Thursday, March 15, 2007

ITC Foods to bid for UK’s pickles and spices brands Patak’s

ITC Foods may turn out to put in a formal bid for Britain’s popular pickles and Indian curries brand Patak’s. Heinz, which already has a partnership with Patak’s, is also said to be interested in the company. The valuation of Patak’s has been put around £200 mn, which is considered to be bit pricier for potential partners or buyers. ITC Foods has been approached by Patak’s investment banker NM Rothschild with a proposal.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

German shipping major inks JV with Shipping Corporation of India

The Times of India reports that German shipping company Peter Dohle Schiffahrts KG, one of the largest privately held shipping company in the world has entered into a JV with India's largest shipping company, the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI). The 50:50 JV mainly entails jointly operating bulk carriers and container ships. The venture is likely to be kicked-off shortly with the formation of a company either in India or overseas. Initially, both companies plan to deploy bulk carriers in the joint venture company. A little later, the fleet will be expanded to more bulk carriers or container ships, depending on market conditions.

Ex-Merrill Lynch India i-banking unit head Munesh Khanna starts $300 mn distressed assets PE fund

Former head of investment banking at Merrill Lynch India Munesh Khanna has raised $300 mn-private equity fund to invest in companies that are distressed or need management help to revive their finances.

Munesh Khanna’s new private equity firm Halcyon Group, has been started along with Narayan Seshadri, ex-head of Andersen Business Consulting in India, and Abhay Soi, who oversaw the financial restructuring group at Ernst & Young. Halcyon will target annual returns of 25%, and would make investments in asset-backed businesses, including textile and paper manufacturers.

Munesh Khanna oversaw the Indian unit of NM Rothschild and worked at Arthur Andersen in India for 17 years before he joined Merrill Lynch. Amit Chandra, his former boss at Merrill Lynch, is also starting a private-equity fund, called New Silk Route Partners.

Read more in the Business Standard article.

JP Morgan in talks with Enam for strategic alliance; may buy stake in the latter

Vallabh Bhansali-controlled Enam Financial Consultants, one of the leading home-grown investment banks in India, is learnt to be in talks with JP Morgan for a strategic alliance, and might also include acquisition of equity in Enam, with talks being at an advanced stage.

Lehman Brothers, which had also expressed interest in Enam earlier, is learnt to be out of the race, making JP Morgan the sole candidate for a strategic tie-up. JP Morgan was looking at buying 50 % stake in Enam. JP Morgan had ended its joint venture with ICICI Securities in the late nineties, and has not been very active in the Indian capital market since then.

While JP Morgan is among the top five players in the institutional broking business in India, Enam is a major player in investment banking and in the equity capital market. With its network of over 5000 dedicated franchisees, Enam mobilizes approximately 25% of all funds raised in the Indian equity markets. It is also one of the largest underwriters in India. The company also provides investment banking, corporate advisory, equity, debt and capital market services to companies and institutions.

Read more in the article in Business Standard.

Trinity Capital to pump in $10 bn to develop satellite towns around Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore

Business Standard reports that the New York-based real estate investment fund Trinity Capital has lined up $10 bn, which may go up to $12 bn, to develop three satellite cities on the outskirts of Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. Each of the satellite townships, to be built over a 1000 acre spread, will see an investment of $2 bn – $4 bn. Trinity is also in the process of lining up $2.5 bn for investing across 10,000 hotel rooms in the country over the next five years.

Sical Logistics to receive Rs. 110 crores private equity from IDFC; to hive off non-core activities

Sical Logistics Limited will receive private equity funding of around Rs. 110 crores from IDFC Private Equity from its IDFC Private Equity Fund II. The proposed investment would be through a preferential issue of equity shares. SSKI Corporate Finance was the advisor to Sical for the fund raising exercise.

Sical intends to become a pure play integrated logistics provider. It is now in the final stages of divesting its non-logistics businesses. As part of this process, Sical proposes to de-merge the non-logistics businesses comprising of trading undertakings, services undertaking and coffee plantations as per the de-merger scheme approved by the board. The ratio for issue of shares upon de-merger has been endorsed by Ernst & Young. Additionally, Sical is also hiving off some of the other non-core businesses including palm oil, refractory, auto, drums, agri-bio products, specialty chemicals and flexible shafts. Buyers have been identified and relevant due diligence exercises are currently in the last stages. It is expected that a significant portion of the hive off exercise will be completed within FY 2007.

Read more on Sical Logistics in Moneycontrol.com.

Reliance Industries giving shape to global ambitions; in talks with Carrefour, Dow Chemicals for strategic alliances

Reliance Industries is reportedly in talks with French retail major Carrefour as well as other global players for acquiring controlling stake in these companies to reach out to international consumers with its basket of Indian food produce.

Reliance has created a war-chest of Rs. 100,000 crores and is looking to create international business arms for accessing global markets by leveraging on its supply chain that was put in place as part of the farm-to-fork project. Besides Carrefour, Reliance is also talking to Tier-2 companies like Salisbury and Marks and Spencer for food business.

Carrefour on its part has denied any sort of discussions with Reliance for either a controlling stake in the former or a joint venture. In a related development, Reliance is also in talks with Dow Chemicals and is expected to form a petrochemical JV.

Daiwa Securities plans India Equity Fund for Japanese investors

Business Standard reports that Daiwa Securities SMBC Company Limited, the investment banking joint venture between two of Japan's largest financial groups, is planning to launch an India Equity Fund to enable Japanese investors invest in India's emerging market. The fund likely to be launched within by 2007 would invest only in the listed stocks. Daiwa had earlier raised $750 mn of Japanese funds for Indian markets. The current value of the fund stood at $1 bn following the growth in the market.

Times Group to acquire 667,000 shares in textile firm Sumeet Industries

Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL) has entered into an agreement to acquire 667,000 equity shares in Surat-based textile firm Sumeet Industries. Sumeet is a public-listed company engaged in the manufacturing and export of synthetic textile yarn and export of yarn and fabrics. The funds raised may be used to fund the company’s expansion plans that include increasing its polyester spinning capacity from the existing 12,000 tonne per annum to 56,000 tonne per annum. They are also setting up another 10 lines of polyester spinning plant with an annual installed capacity of 44,000 tonnes.

The company is also planning to develop an industrial park for medium & small industries near Kandla port in Kutch. The company owns 55 acres of land in this area and will be adding another 200 acres on which they will set up the infrastructure like roads, water and power supply.

Article in The Economic Times.