Star India Eyes More Stake In Tata Sky - Star India, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled company, is making an attempt to raise its effective holding in direct-to-home broadcaster (DTH) Tata Sky by taking advantage of foreign investment rule changes made about a year ago. It has asked the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for permission to buy a 49% stake in TS Investments, an investment firm of the Tata Group, which, in turn, will buy a 20% stake in Tata Sky for Rs 324 crore. Foreign funds are allowed to buy up to an additional 29%. But Star is hoping to benefit from guidelines announced in February 2009, which said that investment through companies owned and controlled by Indians would not count in the calculation of foreign investment. (ET)
Sebi Chairman Warns Against Leveraged Derivatives - Market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman C B Bhave criticised market intermediaries that devise innovative products, saying they were nothing but ways to conceal high leverage. He said that because leverage is risky and because regulators tend to control leverage, market intermediaries are continuously trying to devise ways to increase leverage. He also added that leveraged derivatives might help mint money when the going is good, but the downside could be tremendous if the bet goes wrong. (BS)
Tata Capital Targets Close Of $400M Fund In Six Months - Tata Capital, the financial services arm of the Tata Group, expects to close fund-raising for its $350-400 million private equity corpus within the next six-months. The company had floated the $350-million private equity fund last year, and raising money from both domestic and international sources. The fund is sector-agnostic and is also open to mid-market companies for investments. (ET)
Wipro Consumer Likely To Buy Tura - Three months after it acquired some businesses of Yardley, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting is in advanced talks to buy another offshoot of UK’s Lornamead group. Wipro Consumer, owned by IT tycoon Azim Premji, has emerged as the frontrunner to buy Nigeria-based Tura International, also a target of Wipro’s local rivals such as Godrej Consumer Products and Dabur. Skin-care company Tura, which makes medicated and antiseptic soaps, toning and moisturising creams and gels, has a dominant presence in Nigeria with sales of around $50 million. (ET)
Govt May Approve Rs 800Cr Infusion In Air India - The government of India may approve a capital infusion of Rs 800 crore in loss-making national carrier Air India by next week, the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said today. Patel added that his ministry will move the proposal to the cabinet for approval. The government had earlier decided to grant the ailing carrier Rs 800 crore this fiscal, while another Rs 1,200 crore was planned for release in 2010-11. (Reuters)
Red Fort To Invest In 3C Project - Red Fort Capital, an India-focused private equity (PE) firm which invests in the real estate sector, is picking up around 50% stake in a Rs 1,000-crore residential project in Noida being developed by realty firm 3C Company. Reportedly, Red Fort Capital is investing around Rs 100-130 crore towards the equity capital of the special purpose vehicle that owns the project. The investments will go towards developing 3,500-4,000 apartments in the project named Lotus Panache located at Sector 110 of Noida, and the project is spread across 41 acres. (ET)
Citi To Sell 5% In MCX To Ashmore - Citigroup Mauritius Strategic Holdings Ltd is selling its 5% stake in Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) to Ashmore Group Plc for $40 million (Rs185 crore). The deal values India's largest commodity exchange at $800 million, less than the $1 billion value at which MCX sold stakes to private equity investors in 2007. Citi exits with a loss of around 10% to its original investment. Citi is selling its stake in brokerage and asset management businesses worldwide as chief executive officer Vikram Pandit seeks to raise capital and cut losses. Citigroup Inc. reported a $7.58 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2009. (Mint)
ARCIL Sells SPIC’s Stake In JV - Asset Reconstruction Company of India (ARCIL) — the country's debt aggregator of beleaguered assets — has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to sell the 52.5% stake in Indo-Jordan Chemicals Company (IJCC), a subsidiary of Spic for around Rs 350 crore. The joint venture partner — Jordan Phospates Mines Company — exercised its first right of refusal and bought back the stake held by SPIC, now sold by the debt aggregator ARCIL. The company, which targets Rs 400 crore to Rs 500 crore from the sale, plans to utilize the proceeds towards restarting the fertiliser plant in south Tamil Nadu. (ToI)
Auro Mira Gets Rs 28Cr IFC Loan - Auro Mira Bio Systems Kanyakumari Private Limited has received a $6.25 million (around Rs 28 crore) loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for setting up an 18 megawatt biomass-based greenfield power plant. The plant would come up in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. The project is expected to save 76,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Auro Mira has committed to develop up to 300MW from all renewable energy sources by 2012. (BS)
TowerVision May Raise Rs 1,500Cr From HK FII - A Hong Kong-based foreign institutional investor (FII) is pumping in Rs 1,500 crore for an equity stake in independent tower company TowerVision. Reportedly, the FII could be Quadrangle Group. If happened, this will be the second major capital infusion into TowerVision. In 2008, it has raised about $300 million (Rs 1,350 crore) with Morgan Stanley contributing a significant chunk for an equity stake. The deal is expected to be announced in the next couple of days. (ET)
Qatar Plans $2B Investment Fund For India – In a move that will further boost capital inflows from the Gulf region into India, Qatar is planning to set up an investment fund with a corpus of $2 billion. Reports suggest the fund will be formally announced soon. Two other prominent Gulf nations, Oman and Saudi Arabia, have already announced the setting up of a fund that will invest in various sectors in India. (FE)
Karnataka Government Proposes Rs 10Cr Fund - The Karnataka Government proposes to set up a Rs 10-crore fund, Karnataka Fund for Semiconductor Excellence to encourage innovation and research and development in chip design, product development, telecom etc. The state government also plans to provide an additional Rs 25 crore to the Karnataka IT Venture Fund to assist start-up semi-conductor units engaged in design and embedded software. It would also provide financial assistance to firms for filing intellectual property rights in accordance with the incentives provided in the Karnataka Industrial Policy 2009-14. (Business Line)
ARSS Infrastructure To Raise Rs 103Cr From IPO - Construction company ARSS Infrastructure Projects announced its plan to enter the capital markets with an initial public offering for Rs 103 crore. The company has fixed the issue price at Rs 410-450 a share. The issue will open on February 8 and will close on February 11. The company will dilute 15.42% and 16.67% of its stake at the top end and the lower end of the price band, respectively. (Business Line)
DB Corp, Aqua Logistics Fully Subscribed - The initial public offerings of DB Corp and Aqua Logistics were able to get full subscription. The issue of DB Realty’s Rs 1,500-crore IPO, which opened at a price band of 468 – 486, was subscribed 2.97 times. The issue received bids for 7.8 crore shares against the 2.6 crore shares on offer. The QIB portion was subscribed 4.4 times, HNI segment 4.2 times and retail 0.36 times. On the other hand, the issue of Aqua Logistics was subscribed 1.94 times, and received bids for 1.45 crore shares against the 75 lakh shares on offer. (Business Line)
Arun Sarin Joins Aricent Board - Technology solutions company, Aricent has appointed former Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin to its board of directors. Sarin is presently associated with KKR as a senior advisor. It is likely that his contemporary understanding of operators’ business and technical priorities will benefit Aricent significantly as the company continues to increase the size and scope of its work with the world’s leading communications service providers. As of September 2009, KKR holds 79% stake in Aricent. (TelecomTiger.com)
McNally Bharat Regrouped Its Businesses - McNally Bharat Engineering Ltd, part of the B M Khaitan group, is undergoing restructuring of its business. It has appointed consulting firm KPMG to chart the roadmap for the company and its diverse businesses. To bring resource consolidation and synergy, McNally has regrouped its project business under four strategic groups — material handling and non ferrous metal, steel mines and port solutions, power and infrastructure. McNally Bharat Infrastructure, from now on, will be the new subsidiary which will deal with all civil construction work. (DNA)
