ChrysCapital picks up 15% stake in telecom firm Spanco Telesystems

Networking and system integration company Spanco Telesystems has diluted a stake of 15% stake to private equity firm ChrysCapital. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

Spanco expects to benefit from the domestic IT spend by telecom service providers, defence, state governments as they roll out networks, including SWANs for e governance initiatives. The company has grown revenues and profits at a CAGR of 60% and 108%, respectively over the previous three years and is well positioned to continue on its growth path paved with new initiatives in the arenas of RFiD and enhanced presence in the European and Middle Eastern markets. It has recently been awarded a 10-year, nation-wide outsourcing contract from Indian Railways.

Read The Economic Times article.

ChrysCapital to invest for $60 mn for 12% in Hathway Cable

Homegrown private equity major ChrysCapital may acquire about 10-12% stake in Rajan Raheja Group-controlled Hathway Cable for $60 mn. If the deal sails through, Raheja’s stake will be reduced to about 62-64%, while Star TV will continue to maintain its 26% holding in the company.

Talks between the two parties are at an advanced stage and the deal is likely to take place shortly. In January, Singapore-based PE fund Temasek Holdings bought 10% stake in Tata Sky, the joint venture between the Tata Group and Star TV, for Rs. 250 crores.

Delhi-based ChrysCapital manages $1 bn across four funds. Its investment portfolio includes Idea Cellular, UTI Bank, Suzlon, Yes Bank, Moser Baer and ING Vysya Bank.

Read the Indiantelevision.com article.
Related Post:
Temasek Holdings buys 10% in Tata Sky for Rs. 250 crores; values the DTH provider at Rs. 2500 crores

ChrysCapital sells Global Vantedge BPO to Essar-owned Aegis Communications

ChrysCapital has sold one of its portfolio companies, Global Vantedge, a credit and receivables management BPO to the Essar-owned Aegis Communications for around Rs. 100 crores. ChrysCapital had set up the Global Vantedge in 2001 and owned 75% in the firm. Global Vantedge is headquartered in the US and employs around 1500 people in two centres in Gurgaon. It specializes in credit and receivables management and its customers include credit card, telecom and auto companies, mostly in the US and UK.

Aegis has a turnover of around $180 mn and employs over 9000 people in India and USA, operating from 24 centres and 18 cities around the world. It offers multi-channel customer relationship management services including customer acquisition and customer services, back office services, as well as value-added services. These services are offered across verticals such as telecom, retail, financial services, energy, education and logistics. The credit and receivable management services of Global Vantedge will strengthen Aegis’ customer relationship management portfolio. Essar and Deutsche Bank had bought 80% share in Texas-based Aegis Communications for $28 mn in November 2003. Subsequently, the Essar Group increased its stake in the company.

Read The Economic Times article.

Merrill Lynch, ChrysCapital invest in Shriram City Union

Chennai-based Shriram City Union, the financial services arm of the Shriram Group has received private equity funding of Rs. 192 crores from Merrill Lynch, ChrysCapital and Cambridge Place Investment Management. The investors have picked up a 30% stake in the company by way of buying 40 lakh shares each at a price of Rs 160 a share.

The Shriram City’s equity capital base would increase to Rs. 43 crores from Rs. 27.1 crores, and promoters’ holding would come down to 54% from 73.37%. Spark Capital facilitated the deal.

Shriram City reported a net profit of Rs. 22.34 crores in the half year ended 30 September 2006 on a total income of Rs. 143.75 crores against PAT of Rs. 14.81 crores on income Rs. 94.03 crores during the same period last year. On BSE, it closed at Rs. 160.05 a share down 0.22% from the previous close of Rs. 160.40 a share.

The Shriram Group companies have been attracting a lot of private equity funding of late. Its engineering company Shriram EPC has attracted financing from TPG Newbridge, UTI Venture Funds, Bessemer Ventures, ChrysCapital are some of the PE firms that have been investing in the Shriram Group companies.

Read The Economic Times article.

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.

UTI VF invests $10 mn in Shriram EPC

UTI Venture Funds has invested $10 mn in Shriram EPC. Shriram EPC operates in the high-end engineering services sector and offers multi-disciplinary design, engineering, procurement, construction and project management services to sectors such as power, metallurgical, pipelines for water system and cooling towers.

Shriram EPC had earlier received Rs. 30 crores and Rs. 100 crores from ChrysCapital and Bessemer Venture Partners, respectively.

UTI Ventures had previously invested in this sector by way of investing Consolidated Construction Consortium which is into urban infrastructure.

UTI Ventures has been furiously investing from its Rs. 700-crore fund. During November itself, the company invested around $30 mn in 3 companies including Koutons Retail, VKL Spices and Laqshya, an outdoor media company.

Read the Business Standard article for more details.

Yes Bank gets Rs. 120 crores from Swiss Re

Leading global re-insurer, the Zurich-based Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re) has bought a 3.57% strategic stake in the domestic private sector Yes Bank. Swiss Re has provided an equity infusion of Rs. 120 crores ($26.5 mn) by way of private placement. The paid-up share capital of the bank has now increased to Rs. 280 crores and the total capital base, including Tier-I & Tier-II capital, has now crossed the Rs. 1,000-crore mark.

Post- issue, the promoters’ holding will come down to 37.2% from 38.6%. Rabobank’s stake will fall to 19.3% from 20% and the holding of private equity investors including Citicorp International, Russell AIF and ChrysCapital to 17.9% from 18.5%.

Yes Bank plans to raise $150 mn of capital by March 2007.

For more, read the following Business Standard article.