Birlas May Rope In PE Firm For Whitehaven Bid - The Aditya Birla Group is in talks with a clutch of private equity investors including active middle east-based sovereign wealth funds such as Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Mubadala to back a financial bid the company is making to acquire Australian coal miner, Whitehaven Coal. The Birla Group is seeking private equity funding to the tune of $500 million in an unlisted group firm that is likely to make an offer to acquire Whitehaven coal. A successful bid could cost the Birla Group in excess of $3.5 billion. (Economic Times)
Moser Baer To Raise Another $200M For Power Biz - Deepak Puri-led power generation firm Moser Baer Projects is holding fresh talks with Standard Chartered Private Equity and others to raise $200 million. Moser Baer, which counts private equity firm Blackstone as an investor, is hitting the market for additional funds to propel the Puri family’s ambitions in India’s power generation story. Bankers have been holding discussions with the PE arms of Standard Chartered and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR) for a transaction that promises an assured 16% return on capital. (Times of India)
TPG Close To Shriram Properties Stake - Private equity firm Texas Pacific Group , or TPG, is close to a deal to buy as much as 14% stake in the unlisted developer Shriram Properties for Rs 450 crore. Shriram Properties will issue fresh equity for the fund raising with the deal expected to close by the end of this month. TPG, which at present has stakes in Shriram Citi Union finance and Shriram Transport, will sell off its holding in Shriram Transport and invest the proceeds in Shriram Capital and Shriram Properties. (Economic Times)
Leelaventure To Close PE Deal In Eight Weeks - Hotel Leelaventure Ltd expects to conclude a deal within the next six to eight weeks with at least one private equity firm to raise Rs 600 crore by selling 5% of its founders' stake. The founders currently hold about a 55% stake in Hotel Leelaventure. Hotel Leelaventure currently has debt of about Rs 3800 crore, which it plans to halve after the stake sale to the private equity firms and other measures. (Wall Street Journal)
Aditya Birla Acquires Swedish Pulp Maker - The $30-billion Aditya Birla Group (ABG) has taken over a leading Swedish speciality pulp and bio-refinery company, Domsjo Fabriker, for $340 million (Rs 1,508 crore). The group will spend $75 million as capex, an amount that has already been committed for taking the total payout to $415 million. The deal will be routed through two Birla group companies — Thai Rayon Public Company and Indo-Bharat Rayon of Indonesia. Domsjo’s turnover last year was $390 million. With this acquisition, ABG will become the world’s largest pulp manufacturer, which will be used in viscose staple fibre (VSF). (Business Standard)
Henkel To Sell India Biz To Jyothy - German firm Henkel AG will sell its entire stake in Henkel India to Jyothy Laboratories, manufacturer of Ujala fabric whitener. Henkel AG’s board last week approved the sale of its 50.97% stake in its Indian arm to Jyothy. The sale will be at a substantial discount to Henkel’s current market price. The negotiated price is speculated to be 50% cheaper than what Jyothy last month paid Tamil Nadu Petro Products for its 14.9% stake in Henkel India. (Times of India)
Sebi May Allow SWFs To Invest More - The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is considering making changes to the takeover and foreign institutional investor (FII) regulations which would allow select sovereign wealth funds to invest beyond the current threshold limit of 10%. This is being done to make the regulations in line with provisions of the Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) signed between India and other governments. (DNA)