GTV's Siddhartha May Buy Soota's Stake In MindTree - In a move to back the company he seed-funded more than a decade ago, Cafe Coffee Day Group owner V G Siddhartha, is expected to buy the 11.1% stake in MindTree held by Ashok Soota for Rs 270 crore. The move will enable Siddhartha to become the single largest shareholder in MindTree. Soota, the co-founder of Mindtree, had recently quit to start a new venture Happiest Minds Technologies. Siddhartha may be paying a premium of nearly a Rs 100 crore for Soota's stake based on the current market capitalisation of MindTree, which is a little over Rs 1,400 crore. Siddhartha is expected to buy Soota’s stake through his venture capital arm Global Technology Ventures, which holds 6.12% stake in MindTree. (Business Standard)
PNB Close To Buying 33% In MetLife - Punjab National Bank is close to buying as much as 33% stake in MetLife India that will boost fee income for the staterun bank and provide the US insurer with the second-best financial distribution platform in the country.The discussions between PNB and MetLife also involve Jammu & Kashmir Bank, which owns 13% of the insurer. The state-run lender may buy out other shareholders such as J&K Bank and Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. MetLife is a JV between Jammu & Kashmir Bank, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co, US-based MetLife International and private shareholders. (Economic Times)
Goldman Hires Morgan Stanley's PV Krishna - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. hired PV Krishna from Morgan Stanley (MS) to run its equity capital markets business in India. Krishna, who was an executive director in charge of equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley, will join Goldman Sachs in August as a managing director after completing three months of so-called gardening leave. Krishna joined Morgan Stanley from Nomura Holdings Inc. in India more than a year ago. (Bloomberg)
Hotel Leelaventure Seeks Shareholder Approval For $22M Raise - Hotel Leelaventure decided at its board meeting to raise $222 million, and plans to seek shareholder approval for it. In April, the company had said it expected to sell 5% of the founders' stake to private equity before its board meeting, which was held Monday. The company also wanted to raise a total of $266 million this summer through the sale and development of its land. All the funds raised were to be directed toward reducing the debt on the books of the luxury hotel operator. (Wall Street Journal)
Mascot Powersys Plans Rs 200Cr IPO - Car CNG kits distributor Mascot Powersys today said it plans to expand its footprint by over nine-fold to 74 outlets in the next three years across India and is looking to raise about Rs 200 crore from IPO in 2013. The company also said it will consider setting up a local manufacturing facility for the CNG kits, which are at present imported from Poland and Italy. The company will dilute 18-20% stake for raising the money through the initial public offer. The company is planning to manufacture the CNG kits locally and the IPO proceeds will be utilised for it. (Business Standard)
KPIT Cummins Buys 50% In Systime Global - IT firm KPIT Cummins Infosystems today said it will acquire 50% stake in Systime Global Solutions for Rs 103 crore. The company will acquire the remaining 50% of the equity and preference shares over a period of three years, at a price which will include a certain fixed and variable consideration. Systime Global Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CMS group, is a global business solutions provider delivering services for the past 33 years. The company has clients like Bharti Airtel, AT&T, Emirates and Lufthansa. (Business Standard)
NMDC Inks MoU For Australian Buy - State-owned mining company NMDC today inked a Memorandum of Understanding to acquire up to a 50% stake in Australian mineral exploration company Legacy Iron Ore. The proposal is still at a preliminary stage and the cost of acquiring shares is yet to be determined. The deal is also subject to all necessary regulatory and shareholder approvals being received. NMDC intends to use Legacy as a vehicle to acquire large-scale Australian bulk commodity projects such as coal and iron ore. (Business Standard)