Great Eastern Shipping (GE Shipping), Great Offshore (GOL) and Garware Offshore are vying to buy Scottish offshore company SBS Marine. Norwegian company Viking Supply Ships is the parent of SBS Marine. Investment banking sources put the deal size to be around $200 mn.
SBS Marine owns five platform supply vessels (PSVs), and is building another PSV at a Norwegian yard. In August, Viking had acquired 100% of the share capital of SBS Aberdeen, the parent company of SBS Marine (SBS), for an undisclosed sum. Sources said the offshore asset prices have skyrocketed over the past few months, and Viking may want to cash in on the boom. The bids were invited by a consortium — including a legal firm, broker and a financial advisor, all based in Norway. Sources said two UK-based shipping companies have also bid for SBS Marine.
Sources say that all three Indian companies had given non-committal bids a month ago, and were short-listed by Viking. The bidders are now expected to complete their due diligence soon, and submit final bids. The assets of SBS Marine are worth around Rs. 700 crores. The company also has some debt to be paid off.
Bharat Sheth and Vijay Sheth recently split ways after the GE Shipping de-merger. Currently, Bharat takes care of the management of GE Shipping, while Vijay is in charge of the de-merged entity GOL. GE Shipping is believed to have submitted a bid through its wholly-owned subsidiary Greatship (India). GE Shipping is the largest private shipping company in India, sitting on huge cash reserve, and is planning the acquisition through a mix of internal accruals and debt.
Garware Offshore is also looking at ‘yard sale’ to raise funds for the acquisition. The company is currently building three new PSVs at a cumulative cost of Rs. 320 crores, and may look at selling one or two at a premium to amass the required funds for the acquisition of SBS Marine.
Read The Economic Times article.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Mumbai-based software company Core Projects plans two US buyouts
Core Projects, a Mumbai-based IT company involved in education projects, is about to acquire Aarman, an ERP software company and SkyBridge. Both companies are US-based. The deal size for Aarman is estimated to be around $8 mn; it has revenues of around $10 mn. SkyBridge may be bought for $8-10 mn. Announcements are expected in the first week of January. A third acquisition in the UK is said to be at a preliminary stage.
Core has raised funds for these acquisitions through a recent FCCB issue. The company had issued 1, 225 FCCBs of $10, 000 each in November 2006. The issue had collected Rs. 56 crores and the bonds have been listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
The company now has a kitty of Rs. 100 crores which includes FCCB proceeds and internal resources. Financial majors including Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs have converted the bonds into equity and have picked up a 10% stake for $8.75 mn. The stake has been acquired following the conversion of the FCCBs by financial majors at Rs. 315 per share for Rs. 10 each, against the FCCB price of Rs. 310. The Core scrip closed at Rs. 469 on Thursday on BSE.
Morgan Stanley has the largest share at 4.03%, Grants (a Goldman Sachs subsidiary through which they will hold the stake) has 3.46% and Deutsche Bank has 2.59%. FCCBs worth $3.5 million still remain for conversion.
Core is present in verticals like education, pharmaceuticals and bio-science. The company, however, has a strong focus on education. It essentially maintains management information system for government-aided schools. Based on the data collected it devises solutions and analyses drop-out rates among students. Recently, it had bagged a Rs 25-crore project from the Jharkhand government to maintain education records of state government schools.
Read The Economic Times article.
Core has raised funds for these acquisitions through a recent FCCB issue. The company had issued 1, 225 FCCBs of $10, 000 each in November 2006. The issue had collected Rs. 56 crores and the bonds have been listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
The company now has a kitty of Rs. 100 crores which includes FCCB proceeds and internal resources. Financial majors including Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs have converted the bonds into equity and have picked up a 10% stake for $8.75 mn. The stake has been acquired following the conversion of the FCCBs by financial majors at Rs. 315 per share for Rs. 10 each, against the FCCB price of Rs. 310. The Core scrip closed at Rs. 469 on Thursday on BSE.
Morgan Stanley has the largest share at 4.03%, Grants (a Goldman Sachs subsidiary through which they will hold the stake) has 3.46% and Deutsche Bank has 2.59%. FCCBs worth $3.5 million still remain for conversion.
Core is present in verticals like education, pharmaceuticals and bio-science. The company, however, has a strong focus on education. It essentially maintains management information system for government-aided schools. Based on the data collected it devises solutions and analyses drop-out rates among students. Recently, it had bagged a Rs 25-crore project from the Jharkhand government to maintain education records of state government schools.
Read The Economic Times article.
Aurobindo Pharma all set to buy a company in The Netherlands
DNA Money reports that Aurobindo Pharma is all set to announce the acquisition of a formulations company in The Netherlands that will speed up the company’s European strategy. The board of directors has already approved the proposal and the deal will be announced on Friday subject to finalization of the price, say industry sources.
The transaction value is expected to be upwards of $20 mn. This will be the second European acquisition by Aurobindo Pharma after the acquisition of MilPharm in February 2006. The company being acquired has several marketing authorizations and will enable Aurobindo to expand in the market much faster apart from getting clearances for rest of Europe much faster. The acquired company had rights to 103 third-party products which were transferred to Aurobindo.
MilPharm, which had sales of 7.7 mn in 2005, was useful in front ending the company’s foray into the UK generics market where margins are much higher than in the US.
The transaction value is expected to be upwards of $20 mn. This will be the second European acquisition by Aurobindo Pharma after the acquisition of MilPharm in February 2006. The company being acquired has several marketing authorizations and will enable Aurobindo to expand in the market much faster apart from getting clearances for rest of Europe much faster. The acquired company had rights to 103 third-party products which were transferred to Aurobindo.
MilPharm, which had sales of 7.7 mn in 2005, was useful in front ending the company’s foray into the UK generics market where margins are much higher than in the US.
ADAG-Shringar acquisiton talks fall out over valuation differences
The Anil Ambani led-ADAG group is in the news for another merger and acquisiton deal, and it seems that this may also go sour. Negotiations between ADAG and the Shroffs of Shringar Cinema for buying out Shringar seem to have hit a roadblock due to differences on the price that ADAG has reportedly offered to Shringar’s shareholders.
Reliance-ADAG was willing to offer Rs. 58 per share and an additional Rs. 15 was offered for a non-compete agreement to the Shroffs, promoters of Shringar Cinemas. The clause was to ensure that the future plans of the Shroffs don’t affect the Reliance-ADAG group, which already has an interest in the sector through Adlabs Films.
The deal would make Adlabs Films the biggest player in the multiplex business along with the Delhi-based PVR, which currently has close to 75 screens across the country. The acquisition would give Adlabs access to Shringar Cinemas’ approximately 35 screens, putting Adlabs at a total of about 78 screens pan-India.
It has been learnt that large stakeholders in Shringar Cinemas had expressed reservations on the differences in the price offered by ADAG to the promoters and to shareholders. Temasek Holdings, one of the largest shareholders in Shringar Cinemas with close to 14%, expressed its reservations on the pricing, even when the Shroff family had agreed to this deal in-principle. The owners of Shringar Cinemas have been in talks with large players, including the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, but the talks had failed, again, due to valuation differences.
While the deal is off now, it is expected that talks between both parties could resume, as a consolidation in the multiplex space is inevitable. Shringar runs the Fame brand of multiplexes and plans to add seven to nine multiplexes each year to touch 227 screens across 50 sites by March 2011.
Read he article in The Economic Times.
Reliance-ADAG was willing to offer Rs. 58 per share and an additional Rs. 15 was offered for a non-compete agreement to the Shroffs, promoters of Shringar Cinemas. The clause was to ensure that the future plans of the Shroffs don’t affect the Reliance-ADAG group, which already has an interest in the sector through Adlabs Films.
The deal would make Adlabs Films the biggest player in the multiplex business along with the Delhi-based PVR, which currently has close to 75 screens across the country. The acquisition would give Adlabs access to Shringar Cinemas’ approximately 35 screens, putting Adlabs at a total of about 78 screens pan-India.
It has been learnt that large stakeholders in Shringar Cinemas had expressed reservations on the differences in the price offered by ADAG to the promoters and to shareholders. Temasek Holdings, one of the largest shareholders in Shringar Cinemas with close to 14%, expressed its reservations on the pricing, even when the Shroff family had agreed to this deal in-principle. The owners of Shringar Cinemas have been in talks with large players, including the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, but the talks had failed, again, due to valuation differences.
While the deal is off now, it is expected that talks between both parties could resume, as a consolidation in the multiplex space is inevitable. Shringar runs the Fame brand of multiplexes and plans to add seven to nine multiplexes each year to touch 227 screens across 50 sites by March 2011.
Read he article in The Economic Times.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
TCI exploring financing options for Rs 450 cr expansion
Transport Corporation of India (TCI), an integrated supply chain and logistics solutions provider, is considering a private equity placement to fund its Rs 450 crore expansion plans, reports Business Standard.
The company is also exploring qualified institutional placement (QIP) mechanism and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), besides private equity placement.
The company will raise Rs 125 crore through equity, Rs 129 crore through debt and the balance via internal accruals.
The funds will be utilized for expanding the capacity of its various divisions in the next four years. The company plans to invest Rs 150 million for expanding its warehousing capacity, Rs 100 crore for acquiring one ship and Rs 500 million in wind power generation.
As part of future plans, it is also looking to diversify its business into running container trains, following the relaxation of container rail operations by the railways.
Read article from Business Standard
UB builds war chest of $500 mn-$1 bn for overseas acquisitions
United Breweries (UB) has allocated $500 mn to $1 bn for overseas acquisitions, an important part of its growth strategy, said UB Group President & CFO Mr. Ravi Nedungadi. Mr. Nedungadi said so in the post-meeting address to the media, on the occasion of group company Shaw Wallace’s 60th AGM.
Mr. Nedungadi’s remark is to be seen in the light of reports of UB trying to acquire Scottish firm Whyte & Mackay. Mr. Nedungadi neither confirmed nor denied developments with regards to this issue.
Read The Economic Times article for more details.
Mr. Nedungadi’s remark is to be seen in the light of reports of UB trying to acquire Scottish firm Whyte & Mackay. Mr. Nedungadi neither confirmed nor denied developments with regards to this issue.
Read The Economic Times article for more details.
OnMobile buys out ITFinity
OnMobile, a provider of ring tones and mobile-commerce services, has made a 100% buyout of ITFinity, reports The Economic Times. ITFinity is a specialist software company. The transaction value is around $15-20 mn.
The investors of ITFinity represent a who’s who of the private equity world. These include Rajat Gupta of McKinsey & Co, Ashish Dhawan of ChrysCapital, Luis Miranda of IDFC, Mumbai-based Edelweiss Capital and Rajesh TS Reddy, former founder of Unimobile.
OnMobile has the backing of IT giant Infosys. In October 2006, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon Investment Partners acquired a 10% stake in OnMobile for about $27.8 mn, valuing the company at $270 mn.
The investors of ITFinity represent a who’s who of the private equity world. These include Rajat Gupta of McKinsey & Co, Ashish Dhawan of ChrysCapital, Luis Miranda of IDFC, Mumbai-based Edelweiss Capital and Rajesh TS Reddy, former founder of Unimobile.
OnMobile has the backing of IT giant Infosys. In October 2006, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon Investment Partners acquired a 10% stake in OnMobile for about $27.8 mn, valuing the company at $270 mn.
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