Exclusive: Ajay Relan, the former Managing Director of Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI) in India, is believed to have roped in Morgan Creek Capital as an anchor investor in his soon-to-be floated private equity fund. The US-based investment firm is said to be investing $100 million in Relan’s fund, independent sources told VC Circle.
Sources also said Relan has roped in Amit Bhatiani, a senior New York based hedge fund manager as a partner in his fund. Relan, in an interview to VC Circle, confirmed the appointment of a senior partner, however, refused to name him nor the anchor investor in the fund. Bhatiani has been a Partner at Duma Capital, a New York based hedge fund, while prior to that he was a portfolio manager at Clinton Group.
Relan told VC Circle: “We are getting a partner from New York who has experience in investing in public markets. I have known him for the last 10 years. It’s important to have fresh blood in the company.” Relan recently quit CVCI after about 13 years of service to start his own fund. He is joined by another CVCI hand Jayanta Basu who will also be a partner. Relan said there will be three partners, one principal and two analysts. Continue Reading »

Bangalore-based early stage technology focused venture capital firm Ojas Venture Partners has made a venture capital investment in city based Mango Technologies. The company provides application framework and user interface solutions to ultra-low cost phones (below Rs 2,000). Mango has developed a thinnest modular application & UI framework, which considerably reduces engineering effort and time spent on development and integration. “Mango Technologies is hardcore product technology company,” said Rajesh Srivastha, Managing Partner, Ojas Venture Partners, confirming the development to VC Circle. The terms of the investment and the size of the transaction remain undisclosed. Continue Reading »

Private equity firm New Silk Route Advisors has bought the UK investment group Dawnay Day’s stake in its Indian business, Dawnay Day AV India for about Rs 200 crore, reports Mint. The sale includes Dawnaday International’s 50 percent stake in the Indian venture and the employee trust’s 25 percent holding as well. The deal includes only the stock brokerage and third party distribution business. It does not include its financial research arm, Dawnay Day AV Analytics Pvt. Ltd and Dawnay Day Hotels India Pvt. Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Dawnay Day International. Continue Reading »

Bangalore-based online DVD rental company Seventymm Services Pvt Ltd has received $12.5 million (Rs 50 crore) from NEA Indo US Ventures. This will be the third round of funding for Seventymm, which now has a total capital of around $22 million. While DFJ with ePlanet Ventures had invested $2 million in 2005, the rest was raised from Matrix Partners in 2006. NEA Indo-US Ventures’ MD Ms Vani Kola will be joining the Seventymm board, according to this report. Last year Seventymm had acquired Delhi-based online DVD rental firm Madhouse, which had received angel investment of $228,000.
There is a lot competition in the DVD rental segment in India with entry Reliance ADAG’s Big Flix and Nimbus Communication’s Showtime. ADAG was also reported to be in talks to buyout Seventymm after it made its entry into the DVD rental segment. Nimbus communications also made an entry into this segment in May this year with their entertainment rental and sale business called Showtime. Then there is also Moser Baer, who has released DVD and VCD movies at a price of Rs 34. Continue Reading »

Mergers & Acquisitions
Kirloskar Acquires Two Companies In Germany: Kirloskar Electric Co. has picked up
stakes in two German firms. It will buy about 95 per cent in German manufacturing firm Lloyd Dynamowerke GmbH & Co and 100 per cent in Lloyd Beteiligungs GmbH from CMP Fonds I GmbH. The acquisitions will be done through its wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands, it said in a statement.
Arcelor Mittal Buys London Mining Brasil : ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steel producer, has agreed to buy iron ore miner London Mining Brasil for up to $810 million to help improve its self-sufficiency in raw materials.
Axill Europe Acquires Reuters London’s High End Data Centre : Axill Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hyderabad-based technology, e-commerce and online advertisement solutions provider Northgate Technologies, has acquired Reuter’s London-based high-end data centre infrastructure with over 8,000 sft area for an undisclosed sum. Continue Reading »

Matrix Partners India has made a Series-A investment of $7 million (Rs.30 crores) in pre-school educator Tree House Education and Accessories Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai-based Tree House claims to be the largest non-franchised, branded pre-school educator in the country and currently operates more than 45 pre-schools in Mumbai. With the current round of funding, Tree House plans to expand and open centers all over the country.
“The pre-school education market is upward of a billion dollar size in India. It is largely fragmented and there is huge scope to scale the company. Also, there is a great need for standardised quality education in the pre-school segment at an affordable price, with a clear focus on early childhood care,” said Rajesh Bhatia, MD, Tree House Education. Continue Reading »

Ambit Holdings Pvt. Ltd., Ashok Wadhwa’s financial services arm, has appointed Nikhil Puri as he Managing Director for Ambit Corporate Finance. Ambit Corporate Finance is a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm. Puri was previously working as Managing Director in the Global Industries Group. There his work involved accomplishing client and coverage related responsibilities across the healthcare, specialty chemicals and FMCG sectors. Puri has spent the last 12 years working with leading global investment banks such as Lehman Brothers and Bear
Stearns. Continue Reading »

Chennai-based Basiz Fund Services Pvt Ltd, a KPO offering investment accounting services for mutual, hedge and private equity funds, has recieved $2 million (Rs 8.5 crore) in funding from NEA-IndoUS Ventures. Basiz has offices in Chennai, Mumbai and Dubai and is a subsidiary of recently listed Vishal Information Technologies Ltd. Vishal is in turn a subsidiary of Tutis Technologies Limited. The funds will be used for capacity augmentation, infrastructure expansion and for opening new international offices to support the company’s existing and new clients.
Basiz provides services in areas such as investment accounting, partnership accounting, portfolio accounting, consulting support, investment account for insurance portfolio and managed accounts. The funds business is headed by A.V. Seshadrinathan, chartered accountant by profession. He has previously worked with Fortis Fund Services and US-based BPO InterPro Global. Continue Reading »

The board of Balaji Telefilms Ltd has approved an agreement with Rupert Murdoch’s Star Group, under which their agreement entered in 2004 has been terminated. Under the 2004 agreement, Star had bought 26 per cent stake in Balaji through its affiliate Asian Broadcasting FZ-LLC (ABF) for Rs 123 crore.
Also Balaji has agreed to purchase Star’s 26 per cent stake at a price of Rs 190 per share, which amount to a total of Rs 322 crore, the company said informing the Bombay Stock Exchange. This should be done within the next 240 days, failing which Star would be free to sell it to any others except a competitor.
Both the companies have also agreed to pull out of their joint venture signed by them to to launch regional south Indian channels. It has also been reported that Star is signing a joint venture with Kerala-based broadcaster Asianet to launch regional channels. The content agreement between Star and Balaji will not be affected by this agreement. While BMR Advisors were the advisers to Star for this agreement, Balaji was advised by Ambit Corporate Finance. Continue Reading »

Policy
Cap On Single Holding In Exchanges Go To 15% - Market regulator SEBI is examining a proposal to raise the equity holding limit in stock exchanges from 5 per cent to 15 per cent. The revised cap would be applicable for single investors, both local and foreign, reports Economic Times. The proposal is being examined by both SEBi and government to foster competition among bourses to prevent a monopoly.
TRAI Drops Carrier Access Code - The telecom regulator has decided against implementing the carrier access code (CAC), reports Financial Express. The official announcement is expected today stating that as long-distance (STD and ISD) tariffs are already quite low, there’s no need for CAC.
Continue Reading »

Indian venture fund Nexus India Capital Advisors has raised its second fund of $220 million. Nexus, which has fully committed its first fund of $100 million raised in 2006, will retain its policy of investing in early stage companies in the second fund too, Suvir Sujan (right), Co-founder and Managing Director of Nexus India Capital, told VC Circle in an interview. The fund was founded by Sujan, a former founder of Baazee.com (later sold to eBay India), Silicon Valley entrepreneur Naren Gupta and Sandeep Singhal of formerly e-Ventures India.
The fund will invest anywhere from $1 million to $10 million in companies belonging to sectors such as business & consumer services, clean technology, technology and media. Sujan said they will invest the second fund in 25 companies over the life of the fund. Nexus already has 15 companies in its first fund portfolio of which four were bought out from the now-closed-down e-Ventures India at cost price. Continue Reading »

International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private equity arm of the World Bank, has exited its investments in Dabur Pharma with 41 percent return (not factoring in dividend payout) over a three year period. This translates into a compounded annual growth rate of 12.31 percent.
The exit is believed to be linked to the open offer by German pharma company Fresenius Kabi, which acquired majority control in the company from the Burmans of the Dabur Group early this year.
IFC had picked the stake through a preferential allotment in June 2005. It had picked 12.145 million shares at a price of Rs 54 per share translating into an investment of Rs 65.58 crore.
It has now sold its entire 7.75 percent stake in an off-market deal worth Rs 92.9 crore i.e. a per share value of Rs 76.5, which is the open offer price of Fresenius Kabi. Last month, another institutional investor in the firm LIC had sold its entire 1.67 percent stake at the open offer price. Continue Reading »

Milestone Capital Advisors, the private equity fund which was till now focused on the real estate and infrastructure sector, has launched $150 million (Rs 600 crore) India Build Out Fund-I (IBF-I), which will invest in sectors such as education and media & entertainment. The fund also has a green shoe option of $50 million (Rs 200 crore).
The majority of investments of the fund will be in education service providers focusing on K-12, finishing schools, test preparations, colleges, and so on. The fund will also invest in ancillary companies involved in sectors such as domestic consumption plays, physical infrastructure build-out and skills infrastructure build-out.
Milestone has hired Rajesh Singhal (pictured), who was working as associate director with Intel Capital, to spearhead IBF-I. Singhal joined Milestone in May this year as a Managing Partner and has over 13 years of knowledge in the industry. Singhal, who was with ICICI Bank before Intel Capital, has made investments such as NIIT Technologies and BPO Nipuna Systems. Continue Reading »

One of the world’s largest law firms, UK-based Clifford Chance, has recruited Rahul Guptan, a senior partner from India’s leading law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. Guptan was heading the firm’s capital markets practice. He also has experience in takeovers, privatisation, joint ventures, private equity investments and general corporate law. Guptan will be based in Clifford Chance’s Singapore office. He joined Amarchand & Mangaldas in 1999 and was appointed partner in April 2006.
“We have a thriving practice and our clients’ demand for advice on Indian transactions grows daily. Rahul’s appointment is a natural step in our plans to enhance further our service to those clients,” said David Dunnigan, Head of Clifford Chance’s Capital Markets practice. This appointment follows the launch of firm’s launch of securities and capital markets group in Singapore at the beginning of the year. Continue Reading »

Call it India’s Communications Revolution V 2.0. After the government came out with norms for the launch of next generation phone services through 3G, now it is also on the verge of fully ushering in internet telephony in the country. The telecom regulator has removed restrictions on net telephony which allows internet service providers (ISPs) to terminate voice calls from the net on the phone.
Put simply it makes voice calls interoperable between mobile handset (VOIP- voice internet protocol– enabled) and a personal computer (PC). To be fair, some firms have already been offering such services in India, through the illegal route. It basically stumps the illegal operators.
Consumers would be able to make calls from PCs to fixedline and mobile phones in India. They can also make a call to personal computers from their handsets. Continue Reading »