Jet to raise capital through PE route

India’s largest private airline Jet Airways is in negotiations with private equity players Blackstone, TPG Capital and Temasek for raising Rs 400-450 crore reported the Economic Times.

The company is raising money for meeting the operational expenses of running the loss-making Air Sahara, which it recently acquired. The operational expenses for Jet are huge since Air Sahara is not very profitable. Reportedly TPG Capital is looking to co-invest along with Singapore-based fund Temasek, while Blackstone is considering going solo.

The promoters currently hold 80% stake in the company which will come down proportionately along with the other shareholders’ stake. The private equity investor may take 8-9% stake.

Jet Airways recently acquired Lucknow-based Air Sahara in a deal valued at Rs 2,300 crore. While Jet had paid Rs 400 crore upfront, it will pay Rs 550 crore in four annual instalments, starting next year. Air Sahara will be renamed JetLite and will be a 100% subsidiary of Jet Airways.

Related Articles:
Jet Airways to buy Air Sahara for around Rs. 1450 crores
Jet Airways seeking $400 mn via private equity

Navis Capital Partners approach Pritish Nandy for buying stake in his company

Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) is considering to offer a small stake in the company to private equity (PE) funds . Navis Capital Partners is among the firms that has approached Mr Nandy. KPMG is handling the valuation and the due diligence process that is likely to get over in the next 3-4 weeks.

PNC is looking to release a slate of six movies this year, and is hoping to ramp up its production to about 10 movies annually in the next couple of years. The company is also eyeing the new media space, to look at alternate revenue streams via internet, mobile phones and cable television.

Navis Capital is a Malaysia-based PE player founded in 1998 to make investments in buyouts, recapitalisations and financial restructuring in Asia. The firm focuses on enterprises in Asia, particularly South and Southeast Asia. The firm manages approximately $ 1.5 billion in capital commitments.

PNC has just finished a qualified institutional placement (QIP) that saw the promoter’s stake falling from 41% to 30%. According to PNC’s latest shareholding pattern, Mr Nandy holds 21.79% while his wife holds around 4.32%. His daughters collectively hold less than 1%. Among the non-promoters, some firms from Mauritius hold nearly 7% in the company.

Argonaut leads $80 million funding of Cordy’s

Cordys Holding B.V., provider of industry-leading business process management suite (BPMS) enterprise software, announced the successful completion of $80 million equity financing representing the singlw largest round of funding for an independent, private BPMS vendor.

Argonaut Private Equity led the round with an investment of $67 million securing a ‘significant minority stake’ in the company, which could be anywhere between 20 and 33 percent.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, Cordys is a global company with over 520 employees in offices in the Americas, Europe, China and India. Cordys currently employs 250 people at its Asia development centre in Hyderabad which is the key to its ability to compete with larger incumbents,

With more than $2 billion under management, Argonaut Private Equity is a diversified global private equity fund. ‘This investment in Cordys demonstrates Argonaut’s commitment to investing in high potential business with strong ties to India,’ said Gagan Kapur, vice president, Argonaut Private Equity. With the investment in Cordys, the total investment by Argonaut in India has reached $170 million in diverse markets.

BMPS’ are the next generation of BPM software. BMPS’ pull together a broader set of tools to provide end-to-end lifecycle support of the business process all within a single model that is shared by all its enabling technologies.

Deloitte launches dedicated private equity practice in India

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited is launching a dedicated private equity practice in India, to be called as Deloitte Corporate Finance Services India Private Limited. Deloitte Corporate Finance will work closely with the Asia Pacific regional practice, UK & US member firms of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and the rest of the DTT network.

Deloitte Corporate Finance will address the needs of the growing private equity market and provide investors with transaction-related services across the complete deal cycle from origination to completion. The team comprises professionals with significant experience in the global mergers and acquisitions and private equity services business and is led by Sandeep Gill, Managing Director and Bimal Modi, Director, who prior to transferring to India, were part of the corporate finance practice of Deloitte & Touche in London.

Deloitte Corporate Finance plans to address the needs of the fast-growing private equity market in India by providing specialist services which include due diligence, bid support,
sale and purchase agreement advisory and completion accounts work.

Read the pres release here.

London-based PE fund Promethean Investments initiates Promethean India with the Dabur Group; appoint ex-ITV chairman Peter Burt

Sir Peter Burt, ex-chairman of ITV, will become chairman of Promethean India, a new India-focused private equity fund, a spin-off of the Promethean private equity vehicle run by his son, Michael. The new fund will be listed on London Stock Exchange’s AIM market and is understood to have investors such as Bank of Scotland and Alliance Trust. Insinger de Beaufort has been appointed advisor to the company.

Promethean India will become the latest in a string of companies to tap the London markets for cash earmarked for India. It will be run by Mohit Burman, a member of the Dabur Group, which houses the Burman family’s business interests, such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and retail.

Mohit’s brother, Gaurav, plays a senior role at Promethean Investments in London, and will also be involved in the running of Promethean India, which will be based in offices in Delhi and Mumbai. The fund is understood to have a pipeline of potential deals. It will also target Indian firms in need of operational or financial restructuring and others which are domestically focused but which have potential for international expansion.

Read the article in The Telegraph.

Sharekhan to sell stake to private equity players

Sharekhan, the retail broking arm of the Mumbai-based SSKI Group, is raising funds from private equity players to finance its expansion. A few private equity players have already started due diligence on Sharekhan. However, there seem to be conflicting reports as to how much stake will be diluted.

As per Business Standard reports, the retail brokerage company may dilute close to 15% stake, as per Shripal Morakhia, promoter of Sharekhan. This will result in a dilution of stakes of all existing shareholders. The company is not disclosing the amount it is planning to raise. At present, the Morakhias hold 37% stake in Sharekhan, while its employees hold 15% and the rest is held by General Atlantic, Intel Capital and a group of funds advised by HSBC Private Equity India. In April 2006, General Atlantic invested about Rs. 144 crores ($31 mn) in the company through a combination of primary and secondary investments through buying out the entire shareholding of First Carlyle Ventures. Sharekhan is looking at expanding its presence in the country through organic growth. It is among the top five retail brokerage outfits in the country with over 100 branches across 150 cities.

Meanwhile, The Economic Times says that the promoters of Sharekhan are looking to dilute a majority stake (around 51%) to a strategic investor. The company is valued at around Rs. 750-850 crores and a 51% stake will be valued at Rs. 375-425 crores. The company is said to be in talks with a few investors and is considering all options including selling a majority stake to an investor or selling the entire company, according to Sharekhan CEO Tarun Shah. It is being said that Credit Suisse is one of the interested parties.

JM Financial’s Infinite India to invest $400 mn in Indian real estate

Infinite India Investment Management, a private equity initiative anchored by the JM Financial Group, has launched a real estate fund. The fund plans to invest $400 mn in residential, commercial and retail sectors. Kartik Sharma, the Chief Investment Officer at Infinite India reveals that his decision is based on the fact that fundamental demand drivers in the realty sector are very strong, with respect to job creation and housing demand.

Kartik Sharma’s view of the Indian real estate market and opportunities:

On avenues of investment – Tier I and Tier II markets, where they have already made 5 investments; with capital being relatively tight in the market, in terms of debt capital and IPO action likely to be relatively slow for a little while, optimistic about private equity funds in providing finance for various real estate development projects

On direct participation in projects or backing existing companies planning to come into IPOs –done both so far and will actually continue to do both; invested in both project level investments as well as entity level deals

Time horizon for completely investing $400 mn and kind of returns expected – to invest the capital in the next 2-3 years; since investing in an emerging market illiquid security, expecting reasonable returns somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30%

On being bullish on the real estate sector given the inflationary pressures and the regulatory problems – fundamental demand drivers in terms of job creation and in terms of housing demand are very strong; also nascence of the Indian market with lots of pockets of inefficiency as well as in-house good expertise in terms of deal structuring

IL&FS Investment Managers invests $100 mn in real estate startup QVC Realty

IL&FS Investment Managers Limited (IIML), the private equity arm of IL&FS, has invested $100 mn in QVC Realty, a real estate startup, making it the first venture capital-backed real estate start-up in India. QVC Realty is promoted by Prakash Gurbaxani, who was heading the real estate joint venture between Tishman Speyer and ICICI Ventures.

The initial investment has already been deployed to buy a 100-acre plot near Gurgaon. QVC will develop a township on this land in the next three years. Talks are also in an advanced stage for setting up another township of similar size in Bangalore’s periphery. In four years, the combined capital value of the two projects is expected to touch Rs. 3000 crores. The two partners have not yet decided on a fixed profit sharing ratio. However, the management (QVC and IIML) may take their respective stake on delivery of projects. IIML has also committed to partner QVC in all its future real estate projects.

IIML’s investment in QVC will be modular. Depending on the evaluations of the project, IIML will arrive at how much stake will be swapped and the profit sharing ratio. Currently, the equity raised will be used to finance the purchase of land. For the further development, QVC may take the debt route.

Article in DNA Money.

US-based PE firm Jacob Ballas invests $10 mn in biotech firm Avesthagen

US-based private equity firm Jacob Ballas Capital is close to buying a minority stake in Bangalore-based biotech firm Avestha Gengraine Technologies, popularly known as Avesthagen, for about $10 mn. Jacob Ballas’ $10 mn investment will be $5 mn in equity and $5 mn in warrants. The deal is being structured at Rs. 1850 per share, and values the company at $124 mn.

Jacob Ballas is an India-focused private equity firm floated by New York Life Investment Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company, Singapore-based Excelfin, Indo-Pacific Estates and India’s construction-engineering firm Punj Lloyd.

Avesthagen had recently raised $32 mn from Fidelity Investments and France-based biotech majors BioMerieux and Limagrain and the food giant Danone. The company has also raised $5-7 mn from Indian corporates such as the Godrej, Cipla, the Tata Group, and ICICI Ventures. ICICI Ventures and Fidelity hold 19% and 10% stake, respectively, in the company while other strategic investors hold 4-6% stake.

Avesthagen is into biopharmaceuticals, bio-nutritionals and bio-agriculture, and also has a portfolio of heath foods, including biscuits and breakfast cereals. Jacob Ballas’ fund infusion will be used for the company’s proposed acquisitions and patent filings. Avesthagen is in the process of acquiring two domestic seed companies to deploy technology that it has developed in the agri-biotechnology business and is in talks with at least five Indian seed companies for possible acquisitions. The capital expansion is also being done to set up manufacturing facilities to upscale production, before moving into phase two of research and development.

Read The Economic Times article.
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Avesthagen sells 20% stake for €25 mn

Trent partners PE real estate firm Xander for retail expansion

Trent, a Tata group company, has tied up with global private equity investor Xander for developing real estate properties for its various retail ventures. As per the agreement, Xander will invest in the development of an institutional retail real estate portfolio in the country. Trent will have anchor tenancy rights and manage the portfolio with Xander. Currently, Xander invests in the Indian real estate market through Xander Master Fund, a real estate fund.

Xander Real Estate Partners, part of the Xander Group, recently bought a 20% stake in a joint venture between Reliance Industries and the Maker Group, to develop commercial, residential and retail real estate in Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai. The 20% stake was reportedly valued at over $100 mn.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

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.

Carlyle teams up with Ramesh Vangal to acquire Cambridge Solutions

Private equity giant Carlyle along with serial entrepreneur Ramesh Vangal are said to be the frontrunners in acquiring Cambridge Solutions, one of the largest listed BPO companies. Carlyle may purchase 42% of the other promoters’ stake for sale at $170 mn. The joint bid would control around 60% stake, valued at around $250 mn, in the acquired company, thus valuing the company at an EV of $400 mn. Other firms in the fray include bidders like global IT major EDS, PE firm Apollo and Indian IT company HCL.

The Cambridge acquisition will be Carlyle’s largest investment in India till date. The PE major is joining hands with Mr. Vangal, a co-founder and the largest individual shareholder in Cambridge with 18% stake, is assisting Carlyle in effecting a buyout.

Carlyle’s move to buy is seen in the context of Cambridge, which has substantial revenues locked up in the insurance processing domain that could unleash synergies given its rather large exposure to the insurance sector in the US. Almost two-thirds of Cambridge’s Rs. 1200 crore-revenue comes from high-end BPO operations spread across the US, India and Europe. It has a strong presence in the lucrative insurance processing domain, with around 2000 of its total 4500 employees located in the US.

Read more in The Economic Times article.
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Calcutta Stock Exchange facing problems in demutualization

The Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) seems to be facing a huge problem in its demutualization scheme. After having failed its original deadline for soliciting expressions of interest (EoIs) on March 23, it has again failed in its efforts to rope in strategic investors, as it has received insufficient response to the revised deadline of March 5. It is now further extending the date for submitting EoIs to April 30.

The CSE and its consultant-advisor PriceWaterhouseCoopers are conducting road shows within India and overseas to hard-sell the benefits of picking up a stake in CSE. PriceWaterhouseCoopers has already made presentations to leading bourses in Asia. Some of them are interested, but the main hindrance is the 5% limit in investment

As per SEBI guidelines, all exchanges have to divest 51% to financial institutions (FIs), foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and corporate bodies other than broking outfits before August 2007. The guidelines state that no individual investor, be it FIs, FIIs or corporates, can hold more than 5% in an individual capacity in any stock exchange. The collective holding of the non-brokers would be 51%, whereas brokers would hold 49%.

Currently, there is very little trading which happens on the CSE, which was once India’s third largest bourse with a daily turnover in excess of Rs. 1000 crores.

Read the article in The Times of India article.
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Texas Pacific among other PE firms in race to acquire Air Deccan stake

US-based private equity giant Texas Pacific Group is among three others who are in talks with low-cost carrier Air Deccan for picking up a minority stake. Air Deccan is planning to raise around $100 mn, to be utilized for expansion, by diluting 5-7% stake to private equity firms, and has mandated Edelweiss Capital (see Related Post) for the same.

Edelweiss has short-listed 3-4 players willing to invest in Air Deccan, and a deal is likely to be signed in the next 10 days. Among them, Texas Pacific has emerged as the most aggressive bidder. Texas Pacific has made investments in airlines globally. However, it had dropped its plans to invest $30 mn in Delhi-based budget carrier SpiceJet owing to differences in valuation.

Indian airliners are tapping private equity avenues for shoring up capital to strengthen their balance sheets and to meet their expansion needs. SpiceJet has raised nearly Rs. 300 crores from private equity firms, while the Chennai-based Paramount Airways has managed to get over Rs. 80 crores. Meanwhile, full-service carriers such as Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways are also in talks with private equity for raising funds.

Read the article in the Business Standard.
Related Post:
Texas Pacific pulls out of investing in SpiceJet

Morgan Stanley to acquire 20% in Indian hospitality company IHHR Hospitality for $35-40 mn

Global investment bank Morgan Stanley is close to picking up 15-20% stake in IHHR Hospitality for $35-40 mn. IHHR owns the Ananda and Ista brands of spas and hotels. It is currently in the process of expanding its footprint in Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad with plans to have nine properties under the Ista brand over the next three years. Morgan Stanley will have a position on the board of the company,

The company first set up its flagship property Ananda in the Himalayas in 1998. The second spa resort, Shanti Ananda Maurice, was opened in Mauritius late last year. IHHR forayed into the business hotel segment in April 2006 by opening Ista Bangalore.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Macquarie Bank planning a $1 bn India infrastructure fund

Australia-based Macquarie Bank is setting up a $1 bn India-centric infrastructure fund. Macquarie is one of the largest managers of infrastructure funds in the world, and manages infrastructure assets worth $22 bn worldwide. It is likely to set up the fund through its infrastructure subsidiary, Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG). Though the bank is yet to make a formal announcement regarding the fund, it has reportedly already started evaluating deals and projects.

Macquarie is the second global financial services provider looking at an India-dedicated infrastructure fund. The first has been announced by Citigroup which is rolling out a dedicated infrastructure fund in partnership with IDFC and the backing of the Ministry of Finance.

Macquarie Bank started its Indian operations in 2005 and is currently focusing on its securities and research business. The proposed fund would mark its foray in asset management in India. While Macquarie’s infrastructure funds are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, its proposed India-based entity may not list on the Indian bourses. The company recently started its infrastructure funds in Singapore and Korea both of which are listed on the local bourses.

Read more in The Economic Times article.
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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.

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.

Standard Chartered may buy stake in sick pharmaco Morepen

A Standard Chartered Bank investment arm may acquire stake in the ailing pharma company Morepen Labs, after New York-based and Asia-focused private equity fund Avenue Asia walked out of the deal last week. As per the latest debt restructuring plan, Standard Chartered and the key promoter of Morepen, Sushil Suri, will infuse Rs. 100 crores each in a bid to revive the company. Avenue Asia had earlier committed to invest Rs. 150 crores in the company, before they walked out of the deal.

The company has informed the stock exchanges that it would issue 24.4 mn equity shares and 53.6 mn warrants. These warrants will be issued to the new investor and the promoter; both will have the rights to subscribe to the equity of the company. However, the company has not officially announced the new investor. The warrants will be issued at Rs. 20 per share.

Read The Economic Times article.

Q1 2007: M&As – $42 bn; VC / PE – $2.4 bn

The first quarter of Jan-Mar for the calendar year 2007 has seen mergers and acquisitions (M&As) touch a figure of a whopping $42 bn. This has resulted in the M&A / GDP ratio standing at around 18%, against the global average of 8.8%. Out of the total deals announced by India Inc during the quarter, $38.9 bn represent strategic M&As including the big ticket Tata-Corus, Hindalco-Novelis and Vodafone-Hutch deals. In March there were 54 M&A deals announced worth $2.14 bn. The big ones last month were Tata Power’s $1.1 bn deal for a strategic stake in coal assets in Indonesia and Havell’s $300 mn deal to acquire German lighting company SLI Sylvania.

With the spurt in M&A transactions in the Jan-Mar quarter, venture capital (VC) / private equity (PE) investments in India also seem to be riding on a crest. The first quarter of 2007 has seen VC / PE investments almost double to about $2.4 bn across 78 deals compared with $1.4 bn across 69 deals in the same period last year. The figure of $2.4 bn doesn’t include real estate investments made in the first three months of the year. IT, manufacturing, financial services, engineering and construction, transport and logistics are the happening segments, going by investments in these sectors in this quarter. However, there has been a flat growth in VC investments, which accounted for only about $100 mn in Q1 across 15 deals. The figure includes 11 deals in the sub-$10 mn category.

Some of the big deals announced in the first quarter include a combined deal of about $500 mn for stake in National Stock Exchange by New York Stock Exchange, Goldman Sachs, Softbank and General Atlantic; Nimbus Communications received funding of about $125 mn from British PE firm 3i, Cisco Systems and Oman International Fund in January; Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the investment arm of the Malaysian government, hiking its stake in IDFC to 9.95% by paying around Rs. 820 crores in March; Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Private Equity Group investment of Rs. 100 crores in DRS Logistics, a logistics and transportation service provider based out of Hyderabad; ADM, an HK-based fund, invested $82 mn for a 10% stake in SKNL; Ramky Infrastructure, a Hyderabad-based construction company, raised Rs. 125 crores from IL&FS Investment Managers and UAE based Sabre-Abraaj PE Fund.

Read The Economic Times articles – 1 & 2.

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.

Bennett Coleman buys stake in online merchandising company eYantra

Bennett, Coleman & Company has acquired a stake in Hyderabad-based eYantra Industries, a corporate brand merchandising company. Established in 2001 by ex-PriceWaterhouseCoopers consultants, eYantra offers a range of 5000 products across 150 categories. It is headquartered in Hyderabad and has various offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. More than 15 corporates have partnered with eYantra for their online brand stores, and 100 such online stores are expected to be hosted by the end of this year. eYantra has entered into long term exclusive merchandising contracts with several industry majors like Tech Mahindra, TCS, Accenture, Sasken, HCL, Genpact and ING Vysya Life Insurance.

The company has been growing at a CAGR of 73%. It has now forayed into internet- and intranet-based customized online brand stores. Named eTail, this new SBU will synchronize and energize its online brand store vertical across the globe.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

JP Morgan PE fund to invest Rs. 250 crores in railway engineering firm

New York-based private equity firm JP Morgan One Equity is acquiring 26% stake in Hyderabad-based Patil Infrastructure Holding for around Rs. 250 crores, valuing the firm at around Rs. 1000 crores. The announcement is expected in a couple of weeks.

Patil Infrastructure focuses on railway track engineering. The group has its activities spread in manufacturing of concrete sleepers, rail fittings for normal lines, elevated and underground track for metro rail, switches and crossings, ballast-less track suitable for high-speed lines, bridges, tunnels and aprons.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

India TV receives $11.5 mn from Com Ventures affiliate FUSE+Media

Hindi news channel India TV has secured private equity funding of around $11.5 mn (Rs. 50.96 crores) FUSE+Media, an affiliate of US-based venture capital firm Com Ventures. The channel has also received approval by the Foreign Investment Proposal Board for the same.

FUSE+Media has invested in India TV through Mauritius-based CV Global Holdings. The investment would give FUSE+Media a 19.17% stake in Independent News Services Private Limited, which is India TV’s parent company, co-founded by Rajat Sharma and Ritu Dhawan. The FUSE+Media stake includes shares divested by existing stakeholders of Independent News Service.

More in the exchange4media.com article.

ICICI Ventures contemplating innovative fund structure

ICICI Ventures, one of India’s biggest domestic private equity outfits is contemplating a possible restructuring of the entire fund structure, which if successful, could emerge as a model for several tax-hit VCFs in the country In a move to overcome the adverse tax impact, ICICI Ventures has proposed that stocks it currently holds be transferred to investors.

What is now being mooted is that shares be transferred to investors, both foreign as well as domestic, (unlike in the traditional model, where the shares are held by a trust, which in turn issues units to the investors), while the asset management company of the VC fund will continue to manage the investment. The advantage here is that since the ownership of shares would shift from the trust to investors, the trust would be spared of tax.

The Finance Bill 2007 has proposed that only those VC funds which invest in specified sectors would enjoy tax exemption. So far, a VC fund was exempted from tax where only investors paid tax, and not the trust. The structure proposed by ICICI Ventures would help in restoring this.

Read The Economic Times article.
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CVC International allowed investing in Flemingo Duty Free Shops by FIPB

Citicorp Venture Capital International’s proposal to acquire 15% stake in Flemingo Duty Free Shops Private Limited (FDSPL) has been approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Flemingo Duty Free runs duty-free shops at various airports and seaports. The deal is valued at more than Rs. 100 crores. The Ministry of Finance had already given the go-ahead to the investment. However, the proposal was awaiting approval pending with the FIPB.

Flemingo would initially issue 1 mn convertible preference shares to CVC International for about Rs. 1000 each, total amounting to Rs. 100 crores. These preference shares would then be converted into equity at a later date for a premium. Citicorp’s shareholding in Flemingo would be up to a maximum of 15% of the paid-up equity of the company.

The current shareholding structure of Flemingo Duty Free Shops includes 51.22% equity stake held by Flemingo International, a company based in British Virgin Islands, and a 24.87% stake held by various NRIs. After conversion of Citicorp’s preference shares; Flemingo International, NRIs and Citicorp would respectively hold 43.54%, 21.14% and 15% in FDSPL, taking the total FDI to 79.68%.

Read more in The Economic Times article.
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Sequoia Capital invests $11.5 mn in Indian MFI SKS Microfinance

Leading Indian microfinance institution SKS Microfinance has received $11.5 mn of venture capital funding from Sequoia Capital. This is “the first pure for-profit private equity play” ever seen in the micro-lending world, according to SKS Microfinance CEO Vikram Akula, in an interview with CNBC. Sequoia’s investment makes SKS the largest for-profit microfinance institution in the world. Sequoia’s investment also makes it SKS’ lead investor. Other stakeholders include Unitus Equity.

The concept of microfinance, which is providing small business loans to poor borrowers who lack credit, was made famous by Nobel peace prize winner Mohammed Yunus, founder of the not-for-profit Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. While the foundations are similar in concept, SKS’ version of micro-lending provides loans that carry interest rates to its 600,000 members in 7200 villages in rural India.

However, it is to be noted that Sequoia’s investment comes with a rider: in the next 3-5 years, SKS will either have an initial public offering or be acquired.

Clearstone, SVB invest $5 mn in Indian gaming portal games2win.com

Mumbai-based gaming portal Games2win.com has raised about $5 mn from leading US venture capital firms Clearstone Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group. This is the company’s first round of venture capital funding, and will be used to upgrade content, hire talent, and build the brand. Games2win will distribute smartcards similar to prepaid cards for mobile phones that allow customers to pay in advance for service.

The online gamers’ population in India is estimated to be about around 3.5 mn people, and this figure is likely to grow 50-100% every year for the next 5-10 years. The growth drivers would be the rapid adoption of the Internet, increased broadband penetration, the growth in Internet cafés, and a sizable middle-class with rising disposable income.

Read more in the Red Herring article.

Magma Leasing to raise $15 mn from the Netherlands-based financial institution FMO

Magma Leasing Limited will make a private placement of $15 mn or around Rs. 65 crores of redeemable preference shares to The Netherlands Development Finance Company (Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden – FMO). This follows an earlier investment of Rs. 21 crores by FMO in Magma preference shares in February 2006. The investment will be treated as Tier-2 capital in the company, as per RBI guidelines. The funds raised would be used strengthen the balance-sheet and drive business volume growth.

Magma had received an investment of Rs. 105 crores in August 2006 from the UK-based Cambridge Place Investment Management and following its merger with Kolkata-based Shrachi Infrastructure Finance Limited, Magma now had a branch network at 154 locations and over Rs. 5500 crores worth of assets under management.

Magma finances commercial vehicles, cars, construction equipment, and multi-utility vehicles, and users in semi-urban and rural markets contribute a significant proportion of its business. It also has fee-based businesses like distribution of insurance and personal loan products.

Read the article in Business Standard.
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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.
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Mayfield Ventures to invest $15 mn in domestic i-bank Avendus Advisors

Mumbai-based investment bank Avendus Advisors has received a private equity investment of around $15 mn, for a stake of 20%, from US-based venture capital fund Mayfield Ventures. The fund is being infused as fresh equity, and the term sheets would be signed in a week’s time. Other details of the deal have not been disclosed. Avendus, founded in 1999, has been valued at around Rs. 330 crores. Before the equity sale, the three initial promoters, Ranu Vohra, Gaurav Deepak and Kaushal Aggarwal, and the employees of Avendus held around 70% stake, while Spanish institutional investor Americorp held 20% and entrepreneur-investor from California, Anil Godhwani held the remaining 10%. Once the deal is finalized, there will be corresponding reduction in the stake held by each promoter.

Mayfield has already partnered Avendus to raise a $200 mn offshore fund which would invest in Indian projects, and is expected to be set up by July-August. Avendus has seen a strong growth over last couple of years. Its annual revenues are expected to cross $12 mn in 2006-07. The organisation employs approximately around 40 professionals.

The investment bank focuses on wealth management, institutional broking and debt solutions. It is also offering private equity syndication, advice on M&As, and strategic advisory services to corporates and funds. It is now in the process of expanding its operations abroad by opening offices in New York and Munich. Avendus focuses on industries where Indian companies have a strategic growth advantage including IT services, IT-enabled services, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, media and consumer products and services. The most recent deal cracked by Avendus was to help AnandRathi Securities to dilute around 20% stake in favour of CVC International, for around Rs. 100 crores (See Related Post).

Read The Economic Times article.
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SEBI, RBI conduct studies for regulating PE funds

If media reports are to be believed, then private equity funds are in for a tough time ahead in the Indian markets. PE funds may come under the regulatory scanner in India, and though the ultimate regulator has not been decided upon, both Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have formed study groups to analyze the structure and impact of such funds on the investors, the companies in which they invest in and their effect on corporate governance.

The issue has gained importance as a working group of International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO) has been set up to study the impact of private equity funds on emerging markets. The Indian market regulator is the chairman of IOSCO’s emerging market committee, and will also have consultative discussions with other regulators during the 32nd annual conference of IOSCO to be hosted by SEBI in India this year.

Based on the joint findings of the study, the regulators may issue guidelines for listing and registration of such funds, for ensuring better monitoring. The purpose of the study is to ascertain if the actual investors in a private equity fund are loosing out during leveraged buyouts, de-listing and re-listing of the company.

Read more in the Business Standard article.

Marwadi Shares raises second round of funding from UK-based Caledonia Investments

Rajkot-based equity broking house Marwadi Shares & Finance Limited has completed a second round of private equity placement from another UK-based Caledonia Investments Plc, after its first phase of investment from India Capital Growth Fund Limited in December 2006. Caledonia Investments has picked up a 19.67% stake in Marwadi Shares for around Rs. 42 crores. Marwadi Shares and Finance is a decade-old financial services group offering stock broking and commodity broking firm on the NSE, BSE, NCDEX and MCX.

Marwadi Shares has emerged as the fifth broking house in the country and the first broking house from Gujarat to have private equity placement from a foreign player. It had initially planned a route into the capital markets and raise about Rs. 60 crores through and initial public offering, but postponed the plan and instead decided to raise funds through private equity placement. The company has now revised its equity raising pattern from Rs. 60 crores to Rs. 73.5 crores and has managed to disburse a 33% stake.

Read the article in Business Standard.
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ADM Capital to invest $107 mn in textile firm S Kumar’s and retail arm Brandhouse

Hong Kong-based private equity firm ADM Capital is investing $107 mn into textiles firm S Kumar’s Nationwide Limited and its retail arm Brandhouse Retail. ADM will invest $82 mn to acquire a 10% stake in S Kumar’s and $25 mn will be invested in Brandhouse Retail for another 10% stake in the company. S Kumar’s will issue convertible warrants to ADM Capital. The deal values the S Kumar’s share at Rs. 82.5, while the Brandhouse Retail share has been valued at Rs. 85. S Kumar’s will utilize $30 mn to repay lenders, while $52 mn will be used to fund capital expenditure plans.

S Kumar’s is a Mumbai-based Rs. 1000-crore textiles and apparel conglomerate. It operates in the worsted, ready-to-wear, consumer textiles, home textiles segments. Brandhouse Retail, which was de-merged from S Kumars, will utilize the entire $25 mn to fuel growth plans. It is also expected to be listed on the exchanges as a separate entity by August. Brandhouse will invest Rs. 400 crores to open 1000 stores across the country over the next three years. It owns and operates S Kumar’s apparel and textile showrooms and manages international brands such as Dunhill, Escada and Stephens Brothers.

Read more in the DNA Money article.
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CVC International to pick up 19.9% stake in Mumbai-based brokerage firm AnandRathi

Citigroup Venture Capital International, one of the prominent private equity investors in Indian businesses has agreed to pick up a 19.9% stake in leading Mumbai-based broking firm AnandRathi Securities. The funds will be utilized for expansion purposes and also for meeting working capital requirements. The company has not disclosed the size of the deal and the price at which the stake is being acquired by CVC International.

AnandRathi offers broking and other market-related services to its customers through a network of 150 branches and over 200 business associates spread across the country.
AnandRathi has achieved reasonably good presence in retail, institutional broking and has taken a foothold in segments like wealth management, IPO and insurance products distribution. Broking accounts for 50-60% of the business while non-broking activities like investment banking, MF, IPO distribution and advisory services account for the rest.

AnandRathi follows a long list of other Indian brokerage and i-banking firms that raised monies through the private equity route in the recent past. Motilal Oswal Securities, India Infoline, Edelweiss Securities, IL&FS Investsmart and Indiabulls Financial Services are some names that have raised funding from PE firms for growth and expansion.

Read The Economic Times article.
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Warburg Pincus appoints former McKinsey executive as MD at Mumbai office

The Economic Times reports that Leo Puri, a former executive at global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, has been appointed managing director by Warburg Pincus for its India office. Mr. Puri is a post-graduate in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University, and was a co-leader of the financial services practice in Asia for McKinsey. He will begin at Warburg’s New York office in April, and will move to its Mumbai office later. Mr. Puri’s appointment seems to fill in the gap created by ex-MD Pulak Prasad’s exit from Warburg Pincus some time back.

Torrent in association with Fortress Investment Group and Greater Pacific Capital for Merck bid

The partners of Torrent Pharmaceuticals, in its bid to acquire Merck’s generics business unit, have come to light. New York-based private equity and hedge fund manager Fortress Investment Group and London-based private equity player Greater Pacific Capital, in association with Torrent Pharma, are close to bagging the over $2 bn-worth global generics business of Merck. This consortium and Israeli pharma company Teva may be the only two left in the fray with the other two global pharma majors Mylan and Actavis having dropped out of the race.

Fortress Investment Group has $30 bn in assets under management. This New York-headquartered group is largely into the businesses of private equity and hedge funds management. The private equity business of Fortress Investment Group manages approximately $17.5 bn of assets under management.

The other private equity firm, Greater Pacific Capital based at London, is a much smaller player with under $1 bn assets under management currently. Greater Pacific’s CEO and founder partner is Ketan Patel who was previously a managing director in the investment banking division at Goldman Sachs, where he founded the Goldman Sachs Strategic Group, a think tank at Goldman Sachs. Greater Pacific Capital invests primarily in equity or equity-related securities in public and private companies in India and China.

If this deal were to come through, it would be one of the biggest by an Indian company in the pharmaceutical sector. Torrent Pharma will have a minority stake while a big chunk of the funding will be done by Fortress Capital. If this consortium wins the bid then Torrent Pharma will manage the entire generics business, while the private equity players will be financial investors.

Read The Economic Times article.

Kotak PE invests Rs. 100 crores in logistics firm DRS Logistics, $12 mn in Home Solutions Retail

Kotak Mahindra Bank, through its private equity fund, the India Growth Fund, has invested Rs. 100 crores in Hyderabad-based DRS Logistics, better known by its brand name Agarwal Packers and Movers. The funding would be used to set up logistics parks across six cities where land has already been acquired.

The Rs. 200 crore-company has also applied to the director general of civil aviation (DGCA) to kick off an air cargo airline in the country. Besides, it is in talks for leasing two aircrafts to operate services in six sectors, covering the four metros and Bangalore and Hyderabad.

DRS owns warehousing infrastructure in Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai totaling 1.5 mn sq ft in space, and is looking to add an equal amount of space next year expanding to a total of six cities to set up logistics parks. The company plans to invest Rs. 150 crores on this.

Read the DNA Money article.

Kotak’s India Growth Fund is also investing $12 mn in Kishore Biyani’s Home Solutions Retail India Limited, which is set to roll out Home Town, its new format modeled on Home Depot. This is the second round of private equity investment in the company after ICICI Ventures invested $27.3 mn in October 2006.

Home Town will offer everything a customer would need to build, furnish and decorate a home including building material, paints, tiles, electrical and plumbing products and services, furnishings, furniture and consumer durables. According to estimates, the current home market in the country is estimated at between Rs. 75,000 crores and Rs. 100,000 crores which is largely serviced by the unorganized market.

The first Home Town is slated to roll out on March 31 from Noida and thereafter in six other cities within six to nine months in cities, including Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Thane, Surat and Ahmedabad at an investment of Rs. 150-175 crores. Each of the Home Town formats, which will be spread over at least 125,000 sq. ft., will also incorporate e-Zone, the electronics lifestyle format and the Collection-i, furniture and home accessories formats.

Read the DNA Money article.

Intel Capital appoints Sudheer Kuppam as MD for Asia region

Sudheer Kuppam, Director of Flash Memory and Semiconductor Sector at Intel, will join Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel, as the Managing Director for India, Japan, Australasia and South-East Asia. He would be based in Bangalore and would be responsible for leading Intel’s investment strategies and expansion plans including placement of the $250 mn Intel Capital India Technology Fund.

IDG Ventures India to invest $2 mn in IT company Manthan Systems

The Economic Times reports that early-stage technology venture capital fund IDG Ventures India is making its first investment of $2 mn, out of a total fund size of $150 mn, in Manthan Systems. Manthan is a retail industry focused business intelligence and analytics software products company. The money raised from IDG Ventures would be utilized to build the sales team and product development teams. IDG Ventures Vice-Chairman and Managing Director India Sudhir Sethi will join the Board of Directors of Manthan Systems.

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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Cargill Ventures invest $9 mn in IT firm KPIT Cummins

Cargill Ventures, the venture capital arm of Cargill, Inc., will invest a total of $9 mn in Indian IT consulting firm KPIT Cummins Infosystems. KPIT Cummins will issue shares of $4.5 mn on a preferential basis, in addition to warrants convertible into shares of up to $4.5 mn. The warrants will be convertible into shares at the end of 18 months from the date of issue-based on certain parameters.

Cargill is a privately held company with operations in 63 countries and revenues of over $75 bn. Cargill Ventures is a diversified growth-capital investor across the IT, life sciences and IT sectors.

Read more in the Business Standard article.

IFC invests $5 mn in rural banking-focused IT firm FINO

The World Bank PE arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), will invest up to $5 mn in Financial Information Network & Operations (FINO), a technology service provider offering end-to-end IT solutions that help banks reach under-served rural markets in India. The investment comprises common equity of up to $2.5 mn and convertible preferred shares of up to $2.5 mn.

In India, IFC’s outstanding portfolio is $1.3 bn (as of June 2006) making it IFC’s fourth-largest country of operations. As the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, IFC has been showing interest to develop the Indian rural banking market.

Read The Economic Times article.

ICICI Ventures invests Rs. 82 crores in engineering firm Electrotherm

ICICI Ventures has invested Rs. 82 crores in engineering company Electrotherm India Limited, for an undisclosed stake. The investment will part-fund the second phase of Electrotherm’s expansion plans of Rs. 400 crores. In addition to the investment made by ICICI Ventures, the promoters would bring in Rs. 58 crores to meet the equity portion. Terms loans worth Rs. 200 crores and internal accruals of Rs. 60 crores would meet the balance funding requirements of the proposed expansion plans. The term loans have been sanctioned and disbursed and the Company has already invested Rs. 300 crores out of the total planned expenditure of Rs. 400 crores. KPMG Corporate Finance was the sole advisor for the transaction.

Electrotherm is an engineering and manufacturing company with major strength in power electronics. Leveraging its core strength in power electronics, the Company through its in house R&D facilities developed a battery-operated scooter, which has been a commercial success in Gujarat, and has also seen good response from other customers as well.

For more on Electrotherm, read the article on Equitybulls.com.

Trinity Capital makes another pre-IPO investment in Fortis Healthcare for Rs. 87 crores

UK-based private equity fund Trinity Capital has increased its stake in Ranbaxy group-promoted Fortis Healthcare Limited to 4% from 1%, through an additional investment of Rs. 87 crores in 6 mn equity shares of Fortis Healthcare. Earlier, in January 2007, Trinity had made an initial investment of Rs. 28 crores for 2 mn equity shares of Fortis Healthcare. The private placements have been in the run up to the initial public offer, to be announced by Fortis Healthcare, during the first quarter of the financial year 2007-08.

Fortis Healthcare currently has a network of 11 hospitals, primarily in North India, and 16 satellite and heart command centers (including one heart command center in Afghanistan). The hospitals include multi specialty hospitals as well as super-specialty centers, providing tertiary and quaternary healthcare to patients in areas such as cardiac care, orthopedics, neurosciences, oncology, renal care, gastroenterology and mother and child care.

The book running lead managers to the issue are JM Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Global Markets and Kotak Mahindra Capital.

Read the article in Business Standard.

UTI Bank to set up $500 mn offshore fund

The effects of the change in the pass-through status of domestic private equity firms are already showing on the players concerned. UTI Bank is now planning to set up a $500 mn-offshore fund. The bank had earlier received SEBI approval to start a PE fund in India as a domestic venture capital. It will now file for a fresh application as a foreign venture capital investor. The proposed $500 mn fund will also mark the entry of UTI Bank in private equity.

Of the total equity of $500 mn, UTI Bank will provide $50 mn equity as its principal sponsor. The remaining part of the corpus will be raised from foreign institutional investors and the like. The investments will be made through the bank’s subsidiary UBL AMC.

Since the mandate of the proposed fund will be to invest in infrastructure projects, it does not fall in the nine sectors identified in this year’s budget where venture capital funds registered in India will continue to enjoy a pass-through status. Tax exemptions will now only apply to biotechnology, nanotechnology, IT hardware/software, R&D for new chemical entities, seed research, dairy, poultry bio-fuels and large hotel-cum-convention centres. Till now, private equity funds were exempted from I paying tax with its investors paying capital gains tax. According to the change in rules, the fund will also pay taxes if its investment does not fall in the nine specified sectors.

Read the article in The Economic Times.

Sharekhan to raise funds for expansion

Sharekhan is planning to raise funding for its aggressive expansion plans. Sharekhan is the retail broking arm of Mumbai-based financial services group SSKI. The company has held discussions with investment banks for raising resources. These may be in the form of an initial public offering, private placement, debt or a combination of all of these.

As earlier reported in the media, the promoters of the firm, the Morakhia family, also the single largest shareholder in the company, are not planning to quit the firm as yet. Private equity firm General Atlantic had invested about Rs. 144 crores ($31 mn) in April 2006 in the company through a combination of primary investment in the company and secondary investment through buying out the entire shareholding of First Carlyle Ventures. The other investors in the retail and online brokerage outfit are Intel Capital and a group of funds advised by HSBC Private Equity India.

Sharekhan is among the top five retail brokerage outfits in the country with over 100 branches across 150 cities. The investment banking and the institutional brokerage outfit of the group, SSKI has no fund raising plans.

Read the Business Standard article.

The Times Group acquires 5% stake in Ahmedabad-based IT firm

Bennett, Coleman & Company (BCCL) will acquire around 5% stake in Ahmedabad-based IT firm Sai InfoSystem (SIS), for an undisclosed sum. SIS offers total IT solutions to end users comprising hardware, software, networking and related services. It operates in the area of system integration, call-centre solutions and has been focusing on four verticals namely telecom, power, defence and the state government, and has added two more verticals, retail and gaming.

The company may come up with an initial public offering in three years.

Read The Economic Times article.

Ex-Merrill Lynch India i-banking unit head Munesh Khanna starts $300 mn distressed assets PE fund

Former head of investment banking at Merrill Lynch India Munesh Khanna has raised $300 mn-private equity fund to invest in companies that are distressed or need management help to revive their finances.

Munesh Khanna’s new private equity firm Halcyon Group, has been started along with Narayan Seshadri, ex-head of Andersen Business Consulting in India, and Abhay Soi, who oversaw the financial restructuring group at Ernst & Young. Halcyon will target annual returns of 25%, and would make investments in asset-backed businesses, including textile and paper manufacturers.

Munesh Khanna oversaw the Indian unit of NM Rothschild and worked at Arthur Andersen in India for 17 years before he joined Merrill Lynch. Amit Chandra, his former boss at Merrill Lynch, is also starting a private-equity fund, called New Silk Route Partners.

Read more in the Business Standard article.

Trinity Capital to pump in $10 bn to develop satellite towns around Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore

Business Standard reports that the New York-based real estate investment fund Trinity Capital has lined up $10 bn, which may go up to $12 bn, to develop three satellite cities on the outskirts of Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. Each of the satellite townships, to be built over a 1000 acre spread, will see an investment of $2 bn – $4 bn. Trinity is also in the process of lining up $2.5 bn for investing across 10,000 hotel rooms in the country over the next five years.