Idea Cellular, the Aditya Birla group firm that is on the verge of taking over Spice Communications by buying out B K Modi's 41 per cent stake, is sounding out its bankers to raise funds to upgrade in the struggling telecom operator's network and technology.
Kolkata-based personal care products maker Emami, which made a hostile takeover bid for Zandu Pharmaceuticals, on Friday forced the latter to withdraw a plan to offer preferential shares to its promoters.Zandu had sent notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange late on Thursday evening saying its board would meet to discuss a preferential share issue to the promoters and directors.Emami lawyers swung into action and sent legal notice early on Friday to Zandu's board.
Blackstone Group, a global private equity player, is set to increase its focus on India. After setting the ball rolling on its corporate private equity and recently starting off its real estate opportunity focus, the company during the past week has set up Blackstone Altius Advisors, an event-driven strategy focusing on opportunities in the Asia Pacific region. Event-driven strategies are those where PEs fund merger and acquisitions or bankruptcies scenario.
KPMG, the $20-billion global advisory and audit firm, is set to broaden its basket of operations in India as it sees annual growth of 40 per cent in the coming years as well. At present, a significant chunk of KPMG's global client service support is being outsourced to Outsource Partners International, a strategic partner, in India. Going forward, the outsourcing volumes are expected to double.
STAR India, a wholly owned subsidiary of STAR Hong Kong, is exploring the possibilities of getting into the print media business in India. Last week, top STAR executives including STAR Hong Kong CEO Paul Aiello, STAR India CEO Uday Shankar and COO Jagdish Kumar were in Bangalore for meetings with possible joint venture partners for the print foray. The company is said to be in talks with Vijay Mallya's UB Group.
This is as definitive as it can get. Dutch global beer major Heineken is understood to have outlined its intent to Vijay Mallya's United Breweries that it does not want to have any conflicting presence in India.
If you are an entrepreneur and apprehensive that the global market meltdown will strain your fund-raising plans, fear not. India-focused private equity and venture capital funds raised $7 billion (Rs 27,958 crore) in 2007, excluding real estate, last year. They had garnered a similar amount in the corresponding previous year, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a venture capital research company.
Retail investors stand to gain from the booming realty sector, through the Real Estate Investment Trusts.
Kingfisher Airlines, promoted by the UB Group, expects to get into the black in December. According to Ravi Nedungadi, president and CFO, UB Group, the airline has been driving in volumes and efficiencies which is likely to be reflected in the revenues this month.
The UB Group, which is an established leader in the Indian beer and spirits market, is aiming to replicate its success by addressing the wine market with its two companies - United Spirits and United Breweries.
A clutch of global financial institutions led by T Rowe Price, HSBC and an investment arm of the Government of Singapore are the lead investors in the Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue of UB Holdings.
Global and Indian private equity biggies as well as strategic players are in the race to acquire a minority stake in Excel Soft Technologies, the Mysore headquartered e-learning firm. This six-year-old firm provides a range of customised learner-centric Learning systems, Test & Assessment systems and Desktop tools.
UB Group, which has raised close to Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) debt for keeping Kingfisher Airline in the skies during the past two years, has raised another Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) debt to fund the 46 per cent buy in Deccan Aviation.The debt for the 46 per cent buy in Deccan Aviation has been raised in two phases. In the first phase, for the 26 per cent negotiated deal for Rs 550 crore and the subsequent 20 per cent open offer which cost UB Group Rs 425 crore.
Cerberus Capital, the New York-based private equity fund that recently bought Chrysler from the erstwhile DaimlerChrysler for close to $7.5 billion, is entering the Indian market shortly.
Entrepreneur-investor Ramesh Vangal is likely to team up with US-based business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Sutherland Global Services to wrest majority control in Cambridge Solutions. Vangal holds 13 per cent stake in Cambridge.
The fringe benefit tax (FBT) was levied on ESOPs in the Union Budget this year and the IT industry is still grappling with the issue of how to factor in the tax.
Larsen & Toubro is set to invest Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) in Mysore-based Rangsons Electronics for a 40 per cent stake.
Companies like Brigade Group, Shriram Properties, Confident Group and Skyline Builders are in the final stages of completing the paper work of tying up these investments.
Britannia Industries, the country's top biscuit maker, has taken the income tax department, Kolkata, to court after it received a show-cause notice asking it to explain the withdrawal of funds from the employees' pension fund in 2003.
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