Berger Paints bags Polish firm Bolix for $38 million

Berger Paints India on Tuesday acquired Polish firm Bolix SA, a leading provider of external insulation finishing system (EIFS) in the B2B segment, for a net purchase price of $38.6 million (around Rs 1,54.7 crore). The Kolkata-based paints major acquired the entire bloc in the Polish firm held by global private equity group Advent International.

The holding was bought by Berger Paints’ wholly-owned Cyprus subsidiary, the company’s media statement stated. While Ernst & Young and Tomczak & Partners of Poland assisted Berger Paints clinch the deal, Clifford Chance and CAG were advisors to Advent International.

The purchase is conditional and depends on the fulfilment of certain conditions, including clearance by the Polish Anti-Monopoly Office. The purchase price is also subject to the usual adjustments at the time of completion of the transaction.

Bolix products include adhesives, mortars, plasters, primers and paints. In combination with other insulation materials like polystyrene foam or mineral wool and auxiliary materials such as fibre glass meshes, Bolix’s EIFS products provide insulation solutions as well as a decorative finish for traditional brick and concrete structures.

Tata Power to refinance Indonesian acquisitions

Tata Power Company (TPC) on Tuesday announced refinancing of loans worth $850 million taken for funding its acquisition of 30% stake in Indonesian thermal coal producers, PT Kaltim Prima Coal and PT Arutmin Indonesia, as well as trading companies from PT Bumi Resources. It had taken $950-million one-year bridge loan to finance the $1.1-billion purchase.

The refinancing consists of a $580-million non-recourse loan and a $270-million recourse loan. The non-recourse facility has a door-to-door tenure of six years while the tenure of the recourse loan is one year more.

The financing has been provided by a group of banks led by five mandated lead arrangers including Barclays Capital, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. TPC will evaluate the option of refinancing the remaining $100 million of the bridge loan at an appropriate time.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Dr Reddy's to buy BASF drug contract manufacturing unit

Drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd has agreed to acquire BASF's drug contract manufacturing business and a related facility in the United States for an undisclosed amount.

The Hyderabad-based company said the deal was likely to be completed by June, subject to regulatory approvals. BASF's contract manufacturing business makes generic prescription and over-the-counter products for branded and generic companies in the United States.

The business had revenue of $43 million in 2007, it said. "The acquisition ... will enable us to strengthen our supply chain for North America and provide a strong platform for pursuing additional growth opportunities," Satish Reddy, managing director of Dr Reddy's, said in the statement.

Strides Arcolab acquires 17.7% more in Genepharm Australasia

Strides Arcolab has acquired over 17.7 per cent in ASX-listed Genepharm Australasia under a share acquisition agreement with a group of Cyprus-based shareholders that are associated with Genepharm's largest shareholder, Genepharm Asia Pacific Enterprises.

Strides will vend its Australian and Asian business in exchange for the issue of shares in Genepharm.Including the existing 2.1 per cent of Genepharm shares over which Strides currently has a relevant interest, the transaction takes Strides' total relevant interest in Genepharm issued shares to 19.8 per cent.

On successful completion of the Genepharm transaction, Strides may emerge with a shareholding of 55 per cent of the expanded capital base of Genepharm.The combined regional businesses are expected to have revenue of A$ 100 million on closing of the Genepharm transaction.

The purchase consideration for the acquisition of Strides' Australian and Asian operations has been reduced from A$65.0 million to A$61.0 million, with Genepharm proposing to assume A$4.1 million of existing debt within the business.The issue price of the shares paid to Strides as purchase consideration is A$0.55 per share compared to the original price of A$0.60 per share, reflecting Genepharm’s recent trading results and share price performance.

Repo rates untouched, CRR hiked by 25 bps

Local factors have taken precedence and the Reserve Bank of India has left the repo and reverse repo rate untouched. The central bank has, however, gone in for another 25 basis points (bps) hike in CRR to 8.25 per cent in the annual policy announced on Tuesday. This will drain the system of Rs 9,250 crore of liquidity.

The CRR has been hiked on the review of ongoing liquidity situation. RBI aims at bring down inflation to 5.5 pc in 2009.The money supply targets have been downgraded from 17 -17.5 per cent last year to 16.5 to 17 pc for 09. The policy aims at credit growth of 20 per cent in 2008. The bank is very optimistic on growth and had pegged GDP growth target at 8 - 8.5 per cent for 09.

Blackstone arm buys Synergy stake for Rs 72 cr

Blackstone Real Estate Partners, the real estate arm of Blackstone group, has taken a minority stake in Synergy Property Development Services by investing $18 million (Rs 72 crore).Blackstone recently closed Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI with capital commitments worth $10.9 billion, creating the largest ever real estate opportunity fund.

Synergy specializes in architectural design and fitouts, complete project management and turnkey contracts. The company's forte is in managing the entire process from start to finish and ensuring timely project delivery.

Synergy, which is based out of Bangalore, has delivered real estate worth more than 20 million square feet and currently manages over 100 million square feet across various asset classes including office, retail, residential, hotels and hospitals. The company is also planning to expand into infrastructure projects such as airports.

Read more in The Business Standard article

New delisting norms soon

After a wait of almost two years, the government and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) have firmed up their views on finalising the guidelines for delisting of companies from stock exchanges.The government has also kick-started the process of corporatisation of clearing corporations. Despite differences of opinion, the reverse book-building process remains the choice for finalising the delisting price of shares.

In its draft proposal, Sebi has mooted a fixed price for delisting, which will be a 25 per cent premium over a fixed floor price. The fixed floor price is to be calculated by an accredited rating agency.

Sebi has mooted the alternative price discovery method as it considers that the reverse book-building process has failed to serve its purpose of fixing fair exit value for shareholders, giving disproportionate powers to public shareholders for cartelisation in price discovery.Meanwhile, the issue of a threshold level of shareholding to decide on delisting still remains a bone of contention.

In its presentation to the finance ministry, Sebi has given two options. Promoters should either acquire at least half of the public shareholding in their respective companies or buy shares that will take their shareholding to a little over 90 per cent, whichever ensures a larger number of shares.The existing rules do not specify a minimum level of public participation for delisting. Sebi has further suggested that if half of the shareholders are not willing to participate in the buyback programme, the company should remain listed.

The government, however, is not in favour of this suggestion on the ground that delisting should not be withheld if the promoter has already acquired over 90 per cent of the shares.It will block the exit route for those investors who have sold their shares to the promoter and are not happy with the management.