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.

JM Financial unit to buy out ASK Sec's stake in JV

JM Financial Consultants Ltd., a unit of JM Financial Ltd said on Monday it has decided to buy out its joint venture partner in JM Financial ASK Securities Pvt Ltd.
JM held a 60 percent stake in the joint venture.

Ford sells Jaguar/Land Rover to Tata-source

U.S. automaker Ford has agreed to sell its luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata Motors for more than $2 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter. Ford, which signed the deal on Tuesday, plans to publicly announce the transaction in New York at 0800 EST on WednesdayThe deal will also see Ford pay about 300 million pounds ($598 million) into Jaguar and Land Rovers' pension funds, according to unions. Ford declined to comment.

Tata, India's top vehicle maker, has been in talks with Ford since it was chosen as the frontrunner to buy Jaguar and Land Rover a few days into 2008. Tata is pursuing the deal to gain a substantial foothold outside India. But analysts have questioned how Tata will incorporate the luxury brands into its stable of sturdy trucks and functional passenger cars, including the Nano, the world's cheapest car which it unveiled in January.

While Land Rover has generated three years of record sales with its iconic SUVs, the fit of Jaguar is far less clear. Ford, which lost $2.7 billion in 2007 and $12.6 billion in 2006, is spinning off Jaguar and Land Rover to focus on turning around its loss-making operations in North America.

The sale will include a commitment by Tata to continue buying engines from Ford, according to unions. All Jaguar and Land Rover's petrol engines are built in a Ford plant in South Wales, supporting hundreds of jobs there.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

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Great Offshore close to $ 500 million buy

Great Offshore Ltd (GOL), the Mumbai-based integrated offshore oilfield services company, has made an offer to purchase a controlling stake in an unnamed overseas company. The deal size, according to industry sources, is expected to be over $500 million (around Rs 2,000 crore).

The overseas company will own two semi-submersible drilling rigs (upon delivery) that are estimated to cost around $1.40 billion. At present, the sixth generation rigs are under construction.

The company was in advanced talks to acquire two Norwegian companies — Scorpion Offshore and Petrojack — for around $500-550 million, and had appointed Motilal Oswal as consultants. However, the name of the acquired company could not be ascertained.

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.

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.

Strides Arcolab completes Diaspa buy

Strides Arcolab on Monday said it has completed the acquisition of Italy's Diaspa and fermentation assets including its ongoing business in Milan. The buy was carried out by Strides Arcolab International.

Diaspa has a fermentation capacity of 925 cubic meters and produces a range of niche pharmaceuticals.

Strides Arcolab will make additional investments into Diaspa to meet its growing demands of captive fermentation pharmaceuticals - mainly Vancomycin & Tecoplanin.

“The acquisition gives Strides immediate access to a USFDA and EU approved facility and provides the technology necessary for Strides to grow its sterile injectable business,” said Arun Kumar, vice chairman and managing director of Strides Arcolab.

ABG Shipyard, three other firms in race to buy Alcock Ashdown

India’s biggest private sector shipbuilders ABG Shipyard Ltd, Subhash Projects and Marketing Ltd, Zoom Developers Pvt. Ltd and Helicon Engineering Works are in the race to buy shipbuilding firm Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat) Ltd from the Gujarat government.

All four firms confirmed they have qualified to bid for 100% stake in Alcock Ashdown, which has two shipbuilding and repair facilities in Gujarat, one each in Bhavnagar and Chanch. The four qualified bidders have been asked to submit their price bids by 31 July, an official at one of the four shortlisted firms said. He did not want either himself or his firm to be identified.

Alcock Ashdown was originally owned by a British company. When the firm ran into financial trouble, it was taken over by the Indian government in 1975. Subsequently in 1994, the yard was acquired by the Gujarat government.

The Livemint article.

M&M seeks to buy Lokesh Machines

Mahindra & Mahindra, the Rs 18,000 crore auto major, plans to buy Lokesh Machines Ltd, India’s biggest engine-block manufacturer.M&M has approached the management of the Hyderabad-based company with an offer to acquire over 51% equity.

Buying Lokesh, which had a turnover of Rs 113 crore last fiscal, will give M&M an assured and captive supply of cylinder blocks and engine heads for jeeps, tractors and the Scorpio utility vehicle.Lokesh supplies about 2.3 lakh engine blocks for M&M’s vehicles, which constitutes 35% of its business.For M&M, the move would be in line with the sales target set for Systech, its aggressively expanding auto component division — of $1 billion by 2010, or a 33% increase over current revenues.

Read more in The DNA Money article.

Hindalco snaps up entire Alcan stake in Utkal

Aditya Birla Group flagship Hindalco Industries on Wednesday completed its bid to own Utkal Alumina, a joint venture it had with Alcan, when it agreed to buy out the Canadian company’s 45% equity stake in the venture for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition of Utkal Alumina would give Hindalco ownership of 195 million tonnes of high grade bauxite, that is a key raw material for making aluminium metal.

Although Hindalco officials declined to specify the amount they will spend to buy out Alcan’s stake, it has been learnt that an alumina plant of 1.5 million tonnes capacity will cost Rs 5,000 crore to build. The acquisition of Utkal Alumina also gives the Birlas complete ownership of high grade alumina which could be used to feed the group’s forthcoming aluminium projects. Once all projects are completed, the group will have ownership of about 5.2 million tonnes of alumina.

Alcan, which is at present the target of a friendly $38-billion takeover offer from British mining major Rio Tinto, had in April announced its plan to exit the joint venture. Hindalco held the remaining 55% stake and the first right of refusal for its partner’s stake.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Flag Telecom buys US-based Yipes for $300mn

Flag Telecom, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company, has signed a definitive agreement to buy US-based Yipes Communcations for $300 million.

This was announced by Anil Ambani, chairman of the R-ADAG group in Mumbai a short while ago.Ambani said Flag will leverage its reach globally, and extend the reach of Yipes across the world.

Bhoruka Power acquires SLS Power for Rs 80cr

Bhoruka Power Corporation (BPCL), part of the Bhoruka Group, has bought out Bangalore-based SLS Power Industries for Rs 80 crore. The acquisition, which includes debt, has been funded Rs 50 crore by two banks. The remaining Rs 30 crore came from BPCL's internal accruals.

SLS Power Industries has two hydro power stations in the Cauvery and Tungabhadra basins, with a total capacity of 12MW in Karnataka. With this acquisition, BPCL's power production capacity has touched 100MW.

BPCL, which specialises in mini hydro power and wind energy projects, registered a Rs 67 crore turnover last fiscal. "The acquisition is part of our growth strategy to achieve Rs 200 crore in revenues by 2009," S N Agarwal, chairman, Bhoruka Group, said.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Infosys scrip surges 2% on BSE over takeover news

Shares of country’s leading software exporter Infosys surged as much as 2.54% on the Bombay Stock Exchange after media reports that the software behemoth is planning to bid for European consultancy firm Capgemini.

Infosys scrip opened firm at Rs 1,951 and rallied ahead to touch a high of Rs 1,975 in early trading on the BSE, gaining as much as Rs 49.10 over its previous close.
However, the scrip of the company parted with some gains and was later trading at Rs 1952.30 at 10.34 am on BSE and over 68,000 shares got exchanged in early trade.
Yesterday, the French firm Capgemini’s scrip surged more than 4% on the Paris bourse over reports that Infosys Technologies is planning to acquire a stake in the company to expand its global presence.

Infosys has a market value of nearly $27 billion, while Capgemini has a market capitalisation of about 10 billion dollars (7.7 billion euro).

Batliboi buys 70% in French firm for Rs90 mn

Engineering firm Batliboi Ltd today bought a majority stake in French firm AESA Air Engineering to gain access to technology and newer markets, sending its shares soaring.

Batliboi, paid Rs90 million for 70% in loss-making AESA, an Industrial airconditoning maker, chairman Nirmal Bhogilal told reporters.AESA, now 30% owned by employees, is expected to break even in 2007 on revenue of Rs1billion, up from Rs700 million a year ago, he said.

Batliboi’s shares extended gains to touch a high of Rs118.40 on the news. The shares ended 7.1% up at Rs116 in a firm Mumbai market.“There were only two big Western firms left in this space and we needed a global footprint,” Bhogilal said. “AESA gives us the brand and the network.” Batliboi makes machine tools, industrial airconditions and sells textile machinery.

Read more in The Livemint article.

I-flex shares surge on Oracle open offer buzz

Shares of i-flex, an IT solutions provider for banking space, today rose by 11 per cent on speculation that Oracle Corporation, which owns over 81 per cent in the firm, might make an open offer to buy more shares.

The i-flex scrip soared to an intra-day high of Rs 2,440, a rise of 10.95 per cent or Rs 241 over its previous close of Rs 2,199.15 as nearly 82,000 shares were traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Oracle, which holds stake in the Indian company through Mauritius-based Oracle Global, had earlier this year acquired 35 per cent stake after sweetening its offer price from Rs 1,475 to Rs 2,100 per share.

With speculation again doing rounds, the i-flex stock rose to closed at Rs 2,425.8, up 10.31 per cent today. This is the company’s second-highest closing after the scrip touched its 52-week high of Rs 2,545 on April 27.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Alcan plans takeovers, joint ventures in India

Alcan Inc, fighting a takeover attempt by Alcoa, today said it intends to expand operations in India through acquisitions and joint ventures.

The announcement comes within a couple of months after Alcan decided to pull out of Utkal Alumina International, its joint venture with the Aditya Birla Group, by selling its 45% stake.

“You will be hearing about more acquisitions in the next two to three years,” said Steve Henning, director (strategy) at Alcan Composites. He was addressing a press conference to announce the acquisition of 76% stake in Alukbond India, maker and seller of agricultural facades, for an undisclosed amount. The company posted sales of $5 million last year.

He, however, didn’t give details of the proposed expansion plans in India. Analysts said the expansion plan of the Montreal-based aluminium maker would depend on the future ownership of the company which had recently rejected a $27.6 billion takeover bid from Alcoa.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Tatas, Ruias set sights on Stelco

Tata Steel, India’s largest private sector steel maker, and Essar Global, the holding company of the Essar group, have shown preliminary interest in Canadian steel maker Stelco, put up for sale by key shareholders last week. People in the know said the Tata group is attracted to the mines and the specialised steel-making capabilities of Stelco while Essar is more keen on the Ontario-based firm’s iron ore assets.

Sources close to Tata Steel admitted that Stelco “is an option as we have interest in the high-volume, high-margin markets of North America and want to get a footprint there”. “It is too early as Stelco has just announced its intentions,” he added.

A Tata Steel spokesperson refused to comment specifically on Stelco, but noted that “the company is in an expansion mode and is looking at various possibilities”.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Paramount Airways woos GoAir for buyout

After Air India-Indian Airlines, Jet Airways-Sahara and Kingfisher-Deccan Aviation, another aviation merger is in the air.

Madurai-based Paramount Airways is interested in acquiring the Mumbai-based budget carrier GoAir, promoted by the Wadia group.

Sources close to the developments said the investment bankers of Paramount Airways have expressed their interest and initiated discussions with GoAir representatives. The talks, however, have not made much headway as yet as GoAir is reluctant to move ahead.

Paramount Airways, which currently operates only in south India, has firmed up plans to enter the western region. GoAir has only four leased aircraft but Paramount is more interested in its slots, parking bays, pilots and other infrastructure, sources said.

GoAir had earlier indicated its plan to dilute 26-40 per cent equity through a private equity placement.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Rain Calcining share up 20% on CII Carbon buyout

Rain Calcining Ltd. shares Monday climbed 20% to a high of Rs 42.50 on the company’s subsidiary Rain/CII Holdings acquiring CII Carbon for $595 million.

The Bombay Stock Exchange counter clocked a volume of 2.05 lakh shares in trade so far, against the two week average of 3.64 lakh.

Rain Commodities USA, a subsidiary of Rain Commodities Ltd., is expected to invest $92 million in convertible non-voting preferred stock in Rain/CII Holdings to finance the acquisition, which is expected to be completed by June end.

The shares of Rain Commodities too surged 15.31% to Rs 141.25. They rose to a high of Rs 147, with volume of 1.56 lakhs shares on the BSE.

The combined entity will be better placed to supply the aluminum and titanium dioxide industries worldwide.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Amtek Auto close to $40 mn deal

Auto parts maker Amtek Auto Ltd is close to buying an aluminium foundry in the UK from J L French Automotive Castings for an enterprise value of about $40 million, two sources close to the deal said on Thursday.

The unit, which sells aluminium casts and machined parts to automakers including Ford and PSA Peugeot Citroen, has annual sales of about $80 million and a 20,000 tonne capacity, the sources said.

The deal could be valued at about 4 times core earnings, they said.

Amtek's spokesman declined comment.