Deutsche likely to infuse $125 mn into Golden Gate

European financial powerhouse Deutsche Bank (DB) is set to invest $125 million in Bangalore-based Golden Gate Properties (GGPL) for a 15-20% stake.

It is believed that Deutsche Bank has emerged as the front-runner in a fund-raising process kicked off by the southern realty player about a year ago. Sources said the initial agreement has been inked even though the deal is not yet closed. Other players in the fray included Credit Suisse and ABN Amro. The transaction, according to sources, is likely to value GGPL at around Rs 2,700-3,000 crore.

Earlier, DB invested around Rs 1,700 crore for around 25% stake in special purpose vehicle (SPV) floated by Mumbai-based Lodha group. This SPV proposes to set up three FDI-compliant real estate projects over 70 acres in Thane and Dahisar. Notwithstanding the sub-prime crisis in the US, DB and its global peers like JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and ABN Amro are on the prowl for investments in India’s real estate sector.In fact, sectoral analysts say some of these funds are hedging their portfolio on emerging markets like India.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

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.

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.

Patni eyeing European co for $45 mln

Indian software services firm Patni Computer Systems Ltd is close to acquiring a company in Europe for $40-$45, unnamed sources claimed.

Patni, which counts General Electric Co. ABN AMRO among its clients, has completed the evaluation process of the European enterprise application service provider and an announcement is likely in about two months.

Indian software services firms are on the prowl for overseas buys, especially in Europe, as a stronger rupee and a skills shortage cramp their operations at home.The deals are also aimed at strengthening marketing muscle and add large clients.

In July, the mid-sized Patni said it had acquired European telecoms consulting firm Logan-Orviss International for an undisclosed amount.

PE Texas, Apax to buy stake in Patni

Private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Apax Partners are close to buying some of the founders' stake in India's Patni Computer Systems Ltd.Gajendra and Ashok Patni, two of the three brothers who founded the software services firm, are looking to sell their stake, local media had earlier reported.

Their holding in the company totals to about 29 per cent. The agreement between one of the private equity partners and the Patni brothers is likely to be signed next month, the media said.

A spokeswoman for New York-listed Patni, which counts General Electric Co and ABN AMRO among its clients, said the company had no comment to make on the report. Chairman and Chief Executive Narendra Patni, who holds about 15 per cent of the company, will buy out a part of the stake on offer while the private equity firms will pick up the remaining, the daily said.

JSW Steel to raise USD 325 million via FCCB

The FCCB issue is for USD 325 million with the conversion price of Rs 953.40 per share and the conversion price is at 50% premium over yesterday's close. This hasn’t come as a big surprise as it was mentioned in their result press conference that the company is looking to raise money via FCCB or ADR route.

Their 5-year, zero coupon convertibles are at annual YTM of 7.25%. The company is also looking to list on Singapore Stock Exchange and the closing date is on June 27 with ABN AMRO, Rothschild and Citigroup as joint book runners. The conversion price of Rs 953.40 per share would lead to an equity dilution of 7.8%.

The company is raising money for capex plan and is looking at increasing capacity from 3.8 mtpa to 10 mtpa by September 2010. The company has announced a capex of Rs 7,000 crore for expansion plans out of which Rs 2,000 crore is through internal accruals while Rs 5,000 crore will be financed via debt and quasi-debt instruments.

RBS-led group bids $95.7 bn for ABN AMRO

A consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland unveiled a 71.1 billion euro ($95.7 billion) bid for ABN AMRO that included its disputed U.S. bank and a higher cash component than indicated.

The group of banks said on Tuesday their offer was worth 38.40 euros per ABN share -- 30.40 euros in cash plus 0.844 new shares in RBS.

The consortium of RBS, Fortis and Santanderhas so far been rebuffed by ABN management, which has agreed to an all-share takeover by Britain's Barclays currently valued at 63 billion euros.

The banks said a condition of their offer is that the deal include the purchase of ABN's U.S. arm, LaSalle Bank, which ABN agreed to sell to Bank of America for $21 billion at the same time that it agreed to be taken over by Barclays.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

RIL to raise $2 bn via 10-year loan

Reliance Industries, the country’s largest private sector company, is raising $2 billion through a 10-year overseas syndicated loan for funding its oil and gas exploration in the D6 block of the Krishna-Godawari basin.

The D6 was among the blocks awarded to a consortium of Reliance Industries (90 per cent) and NIKO (10 per cent) under the NELP I round of bidding. Currently, the JV is developing India’s first deep water gas production facility for the Dhirubhai 1 and 3 fields, targeting the first gas in the second half of 2008.

The $2 billion syndicated loan is arranged by a consortium of 14 banks including Citigroup, ABN-Amro, Standard Chartered, HSBC, ICICI Bank and DBS. The full commitment by banks for the loan is expected to be completed this week, said industry sources.

Read more inThe Business Standard article.

Citi, TPG place bids for 40% stake in Sharekhan

Private equity fund Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and global financial services major Citigroup have put in their bids to acquire nearly 40 per cent stake held by the promoters in Sharekhan. The bids peg the valuation of the retail brokerage firm at Rs 600-650 crore.The bidders were also open, the sources said, to acquiring the non-promoter holding. The employees, who hold over 15 per cent stake, may sell their stake as well.

Citigroup has been looking to enter the retail brokerage business in India. Other MNCs such as ABN-Amro and BNP Paribas have already forayed into retail broking. While ABN-Amro set up its own business, BNP Paribas picked up 33 per cent stake in the Kochi-based Geojit Financial Services.

Sharekhan is one of the top five retail brokerages with 120 branches and 3,300 employees. The brokerage firm, which plans to increase its branches to 500 in two years, may get into distribution of insurance and mutual fund products.

Suzlon may raise bid for REpower

Suzlon Energy, the fifth-largest wind energy firm in the world with a market share of 6%, is likely to revise its offer to buy out German wind-turbine builder REpower, following the counter offer of e140 per share made by French rival Areva on Thursday.

According to sources, the company is in talks with a consortium of banks led by ABN Amro and may come out with a revised offer of close to e160 per share, which will raise the value of REpower to $1.7 billion. Areva’s revised offer has raised the value of REpower to $1.5 billion. The new offer is at a premium of 33% to its initial offer price of e105 per share.
Suzlon Energy CMD Tulsi Tanti said, “We will respond to Areva’s counter offer after getting complete information.”

Read more in The Economic Times article

ABN Amro may launch realty fund

ABN-Amro Mutual Fund has filed with the capital markets regulator, Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi), for a scheme that will invest in real estate companies and leading property companies worldwide.

The ABN-Amro Global Property (India) Equity Fund, which awaits the regulator’s nod, will invest in foreign equity and equity-related securities through ABN–Amro’s Luxembourg-based ABN-Amro Global Property Equity Fund. The latter is a diversified, actively managed fund mainly investing in realty companies and top property companies across the globe.

In its filings, ABN-Amro said, the portfolio would invest in stocks of different countries, but the investment manager of the proposed scheme would ensure that the exposure to each country was limited so that the portfolio was not exposed to one country.

Read more in The Business Standard article

Apollo Hospitals to buy UK-based healthcare unit

Apollo Hospitals is looking at acquiring a UK-based hospital chain estimated to be valued upwards of £1.2 bn, in partnership with private equity players. Apollo will provide its management expertise in such deals.Apollo Hospitals has already expressed an interest in the British unit of Swedish healthcare company Capio that is owned by private equity groups Apax and Nordic Capital. The private equity owners of Capio were considering the sale of Capio's British unit in response to antitrust concerns.Apollo has also been looking at other hospitals including The Priory Group, owner of the famous rehabilitation centre for pop stars and fashion models. Priory Healthcare's major shareholder ABN-AMRO has appointed Morgan Stanley to conduct a strategic review.

Read the Moneycontrol.com and Reuters.co.uk articles.