Peter Mukerjea’s private equity-funded broadcast venture INX Media officially launched

Two new media companies INX Media Private Limited and INX News Private Limited, promoted by ex-Star CEO Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani, have been officially launched. The full bouquet of channels will include a Hindi entertainment channel, an English news channel, various entertainment channels in regional languages, a music channel and city-specific channels. INX Group promoter Indrani Mukerjea will be chairperson of the venture.

The Hindi general entertainment channel, the music channel and the English news channel will be launched by the last quarter of the year while the other channels will be rolled out over the next two years. Funding for the entertainment company INX Media has come in from Temasek Holdings via Dunearn Investments, New Silk Route, New Vernon, Kotak and SREI Group. The news company, INX News, will be 26% owned by the entertainment company and, in accordance with government regulations, by a single Indian entity drawn from the INX Group. Heading INX News as CEO and editorial head is Vir Sanghvi.

No single fund will own more than 25% of the entertainment channel. A portion of the equity will be kept aside as sweat equity for key employees both in the entertainment and the news companies. The two companies have already applied for necessary permissions.

Kotak Investment Bank is the exclusive adviser to the INX Group on this transaction. Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. are the legal advisers to the group. The investors in INX Media which will have the entertainment and the music channels include Dunearn Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, NSR PE, a fund advised by New Silk Route Partners, New Vernon Private Equity, SREI, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company and Kotak Private Equity and IM Media Private Limited.

Read more in the article on indiantelevision.com.

Private funds invest Rs. 146 crores in Provogue

Private equity funds have invested Rs 146.25 crores in retailer Provogue. Fidelity, New Vernon, Blackstone, Genesis Capital, Artis Capital and Liberty International have picked up 3.25 mn preference shares at Rs. 450 per share. Provogue’s promoters are also subscribing to 1.8 mn warrants at the same price.

The new allotments will push up the company’s total capital to 21.24 mn shares. In this, foreign funds will now hold around 15.30%. Promoters and friends will hold 47.34% and 18.31% diluting their stakes from 51% and 24%, respectively. The foreign investment comes with a one-year lock-in. It comes on the back of JV partner, Liberty International, investing Rs. 202.5 crores for a 25% stake in its retail infrastructure subsidiary, Prozone-Liberty.

Read the article in The Times of India and The Economic Times.

Setco acquires Haldex manufacturing facility in the US for around $5 mn

Clutch manufacturer Setco Automotive has acquired the US manufacturing facility of Haldex Brake Products Corporation for $4.9 mn (around Rs. 22-23 crores). The company has a presence in 14 countries and intends to set up operations in 30 countries in three years. Last year, around the same time, Setco had acquired the Lipe Clutch division of the Dana Corporation for Rs. 16 crores. The acquisition would be funded, 13 crores in part by internal accruals, and Rs. 9 crores by way of debt, provided by the New York branch of Bank of Baroda.

Setco has acquired the company through its overseas subsidiary Setco Automotive NA in the UK.

The company, formerly known as Gujarat Setco Clutch, has posted a net profit of Rs. 5 crores on a total income of Rs. 67 crores last year. Harish Sheth, currently the MD of the company, and his family are the promoters of the company and hold 65% stake. New Vernon Private Equity holds 14% and the rest is widely held by the public. Setco has been a supplier of clutches to all major Indian truck companies including Tata Motors, Eicher and Ashok Leyland.

Read the articles from Business Standard and The Economic Times.