India Value Fund invests $50-M more in Meru Cabs

MediaNama

Radio cab service provider Meru Cabs has raised $50 million (about Rs 300 crore) from existing investor India Value Fund Advisors (IVF). The company expects to raise an additional $100 million from a new set of investors by the end of this month. Currently, India Value Fund has an over 80% stake in Meru Cabs and is expected to divest a part of its stake as part of the additional funding. The Mumbai-based company claims to have a fleet of about 12,000 cars, of which it owns about 6,000.

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Private Equity Fund Investments

Kedaara invests Rs.200-Cr in Parksons Packaging; backs de-listing of Manjushree Technopack

Economic Times, Times of India

Kedaara Capital has invested INR 200 crore to buy a significant minority stake in unlisted cartons and paper packaging company Parksons Packaging Ltd through a secondary purchase from ChrysCapital and fresh shares. ChrysCapital, which had purchased 21% stake in the company for INR 50 crore in 2006, has made a more than two fold return from the exit. Parksons was founded in 1996 by Ramesh Kejriwal and is being managed by his two sons, Siddharth and Chaitanya. Its customers include Hindustan Unilever, L'Oreal, Godrej, McDonald's, Kellogg's, Cadbury, Wockhardt and Ranbaxy.

Kedaara has also agreed to acquire a 24% stake in Manjushree Technopack, a packaging materials company which is delisting from the stock exchanges. Kedaara will seal the deal once Manjushree promoters complete the buyback and delisting process currently underway. Manjushree makes PET and plastic containers as well as blow and injection-moulded containers for pharma and food processing sectors. Kedaara will acquire the shares from the promoter at the delisting offer price of INR 455 per share.

Motilal Oswal invests Rs.113-Cr in Rajesh Lifespaces' Powai project

Rajesh Estates and Nirman Private Limited, a group company of Mumbai-based real estate developers Rajesh Lifespaces, has raised INR 113 crores from Motilal Oswal Real Estate (MORE), the real estate arm of Motilal Oswal Private Equity, by issuing listed non-convertible debentures. The proceeds would be used for the completion of the Raj Grandeur project at Powai, Mumbai. Nishith Desai Associates, acted as legal and tax counsel to MORE on this transaction.

ChrysCapital buys South Indian Bank shares worth Rs.53-Cr

Chrys Capital, via its unit Lavender Investments, has bought 20,500,000 shares on BSE at INR 25.75 per share of publicly listed South Indian Bank aggregating to INR 52.78 Cr on Mar 17, 2015. This constitutes 1.52% of total outstanding shares of South Indian Bank Ltd.

RVCF invests in mobile card payments firm Mosambee

Rajasthan Venture Capital Fund (RVCF) has invested in Synergistic Financial Networks Pvt. Ltd which owns Mosambee, a Mumbai-based provider of mobile card payment services. Mosambee, founded in 2008 by Alok Arora, Bhushan Thaker & Sameer Chugh, enables mobile phones to function as card reading machines for real-time bill payments. The company plans to have over 250,000 users across India in the next two to three years and a presence in 10 geographies within the next 12 months.

From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: In April 2013, Mosambee had raised INR 4 Cr from SIDBI VC. (Subscribers to the database can login to view the valuation, deal structuring and other transaction details.)

IDG leads investment in travel info sharing portal Tripoto

Yourstory.com

Online travel community platform Tripoto has raised a round of funding led by IDG Ventures India and participation from existing investor Outbox Ventures. Karan Mohla of IDG will join the Tripoto board. The funds will be primarily used for growth in mobile, team augmentation and further global expansion.

Founded by Anirudh Gupta and Michael Lyngdoh, Tripoto brings together travellers from around the world to share and discover real, and actionable crowd-sourced travel stories. The start-up maps every single destination in the story, along with the associated content and pictures. Launched in early 2014, Tripoto raised a seed investment of $400,000 from Outbox Ventures and angel investors including Snapdeal’s founders Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal and Sachin Bhatia of Trulymadly in November 2014. At present, the company gets 1.3 million unique page views in a month and has 50K plus downloads on Android and iOS platforms.

IDG Ventures, InMobi founder invest Rs.8-Cr in online home rentals firm NestAway

Economic Times

Online home rentals firm NestAway Technologies has raised INR 8 crore from Naveen Tewari, founder of mobile advertising technology firm InMobi, venture capital firm IDG Ventures India and a few other angel investors. The two month-old, Bangalore-based firm will use the funds to launch operations in the National Capital Region and Pune. Founded by NIT Suratkal alumni Amarendra Sahu, Jitendra Jagadev, Smruti Parida and Deepak Dhar, NestAway uses technology to provide better rental solutions to singles in cities.

YourNest to pick up 20% in GolfLAN.com for Rs.2-Cr

YourNest, via YourNest Angel Fund-Scheme I, is to invest up to INR 2 crore for a 20 % stake in Delhi-based GolfLAN Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd which runs golflan.com, an online community for golfers. The fund will subscribe to 92,212 Series A Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares and 100 Equity shares at INR 217 each aggregating to INR 2 Cr, regulatory filings reveal. The target company has created an ESOP Pool which would constitute 15% of the share capital of the company on a fully diluted basis. Sunil Goyal of YourNest joined the board of the target in February 2015.

GolfLAN offers subscription based membership to golfers which allows them to play golf in various countries as well as e-tails golfing equipment. It clocked revenues of INR 1.43-Cr in FY14 compared to INR 60 Lakhs in FY13.

OIJIF invests in SSIPL Retail

From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: SSIPL is a franchisee for brands like Nike, Levis, Lotto, United Colors of Benetton and others, has attracted an investment from Oman India Joint Investment Fund (OIJIF). In January 2015 OIJIF was allotted 16,667 equity shares at INR 600 per piece aggregation to INR 1 crore through primary infusion. Srinath Srinivasan of OIJIF has joined the board.. The target company has a retail network of 243 stores across 83 cities in India. In Dec 2007, it had raised INR 10 Cr from Tano Capital.

Social VC Investments

I3N invests Rs 1-Cr in positive news portal Better India

NextBigWhat.com

The Better India, a platform for positive news, has raised INR 1 crore in funding from Inetllecap Impact Impact Investment Network (I3N). The company currently has over 100 writers from across the country, with over 500,000 visitors on its website every month. It plans to raise a start-up fund too to create an impact at the grassroots.

Angel Investments

Location-based start-up wWhere raises INR 1.2 Cr

Nextbigwhat.com

wWhere, a location-based startup incubated at IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE), has received commitment of over 1.2 crore in funding from a consortium of angel investors across US, India and Singapore. Anunay Gupta,co-founder of Marketelligent led the deal.

Founded in 2014 by Ritam Bhatnagar, the IIM-A based start-up aims to solve the daily problem of exchanging locations with people and businesses around us, using advanced algorithms.

Native Angel Network invests in 3 cos

Business Standard

Native Angel Network (NAN), which is focused on tier-II and III cities in Tamil Nadu, has invested in Rainstock, which offers rain water harvesting systems to address water needs of the Madurai region, and FreshNV.com, an e-commerce platform for fresh meat. The third company, Happy Hens, is in the poultry space. In the first two companies, investors from the network have infused Rs 10 lakh each and in the third company Rs 50 lakh was invested.

NAN is set to expand its footprint to more cities in the state. NAN has also joined hands with Indian Angel Network and Unitus Seed Fund to expand its offerings. NAN is backed by industrialists from the state such as TVS Group's R Dinesh, Ma Foi group founder K Pandiarajan, Dr Aravind Srinivasan of Aravind Eye Hospitals, Karumuttu T Kannan of Thiagaraja group, etc. NAN has joined hands with IIM-Ahmedabad and also works with the institutes such as IIT-Madras to incubate small and medium enterprises.

Lets Corp Gets Rs 19-Cr from Taiwanese investor Wu Chay Chin

Economic Times

Bangalore-based enterprise technology company Lets Corp has raised $3 million in funding from Wu Chay Chin, an angel investor based in Taiwan. The funds will be mainly used to strengthen the company's go-to market expansion in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana in the next six months. Lets Corp ‘s flagship product, LetsCareerUp.com, is a career ecosystem portal that brings together students, training companies, job portals, and employers all on one platform.

SaaS startup CollateBox raises $180-K

Economic Times

CollateBox, a cloud-based product that helps collect, share and act on growing data, has raised $180,000 funding from a group of angel investors and Hyderabad-based technology incubator Teninnovate through the LetsVenture platform. Founded by Ravindra Krishnappa and Ralph Vaz in 2012, CollateBox uses technology to eliminate the clutter in Excel and spreadsheets.

Incubation / Acceleration

IIM-B incubates social wellness portal Zoojoo.be

Business Line

The NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at IIM Bangalore has incubated Zoojoo.be, a cloud-based workplace wellness platform that uses gamification to help people form healthy habits. The habits could be related to health, fitness and anger management. Habits are set up as challenges and played like games between colleagues and co-workers. There are more than 20,000 users across firms such as Mindtree, Unisys, GE, RangDe and Pantaloons where the zoojoo.be platform is being implemented.

Other Private Equity/Strategic Investments

Snapdeal picks up stake in logistics firm GoJavas

Economic Times

Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates online marketplace Snapdeal.com, has invested in logistics venture GoJavas, as part of its strategy to strengthen its delivery network in the country. GoJavas, which was previously the logistics arm of online fashion retailer Jabong before being spun off into a separate entity

Wipro invests $5-M in US cloud app systems co Drivestream

Deccan Herald

IT services major Wipro has acquired a minority stake in US-based cloud applications systems integrator Drivestream for $5 million. Headquartered in Sterling, Virginia, Drivestream is a management and IT consulting firm specializing in migrating the enterprise business processes of large and medium sized businesses to the Cloud. The company offers services in the areas of Human Capital Management, Financial Management, Enterprise Performance Management and Business Analytics.

Over the past two years, Wipro has invested in startups - a $30-million investment in US-based Big Data startup Opera Solutions and a $5-million investment in Axeda.

Powerpoint presentation helper Slyds raises funds from Bonito Designs

Yourstory.com

Slyds, a communication firm that aims to enhance content through better aesthetic representation, has raised Bonito Designs, an interior design firm. Slyds was launched in July 2013 by Pankaj Singh and has over 130 clients, and conducts workshops for colleges and corporates. The funds will be used for marketing, expanding the team and for renting a new office.

Armat Group invests in Harness Handitouch; ah! Ventures exits

Harness Handitouch, a Chennai-based educational technology startup, had raised funding from Luxembourg based Armat Group. The deal gives angel investor group ah! Ventures its “first profitable exit” on its INR 1 crore investment made about two years back.

CA Media leads $2.8 M round for digital comic creator Graphic India

Yourstory.com

Bangalore-based digital character and story creator startup Graphic India has closed a $2.8 million seed round led by existing investor, CA Media LP, the Asian investment arm of The Chernin Group, LLC (TCG), and NYC based media investment group, Start Media, founded by Michael Maher. The round also included angel investors such as Backflip Studios founders, Julian Farrior and Dale Thoms. The company will use funds in developing digital products and apps to build direct engagement with the comic book and animation fans. Founded in January 2013 by Sharad Devarajan, Gotham Chopra and Suresh Seetharaman, Graphic India had raised $2.5 million in initial seed financing from CA Media.

BCCL to invest Rs.20-Cr in Lifezen Healthcare

Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd is investing INR 20 crores in pharma products maker Lifezen Healthcare, promoted by publicly-listed Bal Pharma, by subscribing to fully convertible debentures

Mergers & Acquisitions

GroupM to buy Foxymoron for Rs.180-Cr: report

Economic Times

Global media buying and planning firm GroupM is to acquire Mumbai-based digital media and marketing startup Foxymoron for about $30 million in cash. The target provides a range of services, including, end-to-end digital services, including design and development and social media services. Investec is acting as the lead financial advisor for the transaction, while Platinum Partners is the legal advisor for the same.

Sutlej Textiles to acquire Birla Textile Mills

Publicly listed Sutlej Textiles & Industries is to acquire Birla Textile Mills, located at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, as a going concern from fellow publicly listed Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals, on slump sale basis. The acquired unit has 83,376 spindles and manufactures cotton, synthetic and blended yarn in grey and dyed forms. For FY14 it reported a turnover of INR 396.01 crores and EBITDA of INR 42.94 crores. The deal will raise the spinning capacity of the acquirer to 3,76,920 spindles.

Youtellme.com acquires Priceburp.com

Business Line

Online price comparison and product discovery portal YouTellMe.com has acquired coupon site PriceBurp.com. PriceBurp.com, run by Mumbai-based Priceburp Media Pvt Ltd, was launched in 2010 and has more than 5,000 coupons listed. YouTellMe, launched last year helps users to discover products and compare prices of products such as mobile phones, electronics, home and kitchen, fashion and health and beauty from multiple online stores. The company now has more than 30 online stores listing over four million products across 800 categories. It competes against portals such as mysmartprice, pricedekho and smartprix.

From the Venture Intelligence PE Deal database: Netherlands based Bright Ventures is the common investor in both Youtellme and Priceburp having invested sub $100-K in both companies..

Lupin completes acquisition of South Africa’s Pharma Dynamics

Listed pharmaceutical company Lupin has entered into an agreement to acquire the balance 40% stake in Cape Town, South Africa-based generics company Pharma Dynamics from its founders. In September 2008 Lupin had acquired a 60% stake in Pharma Dynamics.

HUL acquires Non-profit Bhavishya Alliance

Publicly-listed Hindustan Unilever has acquired 7,500 equity shares of face value of Rs.10/- each (75% of the equity share capital) of Bhavishya Alliance Child Nutrition Initiatives (Bhavishya Alliance), a Not for Profit Company. HUL earlier held 25% of the equity share capital of Bhavishya Alliance.

Amtek India to acquire German forgings maker Scholz: report

Economic Times

Publicly listed auto component makers Amtek Auto, through its wholly-owned Singapore subsidiary Amtek Precision Engineering, is to acquire Scholz Edelstahl GmbH of Germany a high quality hot die forgings manufacturer for both auto and non-auto component industries with annual turnover of around $175 million (or about INR 1,200 crore). The target has a forging facility in Aalen and also provides customised solutions for steel services and product support out of another facility located in Essingen.

Pricol sells 49% stake in JV to Japan’s Denso for Rs.20-Cr

Publicly-listed Pricol Ltd is to sell its 49% of shareholding in Denso Pricol India Private Limited (DPIN) to its JV partner, Japan-based Denso Corporation, for INR 20 crores. Denso now owns 100% of the target company.

Intas Pharma acquires hospital biz of Spain’s Combino Pharm

Mint

Ahmedabad-based Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd has acquired the hospital business of Spain’s Corporacion Combino Pharm SL through its overseas subsidiary Accord Healthcare SLU. Accord Healthcare will obtain certain rights over Combino’s hospital portfolio in a number of European and non-European countries.

In November 2014, Singapore’s investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd had acquired a 10.16% equity stake in Intas by way of a secondary purchase of shares from private equity investor ChrysCapital.

ICICI Bank sells Russia unit

Times of India

ICICI Bank has sold its profit making Russian subsidiary ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited Liability Company (IBEL) to Sovcombank. With this sale, ICICI Bank has exited from Russia and will be left with operations in 18 countries including India. The bank will cater to Russian clients through its subsidiaries in other countries. As on September 30, 2014, IBEL had total assets of 4.5 billion rouble and paid-up equity capital of 1.6 billion rouble.

UPL takes 40% stake in Brazilian farm products distributor Sinagro

Publicly listed UPL (formerly United Phosphorous) has bought 40% stake in Primavera do Leste, Brazil-based Sinagro Produtos Agropecuarios S.A. The target is a distributor of farm inputs in the Cerrado region of Brazil and is also in the business of agricultural production and trading of grains. Brazil has the largest Soybean agrochemical market in the world.

Nelco sells managed services biz to Securens Systems for Rs.2.6 Cr

Listed Tata Group company Nelco has sold its 'Managed Services business' as a going concern on a slump sale basis for Rs 2.60 crore to Navi Mumbai-based Securens Systems.

Securens supplies SaaS based e-surveillance products and services including business intelligence and analytics. It also sells alarm systems for banks and ATMs.

IPOs

Adlabs' IPO subscribed 1.1 times

Business Standard

The Rs 435-crore initial public offering (IPO) of amusement park operator Adlabs Entertainment was subscribed 1.1 times on listing according to provisional data provided by the stock exchanges. The qualified institutional buyer (QIB) segment was subscribed 1.2 times and the retail segment was subscribed 1.4 times, while the wealthy investor category got only 70% subscription.

Adlabs had revised downward the price band at Rs 180 -215 a share versus earlier band of Rs 221-230 a share. The IPO was extended by three trading days as it was subscribed less than half on March 12, its earlier scheduled close.

Other Deals - Listed Firms

Canara Bank sells Rs.12-Cr worth shares in CARE Ratings

Business Standard

State-run Canara Bank has sold shares worth Rs 11.54 crore in Credit Analysis and Research Limited (CARE), a domestic rating agency.The stake sale of 0.258%, or 74,955 shares, in the rating agency fetched Canara Rs 11.54 crore. Following the stake sale in the rating agency, the bank's shareholding came down to 10.3% from the earlier 10.5%.

Sanitaryware maker HSIL raises Rs.250-Cr via QIP

Publicly listed HSIL Ltd, a leading maker of building and packaging products including sanitaryware, bathroom fitting, faucets and tiles under its brands including Hindware, Hindware Art, Hindware Italian Collection, etc., has raised INR 250 Cr via a QIP issue at INR 400 per share. ICICI Securities was a Lead Book Running Manager for the QIP.

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Updates from the Venture Intelligence
Company Financial Search (CFS) Database

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Mahesh Parasuraman, Sunil Theckath to launch new fund

Business Standard

Mahesh Parasuraman, managing director of Carlyle Group, is learnt to be leaving the global private equity major to start a new fund. Parasuraman, who has led some of Carlyle's successful growth capital investments in the region, will launch a growth capital fund called Amicus Capital of $150-200 million with Sunil Theckath Vasudevan, former partner at India Value Fund Advisors. The fund will target the mid-market segment and would be a sector-agnostic growth capital fund largely focused on sectors such as healthcare, technology and business services, media, financial services and consumer. It would look at investments in the range of $8-$20 million for significant minority stakes.

Parasuraman, a qualified chartered accountant and cost accountant, joined Carlyle in September 2004 after a stint with Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen.

500 Startups to raise Rs. 120-Cr India fund

Economic Times

500Startups is in the process of raising $10-20 million for its India fund, StartupWallah, which is due for launch in the middle of this year. 500 Startups will offer $50,000 - 100,000 (INR 30-60 lakh) per startup for an equity stake of 7%.

Arthveda plans to raise two RE funds

Mint

Arthveda Fund Management Pvt. Ltd, an associate firm of Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL), is raising $250 million from offshore investors for a real estate fund called Star Offshore, which will invest in mid-income housing projects. Separately, it plans to raise a domestic fund of Rs.150-200 crore called Asha that will exclusively invest in low-income group projects.

Star Offshore will look at projects with apartments costing Rs.25-60 lakh in nearly 12-14 locations, including on the outskirts of large cities such as Mumbai, and will invest Rs.30-50 crore in each transaction. The fund will make equity investments instead of debt offerings to developers. Star Offshore will invest in a project’s early stage, with a high-risk, high-return model. Asha in conjunction and collaboration with Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd, which is promoted by DHFL and International Finance Corporation, will invest around Rs.5-10 crore in each deal, and in projects with homes of 400-600 sq. ft each.

CapAleph looking to raise Rs 125-Cr agri-biz fund

Economic Times

Spice maker Eastern Condiments' promoters, the Meeran family, are turning into anchor investors for a new fund targeting early stage investments in food and agriculture. CapAleph Advisors, founded by former India Value Fund (IVFA) partner George Thomas, is to raise a INR 125 crore private equity fund from domestic institutions and HNIs. It hopes to close the fund by December 2015. The Bangalore-based firm plans to follow this up with a similar sized debt fund. CapAleph expects to invest INR 5-25 crore in each company and take significant minority stake in these ventures, typically over 40%. The firm expects to source the deal flow from professors in agriculture universities, food labs of MNCs like Pepsi and Unilever, besides government labs. The Meerans and CapAleph also plan to set up an incubator for entrepreneurs in this space, which will back 3-4 ideas every year, putting in capital of around Rs 20 lakh each.

JP Morgan in talks to buy Canaan Partners' India portfolio for $200-M

Economic Times

JP Morgan Asset Management has emerged the frontrunner to buy early-stage investor Canaan Partners' Indian portfolio for more than $200 million (Rs. 1,200 crore). If the deal goes through, it would be the largest secondary portfolio sale in India's private equity and venture capital market. Silicon Valley-headquartered Canaan has invested $160-170 million in more than 15 companies in India since 2005, including Matrimony.com, CarTrade, Naaptol, Happiest Minds Technologies, Iyogi and Equitas Holdings, but ceased operations in India late last year. It has written off investments in two firms: referral recruitment firm techTribe and interactive media firm Cellcast. At least three other investment firms including Delhi-based Madison India Capital have also submitted bids to buy Canaan's India portfolio.

Sanjay Nayar resigns from Bharti Infratel Board

Economic Times

Sanjay Nayar, non-executive director of Bharti Airtel's tower business unit Bharti Infratel has resigned from the company's Board. Nayar is the Chief Executive Officer at KKR India. He joined KKR in 2009 and is also a member of the Asia Portfolio Management Committee.

Ritika Suri to manage Infy innovation fund

Business Standard

Infosys has appointed Ritika Suri to manage the $500-million Innovation Fund. She presently heads its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) initiatives. Infosys has identified certain areas like artificial intelligence, automation, Internet of Things (IoT), big data and analytics as its focus areas for engagements in the start-up world.

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Private Equity/Strategic Investment

Holcim-Lafarge deal cracks to derail Baring Asia exit

Times of India

Switzerland-based global cement major Holcim seeking changes in the terms of merger with France's Lafarge is set to derail Lafarge's plan to buy back the 14% stake it had sold in its Indian unit to Barings Asia in May 2013 for $265 million.

MapmyIndia scouts for Rs. 126-Cr

Economic Times

Delhi-based geographic information systems and map solutions company MapmyIndia is looking to raise up to $20 million in funding as it looks to not only expand its suite of enterprise solutions and enter international markets, but also provide an exit to its early investors. MapmyIndia has announced plans of launching a slew of enterprise-focused software-as-a service (SaaS) products, which will include pay-as-you-use tracking devices, geo-business intelligence products, emergency response products and map application programme interfaces.

The company ­ which has raised about $42 million across rounds will also use the upcoming funding exercise to provide exits for two of its investors, Lightbox Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners. Lightbox had it acquired the stake originally held by Sherpalo India Advisors and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Byers in April last year.

Haptic footwear maker LeChal to raise $2-M

Mint

Footwear maker LeChal is looking to raise $2 million to scale up operations, expand overseas as well as for R&D to introduce other haptic-based wearables. LeChal has filed for 24 patents and is looking to launch one more wearable device by September 2015. The company is also in discussions with an international sports brand to sell its products by next year.

In November 2013, LeChal had raised $2 million in funding from angel investors. It has a team of 53 people, 12 vendors, and a 40-year-old shoe manufacturing company working with it.

TPG to sell 20% stake in Shriram City Union

Economic Times

TPG Capital is in talks with several private equity players like KKR, Apax, GAAP, Warburg Pincus, to acquire its 20% stake in Shriram City Union Finance. As per the current market price, the deal could be valued at around Rs 2,500 crores. TPG bought 22% stake in Shriram City Union Finance in August 2013 for Rs 1,207 crores. The stock is now trading at over Rs 1,960/share levels.

Deepak Fertilisers might sell stake in MCF

Business Standard

The battle for the control of Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers (MCF) seems reaching a climax, with rival bidder Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation willing to sell its stake in MCF. The open offer from the Saroj Poddar-promoted Zuari group has got an approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The Competition Commission of India (CCI)’s nod is pending. Deepak Fertilisers has approached Zuari to sell shares in its favour as it no longer sees any merit to pursue the battle for control of MCF. In December last year, Zuari had raised the size of its open offer for Mangalore Chemicals’ stock from 25.9% to 36.56%. After that, Deepak Fertilisers sold a 2.2$ stake in MCF. With the sale, Deepak Fertilisers’ stake came down to 29% in MCF. Vijay Mallya-led UB Group has a 21.97% stake and its partner, Poddar’s Adventz group, has 16.47% in MCF.

Pi to invest Rs 600 cr on Andhra data centre

Financial Chronicle

Pi Datacenters would invest about Rs 600 crore in phases to set up a data centre near Mangalagiri, close to the new capital in the making in Andhra Pradesh. This would be south India’s first tier-4 certified datacenter. In all, the project would come up in about 10 acre, taken on a 33 year lease at Rs one crore per acre. The project is power intensive and it would have a separate sub station. The dedicated on-site substation can support up to 60 MW. The compnay is looking to raise about Rs 90 to 100 crore Series A funding in about two months as part of the Rs 600 crore spending planned.

Discount voucher firm Bluebook looks to raise Rs. 1-Cr

Yourstory

The Bluebook is looking to raise iNR 1 crore to expand to four more cities – Pune, Chennai, Gurgaon and Mumbai - and launch its mobile application. The Bluebook is a lifestyle guide and voucher book that gives exclusive discounts on all categories related to food, wellness, health, entertainment and leisure at more than 500 outlets in Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Zebpay eyes $2-M for mobile Bitcoin app biz

Business Standard

Ahmedabad-based start-up Zebpay is eyeing second round of funding worth $ 2 million (Rs 12.5 crore roughly) for its Bitcoin app business. Incorporated in August 2014, Zebpay launched its android based app for transacting bitcoins in February 2015. The app claims to have 5000 users in over 65 countries including the US and Indonesia, of which 2000 are from India. It had received an initial round of funding of Rs. 75 lakh.

IPOs

Funny Software files for Rs.5-Cr SME-IPO

New Delhi-based Funny Software has filed the DRHP for an IPO on the BSE-SME platform for 32,80,000 equity shares for cash price of INR 14 each aggregating Rs 4.59 crore.s The net issue will constitute 26.56% of the post issue paid up equity share capital of the company. First Overseas Capital is the lead manager to the issue.

IRCTC plans for IPO

Times of India

The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) plans to hire a consultant to help it assess and increase its valuation, a move seen as the first step to a public listing.

Gala Print City files for Rs.3-Cr SME-IPO

Ahmedabad-based Gala Print City has filed the DRHP for an IPO on the BSE-SME platform for 12,66,000 equity shares for cash price of INR 24 each aggregating Rs 3.03 crores. The net issue will constitute 26.62% of the post issue paid up equity share capital of the company. Guiness Corporate Advisors is the lead manager to the issue.

Secondary Issues

Ashoka Buildcon to raise Rs 500-Cr via QIP

Business Standard

BSE-listed infrastructure company Ashoka Buildcon is set to raise Rs 500 crore via qualified institutional placement (QIP). The funds will be used for bidding new projects and developing few existing projects. The company is also looking to buy out stake in Jaora Nayagaon Toll Project. Currently, it owns 37.7% stake in the toll project, and is planning to buy 36% from existing investors like Srei Infra & IFCI for Rs 900 crore.

In 2012, Macquarie-SBI had committed invested Rs 800 crore in Ashoka Concessions Ltd.

M&A

Piramal to acquire Apollo’s healthcare s’ware firm HealthSuper HIway

Economic Times

Ajay Piramal's flagship Piramal Enterprises is in advanced negotiations with the Reddys of Apollo Hospitals to buy the latter's fledgling healthcare software venture Health Super HiWay. Piramal is expected to invest INR 5-8 crore to pick an initial 5% stake. Over time, this will be raised to 60-80%, valuing the company at close to INR 220-250 crore. The Reddys are likely to stay invested, but as a junior partner.

Piramal's “strategic investment“ will help turn the company around and provide monetary support for a push into new digital services in healthcare. Incorporated in 2007, Health Super HiWay specialises in patient data mined from hospitals. The firm also offers hosted services for hospitals to manage their IT systems.

PCCW scouting for Indian software investments

Bloomberg

Hong Kong telecommunications company PCCW Ltd is eyeing investments in Indian software firms with U.S. and European clients as it expands into cloud computing and support services. PCCW will acquire or take stakes in “second-tier” companies that already have established relationships in developed economies. Targets could also include U.S.- or Europe-based entities that have a presence in India. PCCW’s Indian operations are led by former Infosys senior executive B.G.Srinivas.

CG Corp Global in talks to buy into Concept Hospitality

Economic Times

CG Corp Global, which owns and operates luxury hotels in 11 countries, is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Indian hotel management company Concept Hospitality that runs Fern Hotels. CG Corp Global, the international division of the 140 year-old Chaudhary Group (CG), will spend about INR 50 crore on the acquisition.

US' Vantage Hospitality scouting for mid-market hotels

Economic Times

US-based Vantage Hospitality Group has signed a franchise agreement with Indian company Miraya Hotel Management to establish its mid-market brands in the country. Miraya will invest over $100 million in acquiring assets in India to re-brand them under Vantage brands, apart from growing through management contracts. The company is scouting for opportunities in tier-II and III cities, along with industrial townships and religious circuits that are still unexplored by the big brands. The company is planning to set up 100 hotels under the Vantage brands in the economy segment in India over the next 5-7 years.

Real Estate Transactions

Celebrity Fashions to sell property in Chennai

Business Standard Print Edition

Celebrity Fashions, a Chennai-based manufacturer of garments and the parent company of garment brand Indian Terrain, is to sell its property on Poonamallee High Road, in order to repay terms loans.

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India Ahoy!

ABN Amro to re-enter India

Business Standard

ABN Amro Bank is re-entering India to set up shop for predominantly financing Gem and Jewellery industry. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had received an application from ABN AMRO Bank NV to set up banking presence in India. The banking regulator has given in-principle nod for establishing wholly-owned subsidiary in India.

Expansion/Diversification

Lalit group to open a hotel in London

Times of India

St Olave's Grammar School, located right next to London's iconic Tower Bridge, is all set to be taken over by Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, for its first international venture - a five star hotel in London. The hotel will have 70 rooms. It will open its doors to the public in March 2016. The building is a 175-year old listed heritage property in the heart of London. The group bought the property for 15 million pounds at a Christie's auction three years ago. The venture of converting it into a hotel will cost the group around 40 million pounds.

SPIC promoter firm plans $1-B US plant

Business Standard

Ashwin Muthiah-led AM International, which has a controlling stake in Chennai-based Spic, will set up an ammonia manufacturing plant at an investment of $1 billion in Louisiana, US with assistance from that state's governor, Bobby Jindal. Jindal has offered the company a performance ­based $5.6-million grant to offset the project's infrastructure costs.

AM Agrigen Industries, a subsidiary of Singapore-headquartered AM International, which will execute the project, has selected a St Charles Parish site in Louisiana to develop the potential 800-tonne ammonia manufacturing facility. Feasibility studies for the project are underway and the company has secured an option to purchase 650 acres of land for the project. It has also received the requisite environmental permits to operate such facilities.

RE developer Satra to invest Rs 1,000-Cr in 4-5 yrs

Economic Times

Realty player Satra Group plans to invest around Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years and is expecting its revenue to touch Rs 2,500 crore. The realty firm which has several projects in pipeline would spend on acquiring land and creating a portfolio of nearly 4 million sq ft in next 4 to 5 years.

The company has also launched its ultra-luxury project 'Limited Edition 88' in Bandra near the iconic Bandra-Worli sea link entailing an investment of around Rs 250 crore. The 26-storey tower will comprise 81 four-BHK apartments ranging from 4,116 sqft to 4,364 sqft, starting from Rs 12 crore onwards. The company has developed and delivered spaces of more than 2 million sq ft in Calicut, Bhopal and Jodhpur apart from Mumbai.

People

Gujarat Pipavav Port MD steps down

Business Line

Prakash Tulsiani, Managing Director of Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd has stepped down from the post to pursue other career opportunities and the company has identified his successor.

Wipro appoints Abid Neemuchwala as COO

Economic Times

Wipro has appointed Abid Ali Neemuchwala, former head of BPO business at TCS, as group president and chief operating officer. He will also oversee continental Europe, Latin America and Africa. Neemuchwala, who studied electronic and communication engineering at National Institute of Technology in Raipur, will continue to be based in Dallas, Texas. He joins with effect from April 1.

Ashu Suyash to head CRISIL as MD & CEO

Business Standard

Rating agency CRISIL has named Ashu Suyash, chief executive of L&T Investment Management, as its managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), effective June. Suyash will succeed MD & CEO Roopa Kudva, who had, in September 2014 announced her intent to step down. Kudva has held the post of MD & CEO since 2007. Suyash has 26 years of experience in the Indian financial services sector. She had moved to L&T following the acquisition of Fidelity Worldwide Investment’s India asset management business by L&T Investment Management Ltd.

At L&T Investment Management, she is also responsible for L&T Capital Markets Ltd, the wealth management arm of L&T Financial Services with about Rs 6,500 crore of assets under management. Earlier, Suyash was MD and country head (India) of Fidelity’s asset management business, which she helped set up in 2004.

Niraj Parekh to be Citi's finance head for Indian subcontinent

Times of India

Citibank has appointed Niraj Parekh as the head of finance for its operations in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Parekh will be overseeing business planning and strategy, financial planning and policies, balance sheet management, financial controls and reporting and tax matters.

After joining the bank as a management associate in the US in 2000, Parekh has held several roles in Singapore and New York, including as head of corporate mergers and acquisitions in Asia, and was working as the head of financial planning and analysis for India.

Jindal Steel and Power CFO Rajagopal quits

Business Line

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd’s (JSPL) Chief Financial Officer K Rajagopal has quit the company after his two-year stint in the Naveen Jindal—led firm. He was also a Director in the company’s Board. A chartered accountant, Rajagopal joined the company from power equipment manufacturer ABB.

Polaris appoints N.M. Vaidyanathan as CFO

Polaris Consulting & Services Ltd has appointed Uma Ratnam Krishnan as a director on the board and N.M. Vaidyanathan as Chief Financial Officer of the company with effect from March 19, 2015.

Others

Raghav Bahl launches mobile news service The Quint

Medianama

Media entrepreneur, Raghav Bahl’s Quintillion Media’s mobile-focused digital venture The Quint has gone live. The new website, so far, has published news and analysis across various categories like politics, technology, entertainment, business and sports. It also has a separate section for podcasts and videos. There’s also the WaterQooler section which features viral news and funny things from the internet.

Indian Angel network introduces ‘Small Ticket Funding’ of Rs 25 lakh for start-ups

Medianama

The Indian Angel Network (IAN) has introduced a “Small Ticket Funding” program to help entrepreneurs and early stage start-ups raise quick funding worth INR 25 lakhs for a 10% stake. Entrepreneurs will also be able to interact with IAN mentors under this program.

Varun Industries becomes the first big defaulter to be liquidated

Times of India

Varun Industries, which failed to repay loans worth over Rs 2,000 crore, has become the first big-ticket defaulter to go into liquidation following a Bombay high court order. The high court had ordered to wind up the stainless steel home products maker if it failed to stick to a court-directed repayment schedule beginning February 25, to which the company had agreed. The company and its promoters had secured loans aggregating about Rs 2,000 crore from 11 public sector banks (PSBs) and other lenders though its net worth was just Rs 300 crore. Two promoters of the company - CMD Kiran Mehta and MD Kailash Agarwal - also face allegations of forgery to secure loans from S E Investments, an Agra-based company.

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