ING Groep NV's (ING) investment management unit said Wednesday it appointed Vineet Vohra as chief executive of its India operations.
He will take over from Kavita Hurry, who has been chief executive since 2002 but is leaving ING to pursue other interests.
Vohra comes to ING from Citibank N.A., where he helped build the firm's wealth management franchise as regional director and business head for Citibank's Asia Pacific Consumer Investments business.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Vulture Funds investing in SMEs
There was an interesting article in the Economic Times on June 13, on how distressed assets funds (also called as Vulture funds) have been attracted to the SME segment in India. Over the past six months, funds specialising in distress assets like ADM, Clearwater, Citadel, Goldman Sachs Special Situations and DE Shaw have invested in such companies.
Spinnaker has invested in Spice Telecom and Clearwater in Sanghi Movers and earlier Diamond Cables. While Asia Debt Management (ADM) has invested in Rama Pulp and Paper, DE Shaw has invested Amar Ujala, Citadel in Aban Lloyd and Goldman Sachs has put in money in Cremica.
Both the SMEs as well as distress funds have their own motives to embrace each other. The SMEs may get funds for working capital from the banks, expansion capital is much more difficult. From a distress funds perspective, there are not enough distress opportunities considering the economy is growing at around 9%. Hence funds are forced to look outside their focus area
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Spinnaker has invested in Spice Telecom and Clearwater in Sanghi Movers and earlier Diamond Cables. While Asia Debt Management (ADM) has invested in Rama Pulp and Paper, DE Shaw has invested Amar Ujala, Citadel in Aban Lloyd and Goldman Sachs has put in money in Cremica.
Both the SMEs as well as distress funds have their own motives to embrace each other. The SMEs may get funds for working capital from the banks, expansion capital is much more difficult. From a distress funds perspective, there are not enough distress opportunities considering the economy is growing at around 9%. Hence funds are forced to look outside their focus area
Read full article
NEA-IndoUS Ventures Fund invests in ISGN Technologies
ISGN Technologies Ltd, a software services firm servicing US funding from mortgage customers, has received $25 million (Rs102.5 crore) venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and an affiliate NEA-IndoUS Ventures Fund, a firm controlled by Vinod Dham, a former engineer who was part of the Intel team that designed the first Pentium chip.
The NEA firms declined to disclose financial terms but said they will pick up equity between 10% and 30% at ISGN. ISGN will use the investment to set up new offices and finance sales and marketing. The revenues of ISGN, backed by India’s K.K. Birla group of companies, as on March 2007 were $30 million. K.K. Birla is the chairman of HT Media Ltd
Firms from the outsourcing industry have attracted significant Private equity interest. Early this year, Adventity, a back office firm specialising in financial services, announced its first round of funding of $20 million from an investment to fund its domestic and oversees group led by Norwest Venture Partners expansion plans.
New Delhi-based Global Vantedge, that had carved a niche in the insurance recovery industry got strategic funding of around $8 million from private equity firm ChrysCapital in 2002, and was acquired by an Essar group call centre company in February 2007.
Indecomm Global Services Ltd, which provides financial services to its clients, received $5 million funding from West Bridge Capital Partners and Acer Venture Capital in 2003.
Source: Mint
The NEA firms declined to disclose financial terms but said they will pick up equity between 10% and 30% at ISGN. ISGN will use the investment to set up new offices and finance sales and marketing. The revenues of ISGN, backed by India’s K.K. Birla group of companies, as on March 2007 were $30 million. K.K. Birla is the chairman of HT Media Ltd
Firms from the outsourcing industry have attracted significant Private equity interest. Early this year, Adventity, a back office firm specialising in financial services, announced its first round of funding of $20 million from an investment to fund its domestic and oversees group led by Norwest Venture Partners expansion plans.
New Delhi-based Global Vantedge, that had carved a niche in the insurance recovery industry got strategic funding of around $8 million from private equity firm ChrysCapital in 2002, and was acquired by an Essar group call centre company in February 2007.
Indecomm Global Services Ltd, which provides financial services to its clients, received $5 million funding from West Bridge Capital Partners and Acer Venture Capital in 2003.
Source: Mint
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Lehman completes a Trimurti of senior hires
Lehman Brothers has made the last in a trimurti of senior hires to its Indian investment banking unit with the appointment of a venture capital specialist Jayanta Banerjee to run its private equity business in the country, as reported by Reuters.
Jayanta Banerjee joins from ICICI Ventures where he was a committee member on India’s largest private equity fund, the $810m India Advantage Fund Series 2.
By hiring Banerjee, Lehman has appointed new heads for its three main growth businesses in India this year. In January the bank hired Surojit Shome as head of investment banking before appointing Pankaj Vaish as head of equities and fixed income markets in April. Both were earlier working with Citigroup.
Banerjee will report to Tarun Jotwani, the chief executive of Lehman’s business in India, and Christopher Manning, head of the bank’s Asia investment management division.
Jayanta Banerjee joins from ICICI Ventures where he was a committee member on India’s largest private equity fund, the $810m India Advantage Fund Series 2.
By hiring Banerjee, Lehman has appointed new heads for its three main growth businesses in India this year. In January the bank hired Surojit Shome as head of investment banking before appointing Pankaj Vaish as head of equities and fixed income markets in April. Both were earlier working with Citigroup.
Banerjee will report to Tarun Jotwani, the chief executive of Lehman’s business in India, and Christopher Manning, head of the bank’s Asia investment management division.
Reliance Cap bitten by the Investment Banking bug
The growth in the Indian Investment Banking field continues to lure more players .
Reliance Capital, having a presence in asset management, retail broking and insurance businesses in the country, now intends to start an investment bank in partnership with a foreign player, reported the Economic Times. Reliance Capital’s vice-chairman Amitabh Jhunjhunwala is said to be overseeing the initiative.
Bear Sterns and Paine Webber are some of the names floating around who could partner Relaince Capital in this venture.
Investment bankers from rival firms believe Reliance Capital can have a significant presence in the investment banking business, given the fact that it holds minority stakes in various companies across sectors, which could lead to securing fund-raising mandates of these companies.
Reliance Capital, having a presence in asset management, retail broking and insurance businesses in the country, now intends to start an investment bank in partnership with a foreign player, reported the Economic Times. Reliance Capital’s vice-chairman Amitabh Jhunjhunwala is said to be overseeing the initiative.
Bear Sterns and Paine Webber are some of the names floating around who could partner Relaince Capital in this venture.
Investment bankers from rival firms believe Reliance Capital can have a significant presence in the investment banking business, given the fact that it holds minority stakes in various companies across sectors, which could lead to securing fund-raising mandates of these companies.
Mickey Mouse meets loverboy Raj
Walt Disney is typing up with the production house of Bollywood showman Yash Chopra (Yashraj Films) to co-produce animated films in Bollywood, as reported by Economic Times.
While the deal is not a joint venture with equity participation, the industry perceives it as the beginning of a relationship that may later culminate in a strategic equity partnership. For Walt Disney, the Indian game plan could be to secure a supply chain so as to make inroads into the local market. Joining hands with an established house would make greater sense in high growth markets.
Amid reports of Yashraj’s tie-up with Disney, rumours are also floating that some private equity players have evinced interest in investing in the production house.
While the deal is not a joint venture with equity participation, the industry perceives it as the beginning of a relationship that may later culminate in a strategic equity partnership. For Walt Disney, the Indian game plan could be to secure a supply chain so as to make inroads into the local market. Joining hands with an established house would make greater sense in high growth markets.
Amid reports of Yashraj’s tie-up with Disney, rumours are also floating that some private equity players have evinced interest in investing in the production house.
ICICI Ventures buys stake in Radiant Research
ICICI Venture has acquired majority control in US-based clinical research company Radiant Research for an undisclosed amount, as reported by Economic Times.
Last year Radiant Research had sold a part of its clinical research business, constituting eight clinical pharmacology centres, to US-based clinical research company Covance for $65 million. With 26 other clinical centres, the current deal could have been valued at $150 million plus.
Apart from clinical centres, Radiant compromises of a full service CRO and a centralised patient recruitment company, employing over 400 clinical research professionals. Radiant Research had clocked revenues of $73.5 million in 2003.
ICICI Venture has multiple exposure in the life sciences business. Its investment portfolio includes Arch Pharmalabs, Malladi Drugs, Bharat Biotech, I-Ven Pharma, RFCL, Metropolis, Perlecan, Avesthagen, Biocon, Medicorp and Intas Pharma.
Last year Radiant Research had sold a part of its clinical research business, constituting eight clinical pharmacology centres, to US-based clinical research company Covance for $65 million. With 26 other clinical centres, the current deal could have been valued at $150 million plus.
Apart from clinical centres, Radiant compromises of a full service CRO and a centralised patient recruitment company, employing over 400 clinical research professionals. Radiant Research had clocked revenues of $73.5 million in 2003.
ICICI Venture has multiple exposure in the life sciences business. Its investment portfolio includes Arch Pharmalabs, Malladi Drugs, Bharat Biotech, I-Ven Pharma, RFCL, Metropolis, Perlecan, Avesthagen, Biocon, Medicorp and Intas Pharma.
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