Thursday, June 14, 2007

Lehman completes a Trimurti of senior hires

Lehman Brothers has made the last in a trimurti of senior hires to its Indian investment banking unit with the appointment of a venture capital specialist Jayanta Banerjee to run its private equity business in the country, as reported by Reuters.

Jayanta Banerjee joins from ICICI Ventures where he was a committee member on India’s largest private equity fund, the $810m India Advantage Fund Series 2.

By hiring Banerjee, Lehman has appointed new heads for its three main growth businesses in India this year. In January the bank hired Surojit Shome as head of investment banking before appointing Pankaj Vaish as head of equities and fixed income markets in April. Both were earlier working with Citigroup.

Banerjee will report to Tarun Jotwani, the chief executive of Lehman’s business in India, and Christopher Manning, head of the bank’s Asia investment management division.

Reliance Cap bitten by the Investment Banking bug

The growth in the Indian Investment Banking field continues to lure more players .

Reliance Capital, having a presence in asset management, retail broking and insurance businesses in the country, now intends to start an investment bank in partnership with a foreign player, reported the Economic Times. Reliance Capital’s vice-chairman Amitabh Jhunjhunwala is said to be overseeing the initiative.

Bear Sterns and Paine Webber are some of the names floating around who could partner Relaince Capital in this venture.

Investment bankers from rival firms believe Reliance Capital can have a significant presence in the investment banking business, given the fact that it holds minority stakes in various companies across sectors, which could lead to securing fund-raising mandates of these companies.

Mickey Mouse meets loverboy Raj

Walt Disney is typing up with the production house of Bollywood showman Yash Chopra (Yashraj Films) to co-produce animated films in Bollywood, as reported by Economic Times.

While the deal is not a joint venture with equity participation, the industry perceives it as the beginning of a relationship that may later culminate in a strategic equity partnership. For Walt Disney, the Indian game plan could be to secure a supply chain so as to make inroads into the local market. Joining hands with an established house would make greater sense in high growth markets.

Amid reports of Yashraj’s tie-up with Disney, rumours are also floating that some private equity players have evinced interest in investing in the production house.

ICICI Ventures buys stake in Radiant Research

ICICI Venture has acquired majority control in US-based clinical research company Radiant Research for an undisclosed amount, as reported by Economic Times.

Last year Radiant Research had sold a part of its clinical research business, constituting eight clinical pharmacology centres, to US-based clinical research company Covance for $65 million. With 26 other clinical centres, the current deal could have been valued at $150 million plus.

Apart from clinical centres, Radiant compromises of a full service CRO and a centralised patient recruitment company, employing over 400 clinical research professionals. Radiant Research had clocked revenues of $73.5 million in 2003.

ICICI Venture has multiple exposure in the life sciences business. Its investment portfolio includes Arch Pharmalabs, Malladi Drugs, Bharat Biotech, I-Ven Pharma, RFCL, Metropolis, Perlecan, Avesthagen, Biocon, Medicorp and Intas Pharma.