Max India raises Rs.1000 crs through QIP placement

Max India today announced that it has raised Rs. 1,000 crore through a QIP, which was subscribed 2.3 times by broad based investors, spread globally. CLSA acted as the sole book runner and global coordinator for the issue.

The QIP raises FII holding in the company to 39% from around 26% earlier. Max India has an investment limit of 49% for FIIs.

The company has issued shares at a price of Rs. 240/- per share. Each share of Max India has a face value of Rs. 2/- and therefore, the new shares have been issued at a premium of Rs. 238/- per share. The new shares aggregate 18.8% of the fully diluted equity base of the company. About 40 % of the allocation went to US based investors while the remainder was split evenly between Asia and Europe based investors.

Max India plans to use the net proceeds from this issue to meet its additional funding requirements in line with its strategic business plans to further grow each of its existing businesses. A portion of the proceeds is also expected to be used for general corporate purposes including acquisitions and investments in new ventures. Encouraged by an almost 100% CAGR of its life insurance business since inception, the company has committed itself to growth plans for this business.

Source: Business Wire

Ujala maker Jyothy Laboratories plans Rs. 300 crore-IPO

Mumbai-based fast moving consumer goods company Jyothy Laboratories, famous for its Ujala brand of fabric whiteners, is planning to list on the stock exchanges by end of 2007. Jyothy Laboratories will raise Rs. 300 crores in an initial public offering. The company has reportedly appointed Kotak and Enam as advisors to the issue.

Jyothy Labs is a closely held company with about 70% stake being held by founder chairman and managing director M P Ramachandran and his family. The balance 30% is held by private equity firms CLSA and Actis along with a foreign subsidiary of ICICI Bank. The foreign investors are likely to exit the company at the time of the IPO.

Sales of Jyothy Laboratories are pegged at between Rs. 400-500 crores. The company is said to have been valued at around Rs. 1000 crores.

Read more on Moneycontrol.com.

IndusInd Bank to issue GDRs worth Rs. 140 crores by March-end

The Hinduja Group-controlled IndusInd Bank is planning to raise around Rs. 140 crores through global depository receipts (GDR) by March 2007. The bank will issue close to 30 mn shares which will listed at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. CLSA has been appointed as the lead manager to the issue. The fresh infusion of capital will bring the promoter holding down to about 28% from 31.3%. The foreign holding in the bank will increase to 25 % from about 17%. The GDR issue will help enable the bank to boost its capital adequacy ratio to 11.25% from 11.10%. It is also planning to raise Rs. 50 crores through issuance of lower Tier-II bonds. The post-issue paid-up capital of the bank will rise to Rs. 320 crores from Rs. 290 crores.

The capital raising will enable IndusInd to pursue new business lines like wealth management and asset reconstruction. It is also planning to expand its presence overseas by setting up an offshore banking unit in Singapore. At present, the bank has representative offices in Dubai and London.

Read more on IndusInd Bank in the article in Business Standard.

Indiabulls’ overseas real estate arm raises Rs. 1200 crores from LSE’s AIM

Indiabulls Real Estate’s overseas arm, Dev Property Development has raised Rs. 1200 crores from the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market. Investors include LN Mittal, Fidelity, Capital Research and the Singaporean government having picked up large stakes in the IPO. The company's shares will start trading on the exchange from Monday. The Dev Property IPO was managed by Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and UBS. The lead marketing agent of the issue was CLSA and KPMG is the statutory auditor of Dev Property Development.

Dev Property Development will buy minority stakes in the projects of Indiabulls through a secondary sale of shares by the latter and by investing fresh equity capital in Indiabulls' projects for a total consideration of Rs. 1055 crores. Indiabulls had received Rs. 437 crores by partial sale of its stake in Jupiter Mills and Elphinstone Mills development projects. Dev Property has also invested Rs. 618 crores in subsidiary companies of Indiabulls undertaking real estate projects. It would also have the right to co-invest along with Indiabulls in its future real estate projects.

Knight Frank has valued Indiabulls' real estate projects at Rs. 21,569 crores and Indiabulls' stake in its projects at Rs. 15,125 crores. Indiabulls' real estate business has been de-merged to Indiabulls Real Estate and its shares are expected to start trading in February. All shareholders of Indiabulls Financial Services received one share of Indiabulls Real Estate for every share they held in Indiabulls Financial Services. In December, Indiabulls Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Indiabulls Real Estate, had sold 13.3% stake to LN Mittal and Farallon for a consideration of Rs. 447 crores.

Read The Times of India article.

Amtek Auto to re-bid for UK plant

Amtek Auto may renew its bid to acquire JL French Automotive Casting's Whitham plant in Essex in the UK. It had unsuccessfully attempted six months ago to acquire the plant. Two other die-casters, one each from China and Spain, have also shown interest in the Whitham plant.

Amtek has been expanding its presence in the UK for the last few years. In 2005, it bought Halberg Guss (Bourne), one of the largest die-casters in the UK.

The sale of the plant looks complicated as the acquirer wanted assurance from Ford Motors, JL French's main customer, that it would continue its contract with the plant post-acquisition. Even the price of the acquisition depends on the assurance. However, with Ford itself undergoing a restructuring process, it is unlikely that the auto major would make any commitments.

The administrator of the plant, BDO Stay Hayward, would look for a quick solution as delay in selling the plant might force it to pull down shutters. The plant, which buys nearly 500 tonne aluminium alloy ingot, is losing over Rs. 50 crores a year. JL French put up its Whitham and Wales units for sale after it had filed for bankruptcy in April last year.

A clutch of foreign financial investors have invested in the Rs. 900 crore-Amtek Auto. Warburg Pincus tops the list with nearly 10% stake. The list of other foreign financial institutions includes CLSA, HSBC Global and Oppenheimer Fund. Swiss Finance Corporation is in the process of acquiring stake through subscription of preferential shares.

Read the Business Standard article.