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JM Financial India Fund, a $225 million private equity fund sponsored by JM Financial and Old Lane Partners LP, will invest Rs 40 crore in Spandana, a leading microfinance institution (MFI). Spandana caters primarily to the lower income borrowers located in rural and urban areas. The company operates through its 300-plus branch network in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu with a client base in excess of 1 million. […] Nexus India Capital has closed a $100 million venture capital fund to invest in opportunities across sectors in India. Nexus plans to invest in technology start-ups as well as companies with non-technology business models. The fund's investors include top tier institutions and strategic family offices from North America, Europe and Asia. The fund has also announced investments in five innovative companies to date, including $5 million each in mobile2Win, a mobile value-added services company, and DimDim, a web collaboration start-up. […] The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group's private sector arm, will invest Rs 300 crore in Delhi-based Max Healthcare Institute to aid expansion programmes over the next four years. IFC’s investment in Max will include Rs 50 crore of common equity and Rs 250 crore of preferred, cumulative, and redeemable equity. The proposed expansion will add 452 beds to the company’s existing 765-bed capacity. This includes 268 beds in Patparganj hospital, a new 100-bed secondary and tertiary hospital in Dehradun, and a new 84-bed tertiary hospital focussed on obstetrics, gynecology, and pediatrics at Saket, Delhi. […] Madras Stock Exchange (MSE), the oldest stock exchange in South India, has invited bids to sell 51% brokers’ stake in the bourse as part of the scheme to separate brokers’ trading and ownership rights. Interested parties willing to bid up to a maximum of 5% equity of the MSE have been requested to submit their Expression of Interest (EoI) by 27 July. The disinvestment is being carried out under the demutualization scheme for 11 stock exchanges approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India in August 2005. Each stock exchange would mandatorily have to sell 51% of brokers’ equity to separate their trading and ownership rights of bourses. The process is called demutualization. The disinvestment of at least 51% would be made by the way of offer of sale or private placement or a combination of both. In addition to this there could be induction of strategic or financial partners, the stock exchange said in the invitation of bids. Stock exchanges can sell 26% stake in bourses to foreign direct investors and 23% to foreign institutional investors. The MSE board reserves the right to accept or reject any EoI received without assigning any reasons, it said. […] A clutch of high-profile investors, led by Lehman Brothers and Holcim Group chairman Thomas Schmidheiny, are together buying a 5% stake in Edelweiss Capital—a leading financial services company in the country—in a pre-IPO placement of equity. Edelweiss Capital is close to signing deals worth $50 million with the global investors, which value the Mumbai-based broking and investment banking group at about $1 billion, according to sources. The valuation is almost on a par with those of top investment bankers such as DSP Merrill Lynch and JM Financial, and is believed to be much higher than that of large domestic brokerage houses such as Motilal Oswal Securities and Sharekhan. […] John Bissell's export house of 1958 – better known as Fabindia today –has an unusual backer. Former World Bank president James Wolfensohn's private investment fund has picked up 6% stake in the country's marquee Indian ethnic wear company for $11 million. This puts the valuation of Fabindia at around Rs 750 crore. Confirming the move Fabindia director Sunil Chainani said: “We were approached by many investors, however, we were keen to choose an investor who shared our values and vision.'' […] The private equity (PE) juggernaut, which has been scorching the global deal street, has come of age in India. For the first time, the value of PE deals in a single month has overtaken that of strategic merger & acquisitions (M&A). June reported $1.8 billion worth of PE deals in the country — the highest in a single month — overtaking strategic M&A deals at $1.72 billion. As per the latest dealtracker by advisory firm Grant Thornton, there were 36 PE deals during June totalling $1.81 billion as against 24 deals worth $1.56 billion during May.Says Grant Thornton partner-corporate advisory services CG Srividya, “One of the reasons for this is the increasing number of buyouts and PE interest in the real estate and infrastructure sectors. Our estimates show that close to $1 billion worth of PE money went to the real estate and infrastructure sectors in June alone.” […] |