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Lok Capital LLC, a Mauritius-based venture capital fund, has raised USD 22 million from institutional investors to fund micro-finance institutions in India. “Lok Capital raised its first round of funds from institutional investors including CDC, FMO, KfW, and IFC. The funds will be utilised to finance micro-finance institutions engaged in rural and urban lending,” Lok Advisory Services Managing Director Vishal Mehta said. He said with a fully functional local venture team in place, the Fund was confident of delivering support to larger number of MFIs and contribute to the overall growth of the sector. The increased capital base will enable the venture fund to reach out to a few more MFIs than what it originally envisaged, he said. […]
In India, CalPERS made new investments of over $75 million (Rs 300 crore) in 100 new stocks, as per its annual report for the year ended June 2007. Companies belonging to oil/refineries (26.4 per cent), IT (20 per cent), logistics (14.2 per cent), banks/financial institutions (6.5 per cent) and infrastructure (5.5 per cent) accounting for the lion’s share of the fresh capital. Though the annual report does not show any investments in real estate companies, the fund’s spokesperson clarified that they have allocated $100 million to IL&FS Investment Managers for the India Realty Fund and $50 million to Sun Apollo for the India Real Estate Fund. The fund’s latest India portfolio shows that CalPERS’ top five sectors were oil/refineries, banks/financial institutions, IT, cement and telecom. […]
Mahindra & Mahindra is setting up a venture capital fund with an initial corpus of $50 million (Rs 2 billion). The fund, which will be held by a trust, is going to invest in the group's film and media initiatives. “The name of the media company is not yet firmed up. But it is the VC fund which will invest into the media business,” says a source in the company. Though the company will kick off with the film production business, it also plans to get into the television, internet and mobile space. “We are also considering the broadcasting business,” the source says. The peak funding requirement for the movie business would be $75 million (Rs 3 billion), the source adds. The plan is to produce 2-4 films in the first year of operations. […]
Several PE (private equity) funds are eyeing the Indian cricket board’s lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) for a stake in the franchisees. Sources close to some of the franchisees, which include Reliance Industries, India Cements and United Spirits, told Business Line that funds such as ICICI Ventures and Kotak Private Equity Group are reportedly in talks with some of them. Sources in ICICI Ventures said there is a possibility the company is involved in talks with Reliance Industries, which has bought the rights for the Mumbai team for Rs 441 crore. An official with Ceat Tyres, which brings out annual cricket ratings, said the company is on a ‘wait and watch’ mode before deciding on investing in the IPL. An official with Kotak Private Equity Group, however, denied any such move. […]
Private equity managers going into emerging markets in search of higher returns or in hopes of avoiding the global credit crunch won't escape the impact of a U.S. recession, the president of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, or EMPEA, said Thursday. “At a minimum, a U.S. recession will negatively impact growth prospects for some, if not many of the companies in a fund manager's portfolio,” Sarah E. Alexander said at an EMPEA conference in New York. But investors who got burned in emerging markets during the early 1990s recession should take comfort in the “fundamental shifts” and growth that emerging market economies have experienced. “Let me convince you that a crash is highly unlikely,” she said. Many private equity managers have a lot riding on these fundamental changes. Last year, the private equity industry raised more than $59 billion for investments in emerging markets, a record and nearly double the amount raised in 2006, according to EMPEA data. […]
Gujarat Venture Fund Limited (GVFL) has raised Rs.600 million for its SME (small and medium enterprises) Technology Venture Fund. “The fund would be used for investing in various projects of both small and medium technology companies. GVFL plans to invest this entire fund in six to eight projects in a time period of one year with an approximate investment amount per project anywhere between Rs.5 and 15 crore (Rs.50 million to 150 million),” said Vishnu Varshney, CEO of GVFL, in a statement here Friday. GVFL plans to raise the entire corpus of its SME Technology Venture Fund to Rs.250 crore (Rs.2.5 billion) by 2009-10 from existing Rs.60 crore (Rs.600 million),” the statement said. “Venture capitalists invested over $777 million in 57 deals in India during the first three quarters of 2007, as per the India Venture Capital Report as against $158 million in 2006. […]
Telco Construction Equipment Company Ltd (TELCON), leading construction equipment sector in India, signed an agreement with the existing shareholders of Serviplem SA, Spain for acquisition of their 79% stake in the company. As part of the partnership strategy, the existing owners will continue to be associated with the venture and own the remaining 21%. […]
Deutsche Bank has picked up close to 40% stake in Ramprastha Promoters and Developers, a group company owned by Delhi-based Ramprastha Group for $80 million. Ramprastha Promoters and Developers has been primarily engaged in developing housing projects in the national capital region(NCR). Confirming the deal, Ramprastha group director Arvind Walia told ET, “We signed the agreement with Deutsche Bank recently.” Mr Walia didn’t specify the stake Deutsche Bank has bought, but he said it was less than 40%. Ernst & Young advised Ramprastha on the deal. In the largest private equity deal in real estate sector, Deutsche Bank had picked up around 25% stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) owned by Mumbai-based developer Lodha Group for Rs 1,700 crore, last year. Currently, Ramprastha Promoters and Developers is developing a 200 acre township in Gurgaon. The land for the project has already been acquired. […]
India-focused real estate investment company Yatra Capital Ltd said it has invested 28.01 mln eur in two joint venture projects in Bangalore. Yatra said it has acquired a 30 pct stake in Palladium Constructions, for 17.86 mln eur, and another 30 pct stake in Platinum Hospitality Services, for 10.15 mln euro. The company said with the new projects, it now has invested in 11 deals and has used 146.34 mln eur of 220 mln eur it has earmarked for investments in the Indian real estate market. […]
The Rs. 3500-crore Gitanjali Gems Ltd., India's largest integrated diamond and jewellery manufacturer and retailer, today announced the complete acquisition of Gili. Earlier the Group had 65% stake in the 'Superbrand'. The first jewellery brand to be launched in India- Gili is evaluated at INR 85 cr today and had achieved a Superbrand status in 2004. For more than a decade now, the brand offers Indian consumers a world of choice in gold and diamond jewellery – truly “Easy Elegance”. Gili was launched in the year 1994 with its primary brand value being, “Genuine diamond and gold jewellery at affordable prices” and it has come a long way becoming andd sustaining itself as one of the most preferred brand in its category. Gitanjali Gems Ltd has also acquired 100% Shares of 'Modali Gems Pvt Ltd.' (MGPL), earlier a joint venture Company. By way of this acquisition, MGPL has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. The main business of MGPL is to manage the distribution of the brand Asmi and allied products. It is currently a 120 people company with about 45 distributors and 345 retailers under its banner. These powerful acquisitions will drive much more value to key stakeholders including end customers, and partners of Gitanjali Group. This all adds up to advantages including better deals for consumers and access to the world's most coveted brand than ever before. […]
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