Future Lifestyle Fashions is in advanced discussions to acquire the India unit of apparel maker Pepe Jeans, The Economic Times reported, citing two people aware of the development.
The deal could be valued more than Rs 1,200 crore, the report said.
Founded in 1973 in London, Pepe Jeans Group operates through two main brands — Pepe Jeans and Hackett.
In 2015, private equity firm L Catterton Asia and Lebanese investment firm M1 Group acquired a majority stake in Pepe Jeans Group.
In May this year, L Catterton Asia had picked up a 10% stake in Future Lifestyle Fashions for around $125 million.
Pepe Jeans India’s net sales stood at Rs 427.6 crore and profit after tax at Rs 49.2 crore for the financial year ended March 2017.
In another report, The Economic Times said that Chennai-based TVS Logistics is in advanced negotiations with logistics firm Gati to pick up a controlling stake in Gati-Kintetsu Express Pvt. Ltd for Rs 1,500-2,000 crore in a share swap deal.
Citing two people aware of the development, the report said Gati-Kintetsu may be merged into TVS Logistics and the combined entity will subsequently be listed at an estimated valuation of Rs 7,300 crore.
JM Financial and Deloitte are acting as advisers for this transaction, according to the report.
Gati-Kintetsu Express is a joint venture between Gati (70%) and Japan's Kintetsu World Express Inc (30%). Kintetsu World had bought this stake in 2012 for Rs 267 crore ($53 million)
Gati-Kintetsu Express posted revenue of Rs 1,169.5 crore for the year through March 2018, up from Rs 1,113.1 crore in the previous year.
TVS Logistics had raised $155 million from Canadian pension fund CDPQ for a minority stake in October 2016. As part of the deal, Goldman Sachs and KKR exited the company.
Meanwhile, Reliance Industries is in exploratory discussions to acquire cable operator Hathway Cable & Datacom, The Economic Times reported, citing three people aware of the development.
Reliance is looking at the acquisition to speed up the commercial launch of its GigaFiber, a fibre-based broadband service, the report said.
The deal could be valued around Rs 2,500 crore, according to the report.
Hathway Cable’s market capitalisation is around Rs 2,200 crore. It is one of the largest multi-system operators and cable broadband service providers in the country.
The company’s consolidated revenue stood at Rs 1,544 crore in the year through March 2018, up from Rs 1,368 crore in the previous year.
Separately, Mint reported that medical technology startup SigTuple Technologies Pvt Ltd is in early discussions with investors to raise about $40-50 million.
The company is in talks with DST Global, PremjiInvest and Ratan Tata’s UC-RNT fund, the report said, citing three people aware of the development.
The company last raised $19 million (around Rs 129 crore) in a Series B funding round led by existing investors Accel Partners and IDG Ventures India in June.
SigTuple was founded in 2015 by Tathagato Rai Dastidar, Rohit Kumar Pandey and Apurv Anand, who all previously worked at Big Data Labs of American Express. The startup builds cloud-based solutions for medical diagnosis using artificial intelligence techniques and has tied up with medical institutions to get data for the analysis.
In another report, Mint said that IIFL Asset Management is looking to raise at least $500 million for its maiden structured credit fund. The firm is holding internal discussions before seeking commitment from investors, the report said.
Karan Bhagat, managing director and CEO at IIFL Investment Managers, told the financial daily he expects the fund to receive bulk of the contribution from domestic investors.
The fund will focus on mezzanine financing and special situations, according to the report.
In August, IIFL Asset Management had appointed Pranob Gupta and Abhinav Jain to lead to lead the structured debt fund. Gupta was previously associated with KKR India where he was a senior structured finance originator. Jain used to run his own advisory business and was earlier associated with Capital First and Deutsche Bank.
In May, IIFL Asset Management had floated a new private equity fund under its alternative investment business to back entrepreneurs in fast-growing sectors like financial services, consumer, healthcare and technology.
