Piramal Enterprises offered 51% premium for Vodafone stake: British telecom giant Vodafone Plc has offered a 50.84% premium to the Ajay Piramal-controlled Piramal Enterprises for its investments in Vodafone India. In the process, Vodafone India’s valuation rose 48.39% since February 2012, when Piramal Enterprises bought 5.5% stake in Vodafone India for INR 3,007 crore. According to a recent communication to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Vodafone has informed the telecom ministry it has agreed to pay INR 8,900 crore, or INR 811.30 an equity share, to Piramal Enterprises for its 10.97 per cent direct stake in Vodafone India. Piramal had invested INR 5,900 crore to acquire 10.97 per cent stake in Vodafone India in two tranches. (Business Standard)
Actis may sell Sterling Hospitals back to founder: Private equity major Actis Capital is considering a sale of Ahmedabad-based Sterling Hospitals back to its founder Girish Patel and his family also the erstwhile promoters of Paras Pharma after a top bidder for the hospital chain lowered its acquisition price, multiple sources privy to the matter said. Azim Premji and Temasek-backed HealthCare Global (HCG) had bid over INR 450 crore ($73 million) after Sterling's controlling shareholder Actis mandated Kotak Investment Banking to sell the company. Ten days back, the Bangalore-based cancer care specialist dropped its offer price to INR 325 crore ($52.8 million), citing profitability concerns post a due diligence process. Actis, an emerging markets-focused PE firm, owns an 80% stake in Sterling Hospitals leaving the rest with the Patel family, which had ceded majority control to the former in 2006. (Times of India)
IFC will tap domestic market to raise funds for infra projects: International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank Group member, said it would raise money from domestic investors by issuing rupee bonds in India shortly. The money raised by issuing such bonds would be used to lend to infrastructure projects in the country. The issue size would be decided by IFC after discussions with government officials. The local bonds would be long-term in nature and would have maturity periods ranging from 8-15 years, he said. Recently, IFC raised INR 1,000 crore (about $170 million) through offshore rupee bonds as part of its $1 billion offshore rupee bond programme. These bonds, of three-year tenor, offered 7.75% interest. (Business Line)
JSW Energy, Tatas eye GMR's Emco plant: Power utilities such as JSW Energy and Tata Power are known to be evaluating GMR’s Emco power plant in Maharashtra for a possible buyout. In 2009, GMR had bought the 600-Mw power plant from Emco, while the plant was being constructed. Now, the plant is operational and GMR is known to be expecting a premium on the purchase. Earlier, JSW Energy had been talking about purchasing power projects and had actively looked at the assets of Lanco Infratech. Apart from Indian players, international utilities such as Malaysian giant Genting and Singapore’s Sembcorp, which already have interests in India, are known to be eyeing the project. (Business Standard)
RmKV Silks looks to raise INR 200 crore to widen its presence in South India: RmKV Silks, the Chennai-based wedding silks retailer, is looking to tap the private equity route to raise INR 200 crore ($32 million) as part of its expansion to take on other high-profile players such as Nalli Silk Sarees and Kumaran Silks. The company which is currently run by the third generation of the family, has a turnover of INR 500 crore and is present across seven expansive stores across Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Bangalore. The company is gearing up to push across into Hyderabad and Kerala as well as part of its expansion plan even as it is aiming to grow at close to 40%. The deal would likely be sewn within the next few weeks. (Business Standard)
Worli’s Atria mall up for sale for INR 1,000 crore: Almost eight years after it opened under a cloud of controversy, the high-end Atria mall in Worli has been up for sale, but because of few takers so far, its promoters now plan to change its layout and format and convert it into a full-blown retail destination. In fact, Shoppers Stop is negotiating for 35,000 sq ft space in the mall at present. But at least one insider said the owners are open to an outright sale if it fetches them around INR 1,000 crore ($162 million). The under-two-acre property is controlled by three partners: Champalal Vardhan, Dalichand Shah and Bhupesh Jain. Market sources said Kishore Biyani of Future Group had made an offer for the property. (Times of India)
Aion, Apollo to invest INR 960 cr into Avantha Holdings: Aion Capital Partners and Apollo Global Management are together investing INR 960 crores (around $150 million) in Avantha Holdings Limited - the holding company of the $4 billion diversified Avantha Group, headed by Gautam Thapar. The funds would be used by Avantha Group to repay its consortium of lenders and release the promoter's pledged shares. The transaction will be a structured deal that will be linked to the equity performance of Crompton Greaves (CG). The final agreements between Aion, Apollo and Avantha is expected to get signed within this week. But following this round, the company is likely to also rope in Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co (KKR), an existing investor in the power business for an additional round of $100 million (around Rs 600 crore) investment. This deal is still being negotiated. The investment by KKR will be structurally somewhat different from the one that is being inked with Aion-Apollo and may have a convertible model with shares of group companies like BILT or CG as the underlying security. (Economic Times)
3 companies vie for Axis Bank’s swipe business: Three global payment processing giants, Global Payments, WorldPay and Total System Services (TSYS), are bidding for Axis Bank's network of more than two lakh credit and debit card swipe machines business valued at INR 1,200 core, or $200million, banking sources familiar with the matter said. WorldPay, formerly a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland, is now majority owned by private equity giants Advent International and Bain Capital. ICICI Bank sold its network of swipe machines to First Data Corporation for $90 million in 2009. Japanese giant Hitachi acquired Prism Payments, a Mumbai-based manager of ATM and swipe machines, for $220 million last month. (Times of India)
Fashionara plans to raise up to $15 million to fund expansion: Fashionara, a Bangalore-based ‘e-fashion’ start-up co-founded by Arun Sirdeshmukh, former chief executive officer and director of Reliance Trends Limited, is looking at raising a Series-B funding of between $10 million and $15 million to build out logistics and optimise its technology for mobile devices. The online high-fashion lifestyle store, which started operations just about a year and three months back, had raised a Series-A funding from two venture capital firms Helion Venture Partners and California-based Lightspeed Venture Partners. The online high-fashion lifestyle store, which started operations just about a year and three months back, had raised a Series-A funding from two venture capital firms – Helion Venture Partners and California-based Lightspeed Venture Partners, said Sirdeshmukh, chief executive of Fashionara. The company expects to close the fund-raising exercise in the next couple of months. (Business Standard)
Courtesy: VCCEdge
