Lehman, Spinnaker pick up stake in Spice Telecom

Lehman Brothers and Spinnaker Investments have picked up a small stake in Spice telecom for about $30 million, as a part of the pre-IPO placement. It is estimateed that these investors will pick up a fifth of the nearly 138 million shares that will be issued in the IPO at about Rs 45 per share.

India’s Rain Calcining to buy US firm

India’s Rain Calcining Ltd said it had agreed to acquire US-based CII Carbon LLC. for $595 million in an all cash deal, making the combined entity the world’s largest maker of calcined petroleum coke.

Citi and India’s top private lender ICICI Bank Ltd. were financing the deal, the company said but did not give any further details. In a separate communication to the stock exchange, Rain said it would use proceeds worth $92 million, raised through an issue of preference shares to parent Rain Commodities Ltd, to part fund this acquisition.

France Tele set to buy GTL's IT biz

France Telecom is set to acquire network service provider GTL’s IT business for about Rs 250-300 crore. The acquisition, to be made through France Telecom’s business arm, Orange Business Services, would mark the group’s first acquisition in India.

France Telecom is set to acquire network service provider GTL’s IT business for about Rs 250-300 crore. The acquisition, to be made through France Telecom’s business arm, Orange Business Services, would mark the group’s first acquisition in India.

France Telecom is the No 3 mobile operator and No 1 provider of broadband internet services in Europe and a leading global telecom service provider. Orange Business Services represents the business communications solutions and services provided by the group including converged voice, data & mobile services and IT expertise and managed services.

(Source:ET)

Foriegn investorschase Ratnakar bank

Interestingly, this small scheduled commercial bank is attracting interest from a whole lot of foreign investors. Kolhapur, Maharashtra-based Ratnakar Bank is the bank in question. State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) has bought a 4.8 per cent stake in this bank, which primarily caters to the districts of Sangli and Kolhapur in Maharashtra. The Economic Times reports that besides SBM, Indocean Fund may have also picked up possibly one per cent stake in the bank, which is raising capital to boost its networth to the Reserve Bank stipulated Rs 300 crore from the current Rs 54 crore. Centrum group has also raised its stake in the bank to about 6.5 per cent. The bank has reportedly priced the share at a premium of Rs 350, which has a face value of Rs 100. These entities have picked up stake in the bank by subscribing to the shares renounced by the existing shareholders in the rights issue. Ratnakar Bank was set up in 1943, and became a scheduled commercial bank in 1956. It currently has 78 branches. RBI rules stipulate that all old private banks need to raise their networth to Rs 300 crore. According to ET, there are more banks that have not achieved networth of Rs 300 crore. They include Catholic Syrian Bank, City Union Bank, Dhanalakshmi Bank and Nainital Bank.

(Source: vccircle.com)

TVS Electronics sells contract mfg unit to Finnish co

Printer-manufacturer TVS Electronics has sold off its contract manufacturing services business at Tumkur for Rs41.12 crore to Incap Contract Manufacturing Services, a 100% subsidiary of Finland based Incap Corporation.

TVS Electronics, a leading contract manufacturing service provider in the country, through it CMS business served global original equipment manufacturers by making box assemblies as well as PCB assemblies in its QS 9000-certified facility at Tumkur (near Bangalore).

Tata Tea to acquire majority stake in Mt Everest

Everest will be making a preferential allotment to Tata Tea, reports CNBC-TV18. The company’s promoters also plan to sell 11% stake to Tata Tea. With this, Tata Tea is set to acquire majority stake in the company.

Tata Tea will also make an open offer to Mt Everest shareholders at Rs 145-150 per share. The board will convene on June 1 to approve the acquisition. It will invest nearly Rs 250 crore for the stake buy.

Post open offer, Tata Tea aims to hold 42% stake and get management control of Mt Everest. CNBC-TV18 reported on Tata Tea's bid for Mt Everest in November 2006.

BNP Paribas picks 50% in SREI Infra arm

French bank BNP Paribas has bought a 50% stake in the equipment finance arm of SREI Infrastructure Finance for Rs 775 crore. This is the largest transaction so far in the country’s non-banking finance space.

The development reflects a larger trend where foreign entities have been buying into NBFCs. In the absence of stringent regulations to expand as a bank, NBFCs offer a way to make inroads into the asset financing market.