Mid-cap PE fund Aureos Capital to acquire strategic minority stake in telecom firm Ordyn Technologies for $8-10 mn

Aureos Capital, a global mid-cap private equity fund managing small and medium enterprise (SME) assets worth over $600 mn worldwide, will make its third Indian investment by acquiring a strategic minority stake for $8-10 mn in Bangalore-based, six-year old telecom equipment company Ordyn Technologies. Aureos’ investment is part of Ordyn’s fund-raising to bolster its R&D. Aureos is leading the investment into the company with India Infoline pumping in another $3-4 mn (Rs. 20 crores).

Ordyn offers product line in the optical networking space, a niche area but big enough for nearly 3-4 large players. Tejas Networks is the only other Indian player in this market, competing with global players like Huawei, Febcom among others. Ordyn with a client list that include names like Reliance, Ericsson and Nokia raked in revenues of Rs. 55 crores in its first commercial year FY 2007 and hopes to cross Rs. 200 crores by FY 2009.

Ordyn intends to use the proceeds of this round of funding for scaling up its operations including increased R&D for designing next generation products and for expanding its international operations. The company currently spends Rs. 15-20 crores in R&D initiatives.

Read The Economic Times article.

Merrill Lynch eyes stake in India Infoline distribution arm

US-based brokerage and investment bank Merrill Lynch has initiated talks with India Infoline for acquiring a significant stake in its distribution subsidiary, India Infoline Distribution Company Limited (IILD). Merrill had recently hiked its stake in India Infoline to 14.10%. It may pick up to 26% in IILD for over Rs. 150 crores. In December 2006, India Infoline sold its stake in the subsidiary Khambhat Investment & Trading Company Private Limited, a non-banking finance company, to Merrill Lynch.

Merrill Lynch plans to enter into the Indian mortgage business, and is accordingly planning a tie-up with India Infoline for the same. The company expects to create synergies with India Infoline as it has a wide retail network of over 200 branches. IILD, apart from the distribution of financial products such as mutual funds, IPOs and fixed deposits, also distributes mortgages and loan products.

Read more in the article in Business Standard.

Merrill Lynch may up stake in India Infoline from current 14.1%

Merrill Lynch may acquire an additional stake in equity brokerage and financial services company India Infoline, over and above the 14.1% stake currently in the company. Merrill presently is negotiating with the company’s promoters.

If Merrill buys a further stake in India Infoline and its shareholding goes above 15%, it will have to make an open offer to the brokerage firm’s shareholders to pick up an additional 20%. At present, the promoters hold 36% stake, which is valued at about Rs. 600 crores at current market prices. The current market capitalization of India Infoline is Rs. 1670 crores. The deal would mark the entry of Merrill Lynch into retail brokerage business in India.

Read The Economic Times article.

India Infoline, BoB enter e-broking deal

The Economic Times reports that Mumbai-based broking firm India Infoline (IIL) has entered into an alliance with Bank of Baroda (BoB) to offer e-broking services to the bank’s customers. The alliance aims to provide various products and services under wealth management, along with research and analysis services to the bank’s customers. The service has been named as ‘Baroda e-trading’. It includes multiple options to customers for trading in equity shares (online and off-line) on both exchanges, in the cash as well in derivatives segments. The tie-up will help IIL reach out to the large customer base of the bank in states like Gujarat and Maharashtra. IIL has a daily traded turnover of Rs. 1000 crores and annual traded turnover of about Rs. 250,000 crores. It has a client base of 200,000 and employee strength of over 12,000. Currently, it is earning revenues of about Rs. 1 crore daily.