Wednesday, April 11, 2007

IL&FS Investment Managers invests $100 mn in real estate startup QVC Realty

IL&FS Investment Managers Limited (IIML), the private equity arm of IL&FS, has invested $100 mn in QVC Realty, a real estate startup, making it the first venture capital-backed real estate start-up in India. QVC Realty is promoted by Prakash Gurbaxani, who was heading the real estate joint venture between Tishman Speyer and ICICI Ventures.

The initial investment has already been deployed to buy a 100-acre plot near Gurgaon. QVC will develop a township on this land in the next three years. Talks are also in an advanced stage for setting up another township of similar size in Bangalore’s periphery. In four years, the combined capital value of the two projects is expected to touch Rs. 3000 crores. The two partners have not yet decided on a fixed profit sharing ratio. However, the management (QVC and IIML) may take their respective stake on delivery of projects. IIML has also committed to partner QVC in all its future real estate projects.

IIML’s investment in QVC will be modular. Depending on the evaluations of the project, IIML will arrive at how much stake will be swapped and the profit sharing ratio. Currently, the equity raised will be used to finance the purchase of land. For the further development, QVC may take the debt route.

Article in DNA Money.

Rajan Raheja-promoted Hathway Investments buys 39% in ING Vysya Mutual Fund

The Economic Times reports that Hathway Investments, a company promoted by realtor Rajan Raheja, has bought out ING Vysya Bank’s entire 39% stake in ING Vysya Mutual Fund for an undisclosed sum. Post this deal, ING will hold 42.5% in the fund, Hathway 39%, and existing Indian shareholder Kirti Equities, will retain 18.5%. The fund would be renamed as ING Mutual Fund. The asset management company’s total assets under management as on March 31, 2007, were close to Rs. 3630 crores. For the year ended March 2006, the AMC had reported a net loss of Rs. 21 crores. This could have depressed the valuation of the fund house, which usually ranges from 4-6% of assets. Hathway, which earlier held a 25% stake in Franklin Templeton, is estimated to have pocketed around Rs. 300 crores from the sale of its stake, less than six months ago.

Bharati Shipyard buys out UK-based shipyard company Swan Hunter

India’s second-largest private sector shipbuilder Bharati Shipyard is acquiring UK-based Swan Hunter Shipyard for an undisclosed amount. The entire machinery and equipment from Swan Hunter will be dismantled and brought to India over six months to be re-built at Bharati’s shipyards. The acquisition might be one of the biggest deals till date in the domestic shipbuilding industry. A comparable new shipyard would have cost Rs. 200-250 crores.

Swan Hunter is a 130-year old shipyard engaged in shipbuilding, ship conversion and construction of offshore structures. It has built over 1600 ships of various types, including more than 400 naval vessels, which includes two aircraft carriers. Swan Hunter has the capacity to build vessels of up to 100,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT).

Through this acquisition, Bharati Shipyard is expected to have fully automated panel line, quayside traveling gantry cranes of up to 180-tonne capacity, 30 overhead traveling cranes of up to 60-tonne capacity, plate rolls, bending presses, robotic profiling machines, and digitally fed plasma burning equipment. This will enable Bharati to build ships and vessels with the capacity of up to 60,000 DWT. Bharati will also acquire the 20,000-ton lift capacity floating dock of Swan Hunter, which will add a lot of value to its existing operation.

Read more in the Business Standard article.

Mumbai-based machine engineering firm makes Canadian acquisition

Mumbai-based machine tool and engineering company Batliboi Limited has acquired Canadian firm Quickmill, Inc. for an estimated Rs. 22 crores.

This is Batliboi’s first acquisition, the logic behind it being leveraging on Quickmill’s distribution network and research and development capabilities. The acquisition will help Batliboi to establish its presence in North-America where Quickmill enjoys around 75% market share in the heat exchanger segment. The company plans to use Quickmill's distribution network in North America, and utilize its strong R&D capabilities and in turn, conduct detailed engineering for Quickmill's machinery equipment, heat exchangers, aerospace dies and moulds, bridge-building machinery and other Quickmill products in India.

Batliboi primarily manufactures machine tools, specialized machines, textile air engineering machines and air conditioners at its Surat and Bangalore facilities. The company's clients include textile manufacturers, automobile manufacturers and power equipment makers, besides hotels which use its air conditioners and refrigerators.

Read the article in The Economic Times.

Barclays Capital appoints Sanjay Mathur as Director

The Economic Times reports that Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of global financial group Barclays, has appointed Sanjay Mathur from UBS as Director, Rates Research for its Asian operations (excluding Japan). Mathur would lead the firm's coverage of macro-economic research on the Indian subcontinent, Malaysia and Singapore. Prior to this, Mathur was working as Executive Director in the regional economic team of global financial firm UBS.

US-based PE firm Jacob Ballas invests $10 mn in biotech firm Avesthagen

US-based private equity firm Jacob Ballas Capital is close to buying a minority stake in Bangalore-based biotech firm Avestha Gengraine Technologies, popularly known as Avesthagen, for about $10 mn. Jacob Ballas’ $10 mn investment will be $5 mn in equity and $5 mn in warrants. The deal is being structured at Rs. 1850 per share, and values the company at $124 mn.

Jacob Ballas is an India-focused private equity firm floated by New York Life Investment Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company, Singapore-based Excelfin, Indo-Pacific Estates and India’s construction-engineering firm Punj Lloyd.

Avesthagen had recently raised $32 mn from Fidelity Investments and France-based biotech majors BioMerieux and Limagrain and the food giant Danone. The company has also raised $5-7 mn from Indian corporates such as the Godrej, Cipla, the Tata Group, and ICICI Ventures. ICICI Ventures and Fidelity hold 19% and 10% stake, respectively, in the company while other strategic investors hold 4-6% stake.

Avesthagen is into biopharmaceuticals, bio-nutritionals and bio-agriculture, and also has a portfolio of heath foods, including biscuits and breakfast cereals. Jacob Ballas’ fund infusion will be used for the company’s proposed acquisitions and patent filings. Avesthagen is in the process of acquiring two domestic seed companies to deploy technology that it has developed in the agri-biotechnology business and is in talks with at least five Indian seed companies for possible acquisitions. The capital expansion is also being done to set up manufacturing facilities to upscale production, before moving into phase two of research and development.

Read The Economic Times article.
Related Post:
Avesthagen sells 20% stake for €25 mn