After lending to the small and medium enterprises (SME), ICICI bank, the country’s largest private lender will take equity positions in these companies. ICICI Bank is reportedly planning to set up a small and medium enterprises (SME) focussed private equity fund of $200 million. The proposed SME focussed fund would look at sectors like pharmaceuticals, jewellery, textile and capital goods.
ICICI bank has been making private equity investments through its venture arm, ICICI Venture. Now the bank would start taking equity positions in the SME space by itself. Sanjiv Sherawat, head of business banking, ICICI Bank Ltd said that the bank’s SME lending business is growing at a faster rate compared to other businesses. This growing SME lending business would add substantially to the total volume of the bank, he added. Continue Reading »

Banglore-based Lifeblob, a blogging, picture and video sharing engine where all your posts are arranged as a timeline, has received seed capital financing from Seedfund. Lifeblob links the diary entry that you make with the entry of other people mentioned or involved in the event recorded. So your diary entry becomes a part of other people’s post also. Lifeblob, which was showcased at Proto this year, received a thumbs up when reviewed by Clearstone’s Rahul Khanna on VC Circle.
The company has received $1 million in funding, which will be in tranches depending on reaching the given milestones. Pranav Bhasin, one of the co-founders of Lifeblob, confirmed this development to VC Circle. “Now user acquisition is the biggest focus for us. In the next year or so we want to be known as the global company which has an international presence,” said Bhasin. The other co-founders of Lifeblob are Rakesh Rajan and Vishnu GS. Lifeblob, which currently is a team of three people, now plans to build a development team of 6-7 people and also get a product manager on board. Lifeblob also plans to develop Facebook, mobile and desktop applications.
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Bangalore-based online photo printing company Picsquare is going offline. The company has received undisclosed investment from city-based Bhola Digital Lab, an offline photo printing company. Picsquare is a customer of Bhola Digital Labs, which has been using its printing services. With the present investment, it will have both online and offline presence. Picsquare had secured $75,000 seed funding in 2006 via the TiE-EAP program.
The capital raised in this round of funding will primarily be used in deploying latest technologies in design and printing, expanding product portfolio, market reach, business partnership and new market and business opportunities. Picsquare, founded by IIT- Bombay alumnus in 2005, claims to have attracted over 1.5 lakhs users with a very high customer loyalty. Continue Reading »

Private Equity
Sobha Developers To Raise Money From PE Investors via SPV’s: Sobha Developers Ltd, the Bangalore-based developer, is planning to dilute minority stake to private equity investors for projects in Bangalore, Pune and Gurgaon to raise funds.
Gopinath To Raise $200M To Fund Deccan Express Logistics’ Project : Deccan Express Logistics, an air and ground distribution network company formed by Capt. G.R. Gopinath, plans to raise $200 million to fund the project, which is expected to become operational by the first quarter of the next financial year.
Berger Paints Acquires Poland’s Bolix SA From a PE Group : India’s Berger Paints said it has acquired Poland’s Bolix SA, an external insulation finishing system supplier, for an undisclosed sum from Advent International, a private equity group.
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Citigroup - we know this banking giant is too big to fail. But is it also too big to manage?
After being among the biggest casualties of the subprime mortgage-related meltdown in the West, suffering huge write-downs and shedding jobs and non-core operations, Citigroup finally has its reorganization strategy. Citigroup’s Asia business will be split geographically into Japan, North Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia Pacific, and will be divided across seven product groupings. The regional heads will be responsible for all Citigroup’s business within their specific geographic areas. Previously, New York-based Citigroup’s Asia business was led by heads of its institutional clients group, global wealth management and consumer units. Continue Reading »

After equity it is debt financing for SVB in India. The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, SVB Financial Group, has announced opening of its non-bank venture lending operation in India, SVB India Finance Pvt. Ltd. The venture lending arm will provide debt capital to domestic, venture-backed, early and mid-stage, high growth companies in India. SVB is active in India through its venture capital arm, SVB India Capital Partners, where it has made co-investments in companies with other funds.
It also operates a cross-border consulting arm, SVB India Advisors Pvt. Ltd. The new venture lending operation will complement SVB’s venture capital operations in India. The venture lending operations will be headed by Ajay Hattangdi, who was leading Citigroup’s venture lending operations in India. Ash Lilani will serve as the firm’s CEO. SVB opened up offices in Bangalore in 2004 and Mumbai in 2007. Continue Reading »

Exclusive: Delhi-based e-waste management company Attero Recycling Pvt. Ltd has received $6.3 million in series A funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA IndoUS Ventures. Attero was founded in 2007 by the brothers, Rohan Gupta and Nitin Gupta. The company plans to set up an automated Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) processing plant with a recycling efficiency of 98 per cent.
India offers an opportunity for e-waste management companies as the country has become a dumping ground for e-wastes. The IT sector in the country is the largest contributor to e-waste (over 30 per cent) with Bangalore alone generating around 8,000 tonne of e-waste annually. Then there are others like mobile phones and TV sets contributing to the e-waste menace. Continue Reading »

Probably, its time for some activity in the fast growing tea business now. Mumbai based tea company, Sapat International is eyeing the British brands, Whittard of Chelsea and Taylors of Harrogate as potential acquisition targets, reports The Guardian.
Sapat International has parked £20m for these acquisitions, adds the report. After a failed attempt to get Dorset based Clipper in its kitty, the Mumbai based tea-maker looks at other British tea companies. While, Whittard makes over twenty varieties of tea, Taylors has huge overseas business spread over Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Kroatia, Holland, Italy, Japan, Russia, South Korea,Taiwan, Spain and the U.S.A.
Through the acquisitions of these brands, Sapat can leverage the extent of reach of these brands in other markets.
The report quotes Nikhil Joshi, owner Spat International as saying “‘If the product says ‘Made in India’, it won’t make the right impression on the customer”. He added that an English brand like Ahmad Tea or Newby Teas may grow their leaves in India, but they are packaged and sold to the Russians as an English brand. Continue Reading »

UTV Software Communications Ltd., the media and entertainment company, has picked up an 80 per cent stake in California-based gaming company True Games Interactive. The acquisition has been done through its UK-based subsidiary IG Intercative Entertainment, said the company informing the BSE today. True Games is a multi-player online game publisher involved in developing, licencing, aggregating, publishing and distributing of online games.
True Games is working with publishers to license existing online titles and developers to create games for online play. It has tied up with game developer Petroglyph to develop an upcoming free-to-play micro-transaction based online game for the Personal Computer. The company was founded in January this year and plans to release its first title in the beginning of 2009. Continue Reading »

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has acquired a majority stake in the third largest tractor company in China, Jiangsu Yeuda Yancheng Tractor Manufacturing Co Ltd (Yancheng Tractor), for $26 million. Under the terms of the deal M&M and Yancheng Tractor will form a joint venture, which will have assets of $50 million. M&M will hold 51 per cent stake in the venture and Yancheng Tractor will transfer all its tractor related assets and liabilities to the JV company. The transaction has been done by M&M through its subsidiary, Mahindra Overseas Investment Company (Mauritius) Ltd, said the company informing the BSE. M&M chief Anand Mahindra has also said that it is not pursuing the acquisition of Hummer brand.
This will be M&M’s second investment in China. In 2004, M&M had acquired 80 per cent stake in Chinese company Jiangling Tractor, to form Mahindra China Tractors. Mahindra China Tractors has a 12,000 unit capacity and M&M invested $ 8 million in it. Kotak Investment Banking was the financial advisor to M&M and King & Wood, Shanghai was the legal advisor. Continue Reading »

Exclusive: Mumbai based financial services company Edelweiss Capital is learnt to be setting up a private equity fund, and it is understood to have roped in Debi Guha from Government of Singapore Investment Corporation to head up the proposed fund. The size of the proposed fund is not known. Edelweiss nor Guha could not be reached for comments.
Guha is currently a Senior Vice President at GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd, and is based out of Singapore. She was looking after investments in markets like India and Australia. She joined GIC in 1998. Prior to that, Guha was an Assistant Vice President at ICICI Bank looking after project finance and infrastructure finance. Guha, a graduate of Jadavpur University, has done her post graduate diploma in management from IIM Ahmedabad between 1991 and 1993. Continue Reading »

It’s unlikely anyone will complain about liquidity crunch in the stock markets next year. The government has relaxed investment norms for private sector managed provident fund (PF) and superannuation trusts - who manage a combined Rs 5 trillion worth funds of 40 million employees. According to the revised norms, which will come effective from next financial year (April ‘09), they can invest up to 15 per cent of their funds in shares of companies on which derivatives trading is allowed at Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange besides equity-linked schemes of mutual funds. There are about 228 single stock futures traded in the F&O segment of NSE, with 39 more to be added later this month.
This has come even as earlier the government planned to allow these PFs to invest upto 10 per cent(from the existing 5 per cent cap) of their investible funds in shares of companies that had an investment grade debt rating from a credit rating agency. Continue Reading »

Communications and Manufacturing Association of India (CMAI), an association for information & communications technology (ICT) manufacturers, has announced $100 million venture capital fund to promote environment friendly research and manufacturing projects. The funds will be provided to the companies who are into research and manufacturing of telecom and ICT products in an environment conscious manner.
CMAI has also announced a that it will also help select few people from the companies in which the fund invests in and sponsor their training in ICT research and manufacturing in Korea.
CMAI has tied up with Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), an organisation under the Korean Ministry of Information and Technology. Continue Reading »

Policy
Govt Rejects SBI-SocGen JV Proposal For Depository Services
Govt May Have Nixed Jacob Ballas Deal In Devyani International
SEBI Reduces Rights Issue Timelines To 43 Days; QIP Pricing Norms Relaxed

Mergers & Acquisitions
SHCIL, IFCI Offload NSE Shares; Reported Valuation Of NSE $4B
Australia’s IPGA Buys Into Real Estate Portal RealAcres.com
Tesco Finally Gets Indian Partner, Tata’s Trent
Auto Componet Maker Federal-Mogul To Acquire 51% Stake In Perfect Circle
Tata Capital In Tie Up With Mitsubishi UFJ Securities For I-Banking, Equity Offerings
Fortis HealthWorld Acquires Pharma Retail Chain CRS Health
RIL Partners With Vornado For $500-M Real Estate Investment Firm
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Global buyout fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR), which recently decided to list on the NYSE, has said it is considering investing in infrastructure sector in India and China. The leveraged-buyout firm run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts said in an SEC filing that as a part of its growth initiative, it plans to expand into areas such as mezzanine financing, real estate and infrastructure. KKR said that though emphasis will be on infrastructure investments in OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) economies, India and China will also be in investment destinations. (See KKR’s global portfolio after the jump)
KKR entered in India a couple of years ago by buying out Flextronics Software, which was renamed as Aricent Technologies, for $900 million in the largest leveraged buyout in India. Earlier this year, it also made a strategic investment of $250 million in Bharti Infratel Ltd, the tower arm of India’s largest private sector telco Bharti Televentures. The firm has put fair value of these two investments as $463 million, according to the disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Continue Reading »