September 2007
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Aditya Birla Group plans PE, real estate funds

The Aditya Birla Group is set to broaden the ambit of its financial services business by foraying into new segments that offer high growth. The Birlas are looking at the option of entering into real-estate funds, private-equity fund, brokerages and non-life insurance businesses, according to a source familiar with the matter. An Aditya Birla Group spokesperson declined to comment. The group is now present in life insurance, retail and corporate financing, asset management and distribution businesses. It has partnerships with Canadian financial services major Sunlife for its life insurance and asset management businesses. […]

Ipca buys 100% stake in Australian firm

Ipca Laboratories has acquired 100% shareholding of a small formulation product dossier registration-cum-distribution company in Australia. According to a release issued by Ipca to the BSE today, the Australian company currently holds five formulation registration dossiers. The release, however, did not mention the name of the Australian company. “The Australian company also has a wholly-owned formulation dossier registration-cum-distribution company in New Zealand currently holding three formulation registration dossiers in New Zealand,” the release added.(Business Standard) […]

M&A bug bites hospitals

Firms are opting for acquisitions over new projects as operational hospitals mean immediate revenue at lower costs. For an industry that is moving faster than fire in a vineyard, having to wait for more than five years just to get a green field project going can be rather frustrating. But increasingly now, in the healthcare industry, numerous hospital chains — in attempts to clamp down on their waiting periods, boost cash flow and expand into other parts of the country — are on the prowl for strategic acquisitions of other hospitals. Fortis Healthcare’s 46 per cent acquisition of Chennai’s famous Malar Hospitals last week was the second such acquisition for the north Indian hospital chain and also marked its first step into the south. Previously, in 2005, Fortis had acquired 90 per cent in the Escorts Heart Institute in Delhi along with three other Escort hospitals in Amritsar, Faridabad, and Chhattisgarh and a vacant plot marked for an Escorts hospital at Jaipur for more than Rs 600 crore. Towards the end of 2005, Apollo Hospitals acquired 51 per cent stake in Bangalore’s Imperial Cancer Centre and Multi-Specialty Hospital for Rs 35 crore, having already acquired Gleneagles Hospital in Kolkata, Sagar Hospital in Mysore and hospitals in Kakinada, Chennai and Madurai. Today, roughly 5-6 per cent of Fortis Healthcare’s entire revenue comes from Escorts alone. The acquisition that put the company on a financial backfoot that will only break next year, in retrospect, worked brilliantly for Fortis. […]

Helios & Matheson eyes $100-m buy in Europe

Chennai-Based healthcare IT services company Helios & Matheson is targeting a $50-100 million all-cash buyout in Europe. It is in talks with two companies, one in Brussels (Belgium) and the other in Paris. The company hopes to close the deal by end of this fiscal. “We are looking at a foothold in Europe. The company has a cash reserve of Rs 85 crore. Another Rs 60-70 crore can be raised through internal accruals. We plan to complete the transactions in three phases (in two years time) but all through cash. We can also borrow from banks, if there is a need, “ said Helios & Matheson MD GK Muralikrishna told ET. Helios and Matheson has so far acquired three companies in the US — The Laxmi Group in California (2001), Maruthi Consulting Inc (2004) and The A Consulting Team (now renamed Helios & Matheson, US in 2006). […]

Nabard, 4 others invest in Aavishkaar venture fund

Nabard, the apex rural development bank in India; Cordaid, a Dutch non-governmental development organization; CEP Investment Trust Fund, a Canadian social venture fund supported by CARE Canada; ENAM Capital, part of ENAM group, a leading Indian financial services conglomerate; Lesing Nominees and Aavishkaar International announced their joint investment in the India-focussed pioneering micro equity fund, Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund. This joint investment raises Aavishkaar’s fund corpus to $6 million and will support the launch of up to 60 socio-commercial businesses in India over the next 5 years. The fund aims to double its corpus size in next six months by attracting more global investors. Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund commenced operations in 2002 and is aimed at promoting economic growth in rural India by supporting innovation driven bottom-up companies in sectors such as agriculture, rural businesses, handicrafts, renewable energy, healthcare and technology for development. […]

BCCL acquires 6.83% stake in Nik-Nish Retail

Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL), the publisher of The Times of India and The Economic Times, has acquired 6.83% equity stake in Kolkata-based lifestyle retail firm Nik-Nish Retail Ltd. “The association with BCCL will help us achieve a higher brand visibility through access to the large audiences provided by the group’s media,” says Bharat Jain, managing director of Nik-Nish Retail. Nik-Nish has been in operation since the past four years and is into retailing of lifestyle products, fashion accessories, gift items and household products. The group’s marketing strategy is to emerge as a leader in fashion accessories and home decorations. […]

Actis to launch $1 bn India fund

Private equity fund Actis Advisors is planning to launch a $3-4 billion private equity fund globally, with $1 billion allocation for India. Actis which has been investing in PE in India for more than a decade is also planning its first India dedicated real estate fund with a corpus of $250-300 million. Sources said the fund raising process for the private equity and real estate funds has already begun. The firm is planning to raise funds from institutional investors in the US, Europe and West Asia. Both the funds are likely to be registered in Mauritius. For the real estate fund, the first close of $100 million has already been achieved. “We are evaluating few deals in the real estate space,” the sources said. J M Trivedi, the managing director of Actis Advisors, could not be reached for comments. The average deal size of investments is likely to be $30-50 million and the private equity fund will be investing across all sectors. […]