Arthanomics, the Annual finance Seminar of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode was held on the 6th and 7th of September, 2008 at the institute’s scenic campus in Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala. The theme of this year’s seminar was “Mergers and Acquisitions – India Inc. on the prowl”. As has been the case with earlier editions of the seminar, Arthanomics ’08 too had an impressive line up of distinguished personalities which included the likes of Mr. Kamlesh Gandhi, Head of the Investment banking division of Religare, Mr. Manoj Gupta, Vice President at Nexus Capital Advisors, and Mr. Sadashiv Rao, Senior Director at IDFC.
Mr. Kamlesh Gandhi, Former Country Head of the Investment banking division of Religare, delivered an enthralling inaugural address covering a range of topics including the NSG deal and the Singur deadlock. He observed that compared to the global IB scenario, the deal sizes in India are much smaller and hence felt there was a lot of growth potential in the industry. Referring to the TATA – Corus and the TATA – Jaguar deals as a matter of pride for the Indian industry, Kamlesh insisted that the flow would be both ways citing the Ranbaxy Daiichi deal.
Mr. Manoj Gupta, Vice President, Nexus Capital Advisors spoke about the parameters on which prospective ventures for funding are evaluated. Describing the entire investment process as “… long, tiring, often frustrating, but an ultimately hugely rewarding process”, Mr. Gupta offered a list of practical tips that should be followed when pitching to venture capitalists. Mr. Ravi Mani, Associate Director, Equirius Capital explained the nitty-gritties of Investment Banking as he elaborated on what takes place behind the scenes during the M&A. Mr. Sadashiv Rao, Senior Director at IDFC, talked about the essence of infrastructure financing while elaborating on market analysis and different types of risk on which a project is evaluated.
Mr. Hemendra Aran, founder and CEO of Aranca, addressed the students on why developing economies like India are attracting an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions. He touched upon the patterns of cross border M&A activities that have emerged over the years. He also stressed on the importance of focusing on cultural issues which have been a major reason behind the failure of acquisitions across the globe. Mr. Som Krishna from ICICI Investment Banking Group spoke about the contrast in the deals happening internationally and in India. He maintained that several positive aspects like successful integration of earlier acquisitions, profits in line with expectations and liberalization will drive M&As in India. However, challenges like tight liquidity conditions, economic slowdown and high cost of borrowing in debt market might impede the rate of M&As.
A panel discussion on “Cross Border M&As” was also held as part of the seminar with the panel consisting of eminent speakers. Major challenges and complexities faced by firms in first identifying the targets and then in integrating them into the acquirer’s business were discussed in detail. The discussions also focused on the current scenario and major trends in the financial services sector in India with the industry becoming more capital intensive. As Indian corporates become increasingly a part of global mergers and acquisitions, more consolidation is expected in the future.
Another engaging panel discussion on “Private Equity and the Indian Economy” was moderated by Mr. Krishnan Ganeshan, the gold medalist of the IIMK 2005 batch, and currently the Associate Vice President of ICICI Ventures. The panelists were Mr. Kamlesh Gandhi, Mr. Srinivas Baratam, Director, Private Equity, Lazard and Mr. Mohit Ralhan of Barings Private Equity Partners. Each speaker shed valuable insights into the Private Equity scenario in India linking them with current economic conditions. While challenges faced by the Private Equity industry were recognized, a consensus emerged regarding the enormous growth potential in India for Private Equity firms. The panel discussion was followed by talks by Mr. Mohit and Mr. Srinivas where they addressed student queries regarding careers in private equity, the skill sets required and long term growth prospects in the industry.
Arthanomics ’08 was conducted by Financially Yours, the Finance Interest Group of IIMK. Founded with the objective of making the learning of finance an interesting process, FY encourages sharing of learning among fin enthusiasts and provides a forum to discuss theoretical concepts as well as industry practices.
For more information, please visit http://www.iimk-fy.com/ or contact Mridul Muralidharan (mridulm11@iimk.ac.in) at +919946103226.