VCCircle

GPs Needed

I know about a new venture capital firm set to launch operations in India by end of the year. It intends to raise $150 million and will be based out of Bangalore. They will primarily invest in new media and technology space. They are looking for smart people who can join as GPs. Individuals or teams who are trying to set up a new fund can also look at partnering with them. If you have any names, drop a mail to sahad@vccircle.com

Singhi & Associates

Singhi & Associates is a Mumbai-based SME/Mid-market boutique investment banking and M&A advisory firm. It looks like the firm is expanding. The Economic Times has an advertisment from the firm looking to fill these positions.

1. COO – M&A Advisory/ Investment Banking

2. Head – Cross Border Transactions

3. Vice President – Head (Delhi)

4. Vice President – Head (Bangalore)

5. Vice President – Investment Banking

6. Vice President – Asset Reconstruction

7. Assistant Vice President – Investment Banking

8. Consultants – Industry Verticals (Pharma , Engineering & Infrastructure, Textiles & Apparels, Telecom, IT/ ITES, Retail, Hospitality etc.)

Details are here. Interested candidates can apply to jobs@singhi.com

Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. has set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India. The company, Thomas Weisel International Pvt. Ltd. (TWI), will be based in Mumbai and will be headed by K. V. Dhillon, managing director, and Praveen Chakravarty, director and head of research. In India, TWI will focus on the growing sectors like technology, healthcare and consumer sectors.

Thomas Weisel International is also setting up a fund-of-funds which will be headed by Sreenivasulu Vudayagiri as director and head of asset management. The company manages nearly $800 million in venture funds in the US, including a $418.5-million fund of funds, a $252.5-million technology fund and a $121.8 million healthcare fund.

“Our strategy is to identify small to mid-size companies that are on a swift growth path and offer the entire spectrum of merchant banking activities to such companies. We are dedicated to our corporate clients and offer our expertise and execution capabilities to make them successful in the markets of their choice.,” said K. V. Dhillon. [Via EFYTimes]

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani does it in style and scale. Around 250 of the country's top investment bankers and retail brokers were flown in two special Boeing planes to Jamnagar for an exclusive chat with the Ambani senior. Ambani was making a presentation to the bankers to sell his gigantic fund raising efforts for his second refinery in Jamnagar.

Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) is setting up a Rs 27,000 crore ($6 billion)greenfield petroleum refinery and polypropylene plant in a special economic zone in Jamnagar. The company would be funding the project through a debt of Rs 15,750 crore ($3.5 billion) and equity of Rs 11,250 crore ($2.5 billion), including proceeds from the public issue. It has entered into a preliminary agreement with banks and financial institutes to provide for a syndicated term loan facility for approximately Rs 6,750 crore ($1.5 billion).

Business Standard has some details on what Ambani spoke to the i-bankers and retail brokers - here.

UK's Barclays PLC has invested $150 million in its investment banking business in India and another $70 million to ramp up its domestic commercial and corporate banking activities, taking its total investment in its Indian operations to $300 million, reports Business Standard. The bank has already approached the central bank Reserve Bank of India to increase its footprint within India, by adding more branches. Although retail banking is not in its horizon, the bank wants to cater to small and medium enterprises in India, and also wants to launch new services like supply chain financing, structured trade finance, risk management and corporate liquidity management. For more of Barclay's plans, read Business Standard article.

As reported last week, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has ended a 10-year brokerage alliance with its Indian partner Kotak Mahindra, and will start its own financial services firm in the country.

Goldman has sold its 25 percent stakes in two ventures with Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. for $74 million, the New York-based firm said in a statement today. It will apply for licenses to trade securities and provide investment-banking services in India.

However, Goldman said it had signed a one-year cooperation agreement with Kotak Mahindra, and that its partner would support the U.S. firm's license applications. Goldman needs the consent to set up a competing business, according to press note 18 regulations.

The joint venture with Kotak Mahindra was Goldman Sachs' first, marking a break with 126 years of tradition at the time it was signed in 1995. The split was "about institutions having aspirations and us all having to work for what we think is our destiny," Uday Kotak, 47, founder and executive vice chairman of Kotak Mahindra, said in an interview.

"For Goldman, the challenge may be two-fold: How soon are they able to set up distribution capabilities and set up their own team,'' said Parameswara Krishnan, who helps manage about $130 million of Indian stocks at DNB Nor Asset Management in Chennai, southern India. Finding experienced and capable people will be difficult at a time when the market is booming, he said. [Via Bloomberg]

Also read:

India's Kotak to buy out Goldman stakes for $74 million

Goldman aims to invest $1 billion in India

Related:

Goldman Sachs, Kotak Mahindra Set To Split?