Just six months after pulling out of Hutchison Essar, the Hinduja group is set to throw its hat into the ring for the country's fourth largest telecom company.
IndusInd International Holdings chairman Ashok Hinduja on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Reliance Capital, completing the three-year-long resolution process of the debt-ridden company. IndusInd International Holdings Ltd (IIHL) has transferred the bid amount to the escrow account of the lender, and the takeover of the management from the Administrator will happen on Wednesday.
'India is home to the third-largest number of family-owned businesses in the world.' 'While everyone pays lip service to succession planning being entrenched in the functional DNA of family-owned business enterprises, it's still not an area of focus for a lot of family businesses', points out Shyamal Majumdar.
The CEOs, sources said, also discussed the steps to raise domestic production of coal.
59 of the 101 millionaires have seen an overall increase in net worth.
Reliance General Insurance Company (RGIC), a subsidiary of Reliance Capital, finds itself in a bind as the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has issued multiple Show Cause Notices (SCNs) amounting to Rs 922.6 crore. This development comes at a time when Reliance Capital is currently undergoing a debt resolution under the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) process in which the Hinduja group has emerged the winner. The Hinduja acquisition is currently awaiting the Supreme Court's approval after the Torrent group, the winner of the first round, challenged the second auction conducted by the lenders of Reliance Capital.
A mere two-bedroom apartment - albeit quite spacious, covering 3,000 square (sq.) feet (ft) - will set you back 5.8 million. That's the asking price from the Indian-owned Hinduja Group, if you desire a nest in London Whitehall's iconic Old War Office (OWO). Its 1,100 rooms are now being converted into 85 residences and a first-ever hotel to be operated in Britain by Singapore's legendary Raffles Hotels chain. Gopichand Hinduja, co-chair of the conglomerate, said: "Every decision made on The OWO (as the building is fondly called) is underscored by our passion and respect for the heritage of the building and long-term commitment to London."
The Hinduja brothers, who run the multinational Hinduja Group conglomerate with interests across automotive, real estate and oil, moved up from third position last year to top the UK's billionaire charts this year.
A day after he was ruthlessly removed from the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Board, Nitin Gadkari -- arguably, the top performer in the Narendra Modi Cabinet and a former BJP president -- was in Mumbai, launching one of his pet projects: Electric public transport buses for the city.
South America-based Synergy Group, one of the suitors, has said slots at London's Heathrow airport are critical to the airline's operations and will decide on participating in the resolution only if it gets clarity. It also wants to form a new company with its assets, employees, and operating permit but minus all liabilities.
Hinduja group company Hinduja TMT Ltd said on Thursday it has completed the sale of its entire stake in Hutchison-Essar Ltd for over Rs 2,089 crore (Rs 20.89 billion).
'This market for diesel starts at around Rs 6.3 lakh and goes up to Rs 7 lakh, and with Saathi we have our usual price set at Rs 6.5 lakh, so we are slightly on the lower side with a superior product.'
'Investors are now getting clarity on policies.'
Top ten billionaires in India.
Hinduja Group's business process management entity, Hinduja Global Solutions Limited (HGS) said on Wednesday that it has entered into definitive agreements to divest its Healthcare Services business to funds affiliated with Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA), at an enterprise value of $1.2 bilion. The deal is subject to closing adjustments, and is expected to complete within 90 days, subject to shareholder and other regulatory approvals. "The cash that will come in as a result of this transaction will be deployed to growing the business as well as looking at buying some capabilities...where capabilities are important for being able to do a good job of customer experience transformation.
The company had implemented a programme to encourage employees to come out with new innovations. Following this, it was able to save money and reduce the inventory level to Rs 90 crore from Rs 120 crore, said K Sridharan Balaji, general manager -- manufacturing, Ashok Leyland. These innovations will conserve Rs 90 lakh each year as recurring savings, including Rs 40 lakh from three projects.
The Hinduja Group said on Thursday that it is looking to expand the geographical reach and production capacity of flagship automobile firm Ashok Leyland in a big way to make the company one of the top 10 global commercial vehicle producers in the next five years.
Apart from the Adani group, the Tata group, the Hinduja group, Indigo and a New York-based fund, Interups, are expected to submit EoIs.
Hinduja Group company Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd will acquire 51 per cent stake in Gulf Oil Yantai (Co) Ltd in China for $ 5 million as part of company's expansion plans in Asia-Pacific region.
Commercial vehicles major Ashok Leyland has decided to set up a plant in Uttaranchal and will invest around Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 11 billion) in the new facility.
Under the MCA, one of the joint venture would be to manufacture LCVs, in which Ashok Leyland would have an equity stake of 51 per cent and the Nissan 49 per cent, Gopichand P Hinduja, President of the Hinduja Group and Carlos Ghosn, president, Nissan, said.
Lenders have postponed the second auction to sell bankrupt Reliance Capital's assets by a week to April 11, even as the Torrent group, the highest bidder in the first round, pursues litigation in the Supreme Court. Lenders are expecting the Hinduja group and Torrent to participate in the second auction and maximise the value of the assets. American financial services major, Oakteee may also join the race, said a source.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday allowed a petition filed by lenders of Reliance Capital seeking another round of auction for the debt-ridden firm undergoing insolvency process. A two-member bench set aside an order passed by NCLT and said the Committee of Creditors (CoC) has the power to negotiate and call for a higher bid. The appellate tribunal permitted the CoC to continue with the challenge mechanism and invite bids after two weeks.
The group companies now lead the market capitalisation league table in sectors such as ports, power generation, gas distribution and transmission, and power transmission and distribution, ahead of incumbents in both public and private sector. This has Gautam Adani family the second wealthiest in business in India.
While about 8,000 people are in the long list of invitees, the select list features 506 A-listers, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, diplomats, judges and high priests.
Roughly 40% of this projected outlay is expected to go towards emerging industries, including green hydrogen, clean energy, semiconductors, and electric vehicles.
As their flagship heavy vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland celebrated its diamond jubilee, the Hindujas Monday announced plans to acquire related businesses in Europe and the Middle East.
According to reports, by last year, the company has helped its customers save 15 per cent on costs -- around 5-6 per cent on fuel and 15 per cent on fleet utilisation through digital measures.
The Hinduja Group plans to enter the financial services space in India with a bang. Apart from plans to set up life insurance, non-life insurance and asset management companies, the group is also working towards areas such as wealth management, broking and portfolio management services. The group has finalised its partners for setting up a holding company, which will have three business arms offering wealth management, broking and portfolio management services.
Hutchison Telecom is expected to complete the sale of its 67 per cent stake in the country's fourth largest telecom company, Hutchison Essar, before the Chinese New Year holiday, which begins February 17.
Group Chairman S P Hinduja told a meeting of shareholders of IndusInd International Holdings Ltd in Dubai that the network would be set up by IndusInd Media and Communications Ltd, which is among the largest Cable TV companies in India with a customer base of 5.5 million households. IIHL has an indirect investment of about $385,000 in IMCL.
The growth was led by family-owned companies and business groups with presence in pharmaceuticals, information technology services, and consumer products.
Foreign banks and private credit funds are queuing up to fund acquisitions by Indian companies who are buying out their local rivals. The Adani Group, Torrent Group, and the Hindujas have approached several foreign banks and private equity (PE) firms to fund their acquisitions. Global investors have about $2 trillion of funds to invest, and about $100 to $150 billion is set aside for India, according to an estimate by JP Morgan.
The Mumbai-based firm has lost almost 10 percentage points in market share since 2009-10, even as other brands have fought hard to wrest share away.
State-own oil explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and the Hinduja group have been offered 40 per cent stake in the development of phase-XII of the giant South Pars gas field of Iran.
The decision by the Reserve Bank of India to introduce a unified regulatory framework on connected lending for all the regulated entities (RE) is expected to reduce the influence of business conglomerates in the Indian lending space, said bankers and experts. "Connected lending pertains to lending to related parties within the same business group. "While the RBI might appear more agreeable to allowing business conglomerates to own banking licenses, it deems it crucial to bolster regulations that would prevent conglomerate-owned banks from gaming the system," said Shivaji Thapliyal, head of research and lead analyst, YES Securities.
Commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland, part of the London-based Hinduja Group, is to enter Britain's mid-range truck market through a tie-up by its Prague-based subsidiary, Avia Ashok Leyland.
The Hinduja Group, Mukesh Ambani, Murugappa, and the Adani groups were the other gainers in the Modi regime, while Naveen Jindal and Sun Pharma groups saw the most erosion in their m-cap in the last five years, reports Krishna Kant.