Deutsche Borse to sell BSE indices overseas

Germany’s Deutsche Börse (DB), which owns a 5 per cent equity stake in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), has been made an exclusive worldwide sales partner for all indices of the Indian bourse. The move opens up prospective trading interest for the domestic indices in European and other Asian markets.

The BSE, which is Asia’s oldest stock exchange, is yet to attract investors’ fancy in derivatives trading in its indices, and the move is aimed to attract more investor interest in its indices, especially from among foreign investors.

At a later stage, this would also help the exchange in activating its derivative segment by luring foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to its products, said its officials. Already, Barclays has an ETF (exchange-traded fund) listed on the Singapore exchange (iShares Sensex), which tracks the BSE’s main index.

The BSE would also get to earn a licence fee from the users of its indices through the latest initiative, said senior officials.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Blackstone buys Gokaldas Exports

Global private equity giant Blackstone Group is acquiring majority control in Gokaldas Exports for nearly Rs 660 crore, in the country’s largest management buyout in the textiles industry.

Blackstone will acquire a 70 per cent stake in Gokaldas through a two-step deal — 50 per cent from the Bangalore-based Hinduja family and 20 per cent through an open offer to other shareholders. Kotak Investment Bank was the advisor to the transaction and is the manager for the open offer.The deal will price one share of Gokaldas Exports at Rs 275, a 20 per cent premium over today’s close of Rs 228.70.

This is Blackstone’s third major deal this year, the other two being a $275 million investment in Ushodaya Enterprises, which runs the Eenadu newspaper and ETV franchise, and a management buy-out of BPO firm Intelenet from Barclays and HDFC for Rs 840 crore.

Akhil Gupta, CMD of Blackstone Advisors India, said his company was attracted by the growth potential of Gokaldas. “With the abolition of the quota regime, the potential of Indian textiles exporters is huge,” he added.He said Blackstone would restructure the Gokaldas board after the open offer.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Barclay's bid rumours excite street over IFCI

The wait is almost over for all those investors eyeing a stake in the oldest financial institution in the country — IFCI. The board of IFCI is meeting on August 4 to kick-start the process of inviting bids for the strategic sale.

Meanwhile, speculation is rife that among the many interested parties, Barclays is willing to pay a premium of Rs 85 per share. Sources at IFCI maintain that bidders will be selected on a competitive basis.

The price tag for IFCI can be more than Rs 4,000 crore, industry sources said. Various portfolio investments, where value can be unlocked at a later stage, can yield Rs 2,000 crore, recoveries from NPAs could yield another Rs 2,000 crore, and real estate assets another Rs 3,000 crore.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Barclays in tie-up with Metlife

Barclays, the global giant in financial services, and Metlife India Insurance Company on Wednesday announced their bancassurance tie-up in the country that will enable the insurance company to sell its products through the banking channel of the Barclays.

Speaking about the partnership, Metlife Managing Director Rajesh Relan said," Considering a combined experience of both groups in financial services, we are confident on making a difference in the hugely promising market."

He said through other partnerships with Jammu and Kashmir Bank, UTI Bank, Karnataka Bank and Dhanalakshmi Bank, Metlife's products are currently available at over 500 bank branches in the country.

Barclays, which has been in India for nearly 30 years, more recently through Barclays Capital, has retail and commercial banking set up in Mumbai, Kanchipuram and Neelamangala near Bangalore.

IDBI to raise $1.5 bn via bonds

State-run lender IDBI Ltd is planning to raise $1.5 bn in a medium-term note issue, its chairman and managing director VP Shetty said on Thursday.

The first tranche would be issued overseas within three months and the lead arrangers to the issue are HSBC and Barclays , he told reporters.Deputy Managing Director OV Bundellu, on his part, said the whole process could take about a year.

Shetty said IDBI was aiming for a credit growth of 18-20 percent and a deposit growth of 25 percent in the year to March 2008, Shetty said. IDBI's loan growth was 18 percent and deposit growth was 67 percent in 2006/07.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Strides Arcolab to raise $100 mn via bonds

Maker and exporter of finished pharma dosage forms, Strides Arcolab will raise upto $100 million (over Rs 400 crore) through an FCCB issue to part-finance potential overseas acquisition plans.

The company today announced the launch of its foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), which would raise $75 million. In addition, Barclays Capital, the lead manager to the FCCB issue, has an option to increase the issue size by an additional 25 million dollars, Strides Arcolab informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

"Given a favourable credit and interest rate environment, we have decided to issue the bonds to meet capital expenditure, finance potential overseas acquisition programmes and invest in an overseas subsidiary," the company said.

Read more in The Economic Times article/

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.