Monday, March 5, 2007

ICSA not to sell 14% stake to CVC International; may sell the same to Goldman Sachs

ICSA, a Hyderabad-based embedded technology and electrical infrastructure solutions provider, which was reported to have raised $52 mn from CVC International and Goldman Sachs, now, seems to have excluded CVC International from its investor list.

ICSA will sell 14% equity to global investment bank Goldman Sachs, which will infuse the entire $52 mn to be pumped into the company, part of it for the equity and the rest in foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs).

ICSA will not sell equity to Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership Mauritius (CVC). The company has cited non-fulfillment of regulatory and technical conditions for not going ahead with CVC. The venture capital firm had a 45-day due diligence period, but could not complete the proceedings in time. CVC had sought an extension, but failed to get it from the market regulator SEBI. ICSA was also not in favour of extending the deadline.

Goldman Sachs is believed to have evinced interest in acquiring the 14 per cent stake at higher amount. The deal with CVC was at around Rs. 950 per share, while Goldman Sachs’ offer is at Rs. 1250 per share. This is in addition to Goldman Sachs’ commitment of $22 mn in ICSA through FCCBs.

Goldman Sachs will now hold 14% stake in ICSA and FCCBs to the tune of $22 mn. ICSA is convening a board meeting on March 17 to consider the Goldman Sachs offer.

At present, foreign institutional investment holding in ICSA stands at 25.37%. The company was looking at the investments to meet its working capital requirements, for inorganic investments and R&D related expenses.

Read the Business Standard article.
Related Post:
ICSA Limited attracts $52 mn foreign investment from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs

Himatsingka Seide completes Bellora acquisition for Rs 116 crores

Bangalore-based silk fabric manufacturer Himatsingka Seide has concluded its 70% stake acquisition in Italian bed linen brand Giuseppe Bellora SpA. The valuation of the acquisition is €20 mn (Rs. 116 crores). The equity value of the transaction is €13 mn (Rs. 75.4 crores) while Bellora has a debt of €7 mn (Rs. 40.6 crores).

Established in 1883, Bellora has presence across leading European department stores along with brand stores. Himatsingka Seide plans to capture the value market taken by the retailers by opening Bellora stores in the US and European markets. Currently Bellora is retailed through 17 owned stores and 350 retail points.

In June 2006, Bellora closed down its own manufacturing facility for restructuring initiative. Henceforth the sourcing for the brand will be undertaken from Himatsingka's production facility at Hasan, Karnataka, which has a manufacturing capacity of 200 mn metres.

Continuing its acquisition strategy, Himatsingka is in talks with other bed linen brands in the US and UK, which are expected to be completed in a couple of months. During the quarter ended December 2006, Himatsingka Seide registered total income of Rs. 53 crores with a net profit of Rs. 15 crores.

Read the article in Business Standard.
Related Post: Himatsingka to acquire majority stake in Italian textile brand Bellora

Zicom eyes overseas acquisitions, venture capital funding

Zicom Electronic Security Systems Limited, a Rs. 100 crore, Mumbai-headquartered listed electronic security equipment maker, may conclude two overseas acquisitions, one in China and the other in a nearby country, by May-June 2007.

The acquisitions will be in the range of Rs. 30-35 crores each and will be funded through the company's internal accruals and proceeds of the $11 mn FCCB issue which it had floated in September 2005.

Zicom presently enjoys around an 18% market share in the domestic electronic security equipments segment. Zicom may acquire a 49% stake in a firefighting equipment manufacturing company in a nearby country. The acquired company enjoys an order-book position of Rs. 75 crores and its products will be introduced into the Indian market under the brand name of that company so that the high brand value of Zicom in the Indian electronic security space does not get diluted. In China, Zicom is looking at a JV or a complete buy-out of a firm manufacturing electronic security equipment.

Presently, Zicom sources its components from various players before assembling them into a product. Earlier, this business was mainly restricted to corporates but now it has expanded to cover many other segments as well such as railways, buses, airports and ports which would need highly sophisticated electronic security equipment to meet emerging threats.

The company is also scouting for venture capital funding to fund its retail foray. The company has already opened 11 shops showcasing its products and plans to open 20 more within the next two months.

Read The Economic Times article.

Tata Steel to buy Australian coal mining company

Post its mega-purchase of Corus, Tata Steel may now buy into a coal mine in Australia, as part of a larger strategic plan to scout for global opportunities to secure cheaper raw materials. It is looking at buying possibilities elsewhere across the world too. Tata Steel already has minority stake in a coal mine in Queensland, Australia.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

ICICI Bank to transfer stake in insurance and AMC businesses to new company ICICI Holdings

ICICI Bank will transfer its holdings in its insurance and asset management businesses to a new holding company called ICICI Holdings. The bank would transfer to ICICI Holdings its 74% equity holdings in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company and 51% in Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company and Prudential ICICI Trust to the new entity.

The book value of ICICI Bank's investment in ICICI Prudential Life is Rs. 1300 crores, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Rs. 600 crores and in ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company and the trustee company is about Rs 50 crores.

The decision to move these assets to the new company was prompted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulation that banks can invest a maximum of 20% of their net worth in subsidiary companies.

The bank has applied for approvals from the RBI and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for transferring its stake in the insurance and mutual fund ventures.

ICICI Holdings may consider a public listing of its equity shares at an appropriate time to meet a part of the further capital requirements of ICICI Life and ICICI General. ICICI Bank intends to retain majority ownership in ICICI Holdings.

Read the Business Standard and The Economic Times articles.

Friday, March 2, 2007

Cummins buys out Tata Group’s stake in Tata Holset

The $11.4 bn-Cummins, Inc. will acquire the stake held by the Tata Group companies in Tata Holset, its over 12-year old 50:50 JV for an undisclosed sum. It has been rechristened as Cummins Turbo Technologies. The company manufactures turbo chargers for medium and heavy-duty diesel engines for power generation, off-highway and on-highway vehicles. The Tata stake in the JV was held by Tata Motors, Tata Industries and Tata International.

Cummins recently announced a unified branding strategy to align its family of businesses under the Cummins brand. Following this new initiative, Tata Holset will be renamed and re-branded as Cummins Turbo Technologies.

Cummins, Inc. has another equal joint venture with the Tata Group called Tata Cummins, based in Jamshedpur. It manufactures the Cummins B series of engines and will not be affected by equity changes in Tata Holset / Cummins Turbo Technologies.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

RPG Group to buy out Fujitsu's stake in Zensar Technologies

The Economic Times reportsthat the RPG Group has entered into an agreement with Fujitsu of Japan to buy out the latter's stake in Zensar Technologies Limited. Zensar is a 50:50 IT joint venture between Fujitsu and the RPG Group. The 6.9 mn shares held by Fujitsu will be bought by Jubilee Investment and Industries Limited, an RPG Group company.

Related Posts:
Zensar Technologies buys US-based IT firm ThoughtDigital for $24.9 mn
Fujitsu in talks to buy out Intelenet Global Services, eyes acquisitions in the IT space