Former Apple Computers and Dell executive in India, Mohan Kharbanda, has joined a US private equity firm, Baird Private Equity. Kharbanda has joined as an entrepreneur-in-residence at the firm’s venture fund division Baird Venture Partners. He will also serve as a member of the business services advisory board for the buyout fund Baird Capital Partners. [...]

The TV18 group is floating a new company to tap opportunities in the booming Indian film industry. The group holding firm, Network 18 Fincap Ltd, is the main sponsor of The Indian Film Company which is getting listed at London’s Alternative Investment Market. The company is expected to raise $110 million from AIM. Network l8 [...]

It looks like there is some action on the expansion stage funding front. Time Technoplast Ltd (TTL), which makes polymer products catering to the industrial and consumer packaging solutions, has raised a total of Rs 38.75 crore ($9.2 million) from two private equity funds - Bangalore-based Zephyr Peacock and from Mumbai-based Motilal Oswal Venture Capital [...]

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Life Sciences (RLS) is turning a venture capitalist, albeit indirectly. The Mumbai-based cutting edge life sciences firm has joined hands with the US-based investment management company MPM Capital to launch an India fund focused on healthcare investing. RLS is making an undisclosed investment in the fund - known as MPM BioVentures IV [...]

“I’m fascinated with airplanes and the airline business, but every time I invest in them I regret it and lose money. I finally set up an 800 number, and every time I feel like buying an airline I call it, and it is a recording of me, telling me not to do it.”
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Finally the last hurdle in the Vodafone-Hutch deal has been cleared. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which approves the foreign direct investment proposals, has given its go-ahead to Vodafone to acquire 52 per cent equity stake in Hutchison Essar.
The deal was held up since the government asked for clarifications on the 15 per cent [...]

Even though the Reserve Bank and the government are apprehensive about more capital flowing to the real estate sector, the deals are happening. Wachovia Corporation, a large US-based diversified financial group, has invested about Rs 234 crore or $57 million in Vipul Ltd, a Gurgaon, Haryana, based real estate group, for a 15 per cent [...]

This just in. IDFC has reportedly picked up the promoters’ stake in Mumbai institutional broking firm SSKI, reports CNBC India, quoting sources. The financial details are not known. With the latest acquisition, IDFC’s stake in SSKI would reach 66 per cent. In September last year, IDFC had picked up 33 per cent stake in SSKI [...]

Deccan Aviation is not out of the woods yet contrary to the optimism shown by the management in the past about an ongoing turn-around. The private equity-backed low cost airline company has posted a loss of Rs 213 crore ($50.7 million) in the quarter ended March 31, 2007. (See BSE filing.)
The company attributes this to [...]

A deal in broking outfit Sharekhan is almost round the corner. Interestingly, it’s an auction and the financial bids are expected to be opened on Saturday April 28, reports The Economic Times.
The report suggests that there are a dozen bidders in the race for a stake in the Mumbai broking firm. They include Goldman Sachs, [...]

When IDFC Private Equity invested $25 million in Sical Logistics, there were several comments posted to this forum criticising the investment decision. They were mostly related to the quality of the management at Sical, and why IDFC PE had gone and put in money in such a firm. It looks like the Mumbai-based fund had [...]

The Television Eighteen (TV18) Group and private equity fund SAIF Partners have formed a 75:25 global joint venture for television channels. This is essentially for the home shopping network business. The Cyprus-based joint venture would be called TV 18 HSN Cyprus. TV18 holding company Network Holdings will retain 75 per cent stake, while the Hong [...]

As real estate IPOs are getting tougher and as commercial banks are tightening their cash flows to the real estate sector, more and more alternative investment funds are being formed to finance the cash-starved property market. Kotak Realty Fund is raising a new $350 million real estate fund, which is expected to close next month, [...]

–Wipro’s plans to make larger acquisitions will gather momentum now. Its past acquisitions have contributed about Rs 500 crore to the revenues (Rs 15,000 crore) of the company in the last financial year. That’s encouraging the Bangalore IT company to enlarge the ticket size of its future acquisitions to $100 million from $30-$60 million in [...]

If the deal goes through, it could be a windfall for Tata Tea - at least from an investment perspective. Beverages giant Coca-Cola is reportedly looking to acquire the US-based energy drink firm Glaceau, in which Tata Tea has 30 per cent stake. The deal could be valued as high as $3 billion, according to [...]