Zydus Wellness, owner of brands such as Ever Yuth, Sugar Free and Nutralite, has planned to acquire more brands or a suitable over-the-counter (OTC) products company soon. The subsidiary of Cadila Health has allotted Rs 500 crore ($83.7 million) for the buyout and is scouting for an appropriate target. The firm is mainly scouting for brands in the nutraceutical, cosmaseuticals and OTC segments. The acquisition would be funded through the company's cash reserve. (Business Standard)
Jaypee Cement eyes acquisition: Jaypee Cement (JC), producer and part of Jaiprakash Associate, is looking at an acquisition now, having recently dumped its plan to sell off its Gujarat plant. The company would be concentrating on stabilising production at some of its recent acquisitions and raise production there. The two Andhra Cement plants acquired recently have started production with initial supplies to natural logistics market of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Aditya Birla group-owned UltraTech Cement was in talks to buy JC’s 4.8 mtpa plant in Gujarat. Irish building materials group CRH had also gone on record last year saying it had talks with JC for buying an equity stake in the plant. (DNA)
Hind Copper starts roadshows for second tranche sale: State-owned Hindustan Copper has begun roadshows for sale of the second tranche of the company’s shares held by the government. Roadshows for prospective institutional investors have already taken place in cities like Chennai and an international roadshow is planned to be held in Singapore soon. The share sale could happen in end-June or early-July. The government, which owns 94% stake in Hindustan Copper, needs to raise minimum public shareholding to 10% by end-August to meet Securities and Exchange Board of India rules. An Empowered Group of Ministers had approved offloading of 9.59% of government’s equity in two tranches in November but in an unfavourable market, only 5.58% stake could be sold at Rs 155 per share, that with the help of the Life Insurance Corporation. (DNA)
Cabinet Committee clears Neyveli Lignite divestment: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Friday gave its nod for 5% stake sale in Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC). The stake sale is “absolutely necessary†for the Navratna company to be compliant with SEBI’s minimum public shareholding norm. After the stake sale, the Centre’s holding in NLC would come down from 93.56% to 88.36%. The CCEA has approved divestment through an offer for sale route in the domestic market. (Business Line)
KPMG eyes buys in data analytics, IT consulting space: KPMG is planning to make a series of acquisitions in India apart from restructuring its organisation in the country. The consultancy firm is scouting for acquisition in the area of tax, data analytics practice as well as IT consulting. At a global level, the company is at an advanced stage of negotiations for acquiring a large strategy consulting firm with part of the practice based out of India. (Business Line)
Cochin Shipyard plans IPO, raise Rs 500 crore: The public sector Cochin Shipyard Ltd has proposed to float an IPO to raise funds to augment its capacity expansion plans. The company proposed to raise Rs 400-500 crore ($67 million - $83.7 million) tentatively by offering 2.2 crore shares. The firm is approaching the Union Government for the necessary approval to issue fresh shares to fund the expansion plans. (Business Line)
TA Associates to invest Rs 150 crore in Fractal Analytics: American private equity fund TA Associates is set to invest Rs 150 crore ($25.11 million) to pick a minority stake in Fractal Analytics, a Mumbai-based data analytics provider, which helps companies on pricing and product strategies. TA Associates have been very selective in investing in India and have been investing in just one-two companies every year. The company posted revenues of about $20.5 million in 2012-13 and expects to touch $35 million this fiscal. (The Economic Times)
NMDC’s Legacy Iron Ore announces AUD 25 million rights issue: Legacy Iron Ore Ltd., the Australian arm of state-owned National Mineral Development Corp. (NMDC), plans to raise $23 million (Rs 137.5 crore) by way of rights issue. NMDC is likely to spend $11.5 million (Rs 69 crore) to acquire rights equivalent to its 49.6% stake in Legacy Iron Ore. The explorer recently informed the Australian Securities Exchange that the company plans to issue a ‘3 for 4 pro-rata non-renounceable entitlement offer’ to its shareholders. NMDC holds 49.6% state in Legacy Iron and is the largest shareholder in Legacy. The proceeds from the entitlement offer would be applied towards further exploration and development work across Legacy Iron’s iron ore and coal exploration permits and other assets. Mt Bevan is a joint venture between Legacy and Hawthorn Resources Ltd. in which Legacy will get a 60% interest in the project by expending a minimum of $3.5 million (Rs 21 crore) to develop the project to a pre-feasibility status. (Live Mint)
Bajaj Hindusthan to sell stakes in 2 power arms: Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd. has put its entire holding in group companies Bajaj Energy and Bajaj Hindusthan (Singapore) Pte Ltd (BHSPL) on the block. The move is aimed at consolidating its power business and avoiding cross-holding. While Bajaj Energy (in which BHL holds 26% stake) was set up through a special purpose vehicle early last year, BHL’s Singapore-based wholly-owned subsidiary BHSPL was set up to acquire coal mines outside India to feed its power plants here. BHSPL is engaged in trading in commodities and also exploring opportunities for another coal mine acquisition in Indonesia. (Business Standard)
ICICI Bank firms up plan to raise $510 million via bonds: ICICI Bank Ltd., has firmed up plans to raise up to $510 million (Rs 3,042 crore) by selling bonds to institutional investors. Only a week back, the lender had raised money in Chinese yuan and in the past one year, it had raised funds in US dollar, Singapore dollar and Swiss franc. The bank has already registered itself in Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Pro-Bond market. This would be the first time that an Indian bank would raise money in Japanese yen. The programme information of ICICI Bank’s proposed bond issue shows the bank filed its application with the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Pro-Bond market on June 18, the same day it raised 650 million Chinese yuan (or $106 million) by selling three-year Regulation S (Reg S) bonds. The bank is expected to issue the bonds within one year from the date of filing its application. Barclays Securities Japan has been appointed as a dealer to the issue. (Business Standard)
Courtesy: VCCEdge
