Holcim to buy additional stake in ACC and Gujarat Ambuja

Swiss cement company Holcim is planning to increase its control in ACC and Gujarat Ambuja Cements for around Rs. 2700 crores. Holcim is in talks to buy Gujarat Ambuja Cements’ 33% stake in Ambuja Cement India Limited (ACIL). ACIL, in turn, holds 35% in ACC and 9.93% in Gujarat Ambuja Cements. At present, Holcim owns 67% in ACIL. The acquisition will make ACIL a wholly-owned Holcim subsidiary.

The proposed move by Gujarat Ambuja is in line with its two-year-old agreement with Holcim under which it had reserved the put (or sell) option and Holcim had the call (buy) option for one-third of ACIL. In 2005, Holcim had bought a 67% stake in ACIL, 40% from the government of Singapore and American International Group and 27% through subscription of preferential shares, for $800 mn (Rs. 3502 crores).

Read the Business Standard article.

JP Morgan, AIG to launch mutual funds in India

JP Morgan Asset Management, a manager of over $1.013 trn assets across the world, and the AIG group that manages $670 bn will be launching their mutual funds for local investors in India. Both have received the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approval for opening shops in India. Fidelity Investment in early 2005 was the last big global player that entered the Indian mutual fund space. Aegon Global, Dawnay Day, Nikko Asset Management, a JV between Ambit Capital and Nikko AMC of Japan, Bharti-AXA, another JV between Bharti Enterprises and asset management firm AXA of France are some of the other players wanting to float funds in India. Currently, the domestic mutual fund industry has 30 players managing Rs. 339,000 crores of assets. JP Morgan plans to start the domestic business with an initial net worth of Rs. 45 crores, AIG has earmarked $20 mn. The Indian regulator requires asset management companies to have a minimum net worth of Rs. 10 crores.

JP Morgan is headed by Krishnamurthy Vijayan, who was heading the JM Financial Mutual Fund for five years. Nandkumar Surti, also of JM Financial, will be heading JP Morgan’s fixed income business in India. Similarly, Saurabh Sonthalia, who heads AIG Global Investment Group, was earlier with DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund. On the investment management side, Tushar Pradhan, who was earlier with HDFC Mutual Fund, will be the Chief Investment Officer, Equities at AIG.

Read the article on livemint.com.

T Rowe Price plans mutual fund business in India

T Rowe Price, one of the world’s largest investment management companies, plans to enter the mutual fund business in India. They follow a slew of global asset management companies such as Credit Suisse and JP Morgan eyeing a pie of the country’s booming asset management market. T Rowe Price is already invested in companies such as Bharti Airtel, Balaji Telefilms, Financial Technologies, ICICI Bank and Moser Baer through T Rowe Price New Asia Fund.

T. Rowe Price provides a broad array of mutual funds, sub-advisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans and financial intermediaries. The company also offers a variety of sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools. It manages over $308.1 bn assets combining the assets of T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., T. Rowe Price International, Inc., T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services and T. Rowe Price Global Asset Management. Several global majors are seriously looking at the country’s AMC business, buoyed by the rising stock markets and the low penetration of the mutual fund products among retail investors. Last week, UBS acquired Standard Chartered’s Indian AMC business. Korean company Mirae Assets Group and AIG are also awaiting the regulator approval, as all these companies plan a solo entry into the country.

Read the Business Standard article.

AIG Capital picks up majority stake in Vivek Hire Purchase

American financial services giant AIG Capital Corporation, through its wholly-owned subsidiary has acquired a 75% stake in Chennai-based Vivek Hire Purchase and Leasing (VHPL) Limited for an undisclosed sum. VHPL is an unlisted NBFC promoted by Vivek Limited, one of India’s leading consumer durables retailers. VHPL provides financing for consumer durables bought from Vivek outlets, and going ahead under the new management, could broad-base its product offerings by getting into areas such as automobile, personal and home finance.

Read more about this news from The Hindu.