Moser Baer Photo Voltaic picks up 40% stake in Slovenia solar company Solarvalue for $10 mn; Warburg Pincus ups stake in Moser Baer

Moser Baer India, through group company Moser Baer Photo Voltaic has acquired 40% stake in Slovenia-based Solarvalue Proizvodnja. Moser Baer would acquire the stake from Germany-based Solarvalue AG, which currently holds 100% stake in the Slovenian company. Solarvalue Proizvodnja is involved in solar silicon production. The total value of investment stands at $10 mn, of which $6 mn is the initial commitment and the balance investment, is based on certain milestones.

Moser Baer Photo Voltaic is in the process of setting up a photo voltaic cell and module manufacturing project with an 80 MW capacity in India’s first renewable energy SEZ at Greater Noida. It has already concluded trials for 40 MW capacity and hopes to commission another 40 MW by the second half of next fiscal. Solarvalue plans to set up a capacity of over 4000 tonnes of solar grade silicon by end of 2008. With the acquisition Moser Baer Photo Voltaic now has a supply agreement for 40% of the output of the solar grid poly-silicon project.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

In a related development, affiliates of private equity investor Warburg Pincus have hiked their stake in Moser Baer to 33.75% through conversion of 47,500 Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). Woodgreen Investment, Bloom Investments, Ealing Investments, Randall Investments and Elm International – all affiliates of Warburg Pincus – have acquired an additional 4.26% stake in Moser Baer. Each GDR represented 100 underlying equity shares, leading to 4.75 mn equity shares. From around 329 mn shares representing 29.49% stake earlier, Warburg Pincus affiliates now holds approximately 376 mn shares.

More in The Economic Times article.

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.

Kotak lines up a second $350 mn real estate fund

The real estate investment arm of Kotak Mahindra Limited is raising its second fund. Kotak Realty’s Kotak India Real Estate Fund II is planning a corpus of around $350 mn, and has got commitments from international investors, financial institutions, multilateral agencies and high-net worth investors in the United States, the Middle East and Europe for investing in Indian real estate. The fund is expected to be closed in the next 5-6 weeks.

In May 2005, Kotak Mahindra Investments started Kotak Realty Fund with the setting up of the Kotak India Real Estate Fund I — a $100-min fund for investing in real estate. The fund will be probably closed by March 2007.

Kotak’s new fund would seek equity investments in development projects and enterprise level investments in real estate operating companies. These would include hotels, healthcare, retailing, education and property management. The proposed fund will also focus on the northern region.

Kotak Realty’s first fund, a closed-ended fund of seven years, is said to have deployed nearly 65-70% of its corpus. While it invested through the pre-IPO placement in Bangalore-based Sobha Developers, the fund has also invested in the Delhi-based hotel chain Lemon Tree Hotels and Red Fox Hotels. Both these hotel chains have also been funded by private equity major Warburg Pincus. The fund, which will be organized as a scheme of Kotak Mahindra Realty Fund, will have Kotak Mahindra Investments Ltd as the investment manager.

Read more about the fund in The Economic Times article.

Temasek Holdings buys 10% in Tata Sky for Rs. 250 crores; values the DTH provider at Rs. 2500 crores

Singapore-based private fund Temasek Holdings has invested Rs. 250 crores in Tata Sky, the DTH service joint venture between the Tata Group and Star TV, for a 10% stake, belonging to Tata Group holding company Tata Sons. Following this restructuring, Tata Sons’ stake has been reduced to 70%, while Star continues to maintain its 20% holding. This is Temasek’s second investment in the Tata Group of companies. It had earlier acquired about 10% stake in CDMA service provider Tata Teleservices.

In a related development, Sky TV’s competitor, Dish TV is reportedly in talks with Warburg Pincus for diluting a stake to the latter.

Read the article in The Economic Times.

Mahansaria, Warburg to buy Israel’s Alliance Tyre

Brothers Yogeshkumar and Ashokkumar Mahansaria, one of the promoters of Balkrishna Industries Limited (BIL), are quitting the tyre company owing to family differences. They have tied up with private equity firm Warburg Pincus to acquire Israeli tyre company Alliance Tyre for $45 mn. The transaction is expected to be completed before June 2007.

Alliance started negotiations with the two buyers, which will include an open offer for the public’s shares. The Mahansarias will float a new venture this year and the Alliance acquisition is a part of this move.

The management of Balkrishna Industries are not involved in the Alliance deal.

Read the article in Daily News and Analysis.