Apax, Actis In Fray For MF Registry CAMS - Private equity giant Apax Partners may be considering an offer to buy majority stake in India's leading mutual fund registry and transaction processing firm Computer Age Management Services. HDFC Group and private equity fund Advent International are looking to offload their 61% stake in CAMS—founder V Shankar holds the remaining 39%—with an enterprise valuation around $350 million. Investment bank NM Rothschild is at work to facilitate a potential transaction, which has also attracted interest from UK based private equity Actis and a few European and US strategic buyers. (Times of India)
Monsoon Capital Buys 50% In Hyderabad Realty Project - Monsoon Capital, a US-based private equity firm, picked up 50% equity stake for nearly $16 million in a real estate project promoted by Phoenix Group, a Hyderabad-based real and infrastructure firm. Monsoon picked up stake in a special purpose vehicle formed to execute Golf Edge - a property of 1-million square feet comprising a five-star hotel and residential complexes involving an investment of Rs 350 crore at Gachibowli, the IT district of Hyderabad. Catalyst Sansara India Opportunity Fund holds 20% equity stake in the holding company of Phoenix Group. (Business Standard)
REC To Invest In Power Projects - Rural Electrification Corp. plans to buy stake in new power projects in India either independently or by setting up a private-equity company. The move will help the company maximize returns on investments by directly taking part in India's expanding power sector. It may also enable the company to guide power utilities, both state-run and private, toward better managing their finances and operations amid a tight credit scenario, which in turn will benefit the lender. Rural Electrification, currently, grants loans to its customers in the power sector and earns interest in return. (Wall Street Journal)
TPG, Rothschild In Talks With Kingfisher Airlines - Global blue-chip private equity investors Rothschild and TPG Group are reportedly in talks with UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines, which is in the market to raise $300 million. Kingfisher Airlines, the second largest airline in terms of market-share in the highly competitive India’s civil aviation sector, post the debt restructure had hoped to raise $300 million through a GDR (Global Depository Receipt) route on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. (Business Standard)
BenefitsPLUS Acquires Stake In Koovs - Delhi-based BenefitsPLUS, an online employee benefits and rewards programme service provider, has invested over $2 million and acquired a controlling stake in group-buying website, Koovs. Just two weeks ago, BenefitsPLUS acquired its competitor, Snowball eRetail Services. BenefitsPLUS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of technology venture Digivive Services, was started in 2010 and is a members-only site which offers discounts on a number of products and services to employees of member companies as part of custom-made rewards programmes. Koovs offers discounted daily deals and has over 400,000 registered members. (Economic Times)
Gitanjali Gems Acquires Italy's DIT Group - Leading jewellery brand Gitanjali Gems on Monday said it has acquired Italy-based jewellery firm DIT Group SpA, which owns brands like Stefan Hafner, for $11 million. DIT, a unit of Dubai-based jewellery group Damas International, had filed for bankruptcy and was under liquidation process with Civil Court of Alessandria in Italy. Gitanjali has brands such as Nakshatra, Asmi, Gilli and D'Damas. (Business Line)
IIFCL To Raise Rs 5,000Cr Equity Fund - India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) will shortly set up a Rs 5,000 crore infrastructure equity fund. Under the proposed plan, infrastructure firms can pledge a part of their equity with the government-owned financing institution against infusion of equity funds in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) floated for a particular project. Once the SPV has the money to return, it can redeem its shares from IIFCL against payment of a fixed fee.The new equity fund will work in tandem with the debt fund announced by prime minister Manmohan Singh. (Financial Chronicle)
Novartis Surges On Buyback Buzz - Shares of drug firm Novartis India surged by nearly 12 per cent on the BSE on Monday amid media reports that its promoters may buy rest of the shares of the company that they don’t currently own. Following the buzz, the stock spurted by 15.31 per cent to touch a 52-week high of Rs 875 on the BSE in intra-day. Later, shares of the company ended 11.78 per cent higher at Rs 848.20. Switzerland-based Novartis AG held 76.42 per cent of its Indian unit as on March 31, 2011. (Business Line)
