Baring acquires 12% in Sharekhan

Baring Private Equity beat Merill Lynch to acquire 12% stake in Sharekhan for Rs.240 Cr.

The transaction is mixed secondary sale by Citigroup Venture Capital and additional infusion of capital.Last year, CVC along with IDFC had invested around Rs 650 crore to pick 85% stake in Sharekhan.CVC owns 75% in Sharekhan while IDFC holds 10% and the management and employees hold the remaining 15%.

Last year, CVC and IDFC together had acquired 37% equity owned by Sharekhan promoter Shripal Morakhia while 48% was acquired from other shareholders including GE, Intel Capital and some funds advised by HSBC PE India.

A private equity firm holding substantial equity stake in an unlisted company would be classified as a promoter. If that company goes public, the PE firm’s shares would have a lock-in period and cannot exit for a certain period. This could be one reason why CVC intends to dilute its stake, though it could not be verified independently (We suspect a hole in the books was discovered during due delligence and the promoter asked to make up. I would try to do some molework)

Baring earlier took exposure in the sector picking 44.8% in JRG Securities for $35 million (Rs 140 crore) about a year ago.

Go to Economic Times here

National Investment Fund Declared as QIB

In what could be a slow begining towards an Indian SWF, a SEBI Press release included National Investment Fund (NIF), a fund set up by the Government of India vide Gazette Notification no. F. No. 2/3/2005-DD-II dated November, 23, 2005 in the definition of QIB.

NIF is a fund consisting of the proceeds from disinvestment of Central Public Sector Undertakings, which would invest in equity in accordance with broad investment guidelines provided by the Government of India.

Osian`s sells 9.4% stake to PE firm

Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art will sell 9.4 per cent stake to Abraaj Capital, Dubai-based PE firm, for Rs 80 crore. Arif Masood Naqvi, VCM & group CEO Abraaj, will join the Osian’s board.

The Neville Tuli founded unique private-sector art institution straddling various sectors of art, films and lately, sports.

Osian has an archive of visual and textual material which includes rare etchings, lithographs, maps of India, British Indian photography, popular art, cinema publicity material. Having acquired Minerva theatre in Mumbai in 2006, where it is building Osianama, a museum for cinema and the arts, the company has also ventured into film production.

Osian also has an art fund, floated in 2006, with a corpus of Rs 100 crore. The company is looking at a public listing in 2009.

Osian’s has 48 other stake holders besides Neville, with none holding more than 5 per cent. These include Shiv and Kiran Nadar, Sanjeev Khandelwal, Gautam Thapar, Kumarmangalam Birla, Kito de Boer, Kamal Morarka, Sangita Kathiwada, Jerry Rao, Priya Paul and Ashok Alexander, among others.
“Each has been buying from 2001 when shares started at Rs 30 and thereafter many placements every year at Rs 90, Rs 180, Rs 360, Rs 540, Rs 1,000, Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,600.”

As reported in Business Standard

MFI gets funding from Unitus

MokshaYug Access (MYA) has received funding of Rs 8.35 crore ($2 million) from a private equity fund Unitus Equity Fund L P (UEF), a Unitus entity to support MFIs in Asia & LatAm.

MYA follows dual aim of developing rural entrepreneurial Self Help Groups & through them providing penetration to urban product & service providers.

Segments MYA focusses on are manpower, infrastructure and community participation- that can be used to increase efficiencies in the delivery of services such as dairy farming, livelihoods, healthcare and agribusiness to the rural households.

In 2006, it tied up with ICICI bank on a ‘partnership model’, through which the MFI identified the Self Help Groups (SHGs eligible for the loan. The bank then channeled the loan through the MFI, against 10 % of the amount held as security. This arrangement has been particularly cost-effective for lenders since loan identification, disbursement and recovery aspects are outsourced to MFIs who are know the local market.

PE-VC funds may be deemed FDI

According to a latest draft put up on RBI site for public comment, various classes of investors have been broadened with specific mention of PE & VC funds.

"Secondly, the details of investment received in units of venture capital funds from FVCIs are proposed to be separately captured."

Details of investment received from foreign venture capital investors are also proposed to be captured separately. Part B of Form FC-GPR has been modified to capture details of such foreign investors. The date of filing Part B of the form has been extended from June 30 of every year to July 31.

FDI is permitted under automatic & approval route. An Indian company issuing shares and convertible debentures to non-residents under either route is required to submit details of the investment in a two-stage reporting procedure.

In the first stage, receipt of funds is to be reported to RBI within 30 days. In the second stage, the company has to file Form FC-GPR with RBI within 30 days from the date of issuing shares/convertible debentures.
Form FC-GPR was revised in April 2007 by which remittance receiving Indian banks were required to obtain a KYC report on the foreign investor from the overseas bank remitting the amount.

Go to Financial Express for the complete article

Future Capital picks 70% in Godrej's rural initiative

Future Capital takes a step ahead in it's Rural Retail Masterplan with a 70% stake buyout from Godrej's Aadhar, a part of Godrej Agrovet, which will be spun off into an SPV. The Future Group will intially scale up Aadhar as supply chain of agricommodities. Aadhar may also become a distributor of financial products and consumer finance.

Both Mr. Biyani & Goderej refused to comment on the deal.

About Aadhar

Aadhaar offers an array of products and services to rural households including basic food, grocery, apparel, footwear, furniture, kitchenware, home appliances, banking, postal services and pharmacy. The first Aadhaar outlet opened in December 2003 in Pune district. Since then, 50-60 Godrej Aadhaar Centre outlets have been set up across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and West Bengal. It launched the outlets as a hub-and-spoke model, with 10,000-square foot outlets catering to various consumers in the countryside.

About Godrej Agrovet

Godrej Agrovet is a key player in the farm segment with a large presence in cattle and poultry feeds. In recent months, the group has been evaluating various rural initiatives as part of a larger plan to step up retailing in the hinterlands.

RBI Responds : FOREX Derivative Cap May Arrive

The RBI has called for data from banks to assess their expsoure to FOREX derivatives in domestic & overseas markets.
Local exposure mainly relates to interest rate and currency options and swaps while international investment includes credit derivative structures like credit-linked notes based on foreign currency loans and bonds raised by Indian companies abroad. RBI has asked banks to limit their capital market exposure to 40 per cent of their net worth, with direct exposure limited to 20 per cent.
As part of the proposed valuation norms, RBI could also ask banks to mark to market the derivative portfolio maintained in the held-to-maturity (HTM) category.