for captive power supply with HPL, for an estimated Rs 180 crore.

The buy-out came at a time when the company was operating in adverse circumstances with the bottomline under great pressure. The 10-year joint venture produced 116 mw for HPL's operations. According to the initial agreement, HPL could buy out L&T's stake in 2020 at a suitable price. However, both parties decided to go ahead with a buy-out now.

Read more in The Business Standard article.