Battery major Eveready is looking to acquire a minimum of an 80% stake in Uniross for US$13.65 million.

Battery major Eveready Industries us getting ready for an acquisition. After reporting a profit for fiscal year 2009, the company has set its eye on French company Uniross SA. For this, the company has set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to acquire minimum of an 80% stake in Uniross for $13.65 million.
Uniross is into the business of manufacturing and distribution of rechargeable batteries and allied products. Eveready has signed a term sheet with Paris-based CG Holding for investment through SPV. The company plans to invest a total of $13.65 million or Euro 10 million in the deal through mix of debt and equity, it said in a filing to BSE. The deal closing is subject to certain conditions and approvals.
Indian equity markets have rallied by more than 20% since April, even though uncertainty over election results persists. Several companies have also filed for IPO. But are Indian companies now ready for overseas acquisitions?
Eveready's stock was up by nearly 5% closing at Rs 25.40 on a day when markets fell by 1.22%. The company has a market cap of Rs 185 crore.
Last month Eveready reported an after-tax profit of Rs 19.40 crore fiscal 2009 against a loss of Rs 19.32 crore in 2007-08. While battery contributes around 70% of the company’s turnover, it's also into lighting, packet tea and flashlight businesses. The company is promoted by Khaitan group.
Eveready recently launched recently launched 'Ultima' alkaline battery and 'HomeLight' LED cells, and is expecting revenues to double to rs 1600 crore in FY10. The company is now focusing more on alkaline batteries, CFLs, LEDs as it believes they have the highest growth potential.
In 2005, Eveready had acquired BPL Soft Energy System, the battery business of BPL, for Rs 67 crore. That acquisition had helped it consolidate its position in the Indian market. The company has a 56% market share in conventional battery market in India.

Source: vccircle

DLF promoters raise Rs3900 cr

DLF promoters have sold 170 million shares at Rs230/share to raise Rs3900 cr. The process, which was being overseen by Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan, started late Tuesday evening and closed before the stock market opened.

Proceeds from the sale are expected to be invested in DLF Assets Ltd (DAL), the promoter-owned real estate trust, which is in the midst of restructuring. Of this, around Rs 2,100 crore will be used to pay hedge fund DE Shaw, which had invested $400 in 2007 through optionally convertible preference shares. The rest will be used to repay part of DAL’s Rs 5,400 crore debt to DLF Ltd.

After the transaction, the promoters’ stake will drop to 78.6 per cent from the current 88.5 per cent. Asked about the sale, DLF Vice-Chairman Rajiv Singh said, “I am not in a position to react because bankers are advising us on the issue.”

Meanwhile, in a separate transaction DLF is expected to acquire DAL for Rs 7,500 crore. This effectively means DAL will have to incur a loss of Rs 2,500 crore, since it acquired assets from DLF for Rs 10,000 crore in 2007-08.

Apart from DE Shaw, DAL raised $700 million from Symphony Capital through optionally convertible preference shares with a coupon rate of 4 to 6 per cent to fund the asset acquisition from DLF.

D E Shaw was assured of an exit route from DAL after a planned listing on the stock exchange in two years. That route has closed since the real estate market has crashed and is unlikely to see a revival of interest from equity investors in the near future.

Although the due diligence of DAL is complete, sources said the transaction would be concluded after DE Shaw is paid. DAL, after getting the fund infusion from promoters is expected to pay off DE Shaw so to conclude the transaction, sources said.

2i Capital Sells Part Stake in Titagarh Wagons To Hedge Fund

Bangalore-based private equity fund 2i Capital has sold nearly half of its stake in railway freight wagon manufacturer Titagarh Wagons. The fund sold a 2.71% stake in Titagarh for a total sum of Rs 9.55 crore on Wednesday when Sensex reached a six month high. The shares weresold at a price of Rs 191 per share to hedge fund Indus Capital Advisors. At the time of listing, 2i Capital held a little more than a million shares. The PE fund's average stock acquisition price stands at Rs 191 per share, Vivek Sekhar, CEO of 2i Capital (India) Pvt. Ltd, told VCCircle in an email response. This means that 2i Capital has sold its stake exactly at par to its acquisition price. The private equity firm, which is currently raising its second fund of $200 million, still has a little more than 3% stake in the firm. Sekhar also said that 2i Capital's average sale price is higher as it sold some stake in a trade sale. Titagarh Wagons listed on April 2008 with a price band of Rs 540-610. The Kolkata-based firm also sold stake to GE Capital International and JPM Morgan Mauritius in a pre-IPO deal. It had reached a 52-week high of Rs 907 last year before slipping as markets melted. Titagarh Wagons had raised Rs 24.7 crore from 2i Capital in March 2006, by selling stake at a price of Rs 1711 per share. ChrysCapital also picked up a stake in the firm for around Rs 55 crore in 2006, buying stake both from the promoters and through fresh equity. The number of shares held by 2i Capital later increased due to a bonus issue in January 2007.
The stake has been sold by 2i Capital soon after one year lock-in period post listing has completed.

PE Funds Continue To Exit

Private equity funds continue to selectively pare their shareholding in various listed portfolio companies, making best of what is tipped to be a bull rally. The funds may also see this as good time to exit as markets are expected to see volatility post-elections, especially between 16 to 30 May, when the government is to be formed. Besides 2i Capital, IL&FS India Leverage Fund also sold a little more than 2% stake in IBN18 Broadcast, which operates general news channels CNN-IBN and IBN7. The stake has been sold for Rs 35.8 crore between September 2008 and April 2009, IBN18 said in a filing earlier this month. Last month Citigroup Venture Capital International sold nearly a 5% stake in Techno Electric & Engg Company and UK-based 3i Group also sold 1.42% stake in Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd. Earlier this month also IDFC Private Equity sold a small part of its stake inGujarat State Petronet Ltd via open market deals.

Source: VCCIRCLE

Eagle, Burgmann Merge Indian Businesses in a $70 Million Deal

Germany based Burgmann Industries and Japan based Eagle Industry have merged their mechanical seals operations in India. The new entity will be called EagleBurgmann India Pvt. Ltd. The combined value of the transaction is approximately $70 million. Both Eagle and Burgmann are the makers of mechanical seals and sealing systems, which are used in various industries like power generation, oil and gas production and refinery & petrochemicals etc. Both the companies have been operating in India through separate entities and with different local partners. As part of its global integration strategy, Eagle and Burgmann decided to buyout both the local joint-venture partners and pool the resources of the separate entities into a single vehicle. Both the companies hold equal stakes in the newly formed entity. The combined value of the transaction was approximately $70 Million. The legal and operation integration as well as the negotiations with the local partners were facilitated by BMR Advisors. Besides enlarging the product base, the integration of the operations of the two companies is expected to provide better economic, operational, financial, technological and market synergies. Burgmann Group’s product range includes mechanical seals, gas lubricated seals, seal supply systems, magnetic couplings, stuffing box packings, static seals, automotive seals, rotary kiln sealing systems and expansion joints. The product portfolio of eagle Industry includes mechanical seals, valves, plant devices, marine products, bellows devices, and related installation work.

Source: VCCIRCLE

Pangea Capital To Invest $30M In Deepak Puri's Cobol Technologies

Solar power firm Cobol Technologies (owned by Deepak and Ratul Puri of Moser Baer), has raised $30 million(Rs 151 crore) from Pangea Capital. Bermuda-based Pangea is a mid-sized fund house with total assets under management in excess of $100 million.
The investment in Cobol has been made through Pangea Emerging Infrastructure Fund, which targets both listed and unlisted Indian infrastructure companies. It invests in companies engaged in sectors such as energy, oil & gas, roads, ports and telecom. Besides this Pangea also has an emerging markets focused fund called Pangea Emerging Markets Fund and Pangea Alternative Fund. According to an application submitted to foreign investment promotion board(FIPB), the top government body which clears foreign investment into the country, Cobol has raised the funds through the issue of fully convertible debentures (FCDs) to Pangea in three tranches. The FCDs are compulsorily convertible into equity shares by March 31, 2012.
The agreement between the two firms say that the number of equity shares to be issued after conversion of the FCDs to Pangea shall not exceed 49% stake in Cobol. Moser Baer chairman and managing director Deepak Puri and executive director Ratul Puri own 50% each of the solar power firm. The firm, started in August 2007, operates in the area of electricity generation and distribution and is currently setting up a 5 mega-watt (MW) solar power project in Uttar Pradesh. This marks an expansion of business in the non-conventional power sector for Deepak Puri and Ratul Puri whose flagship company Moser Baer has also branched out in solar photovoltaic business. Moser Baer has outlined plans to invest $3.2 billion in the solar business and is also setting up a solar power project in Rajasthan, which is expected to become the largest grid-connected solar farm in India.

Source: VCCIRCLE

Siva In Talks To Pick Up Stake in Telco S Tel

NRI businessman C Sivasankaran may just be planning a re-entry into India's rapidly growing telecommunications market. Economic Times reports that Sivasankaran is in talks to buy the stake of one of the private equity promoters who hold a 51% stake in S Tel, a Chennai-basedcompany holding license in six states. Sivasankaran, known as Siva, sold his stake in Aircel for $1.08 billion to Maxis Telecom in 2005. Earlier this year, S Tel sold a 49% stake to Gulf-based Bahrain Telecommunications Co and Millennium Private Equity for $225 million. S Tel has licenses to operate in 6 Indian states - Bihar, Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, North East and Assam. The company can also provide broadband services across the country as it has a Category A ISP license. S Tel is promoted by Skycity Foundations and Mauritius-based Telecom Investments. The real identity of the investors of S Tel is not known. The directors of the company, as mentioned on the company website, are S Natarajan, Santhosh Robert and Padmavathy Suresh. Siva's re-entry come on the backdrop of the term of his non-compete agreement, which he had signed Maxis Telecom, ending in March this year. He was also barred from buying more than a 10% stake in an Indian telecom firm. In the meantime Siva bought a 8.6% stake in Tata Teleservices Rs 1,200 crore in 2006, which fell to to 6% after Japan's NTT DoCoMo bought 26% stake earlier this year. He is also said to have invested Rs 350-400 crore in Unitech Wireless. Siva has made fortunes buying, turning around and then selling Indian companies. His investment firm is known as Siva Ventures. Besides Aircel, he sold coffee chain Barista, which he bought over for Rs 65 crore (~$15 million) to Italian chain Lavazza for $125 million. Another one of his investments was Tamilnad Mercantile Bank.

Source: Economic Times

Modi Mundipharma Forms JV with Omega Pharma

Delhi-based Modi Mundipharma has formed a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Belgium-based company Omega Pharma to sell the latter’s over-the-counter (OTC) medicines in India and manufacture on-contract drugs for the Belgian company’s overseas markets. The two companies plan to launch 15 OTC medicines and eight medicines between October 2009 and April 2010. These include Omega’s best-selling medicines, Silence (anti-snoring), Cellasaene (anti-slimming) and Salvecol (cholesterol reducer), among others. The two companies would invest e2 million and hire 75 people in its sales team to sell the products in the market, which will be scaled up to around 200 in the next five years.

Source: Economic Times

Axious Investment to Pick 3.8% stake in QTIL

Singapore-based Axious Investment is picking up 3.8% stake in standalone tower company Quippo Telecom Infrastructure (QTIL). The deal size is estimated at around Rs 200 crore. According to sources, Axious will buy out Delhi-based Premier Chemco’s 3.8% stake in QTIL, and this will involve a transaction between two private parties.

Source: Economic Times

Srini Vudayagiri Quits Lightspeed Venture Partners

Sreenivasulu "Srini" Vudayagiri, an India based Venture Director with Lightspeed Venture Partners, is quitting the venture capital firm. When contacted, Vudayagiri said, "I will be transitioning out of Lightspeed by end of this month." He declined to comment on his next move, saying he will announce his plans at an appropriate time. "I will continue to be in the industry," Vudayagiri said. Vudyagiri joined Lightspeed in 2007 from Thomas Weisel International, where he was heading the India-focused fund of funds. Thomas Weisel's India fund was sold off to Guggenheim Partners last year. Lightspeed's India investments include Four Interactive (which runs local search firm AskLaila) and Tutorvista, an online tutorial business. Earlier this year Lightspeed appointed Bejul Somaia as Managing Director in India, a position which was held by Vudayagiri before. Vudayagiri was appointed as a Venture Director around that time.
Lightspeed, which has an India office in New Delhi, is now looking to make PIPE (private investment in public equity) deals, and is looking for a mix between early and late stage companies. It's looking for investments in areas like healthcare, education, fincial services, advertising & media, besides its focus area of technology.

Source: VCCIRCLE

Navis Capital Picks Up Majority Stake in Edutech

In one of the biggest deals in India's education sector, private equity firm Navis Capital Partners has invested $30 million in Edutech. The PE firm has acquired a majority stake of between 55-80% in Edutech, which provides post-graduate and part-time executive programmes, reports Pei-Asia. The investment in Edutech has been done from Navis V, which raised more than $1 billion in 2007. Edutech has revenues of Rs 55 crore ($11 mn) and seven branches spread across the country. It offers courses in areas like finance, healthcare, hotel management and hospitality.
With this investment, Edutech is planning to open five more campuses and also offer courses in areas like law and engineering. Education, till now has seen growth capital deployment from the PE investors, this would be one of the first controlled transactions in the space.

PE Interest In Education Continues To Increase

Education sector has been increasingly attracting interest from private equity and venture capital investors, especially in the recent times. The investors are attracted by the non-cyclical nature and the huge opportunity presented by this under-served sector in India. The private spending on education is increasing by 14% CAGR and is expected to reach $80 billion by 2012, says a IDFC-SSKI report. Also this sector has managed to give some of the best returns to investors in India's short history of PE & VC industry. Gaja Capital Partners made 24X from their investment in educational technology company Educomp Solutions Ltd. UTI Venture also made 50x on its investment in e-learning firm Excelsoft. Malaysia-based Navis Capital has a strategy of buying majority stake into companies. Late last year, the PE fund acquired a 62% stake BSE-listed lubricants manufacturer SahPetroleums. It has also invested in Delhi-based fast food chain Nirula's and Mumbai-based call center Andromeda.

Source: VCCIRCLE

Dabur expands fruit drink portfolio

FMCG major Dabur India today entered into the fruit-flavoured beverages segment, with aims to garner up to 5 per cent share in the estimated Rs 1,100- crore Indian fruit beverages market. The company today launched 'Real Burrst', in four flavours — mixed fruit, crispy apple, orange and mango — under its 'Real' brand which is the flagship of Dabur's fruit juice portfolio. "Dabur has been in the health and nutritious drink market under our Real and Activ brand. However, we are entering the non-fizzy fruit-flavoured beverage market under our 'Real Burrst' brand," Dabur India Marketing Head (Food Division) K K Chutani told reporters here. He said the company is looking at getting a market share of 4-5 per cent within the next three years in the Indian fruit-flavoured beverages market on the back of its new products. "However, our entire fruit drink business is around Rs 300 crore and is growing at a rate of 23 per cent. So we want to maintain it," he said. Dabur's 'Real Burrst' will take on the likes of 'Maaza' and 'Frooti', the major players in the fruit-flavoured beverages market in the country.

Source: Business Standard

Gulf Air to cancel Jet lease deal

Bahrain's national carrier Gulf Air has walked away from a deal to lease four Boeing 777 aircraft from India's Jet Airways, citing economic conditions. Gulf Air said it had an option to lease the aircraft after an existing six-month contract expires, but has decided not to go ahead, the Gulf Daily News reported. "After careful analysis of various commercial and other business considerations, Gulf Air has decided not to pursue the dry lease option for the foreseeable future," the daily quoted the airline as saying. Dry leases are contracts under which airlines lease planes without staff. Gulf Air said in February it had agreed to lease four Boeing 777s as part of its efforts to replace its fleet. The existing six-month contract is a wet lease agreement, which typically includes staff. Meanwhile, Gulf Air has placed a $270 million order for CFM56-5B engines to power 15 new Airbus A320 family aircraft. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery between 2009 and 2013. The carrier has also signed a 10-year On Point Solution agreement of $100 million with GE Aviation for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of the engines. "Selecting the CFM56-5B engine demonstrates our continued trust and confidence in this product's excellent technical capability," said Gulf Air chairman Talal Alzain.

Source: Business Standard

ArcelorMittal to raise $4 bn via public offerings

Steel behemoth ArcelorMittal, which posted consecutive quarterly losses, today said it would raise up to $4 billion through issue of securities as part of efforts to strengthen its balance sheet among other things. The company would look to sell about 140 million common shares through public offerings to raise the amount. "Total aggregate proceeds from the offerings are about $3.5 billion or $4 billion, in each case before deduction of underwriting discounts and commissions," the company said in a statement. The company intends to use the proceeds of common stock offering for general corporate purposes and to strengthen its balance sheet and the proceeds of the convertible senior note offering to lengthen its debt maturity profile and refinance existing indebtedness, it added. ArcelorMittal also said it would be pricing its public offering of $700 million aggregate principal amount of 5 per cent convertible senior notes due May 15, 2014. The offering is scheduled to close on May 6, 2009, it added. The steel giant said it has agreed to sell 125.1 million common shares at a public offering price of euro 17.10 each. The company has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 15.7 million common shares in the 30 day period following the date here of, it added. ArcelorMittal yesterday posted loss of $1.1 billion for the first quarter ended March 2009. In the year-ago period, it had a net income of $2.4 billion.

Source: Business Standard

India-focused M&A at $7.4 bn; lowest in 4 yrs

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving Indian firms in 2009 so far have been the lowest in four years for comparable periods, touching just $7.4 billions, thanks to the global economic slowdown. M&A volume of $7.4 billion represents a massive 51 per cent decline from the corresponding period a year ago, global deal tracking firm Dealogic said. Out of $7.4-billion M&A deals involving Indian firms, inbound deals amounted to $1.6 billion where foreign firms bought stake in Indian companies. "Inbound cross-border M&A fell to $1.6 billion via 70 deals so far this year, down 77 per cent from last year. The US remained the biggest investor in Indian firms with $483 million via 21 deals," Dealogic added. Outbound M&A activity fell drastically to just $334 million through 34 deals, a 96 per cent fall from the same period last year. The US was the most targeted nation as M&As worth $157 million were carried out through 10 deals, as compared to $1.6 billion via 29 deals last year to date. The oil and gas sector was the most active segment this year. The space cornered as many as six deals worth $2.1 billion. Besides the largest M&A transaction -- Reliance Industries’ open offer to acquire the remaining 25 per cent of Reliance Petroleum for $1.7 billion also happened in this section.

Source: Business Standard

Bharti, Alcatel in $500 mn deal for network mgt

Telecom major Bharti Airtel today signed a five-year managed services deal valued at $500 million with Alcatel Lucent for its fixed-line and broadband operations. The services would be managed by a joint venture in which Alcatel Lucent would hold 74 per cent, while the remaining 26 per cent would be held by Airtel, Bharti Airtel Chief Executive Officer Manoj Kohli said.
The JV would be run by Alcatel Lucent with 4,000 employees, some of whom would come from the network management firm. "The JV will manage Airtel's fixedline and broadband services," Kohli said. Bharti has already outsourced its network management to Nokia Siemens and Ericsson in two different deals for its wireless business while its IT infrastructure is managed by IBM.

Source: Business Standard

Adani Power inks transmission deal with Siemens

Adani Power, a part of the Adani Group, today awarded Siemens, a Rs 1,380-crore contract for transmission of power from its Mundra power plant to Mohindergarh in Haryana. As per the contract, Siemens Ltd and Siemens AG will install a bipolar 500-kilovolt high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system of 2,500 MW capacity. "We have signed a contract of Rs 1,380-crore with Siemens to transfer power over a distance of around 1,000 km from our Mundra power plant to Mohindergarh.The HVDC technology used by Siemens is much superior than the traditional one," Adani Enterprises CEO (Power), R K Madan, told reporters here.
The dedicated HVDC power transmission is more cost- effective and energy-efficient compared to the conventional AC power transmission lines, he said, adding, "the transmission losses would also be lesser as power is transmitted in the form of direct current." The first phase of installation of HVDC transmission system would be completed by February 2011 and the second phase in July 2011, Madan said. Adani Power is setting up a 4,620 MW thermal power plant at Mundra with its first unit to be commissioned in May-June this year, he said.

Sequoia, Silicon Valley buy stake in web ad co

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India and Silicon Valley Bank have together picked up a minority stake in web-based advertising company Ideacts Innovations for an undisclosed amount. For Sequoia, this is the second round of investment in the Mumbai-based firm. In 2007, it had picked up a minority stake in the company for $5 million. Although the exact quantum of this year’s investment could not be ascertained, it is believed to be $5-9 million, said a person with direct knowledge of the development. When contacted by ET, Ideacts Innovations co-founder & CEO Rudrajeet Desai confirmed the second round of funding and said: “Sequoia is our first investor who funded us in 2007. The corpus raised this year will help us expand our operations in India.” Sequoia Capital India MD Mohit Bhatnagar added: “We have reinvested in Ideacts because of the consistency it has shown in growth.” Ideacts is an internet media venture founded in March 2007 by three entrepreneurs — Rudrajeet Desai, Maninder Gill and Saurabh Khullar. Its first product CLINCK is an active desktop application, which creates a default interface for users to access Internet. The firm is currently looking at ramping up its operation and deploying CLINCK in tier II and tier III cities across the country. It is also developing an accounting software application.

Source: Economic Times

Star's Yashpal Khanna may start new venture in the media space

Yashpal Khanna, executive vice-president, Star India, has resigned after a 17-year tenure at the company. Confirming the development, Khanna said: “I have enjoyed my stint at Star. I have met and worked with some extraordinary professionals and, hopefully, have contributed to the growth of the company that I joined in 1992. I am leaving because I felt it was time to explore some of my dreams. I am now turning to be an entrepreneur, leveraging my experiences of my 35-year career and the relationships that I have built and nurtured over the years.”However, Khanna would not confirm what he was starting except to say that “the new venture would be in the media and communications space."Khanna joined Star when it was run by the original owner, Richard Li of Hutchison Whampoa. He started his Star stint under Siddharth Ray, as virtually a one-man ad sales team.Khanna was a critical member of Peter Mukerjea’s core team after Mukerjea joined Star India, overseeing the advertising sales function. Khanna moved from his ad sales role to look after marketing, business development, client relations and corporate communications functions.While a number of those who formed part of Mukerjea’s core team joined INX Media on Mukerjea’s exit, Khanna opted to stay at Star India.

Source: Brand Republic

India offloading stake in Asian Development Bank

India is offloading its equity in the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), Indonesian news agency Antara said on Tuesday, quoting officials. Indonesia is ready to acquire 1.5 per cent of India's stake to increase its equity in the bank from current 5.5 per cent, the agency said. India owns a 6.3 per cent stake in the ADB, while China has a 6.4 per cent. The largest shares in the bank are held by the US and Japan, each holding 15.57 per cent. India has been wanting to increase its shareholding in the other multilateral organisations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Source: Antara

Reliance Big TV plans to divest 49% in DTH arm

To expand its services in the five-player private direct-to-home (DTH) market, Reliance Big TV Ltd, the promoter of Big TV DTH services of the Reliance ADA Group, plans to sell up to 49 per cent to foreign private equity companies and global DTH players. According to sources, a clutch of leading private equity companies like the Carlyle Group, Sequoia Capital, KKR and US-based DTH firm Direct TV are said to be in talks with Big TV, which launched in August 2008. The company expects to close the deal this quarter, sources close to the development said.
Investment banking sources said the company expects to raise about Rs 8,000 crore. Big TV is currently the second smallest player, with just over 1.8 million subscribers out of 12.5 million DTH customers in India. It is, however, hoping to leverage the Big brand, which also has interests in multiplexes, film production, FM radio and the movie rental business. Big TV is the only DTH firm with no foreign investments. All other DTH players — Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel's Digital TV and Dish TV — have foreign investments of more than 20 per cent, industry sources said. Government norms allow 49 per cent foreign investment in DTH, with a rider that the foreign direct investment (FDI) cannot exceed 20 per cent within the overall 49 per cent foreign investment cap. Asked about the deal, a Reliance ADA Group spokesperson declined to comment, saying Reliance ADA Group is committed to its shareholders and will continue to explore various options to increase the shareholders’ value. Big TV claimed to have added over one million subscribers within 90 days of its launch, a record of sorts amongst DTH players.
All DTH players are currently looking for finance because the DTH service business model involves a significant financial subsidy for subscriber acquisition. Dish TV, with over 5 million subscribers, is the leading DTH player, followed by Tata Sky (about 4 million), Sun Direct (over 2.3 million subscribers), Big TV and Digital TV.

Source: Business Standard

IFC to invest 20 per cent in Indian venture capital fund

The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, will invest up to 20 per cent of capital committed to the India-dedicated VenturEast Life Fund III.The fund, managed by VenturEast Mauritius Investment Advisors, will invest in expansion capital in small and medium businesses across India. The focus will be on life sciences sectors including healthcare, food and agriculture. The IFC investment is aimed at stimulating economic activity and employment growth outside the larger Indian cities. In 2007, IFC also invested $15m in the $150m VenturEast Proactive Fund, a technology-focused venture capital fund which so far has invested in a variety of sectors including technology for microfinance, infrastructure technology and semiconductors.

Source: Alt Assets

India Infrastructure Fund invests $50 mn in two toll road projects

India Infrastructure Fund, or IIF, has invested $50 million (around Rs250 crore) in two companies floated by Nashik’s Ashoka Buildcon Ltd to build two stretches of road connecting two cities of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, according to M.K. Sinha, president and chief executive officer of IDFC Project Equity Co. Ltd, which manages the fund. The fund has taken a 49% stake in these two entities, both structured as so-called special purpose vehicles, or SPV, which will build two stretches of toll roads totalling 162km between Nagpur in Maharashtra and Raipur in Chhattisgarh. SPVs are limited to the financing of specific assets. This is the third investment from IIF, sponsored by IDFC, Citigroup Inc. and India Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd (IIFCL). The first investment was for $70 million across four road projects, which acted as seed assets for the fund, and the second was a $70 million investment in Essar Power Ltd in March. IIF was conceived in 2007 by IDFC, Blackstone Group LP, Citigroup and IIFCL to invest in India’s fledgling infrastructure projects. Going by government estimates, India needs $500 billion of investments in the infrastructure sector through 2012. The fund was to raise up to $5 billion—$2 billion equity and $3 billion long-term debt—but the corpus was subsequently reduced, with IIF garnering $875 million in commitments from investors in June 2008, and on the road to close another $50 million. Blackstone pulled out of the fund as the economics did not work in the US buyout fund’s favour. “Almost 60% of our fund will be deployed between power generation and road projects,” said Sinha of IDFC Project Equity, adding that ports, airports, telecom infrastructure and power and gas distribution and transmission projects will make up the remaining. The fund, according to him, will make investments at the project level, compared with private equity, which typically comes in at the holding company level, potentially exposed to several undeveloped projects. “Our investments will be in projects that are either under construction or up and running, and are likely to generate dividends quickly. Our focus is more on regular cash flow by way of dividends, not just capital appreciation. Private equity can live without dividends and generate returns upon exit over three-five years. We would like to generate dividend income over the lifetime of the asset,” said Sinha. That will mean that returns may not be as high as private equity, but a return mix that’s a blend between dividend income and capital appreciation on exit. “When I say low returns, it’s still in the 18-20% range, but we’re not looking to generate those returns in two or three years. We’re looking to generate those returns over 8-10 years,” said Sinha. The fund term for IIF is 12 years, extendable by another three years. Even as many listed infrastructure funds globally are hurting, there are not too many options for funds such as IIF to exit project-level investments, other than listing. “We do not borrow as a fund. Most of the other listed infrastructure funds that are hurting are those that have borrowed and do not have matching cash flows to service that borrowing. We do not intend doing that,” said Sinha. IIF is negotiating exit options at the investment level as well. This could involve transferring its equity from the SPV level into a holding company at the time of the initial share sale or a put option or even a tag-along, which enables the fund to sell when the promoters are selling out. A put option will give the fund the right to sell its holding back to the promoter at a pre-determined price. “There are various ways of exiting SPV investments as well. The most optimal one would be to list the fund, but we don’t know whether that will happen,” Sinha said.

Source: Livemint

Suzlon pays 30 mn euro for REpower stake

Suzlon Energy Ltd, India’s largest maker of wind turbines, paid €30 million (around Rs200 crore) to Martifer SGPS SA as part payment for a stake in a REpower Systems AG, the Portuguese company said in a statement on its website. The money was received on Thursday. Suzlon needs to pay the remaining €175 million this month to complete the purchase of the 22.4% stake in REpower, Martifer said. Suzlon paid €65 million in December as the first instalment for the stake, Martifer said.

Source: Livemint

Arvind Jadhav is new CMD of Nacil

Arvind Jadhav, a 1978 batch Indian Administrative Service officer, has been appointed the chairman and managing director (CMD) of National Aviation Co. of India Ltd (Nacil), which runs the Air India branded airlines. The appointment has been approved by the Prime Minister’s Office late on Thursday evening, a senior government official told Mint. Jadhav’s candidature was suggested by a committee headed by cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar last week after the government decided to replace the incumbent CMD Raghu Menon. Jadhav is likely to take office on Monday

Source: Livemint

Citi Reaps Billions From Japan Sale

Citigroup Inc. said it is selling its Japanese retail brokerage to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. in a deal worth a total $7.9 billion as part of its ongoing efforts to sell non-core businesses and boost its capital ratios.
The deal comes at a time when Citigroup is under pressure to raise more capital based on the early results of the government's stress tests of lenders, people familiar with the situation have said.
Citigroup will reap 545 billion yen for the retail broker, Nikko Cordial Securities, as well as 28.5 billion yen from the sale of Japanese-listed shares it is offloading at the same time. The U.S. bank will also recover 201 billion yen of excess cash on the retail broker's balance sheet.
The New York-based bank expects to get a $2.5 billion equity boost from the transaction. As a result, Citigroup's Tier 1 capital ratio as of March 31 would have been lifted by 27 basis points on a pro forma basis.
Citigroup acquired Nikko Cordial Group for 1.6 trillion yen ($16.17 billion) in a series of deals completed in January 2008. It still owns Nikko Asset Management Co., which is being sold in a separate process, and Nikko's merchant-banking business. Citigroup expects to book an after-tax loss of about $200 million.
The move turns Sumitomo Mitsui into a major player in the domestic securities industry and illustrates how Japanese firms are consolidating their domestic position by snapping up the assets of foreign firms hit by the global financial crisis.
"The transaction announced today has the potential to reshape the financial services sector in Japan," said Doug Peterson, chief executive of Citigroup's Japanese businesses.
Hit by credit-related losses and pressured to streamline its sprawling global operations, put up for sale large parts of its Japanese business, including the retail brokerage Nikko Cordial Securities.
Sumitomo Mitsui will hold the keys to Nikko Cordial's 109 retail branches across Japan and a 7,000-strong army of salespeople, allowing it to market securities to one of the world's biggest sources of latent wealth, Japanese households, which are flush with $15 trillion, mostly in cash.
Nikko Cordial has acted as lead manager to about 700 listed Japanese companies. As part of the package, Sumitomo Mitsui will also get the Japanese equity and debt underwriting business of Citigroup's wholesale business. It now owns the well-known Nikko brand in Japan, meaning Citigroup will eventually have to rebrand its other operations in Japan which carry the Nikko name, a person familiar with the matter said.
Sumitomo Mitsui already owns a second-tier retail broker called SMBC Friend Securities and has an investment banking joint venture with Daiwa Securities Group named Daiwa SMBC Securities. Financial analysts say Sumitomo Mitsui will now have a complicated management structure. The bank said it will consider merging Nikko's wholesale business with Daiwa SMBC.
Sumitomo Mitsui's brokerage business has until now trailed behind its large Japanese commercial banking peers, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group. The three so-called megabanks vied for Nikko Cordial.
Citigroup picked Sumitomo Mitsui from among the three bidders based on price, the structure of the deal but also because it agreed to distribute the U.S. bank's global products over its network.
MUFG was less likely to agree to such a global alliance because of its newly-inked joint venture with Citigroup rival Morgan Stanley, people familiar with the matter said. Mizuho might have considered teamwork but has been distracted by the integration of its own brokerage unit with affiliate Shinko Securities Co., they added.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Danone Group wants to invest Rs 350cr over 5 years

The Danone Group has told the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) that it proposes to invest Rs 300-350 crore over the next five years. It will invest in medical and nutrition sectors in India directly or indirectly via joint ventures (JVs). The group will further invest in baby food, dairy and beverages, it said. It has received a no objection certificate (NOC) from Britannia as well as from Avasthagen and Yakult joint ventures. The Danone Group currently holds 4.21% indirect stake in Avasthagen and has a 50:50 Indian JV with Yakult, Japan. It has sold its stake in Britannia to the Wadias this month.

Source: Moneycontrol

UTV Motion Pictures ventures into Hollywood

UTV Motion Pictures has signed a foreign sales deal with Madrid-based film sales company 6 SALES, for the Heather Graham starrer, ExTerminators. UTV through its foreign sales partner has already inked deals for Romania, Benulux and Middle Eastern territories. The movie, directed by John Inwood, stars Heather Graham, Jennifer Coolidge and Amber Heard. It is a dark comedy about Alex (Graham), a lonely accountant whose sole act of rage results in her being sentenced to court mandated rage therapy. There she meets Stella (Coolidge), the owner of a small extermination business who uses her car as a weapon; and Nikki (Heard), a dental technician with the face of an angel and the mind of a sociopath. Together these unlikely friends form their own 'silent revolution'. Commenting on the deal, Lokesh Dhar, Vice-President, UTV Motion Pictures, USA said, "With Exterminators, we look forward to strengthening our base in the international markets. After our international co-productions such as The Namesake, I think I Love My Wife and The Happening, ExTerminators is UTV's first independent production in the US and is definitely a landmark for us, as well as the Indian film industry." "The public's response is exactly what we had hoped for: uncontrollable laughter," said Marina Fuentes, 6 SALES partner. "We believe this type of movie is what the audiences are looking for. Good fun entertainment, " she added. The film premiered at SXSW (South by South West) festival in Austin, one of the top film festivals in the US to packed theatres.

Source: Moneycontrol

Panel backs M&A in telecom

A committee set up to resolve the controversy over allocation of airwaves or spectrum to telecom operators asked the government to modify its policies to allow consolidation in the industry, while opposing a three-year stock sale ban on promoters of companies that acquired telecom licences last year. The communications ministry and telecom regulator Trai had proposed the lock-in period to keep out non-serious players eyeing quick profits. The committee said, instead of imposing a ban on sale, the government should modify existing policies to allow larger operators to buy new entrants to fulfil their spectrum requirements. While suggesting several changes in India’s telecom M&A norms to allow consolidation, the committee criticised the current policy for leading to fragmentation of the sector by allowing about 15 players per circle. All telcos should be allowed to buy and sell spectrum and pay a fee to the government, the panel said, adding that the country should adopt the internationally-accepted auction system for issuing additional airwaves to telcos. ET had reported on April 24 that the committee would recommend auctions for all future spectrum allocations. The committee comprises representatives of the government, telecom regulator Trai, telecom technology experts and industry executives. The committee admitted that some players who received spectrum at a fixed fee may sell it or merge with another company making huge profits without rolling out a network. “Such gains can be moderated by levying a spectrum transfer or merger charge on all such transactions. Allowing such moderated gains is a small price to pay for moving to a market-based mechanism for spectrum allotment,” it said in its draft report, which was submitted to the department of telecom on Friday. The market should be allowed to determine the optimum number of operators by facilitating spectrum transfer and merger, the report said. Currently, India follows a controversial practice of allocating spectrum based on companies’ subscriber base, and is the only country in the world that follows this method. The report said that only the start-up spectrum, which is the minimum amount of radio frequencies that is required to launch mobile services, should be given for free for existing telcos. All subsequent allocations should be only through auctions, it said. The committee has recommended a flat fee for radio frequencies allocated to telcos since January 17, last year, the date on which the committee was set up. But, this one-time fee will be determined by the upcoming 3G auctions. For instance, if Vodafone Essar has been awarded 2 units of radio frequencies in Delhi & Mumbai after January 08, it will have to pay a fee equivalent to what the same amount of airwaves fetched during the 3G auctions. As per the current policy, all telcos share 2-6% of their annual revenues with the government as a fee for using the radio frequencies allotted to them. The committee said this fee should be a flat 3% irrespective of the quantity of radio frequencies that is held by a telecom company. The committee also refused to endorse demands from certain sections of the industry that all existing operators pay a one-time fee for the excess spectrum they hold in order to ensure a level-playing field with new entrants which only have start-up spectrum. The committee felt that that the government need not worry about ensuring an absolute level-playing field between licensees who entered the market at different points in time. “Variable pricing of resources for entrants at different times happens with natural resources like land for industrial development as well. Early or late entry comes with a set of advantages and disadvantages,” the report said. The committee said auctions can be held at regular intervals where telcos get airwaves in blocks of 1 MHz each. It also said that the current cap where GSM operators can hold a maximum of 15 MHz and CDMA players 7.5 MHz be done away with. Instead, it proposed an alternate methodology where a telco can take part in auctions as long as it does not hold more than 25% of the total spectrum available in that state or circle. This implies, the cap will be different for each circle as the availability of radio frequencies varies from state to state. Companies that enter the industry in the future the license will not come bundled with start-up spectrum, and these companies ‘would have to go to the market even for their initial airwaves, recommended the committee.

Source: Economic Times

Shah Rukh looks to exit Kolkata Knight Riders

After dropping “Kolkata” from Indian Premier League team (IPL) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), actor Shah Rukh Khan has started discussions with Nokia, Sahara, the Anil Ambani group, and several other companies to sell the team he bought just over a year ago for Rs 300 crore, and exit the business.
According to sources in Red Chillies Entertainment, KKR’s holding company, “Shah Rukh Khan has been trying to sell a stake in KKR for some time now. But since most companies he approached also wanted management control, Khan is now talking to Nokia, Sahara, Anil Ambani and others to sell his entire shareholding.”
Khan’s public relations officer, however, said she would not be able to confirm the development because she had not met the actor.
None of those who have reportedly been approached confirmed the development. Sahara India’s communications director Abhijit Sarkar said: “We have not been approached by Shah Rukh Khan yet. But if he does, we would be happy to buy the team.”
D Shivakumar, vice-president and managing director (markets), Nokia India, sent a text message saying: “Shah Rukh Khan will keep the team.”
A Reliance Communications spokesperson declined to comment. “A lot of people negotiate with Anil Ambani. I cannot comment unless there is something concrete on table.”
According to the Red Chillies official, Khan wants to exit, owing to the team’s poor performance — so far the team has won only one rain-curtailed game under the Duckworth Lewis method — and rising costs.
“If the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) does not increase the number of teams for next year, Khan could get double what he paid,” said the Red Chillies official.
Khan is supposed to pay Rs 30 crore per year for the next 10 years. The total annual cost for the team is about Rs 75 crore.
Khan had earlier said that KKR was easily the most successful IPL franchise, making a Rs 13 crore profit last year. However, his costs trebled last year owing to interventions from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Cricket Association of Bengal.
According to initial calculations, Red Chillies had to pay Rs 90 lakh per match and was supposed to earn Rs 3 crore if all stadium tickets were sold at Eden Gardens. Red Chillies had to pay Rs 20 lakh to the police and municipal tax of Rs 5 lakh. So its expenses per match would have been over Rs 1 crore. But this figure had trebled.
Last year, however, Kolkata Police demanded Rs 2 crore as security fees, against Rs 50 lakh that the organisers of the IPL offered. Then, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) demanded Rs 25 lakh from Red Chillies as amusement tax for holding IPL matches at Eden Gardens.
To settle the dispute between Kolkata Police and the IPL organisers over the cost of security arrangements at Eden Gardens, Red Chillies Entertainment had to agree to pay Rs 75 lakh as security fees.
About 5,500 uniformed personnel and about 1,500 sleuths were deployed to secure the stadium and its surrounding areas, since many celebrities were expected to watch the IPL matches at Eden Gardens.
Source: Business Standard