TCI exploring financing options for Rs 450 cr expansion

Transport Corporation of India (TCI), an integrated supply chain and logistics solutions provider, is considering a private equity placement to fund its Rs 450 crore expansion plans, reports Business Standard.

The company is also exploring qualified institutional placement (QIP) mechanism and foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), besides private equity placement.

The company will raise Rs 125 crore through equity, Rs 129 crore through debt and the balance via internal accruals.

The funds will be utilized for expanding the capacity of its various divisions in the next four years. The company plans to invest Rs 150 million for expanding its warehousing capacity, Rs 100 crore for acquiring one ship and Rs 500 million in wind power generation.

As part of future plans, it is also looking to diversify its business into running container trains, following the relaxation of container rail operations by the railways.

Read article from Business Standard

UB builds war chest of $500 mn-$1 bn for overseas acquisitions

United Breweries (UB) has allocated $500 mn to $1 bn for overseas acquisitions, an important part of its growth strategy, said UB Group President & CFO Mr. Ravi Nedungadi. Mr. Nedungadi said so in the post-meeting address to the media, on the occasion of group company Shaw Wallace’s 60th AGM.

Mr. Nedungadi’s remark is to be seen in the light of reports of UB trying to acquire Scottish firm Whyte & Mackay. Mr. Nedungadi neither confirmed nor denied developments with regards to this issue.


Read The Economic Times article for more details.

OnMobile buys out ITFinity

OnMobile, a provider of ring tones and mobile-commerce services, has made a 100% buyout of ITFinity, reports The Economic Times. ITFinity is a specialist software company. The transaction value is around $15-20 mn.

The investors of ITFinity represent a who’s who of the private equity world. These include Rajat Gupta of McKinsey & Co, Ashish Dhawan of ChrysCapital, Luis Miranda of IDFC, Mumbai-based Edelweiss Capital and Rajesh TS Reddy, former founder of Unimobile.

OnMobile has the backing of IT giant Infosys. In October 2006, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon Investment Partners acquired a 10% stake in OnMobile for about $27.8 mn, valuing the company at $270 mn.

M&M, TAFE eye Actis’ 29% in Punjab Tractors

Actis’ 29% stake in India’s most profitable farm tractors and forklifts company, Punjab Tractors Limited (PTL), is probably up for sale. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Tractor & Farm Equipment (TAFE) seem to be the interested parties. The Burman family of the Dabur group, which holds 14% in PTL, may also exit along with Actis.

Actis’ stake is valued at Rs. 410 crores, but the buyer may also have to pay a control premium. It would also have to make an open offer to the remaining shareholders.

Read the complete Economic Times article.

3i Infotech eyes companies with products in insurance

3i Infotech is looking for acquiring companies with software products in the life insurance or trade finance verticals. 3i Infotech, formerly known as ICICI Infotech, is a leading provider of software and IT solutions, including packaged applications for the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, and retail and distribution industries. It has already made 19 acquisitions so far, having bought, earlier this year, majority stake in Professional Access and E-Enable.

The company is also keen to acquire domestic Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms that offer expertise cheque truncation, credit verification, soft recovery and soft collections. The company is in preliminary stages of talks with potential candidates.

For more details, read The Economic Times article.

ICICI Ventures plans bigger investments

Dec 26, 2006

ICICI Ventures, the private equity arm of ICICI Bank, and one of India’s leading private equity firms, is planning to raise the size of investments, to counter competition from other PE firms, banks, securities markets, hedge funds and other investment sources to fund Indian companies as accelerating economic growth pushes up stock valuations. Where earlier the size of investments would range around $25-30 mn, the firm now intends to buy stake as large as $125 mn.

More on this on Bloomberg.com.

Mumbai-based Rama Pulp and Paper acquires newsprint company

Mumbai-based cultural and specialty paper maker Rama Pulp and Papers is acquiring a newsprint company for Rs. 60 crores. The deal will be funded by an undisclosed foreign fund. Rama Pulp has declined to name the target company and the foreign fund owing to confidentiality clauses.

The fund will provide Rs. 50 crores for the acquisition while the rest will come from the company’s internal accruals.

Opportunities in newsprint and its low costs have attracted foreign players too, with majors such as Stora Enso and UBA mulling options to build a plant in India mainly to cater to the local market.

Of late, foreign funds’ interest in the Indian paper sector has been growing steadily. IFC, the investment arm of the World Bank is already in collaboration with West Coast Paper, JK Paper and AP Paper. Other firms like Goldman Sachs are more keen on picking up equity stakes in Indian paper companies as an 8% growth in the local economy makes paper all the more attractive.

Read the complete article from The Economic Times.