GE’s India lighting brand CEMA bought by US-based Saratoga Partners

Saratoga Partners, a New York-based buyout investment firm, is buying out GE’s consumer lighting business in India, including the CEMA brand and the manufacturing facility in Gujarat. The financial details of the transaction are not available. Saratoga Lighting Holdings has also entered into an agreement for using the GE brand in the domestic consumer lighting business. CEMA and GE brands together account for over 2% of the domestic consumer lighting market estimated at Rs. 2500 crores.

CEMA Electric Lighting Products India Private Limited, the new legal entity formed during the acquisition, will function as a subsidiary of Saratoga Lighting Holdings. Saratoga Lighting is a portfolio company of Saratoga Partners, a US-based private equity firm that manages a group of investment limited partnerships. It focuses on the global lighting industry and has operations in several countries including USA, China and India.

Read The Economic Times article.

VSNL may bid $90 mn for US-based Data Return

The Tata Group is making news all around. This time, another group company VSNL, an international long distance telecom major, is reportedly planning a bid for US-based Data Return, which is into managed hosting services and IT operations. The deal size is estimated to be around $90-100 mn. Data Return is a privately-held entity, of which 80% is owned by an investment firm Saratoga Partners and the rest being held by the management. It primarily caters to the North American market and has a headcount of around 250.

Data Return registered revenues of $51.1 mn for the 2005 fiscal and had a net loss of $8.5 mn, with valuation of the company pegged at $85-95 mn. The auction process for the proposed sale has evinced interest from two other bidders.