In another bid to mobilise funds for the cash-strapped realty major Unitech, promoter Ramesh Chandra and his family are in talks with leading Indian and global steel giants to sell their 25 per cent stake in Bhubaneswar-headquartered Orissa Sponge Iron & Steel Ltd.Investment banks said the Chandras, who bought the stake sometime in 2006 and 2007, are in talks with Korean steel giant Posco and Delhi-based Bhushan Steel, which owns 6 per cent in the firm.
The government is considering a fresh stimulus of around Rs 20,000 crore for manufacturing companies and non-banking finance companies routed through the Stressed Asset Stabilisation Fund (SASF) Trust that is currently mandated to deal with bad and doubtful debts of IDBI Bank.
The key to last week's revival package, in the infrastructure sector, is the two-year old India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) and the efforts of its chairman and managing director, Surinder Singh Kohli.
UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC), India's oldest mutual fund, is in advanced stages of discussions to divest 26 per cent to a strategic partner.
D B Corp, the owner of the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, is in advanced discussions with broadcaster INX Media to acquire a stake in the company that operates the entertainment channels as well as a majority stake in its English language news channel NewsX. Both companies are promoted by Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, the former Star India CEO.
The government and Reserve Bank of India are working on opening a massive Rs 75,000 crore refinance window to provide concessional funds for infrastructure, housing and small and medium enterprises by partly leveraging the country's foreign exchange reserves.
Unitech Ltd, the country's second largest real estate firm, has decided to sell its 200-room budget hotel Courtyard by Marriott in Gurgaon ahead of its inauguration in January 2009.
AS Bindra, the father of ace shooter and Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, has defaulted to banks and financial institutions. The money claimed from Bindra is over Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million). He had borrowed it in the 1990s to set up a meat processing plant under Punjab Meats Ltd.
The price has been cut 39 per cent to Rs 555.85 from Rs 908 per share originally after its request to redeem the bonds ahead of maturity was rejected by the Reserve Bank of India.
Falling equity markets have trapped major private equity investors such as Warburg Pincus, Blackstone Group, Carlyle, Apax Partners, Chrys Capital and Citigroup.
Indian companies that raised large sums of foreign funds to finance growth and acquisition plans during the bull run in the stock markets are in a Catch 22 situation. The conversion price of their foreign currency convertible bonds is several times higher than their current market prices.
Thomson holds 10 per cent stake in Videocon Industries through global depository receipts listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Thomson had acquired 13.5 per cent in Videocon in 2005 for Rs 1,250 crore (Rs 12.5 billion) of which 10 per cent was locked in for three years.
The Rs 6,700-crore (Rs 67 billion) deal likely in a fortnight. News of the likely transaction first broke a few weeks ago. Investment banking sources now suggest that the deal will be announced in a fortnight, if not earlier. A Tata Teleservices spokesperson refused to comment, saying: "As a policy in the Tata group, we do not comment on speculative queries."
The government is believed to be pushing the institution to rope in a strategic partner to strengthen its balance sheet. The process is expected to start in the next quarter, starting October.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has approved The Walt Disney Company's deal to increase stake in Ronnie Screwvala-promoted UTV Software Communications beyond 15 per cent, six months after the deal was initially signed. Sebi, the market regulator, has also okayed the US-based company to launch an open offer.
ONGC Videsh Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has put in a bid to buy stake in a discovered oil block in Angola, after a consortium of two Chinese companies has already reported to have bid $1.5 billion last month, confirmed a top official of OVL on condition of anonymity.
To raise funds for Imperial buy, create 'acquisition currency'.
The government's showcase Indian Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd has run into trouble with two leading global banks - Standard Chartered Bank and Calyon Credit Agricole - suggesting that they may not fulfil collective contractual funding commitments of $250 million
Delhi-based Great Eastern Energy Corporation is planning a public issue, part of which will be "sponsored", meaning foreign shareholders will also tender their shares for sale, a first for the Indian markets.
ONGC Videsh Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, announced that it has acquired 15 per cent in UK-listed Imperial Energy and formally launched a negotiated takeover bid for the company at $2.6 billion (equivalent to around Rs 11,500 crore), which the company's board has approved.
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