Private equity investors to buy 24% in NDTV Networks

A number of private equity investors including Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, etc. would acquire nearly 24% stake in NDTV Networks, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NDTV India, for $120 mn. NDTV Networks is a UK-based company and has five companies in its fold. It holds 100% in NDTV Labs, which will develop market and sell software and technology products; NDTV Imagine, which will operate a non-news Hindi mass entertainment channel; NDTV Lifestyle, which will provide content to TV channels in India and abroad; and NDTV Convergence, which would house all dotcom and mobile properties of the group. NDTV Networks also owns 50% in NDTV Media Services with Genpact for media process outsourcing.

NDTV India controls news channels, NDTV 24×7, NDTV Profit, among others. The company is also believed to have scrapped its initial public offer for the moment and may reconsider it later.

Read the Business Standard article.

Credit Suisse poaches Ritchie Capital senior management for heading Asian private equity ops

Business Standard reports that Credit Suisse has hired Harjit Bhatia from Ritchie Capital to head Credit Suisse Private Equity Asia and has roped in a team of six professionals for the same. The team comprises Hemang Raja, Rakesh Mital, Soma Ghosal Dhar, Isiah Zhang and Imelda Tham. Heath Zarin, who started Credit Suisse’s Asian private equity investment activities, will also be joining the team. Harjit Bhatia, Rakesh Mital, Isiah Zhang and Imelda Tham will be based in Hong Kong, and Hemang Raja and Soma Ghosal will be based in Mumbai.

Harjit Bhatia is joining as managing partner and head of Credit Suisse Private Equity Asia. He was till recently chairman and CEO, Asia Pacific of Ritchie Capital Management in Hong Kong. Hemang Raja and Rakesh Mital are joining as managing directors. Prior to joining Credit Suisse Hemang Raja was the head of India operations for Ritchie Capital. While Rakesh Mital worked closely with Bhatia at Ritchie Capital. Also joining the team are Soma Ghosal Dhar, previously a director at Ritchie Capital in India; Isiah Zhang worked at McKinsey in China prior to joining Ritchie Capital; and Imelda Tham, who worked at the Carlyle Group in Washington DC in real estate acquisitions before Ritchie Capital.

Credit Suisse forms JV with GE for emerging markets infra fund

Zurich-based universal bank Credit Suisse has entered into a joint venture with General Electric (GE) for an infrastructure fund. The fund will invest in emerging markets with a substantial portion devoted for investments in the Indian infrastructure sector. The size of the fund is estimated to be around a $ bn-plus. The fund-raising is currently going on. The announcement of the fund comes in the wake of the resumption of Credit Suisse’s institutional broking business in India, after a gap of six years. Credit Suisse was suspended from trading in India for two years from April 2001 to April 2003 by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for alleged price manipulation.

The bank has roped in the services of V Anantharaman as head of investment banking in India. Mr. Anantharaman was earlier the head of corporate advisory services at Standard Chartered Bank.

Read the Business Standard article.
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Credit Suisse launches Indian brokerage operations

Credit Suisse launches Indian brokerage operations

Zurich-based global bank Credit Suisse has launched of its securities brokerage operations in India. Credit Suisse holds a broker dealer license in the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange and will focus on equity sales and trading and research in India. Initially, the India operations will be run by about 40 people with addition of 20-30 more over the year.

The company would later bring the full range of its products including asset management and private banking as regulations for financial services in India open up. The company would also offer investment banking services in new equity issuance and merger and acquisition activities at a later stage.

Credit Suisse acted as the lead financial adviser to the UK-based steel major Corus in its acquisition by Tata Steel. Credit Suisse is also leading the provision of financing Tata Steel in the deal.

Read The Economic Times article.

T Rowe Price plans mutual fund business in India

T Rowe Price, one of the world’s largest investment management companies, plans to enter the mutual fund business in India. They follow a slew of global asset management companies such as Credit Suisse and JP Morgan eyeing a pie of the country’s booming asset management market. T Rowe Price is already invested in companies such as Bharti Airtel, Balaji Telefilms, Financial Technologies, ICICI Bank and Moser Baer through T Rowe Price New Asia Fund.

T. Rowe Price provides a broad array of mutual funds, sub-advisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans and financial intermediaries. The company also offers a variety of sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools. It manages over $308.1 bn assets combining the assets of T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., T. Rowe Price International, Inc., T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services and T. Rowe Price Global Asset Management. Several global majors are seriously looking at the country’s AMC business, buoyed by the rising stock markets and the low penetration of the mutual fund products among retail investors. Last week, UBS acquired Standard Chartered’s Indian AMC business. Korean company Mirae Assets Group and AIG are also awaiting the regulator approval, as all these companies plan a solo entry into the country.

Read the Business Standard article.

Credit Suisse to raise a $1bn fund to tap Indian realty

Credit Suisse, the Zurich-headquartered financial powerhouse, is planning a dedicated $1 bn fund for investing in the booming real estate sector in India, to be announced in the next financial year. Already, US-based investment banking giants Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have invested heavily in the real estate market in India, with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund recently having struck the largest real estate investment deal worth Rs. 675 crores with Mumbai-based Oberoi Constructions. Goldman Sachs is also planning an investment of $1 bn. Credit Suisse’s $1-bn investment in real estate will be brought in a phased manner by 2010 and will focus on commercial space. High on its priority list are large-format retail malls, two-star and three-star business hotels, healthcare and multi-use office-cum-residential complexes. Sources said the fund will primarily pick equity in ongoing big-ticket projects or those looking for second round of funding to complete their partially operational projects. The fund is unlikely to park money in start-up projects. The fund is also keen on acquiring management stake in some projects post-completion.

Read more in The Economic Times.