NEA Eyes Flipkart's $150M Round - NEA, the US-based venture capital major with $11 billion in committed capital, is understood to have shown keen interest to fund Bangalore-based Flipkart, an online retailer of books and lifestyle accessories such as mobile phones, consumer electronics, music, games among others. Flipkart is understood to be in discussions with a few global private equity and venture capital firms to raise about $150 million with General Atlantic Partners among the front runners to invest in Flipkart. (Business Standard)
Nadathur Group Invests Rs 25Cr In Amagi - Amagi Media Labs, a company that facilitates geographic targeting of television advertisements, has raised Rs 25 crore from the Nadathur Group, an investment firm founded by Infosys Ltd co-founder N.S. Raghavan. With this, the three-year-old start-up has so far raised Rs.37 crore. Nadathur has invested in all its three rounds of fund-raising.
CBRE Hires Credit Suisse Exces - CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), the global real estate consultancy giant, has poached two top real estate fund managers from Credit Suisse to strengthen its capital market offerings in India that could eventually lead to managing investors' money also. Gaurav Kumar and Nikhil Bhatia, who five years ago set up and then till recently managed Credit Suisse's real estate private equity fund in India, have been appointed as co-heads of CBRE's capital markets division. (Times of India)
VLCC Buys Back CLSA's Stake; Eyes Acquisitions - Beauty and fitness chain VLCC, promoted by Vandana Luthra, has bought back 13.65% stake held by CLSA Capital Partners. CLSA, which had invested $10-15 million (Rs 45-68 crore) in VLCC in 2004, exited as its term ended. VLCC is now looking to issue fresh equity to raise Rs 250 crore to fund acquisitions and expansion in the domestic and overseas markets. It has started due diligence to acquire a personal care products company in France and an ayurvedic services company in India, which may cost $70-80 million. (Economic Times)
Inkel To Raise Rs 100Cr Through Rights Issue - Infrastructure Kerala Limited (Inkel), a public-private enterprise formed by the Kerala government with the objective of promoting infrastructure development in the state, will be issuing 100,000 equity shares of Rs 10,000 each in the ratio of 1:1 on rights basis to its existing shareholders to mobilise Rs 100 crore. At present, 26% of the shares of Inkel are held by the state government while the remaining 74 per cent are with non-resident Indians, institutions and other individual shareholders. (Business Standard)
NCC To Monetise Land - Infrastructure major NCC Ltd is working on a plan to put its land bank on the block. The company owns about 400 acres through various subsidiaries including property development arm NCC Urban. This would be sold to fund some of its build-own-operate projects. The land bank is valued at about `400 crore. (DNA)
Ratan Tata Readies Entry Into Aviation - The $72 billion Tata Group is putting pieces together to be a major player in the general aviation space. The group is in talks with Florida-based Avantair to establish a partnership in India, where use of private planes by companies is on the rise. The group's hospitality arm Indian Hotels (Taj chain) holds about 62% stake in BJETS, which has a fleet of four aircraft comprising of Cessna and Hawker jets. (Times of India)
Monnet, JSW To Bid For Afghan Mine - Monnet Ispat & Energy, the Delhi-based steel and power generating company, and JSW Ispat have joined the consortium days before the final bidding date of September 4 for Afghan iron ore deposits at Hajigak. The Hajigak mines, about 130 km west of Kabul, contain four blocks of highgrade iron ore. Other in constrium include SAIL, RINL, NMDC and Jindal Steel & Power. (Economic Times)
Paracor Buys Into Marvel Landmarks - Paracor Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd has invested Rs 55 crore for an 8% stake in Marvel Landmarks Pvt. Ltd, a realty firm backed by global asset managers Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. Marvel Landmarks will use the money for strategic investments and developing its projects. Marvel was set up in 2007 by Pune-based Marvel Realtors with an entity-level investment from Och-Ziff for a 49% stake.
Jindal Power Eyes Project Level Buys - Jindal Power on said it is considering "quite a few" projects for buyout in the country, especially in the thermal power space. The proposed acquisitions would mostly be funded from internal accruals and the firm would like to buy projects which are either in the initial stages of construction or are already operational. (Economic Times)