GMR Energy Raises Rs 350Cr From IDFC - GMR Energy, the flagship power venture of GMR group, has raised Rs 350 crore from IDFC Group for a significant minority stake. The fund raise is part of GMR Energy’s plan to raise Rs 1,600 crore through the equity route to meet its immediate requirement. This is the second round of equity fund-raising as it had raised $200 million from Singapore-based private equity (PE) firm Temasek and Rs 300 crore from ICICI Bank through preference share allotment in April this year. (ET)
Hindujas Eye $1B Via Petromin IPO - The Hinduja Group, a diversified company, is planning to raise up to $1 billion through the initial public offering (IPO) of the Saudi Arabia-based lubricants maker Petromin. Petromin is a 50-50 joint venture between Gulf Oil International, a Hinduja Group company, and the Dabbagh Group of Saudi Arabia. The company plans to dilute 30% of Petromin through the public offer. The company is currently finalizing the timeline and the valuations. The group is also looking at an IPO for Gulf Oil Marine, its Hong Kong-based unit that is into marine lubricants and technical services for the shipping sector. (ToI)
Godrej Buys Out Argencos In Latin America - FMCG major Godrej Consumer Products Ltd has acquired another Argentinian hair care company called Argencos, making it the company's second buyout in Latin America in less than two weeks. It had earlier acquired Latin America's Issue Group, a market leader in hair-colour in Argentina, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay in the last week of May. The company believes the combination of the two businesses will help the firm establish a strong foothold in achieving its plans for Latin America. (ET)
NTPC To Buy Coal Mine In Australia - National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), India’s largest power producer, is set to acquire controlling interest in a 720-million-tonne coal field in Australia in a deal valued at $1-1.5 billion, which will help it to fire about 3,500 mw of power capacity. The coal mines, located near Perth in western Australia, will allow NTPC to bring home up to 10 million tonnes of coal annually for its plants. NTPC needs about 125 million tonnes of coal annually for existing power plants and imports 10 million tonnes to meet the gap. The imports are expected to cross 30 million tonnes by 2017. (ET)
3i Growth Capital To Hike Stake In UFO Moviez - UFO Moviez India Ltd, a satellite-based digital cinema network, plans to invest around Rs 250 crore to convert 1,000 screens in the country to 3D over the next two years. The company plans to fund the expansion through a mix of internal accruals and equity. For the equity part, UFO Moviez is tied up with 3i Growth Capital, a venture and private equity firm, which currently holds a 35% stake in the company. The current turnover of the company is Rs 50 crore, and is expecting break-even in the next 3-years. (ET)
GTL In talks With Reliance Infratel For Strategic Deal - GTL Infrastructure Ltd, a leading telecom infrastructure company and part of the Global Group, is in talks with Reliance Infratel, the telecom tower arm of Reliance Communications (RCom), for a strategic partnership. Earlier, GTL bought Aircel’s portfolio of 17,500 telecom towers in February. Reportedly, the preliminary discussions mentioned transfer of the entire assets and liabilities of Reliance Infratel into another independent entity or a special purpose vehicle. Management control and 26% equity also featured in the talks. (BS)
Shree Renuka Revised Price For Equipav Buy - Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd, a listed company which was in deal talks with Equipav SA Acucar e Alcool, the sugar and alcohol assets of Brazil’s Equipav Group, has renegotiated the price for the buy. With the revised price, the company will now be getting the 51% controlling interest by paying only $240 million (about Rs 1,080 crore), 25% less than its original bid. Post this acquisition, Renuka would have gained access to 10.5 million tonnes of annual crushing capacity from two of Equipav’s plants in Sao Paolo. (BS)
Hinduja Group To Acquire BPOs In UK, US - The Hinduja Group is looking to acquire business process outsourcing (BPO) units in the United Kingdom and the United States as part of its plan to deploy idle cash. At the end of March, Hinduja Global Solutions, the group’s BPO arm, had cash and cash-equivalents of Rs 648 crore, of which Rs 577 crore was with Pacific Horizon, a wholly-owned Mauritian subsidiary. The BPO deals are expected to be finalised over the next few weeks. (BS)
Symphony Service Acquires Proteans Software - Symphony Service Corp, a provider of global software product engineering services, has acquired Proteans Software Solutions, a Bangalore-based outsourced product development company for an undisclosed sum. Proteans provides software engineering services to independent software vendors, SaaS companies, Internet businesses and R&D organisations. Symphony believes the acquisition will bolster its offerings especially in product lifecycle management space. (Business Line)
Sun Rejects Guggenheim Offer For Taro Stake - Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, an international pharma company, has rejected an offer to buy out its stake in Israeli drug maker Taro Pharmaceuticals for $215 million. The offer came from Guggenheim Partners, a global, privately-held diversified financial services firm with assets of over $100 billion. Guggenheim said it was confident of arranging “the purchase of Sun’s entire equity interest in Taro by a group of institutional investors at a price of $15 per shareâ€. Sun holds a 36% stake in Taro Pharmaceuticals. (The Telegraph)
SC Dismisses Petition Against BoR-ICICI Deal - The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition by a minority shareholder of Bank of Rajasthan Ltd (BoR) against its proposed merger with ICICI Bank Ltd. The court dismissed the petition and called it an “abuse of the process of court†after the lawyer for the petitioner could not disclose the number of shares held by his client in Jaipur-based BoR. In a related development, BoR employees threatened to go on a two-day strike protesting the merger. (Mint)
IARC Raises Rs 200Cr At First Close - International Asset Reconstruction Company Pvt Ltd (IARC), a fund promoted by former State Bank of India chairman M S Verma and former India head of Bank of America Arun Duggal, has concluded the first closing at around Rs 200 crore. IARC’s shareholders include HDFC Bank Ltd, Tata Capital Ltd and City Union Bank Ltd. The firm is mainly engaged in acquisition, resolution and reconstruction of non-performing loans (NPLs). (Mint)
