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Blackstone acquires 51% in Essel Propack for $310-M;
makes open offer
Press Release
Blackstone is to invest up to $460 million to acquire a
majority stake in listed speciality packaging company
Essel Propack. Blackstone will acquire 51% from Ashok
Goel Trust (holding unit of Essel Propack Chairman & MD
Ashok Goel) for INR 2,157 crore (about $310 million at
INR 134 per share) and make a mandatory open offer for
another 26% stake (costing about or $152 million / INR
1,054 crore at INR 139.19 per share). Goel will continue
to hold the balance 6% stake in the company and will
remain an advisor, drawing a fee of INR 16 crore each
for the next five years. Morgan Stanley was the
exclusive financial advisor to the sellers. PWC,
Khaitan & Co (legal firm) and Baker McKenzie
(legal firm) also advised the sellers. KPMG,
Trilegal and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
(legal firm) acted as advisors to Blackstone.
Founded in 1982, Essel Propack is a leader in the
laminated tubes market with 20 manufacturing facilities
across 10 countries, where it makes 7 billion tubes
annually. For the 12 month period ending December 2018,
Essel Propack reported a 10% increase in revenues to INR
2,642 crore (~$380 million).
From the Venture Intelligence
PE-VC Deal Database: in Feb-19,
Blackstone had invested $385 million (INR 2700 Cr) for
an 81% stake in Aadhar Housing Finance. (Subscribers to
the database can login to view the valuation, deal
structuring and other transaction details.)
Private Equity Fund Investments
Apis
Partners to invest $110-M in L&T Finance's
infrastructure lending unit
Press Release
Private Equity investor Apis Partners LLP,
through Apis Growth Fund II, is to invest $110
million (about INR 773 crore) in L&T Infra Debt
Fund Ltd (L&T IDF), a subsidiary of publicly
listed L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. (LTFH) that
lends to infrastructure projects, in return for
a 25.1% stake. Out of the total investment
amount, 70% is in the form of fresh capital,
while 30% is for purchase of shares from
existing shareholders (subsidiaries of LTFH).
L&T IDF is a Infrastructure Debt Fund
Non-Banking Financial Company (IDF-NBFC) in
India. It provides long-term refinancing to
private sector and PPP (public private
partnership) infrastructure projects across
multiple infrastructure sub-sectors including
alternative energy projects, and highways, that
have each completed at least 1 year of
commercial operations. L&T IDF has a loan book
of ~INR 8,000 crore across 94 projects, with
~50% of the portfolio guaranteed by a government
authority.
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
Led by its Managing Partner Udayan Goyal,
UK-headquartered Apis Partners is a private
equity asset manager focused primarily on
Financial Services. Its past investments in
India include Star Health and Allied Insurance
Company (Exited), Greenlight Planet India and
Electronic Payment and Services.
Tiger
Global to invest Rs.625-Cr in agri-tech startup
Ninjacart
Venture Intelligence
Research
Tiger Global (via Internet Fund V Pte Ltd) will
subscribe to 10 equity shares and 20,442 Series
C CCPS at INR 304,142.78 per share of 63Ideas
Infolabs Pvt Ltd (which owns agri-tech service
Ninjacart). The
purchase, which will constitute 26.47% stake,
aggregates to INR 624.77 Cr and values the firm
at INR 2,360.27 Cr.
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
Between Aug 2015 and Dec 2018, Ninjacart raised
USD 49 million (INR 346.33 Cr) across several
rounds from various investors including Nandan
Nilekani, Accel Partners, M&S Partners and
Qualcomm Ventures.
CleanMax
Solar raises Rs 275-Cr from UK Climate
Investments
Mint
Mumbai - based CleanMax Solar, which provides
renewable energy for corporates, has raised INR
275 crore in equity funding from UK Climate
Investments LLP (UKCI). The funds will help
CleanMax expand its renewable energy portfolio –
facilitating renewable energy buying for
corporates through the construction of a network
of private solar farms across India. UBS
Securities India was the sole financial
advisor to CleanMax on this transaction.
CleanMax claims to be a market leader in both
rooftop solar and open access solar for the
commercial and industrial segment, with a
cumulative India market share of 17% in rooftop
and 9% in open access solar, respectively, as of
March 2018
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
UKCI is the fourth institutional investor in
CleanMax (operated by Clean Max Enviro Energy
Solutions). The company has previously raised
$127-M (about INR 819 Cr) from Warburg Pincus,
IFC and Bessemer. (Subscribers to the database
can login to view the valuation, deal
structuring and other transaction details of the
previous investments.)
E-sports
platform Mobile Premier League raises $35.5 M
from Sequoia, Times Internet, others
Business Line
Mobile eSports platform
Mobile Premier League (MPL) has
raised USD 35.5 million led by Sequoia India,
Times Internet and GoVentures. RTP Global,
BeeNext, Base Growth and Venture Highway also
participated in the funding. The funds will
enable the recently-launched mobile gaming
platform to invest in products and user growth
in India.
MPL had raised a USD 5 million seed round from
Sequoia and BeeNext last year.
Zest
Money raises $20-M led by Quona Capital
Economic Times
Bengaluru-based digital lending startup
ZestMoney has raised $20 million in fresh
funding led by fintech investor Quona Capital.
The funding round also saw participation from
Australian fintech investor Reinventure, along
with existing backers Ribbit Capital, Omidyar
Network and (Naspers unit) PayU. Zest will
utilise the capital to broaden its technology
focus, double its headcount of 60 engineers and
20 data scientists and deepen integration with
partner NBFCs and online retailers with whom it
offers EMI options to customers.
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
Zest had previously raised $21.6 M from
Xiaomi, Naspers, Ribbit Capital and Omidyar
Network.
Healthtech startup Mfine raises $17.2 M Series B
led by SBI Ven Capital
Business Standard
Health-tech AI startup
mfine has
raised USD 17.2 million from Japanese investor
SBI Ven Capital and others. The Series B round
also saw participation from existing investors
BEENEXT; Stellaris Venture Partners and Prime
Venture Partners. As part of its expansion
plans, the company plans to onboard over 2,500
doctors from 250 hospitals on its platform and
reach 1.5 lakh consultations a month in the next
one year. Including the current funding round,
the startup has raised over USD 24 million and
has 200 employees in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Retail
automation tech firm Vue.ai raises $17-M from
Falcon, Sequoia and Global Brain
Economic Times
Vue.ai, a computer vision and
artificial intelligence platform for retail
automation (and a brand of Chennai-based Mad
Street Den), has raised USD 17 million in a
Series-B funding round led by Falcon Edge
Capital, which also saw the participation of
existing investor Sequoia Capital India and
Global Brain. The latest funding takes the total
capital raised by the startup to USD 27.5
million. Vue.ai offers seven products that span
from merchandising to social media marketing
intelligence.
Nexus-backed marketing platform Blueshift raises
$15-M led by SoftBank
Techcrunch
Blueshift, a San Francisco, CA (USA)-based
startup that focuses on building a cross-channel
marketing platform using AI and machine learning
to analyse data, has received USD 15 million in
a Series-B round led by SoftBank Ventures Asia.
Previous investors Storm Ventures and Nexus
Venture Partners also participated in the round.
The latest investment brings the total raised by
the company to USD 30 million. The company’s
customers include LendingTree, Udacity and BBC.
Vehicle-pooling
app Quick Ride raises $15-M from Naspers,
Sequoia, Others
Advisor disclosure
Bengaluru-based car and bike pooling app maker
Quick Ride has
raised approximately $15 M from Naspers
Ventures, Sequoia Capital India (via SCI
Investments V) and VH Capital (via VH Capital
XI). Jerome Merchant + Partners was the
legal advisor to VH Capital on the deal.
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
In Aug-18, Sequoia had invested INR 10 Cr in
Quick Ride (Subscribers to the database can
login to view the valuation, deal structuring
and other transaction details.)
Parksons
Packaging raises Rs.83-Cr from IIFL VC
Advisor disclosure
Mumbai-based carton designer and manufacturer
Parksons Packaging Ltd
has raised about INR 83 crore from
IIFL Special Opportunities Fund. Jerome
Merchant + Partners was the legal advisor to
IIFL on the deal, while Samvad Partners
advised the company.
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
In Mar-15, Kedaara Capital had invested INR 200
Cr in Parksons in a deal that involved secondary
purchase of shares from promoters and
ChrysCapital. (Subscribers to the database can
login to view the valuation, deal structuring
and other transaction details.)
Bike
taxi operator Rapido to raise Rs.78-Cr from
Nexus Ventures, Others
Venture Intelligence
Research
Nexus Venture Partners (via Nexus Ventures V
Ltd) and others have committed to invest INR
78.24 Cr by subscribing to 10 equity shares and
8,705 Series A3 CCPS at INR 89,772.82 per share
of Roppen Transportation Services Private
Limited (which owns baxi taxi service
Rapido). The
investment values the company at INR 455.89 Cr
(pre-money valuation of INR 377.65 Cr).
The company will issue 10 equity shares and
5,074 Series A3 CCPS to Nexus Ventures V Ltd (INR
45.64 Cr), 1,651 Series A3 CCPS to Rapido
Holdings LLC (INR 14.82 Cr), 1,158 Series A3
CCPS to Integrated Capital Growth Limited (INR
10.40 Cr) and 822 Series A3 CCPS to other
investors (INR 7.38 Cr)
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
In Jan 2019, Integrated Capital and other
investors had invested INR 72.15 Cr. In June
2016, AdvantEdge Partners, Astarc Ventures and
others invested INR 6.22 Cr.
Bug
aggregator Shuttl raises Rs 41-Cr
Entrackr
PROOF.VC has led a round worth INR 40.97 crore
with a INR 13.38 crore worth investment (via
4,893 shares) in bus aggregator Shuttl. Other
institutional investors in the round included
Sabre Investments, Karun Carpets, Exponential 1
Mobility, and Trifecta Capital with cheques
ranging between INR 2-7 crore.
Vineet Jain, Managing Director at BCCL the
parent of Times Internet, invested INR 7.1 crore
($1 million) in the company via 2,595 shares.
Ambiga Subramaniam, Mu Sigma cofounder also
participated in the tranche with a INR 2.08
crore investment.
Shuttl is in the process of raising a $20
million round.
Co-working space provider Workspace raises
Rs.30-Cr from SmartOwner Capital
Economic Times
Private Equity-Real Estate investor SmartOwner
Capital Growth Fund has invested around INR 30
crore in co-working operator Workspace, its
maiden investment in this rapidly growing
segment. The company will use the funds to build
co-working space spread over 500,000 square feet
in Pune with a target internal rate of return of
24%.
Fintech
startup EnKash raises $3-M from Mayfield, Axilor
INC42
Mumbai-based fintech startup
EnKash has
raised USD 3 million from Mayfield India and
Axilor Ventures. Vikram Godse, Managing Partner,
Mayfield, will join EnKash’s board as part of
the investment.
Enkash’s payments management and automation
platform can be used by businesses to send and
accept online payments, initiate financial
discounts, and bring cost efficiencies. The
platform also provides analysis and
reconciliations to the businesses.
Digital
lender Perk Finance raises Rs.6.5 Cr from Fosun
RZ Capital, others
INC42
Bengaluru-based Perk Finance raised a seed
funding of USD 900,000 (INR 6.5 crore) from
Fosun RZ Capital, Eric Bunting, Krishna
Vinjamuri and Karan Virwani. PerkFinance was
started by Vikas Kothari, Vivek Kandhur and
Yogesh Keswani in 2017. The fintech startup
offers payroll-linked loans and salary advance
starting at INR 5,000. It claims to have
disbursed loans worth INR 5 crore to employees
in 50+ partner companies. It is a part of the
Envision Accelerator Programme.
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
The deal had closed in October 2018.
(Subscribers to the database can login to view
the valuation, deal structuring and other
transaction details.)
Nine
Indian startups among Sequoia's first Surge
cohort
CNBC -TV18
Nine startups from India have made it to the
inaugural cohort of venture capital firm
Sequoia Capital
India’s Surge programme.
Azani Sport: a performance sportswear
brand that offers high-quality footwear, apparel
to consumers in emerging markets.
Bulbul: a vernacular live-streaming
e-commerce platform.
Doubtnut: a learning app in multiple
Indian languages that uses complex AI and ML
technologies to serve up answers and video
lessons in response to photos of specific
problems.
Flynote: a global community of travel
enthusiasts, known as Flynote Fellows, who
travel and experience the world on the company’s
sponsorship. They then leverage this experience
to monetise their passion for travel.
Hippo Video: a next-gen video marketing
SaaS platform that helps marketers create, edit
and personalize video content on a mass scale,
as well as analyse responses and convert more
viewers into customers.
Interview Bit Academy: offers computer
science education via live online classes to
prepare students for jobs in leading technology
companies.
Khatabook: a multi-language mobile
application for small and medium businesses to
record cash transactions and track payments.
Skillmatics: develops educational
products and games that enable children to build
core skills ranging from math and language to
science and logic through systematic play.
The ninth startup has chosen to stay in stealth.
SEBI
restrains Hotel Leelaventure from selling
properties to Brookfield
Times of India
Capital markets regulator Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred
cash-strapped Hotel Leelaventure (HLVL) from
selling its four hotels and other assets to
Canadian investment fund Brookfield Asset
Management till further directions. SEBI, in its
letter to Hotel Leelaventure, said it has
received representations from diversified
business group ITC, which has also moved the
National Company Law Tribunal against Hotel
Leelaventure alleging "oppression and
mismanagement", and another minority
shareholder, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
(ITC has made certain allegations against HLVL,
its promoters and JM Finanacial Asset
Reconstruction Company Ltd with respect to
postal ballot notice seeking shareholders nod
for the sale.)
On March 18, HLVL had announced sale of its four
hotels located in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi and
Udaipur to Canadian investment fund Brookfield
for INR 3,950 crore. The transaction included
assignment of all hotel management contracts
currently in operation as well as all
under-development, along with the employees of
the hotels.
Angel Funding
Leadstart Publishing raises Rs.3-Cr from Mumbai
Angels Network, others
Press Release
Leadstart Publishing,
a media-tech publishing house, distributor, and
rights agency platform, has raised funding from
Mumbai Angels Network (MAN). The INR 3 crore
fundraise was led by MAN, alongside JITO Angel
Network and SucSEED Venture Partners. The
Mumbai-based company will be using the funds to
scale operations, develop technology and
customer acquisition.
Leadstart’s integrated platform allows authors
to self-publish globally in multiple languages,
using technology for creation, providing
enhancement and distribution of content to a
wider audience such as studios, OTT platforms,
or adapting to video formats, by re-imagining
content discovery, and bringing reader
recognition.
Online
footwear brand Rapawalk has secured Rs 2.4 crore
DealStreetAsia
Bangalore-based online footwear brand
Rapawalk has
raised INR 2.4 crore ($350,000) from Raveen
Sastry, co-founder of Myntra; Sanjay
Ramakrishnan, former marketing chief at Myntra;
and Ravi Garikipati, former chief technology
officer at Flipkart, among others. Rapawalk will
use the funding proceeds for, including others,
hiring experienced professionals.
Agritech
startup FreshoKartz raises seed funding
INC42
Rajasthan-based agritech startup
FreshoKartz has
raised seed funding round from Chennai-based
investor Sunil Kumar Singhvi along with a group
of angel investors via convertible notes.
Founded in 2016 by Rajendra Lora, FreshoKartz is
a fruit and vegetable delivery startup which
leverages the on-demand procurement model to
provide users with fresh goods directly procured
from farms. The startup plans to utilise the new
funds to expand its operations to other markets
such as Lucknow.
The startup is also planning to raise its
Pre-Series A round in the next few months.
Skin
care products maker Dr. Sheth's raises funding
from Mumbai Angels Network
Press Release
Mumbai-based skin care products maker
Dr. Sheth’s has
raised INR 4 crore from Mumbai Angels Network
(MA Network) and other investors. Mumbai Angels
invested INR 3 crore in the round. Dr. Sheth’s
will be using the funds to scale operations,
build brand awareness, develop new product line,
and launch in international markets.
Founded in 2016, Dr. Sheth’s products are vegan,
free of harmful ingredients such as parabens,
sulphates, or phthalates.
Social VC Investments
Edtech
platform GUVI raises Rs.1-Cr from Gray Matters
Capital
Economic Times
IIT Madras incubated, Chennai-based
GUVI, an online
platform where students learn to code in
Vernacular Indian languages, has raised its
first institutional round of funding at INR 1
crore from US based Gray Matters Capital. GUVI
primarily functions as an IT skill acceleration
and hiring platform.
Incubation/Acceleration
Venture
Center invests in healthcare startups
Sensivision, Kozhnosys
Biospectrum India
NCL-Pune’s startup incubator Venture Center has
invested in two healthcare startups -
Sensivision and
Kozhnosys. The
investment in Sensivision was made under the
NIDHI Seed Scheme of the Department of Science
and Technology (DST), while the investment in
Kozhnosys was made under the BIRAC SEED Fund.
Jayadeep Unni-founded,
Bangalore-based Sensivision is a medical device
company focused on the critical care segment of
Neonates. Pune-based Kozhnosys works on building
cost-effective and easy-to-use medical
diagnostic devices.
Liquidity Events
TrueNorth sells Aster DM Healthcare shares worth
Rs.78.1 Cr, registers 5.81x return
Venture Intelligence
Research
TrueNorth, via True North Fund IIIA and Indium
IV Mauritius Holdings Limited, sold 4,934,642
shares and 65,000 shares respectively at an avg.
price of INR 156.16 per share of publicly listed
hospital chain Aster DM Healthcare Ltd. during
the Jan-Mar 2019 quarter. The sale, which
constitutes 0.99% stake of the company,
aggregates to INR 78.07 Cr. Post-deal the
investor holds 10.39% stake (52,480,619 shares)
in the company.
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
In Feb 2008, TrueNorth invested INR 62.31 Cr in
Aster. In Jan 2012, Olympus Capital invested INR
504.74 Cr. In May 2014, Olympus Capital and
TrueNorth invested INR 241.90 Cr and INR 118.07
Cr respectively. The company got listed in Feb
2018 at INR 190 per share.
Quikr
acquires used goods marketplace Zefo
INC42
Online classifieds marketplace Quikr has
acquired Bengaluru-based Zefo, which operates an
used goods marketplace at gozefo.com.
Zefo had raised over USD 19 million from Sequoia
capital India, Helion Venture Partners and
Singapore-headquartered VC fund Beenext. The
company has operations in four cities.
Other Private Equity/Strategic Investments
ATC
acquires Tatas’ residual 13% in ATC Telecom
Infra for Rs.2,500-Cr
Economic Times
American Tower Corp (ATC), a Boston-based
independent tower firm, has acquired Tata
Teleservices’ near-13% residual stake in ATC
Telecom Infrastructure for about INR 2,500 crore
in an all-cash deal. With the acquisition, ATC
now owns nearly 90% in ATC Telecom
Infrastructure. Macquarie-controlled funds own
the balance 10% shares. The deal - at about INR
212 per share - marks the exit of Tata Group
from the consumer mobility and related
businesses. (The group is in the final stages of
selling Tata Teleservices’ consumer mobility
business to Bharti Airtel.)
ATC had in October last year bought nearly half
of Tata Tele’s original 26% stake in ATC Telecom
Infra along with IDFC’s 2% for a total
consideration of INR 2,940 crore.
Video
distribution platform Digibooster attracts
investment from GoQuest Media
Press Release,
Exchange4Media.com
Content distributor GoQuest Media Ventures (GQMV)
has made a strategic investment in
Digibooster, a
Mumbai-based content market platform for media
and entertainment professionals looking to buy
or sell video content. Digibooster is focusing
on becoming the go-to place for anyone looking
to buy short format content including content
websites, brands, Facebook pages, YouTube
aggregators and individual influencers. The
funding will be used to build the team and
technology to reach out to global clients.
Digibooster is founded by Nandini Mansinghka,
CEO of Mumbai Angels Network.
M&A
McLeod
Russel to sell 3 Assam estates to Luxmi Tea Co
for Rs.150-Cr
Business Line
Bulk tea producer McLeod Russel has entered into
an agreement with Luxmi Tea Company for the sale
of three of its estates in Assam - Addabarie Tea
Estate, Mahakali Tea Estate and Dirai Tea Estate
- for an estimated value of around INR 150 crore.
The three estates together contributed close to
INR 77 crore to the company’s turnover in FY18.
McLeod Russel had, in September last year,
entered into an agreement with Saffron Enclave
Pvt Ltd for the sale of four estates - Addabarie,
Dirai, Mahakali and Rajmai - in Assam with a
total capacity of 5.07 mkg for INR 180.70 crore.
However, since the non-binding term sheet with
Saffron expired on March 31 this year, it has
entered into an agreement with Luxmi Tea.
McLeod Russel’s debt, as of September 2018,
stood at around INR 1,500 crore.
From the Venture
Intelligence M&A Deals Database:
In June 2018, McLeod Russel has agreed to sell
four tea estates — namely Moran Tea Estate,
Lepetkatta Tea Estate, Attabarrie Tea Estate and
Sepon Tea Estate - for INR 141 crore to Kolkata-based
Luxmi Tea Company.
Ipca
Labs to buy API maker Ramdev Chemical for
Rs.108.5 Cr
BSE
Publicly listed, Mumbai-based Ipca Laboratories
Ltd is to acquire 100% stake Tarapur-based
Ramdev Chemical Pvt. Ltd for INR 108.5 crore in
an all cash deal. Incorporated in 1999, the
target - which employs 170 professionals - is
engaged in the business of manufacturing and
marketing of advanced drug intermediates, fine
chemicals and custom synthesis molecules. Its
total income stood at INR 75.89 crore for FY19
with a EBITDA of INR 9.18 crore and Net Profit
of INR 3.01 crore. The deal will help Ipca grow
its API business with the possibility of
forward-integrating with its dosage formulations
business for the global market.
From the Venture
Intelligence M&A Deals Database:
Ramdev is the 10th acquisition for Ipca since
2007. In 2018, Ipca acquired two US-based
companies - Bayshore Pharmaceuticals LLC for USD
10.28 million and Pisgah Labs for USD 9.65
million.
HT Media
acquires 51% stake in Radio One parent Next
Mediaworks
Mint
HT Media Ltd, via its radio arm, has acquired a
51% stake in Next Mediaworks Ltd. Next
Mediaworks, through its subsidiary Next Radio
Ltd, operates stations across major metros under
the ‘Radio One’ brand, including some in the
English language. HT Media will not only add an
additional station each to its network in top
five metros but also add Pune to its network.
Tata
Global Beverages to acquire Dhunseri’s branded
tea business for Rs.101-Cr
BSE
Publicly-listed Tata Global Beverages Ltd is to
acquire the branded tea business of Dhunseri Tea
& Industries Ltd, for an aggregate consideration
of INR 101 crore. The branded tea business of
Dhunseri Tea is presently carried out under the
brands “Lalghoda” and “Kalaghoda”.
Danish co Zacco
acquires Lakshya Cybersecurity Labs
Business Standard
Zacco, a Denmark-based intellectual property
firm, has acquired
Lakhshya Cybersecurity
Labs, a Coimbatore-based
cybersecurity research and consulting services
company. Lakhshya claims to have built
experience in niche areas of cybersecurity such
as malware analysis, cyber breach investigation,
red teaming--which assesses cyber threats, and
DevSecOps, that includes security as a
fundamental aspect. Lakhshya Labs will add a
team of more than 40 professionals with
expertise across banking, financial services,
aviation, government and automotive sectors.
Tata
Power to sell 32 MW wind power asset in
Maharashtra
BSE
Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited, wholly
subsidiary of publicly-listed Tata Power, has
signed a binding agreement to sell its 32 MW
operating wind assets located in Satara
District, Maharashtra. The power from these
assets is currently tied up with Tata Power
Company – Distribution (TPC-D) under a long-term
power purchase agreement.
DLS Law
Offices merges with HSA Advocates
Press Release
Dipti Lavya Swain, Founder & Managing Partner of
Delhi-based DLS Law Offices is merging the firm
with HSA Advocates. With over 13 years of work
experience, including in top tier firms as a
partner, Dipti is a specialist in Private
Equity, M&A, Securities Law, Insolvency Laws and
Corporate Law. Dipti had earlier joined Azure
Power as general counsel from Luthra and Luthra
where he was a partner. He began his independent
practice through DLS Law Offices in June 2018.
Other Deals
RBI
sells entire stake in NHB, Nabard to government
for Rs.1,470-Cr
Business Standard
The Reserve Bank has exited the National Housing
Bank (NHB) and the National Bank for Agriculture
& Rural Development (Nabard), by selling its
entire stakes to the Union Government for INR
1,450 crore and INR 20 crore respectively. The
two entities will now be fully government-owned.
AppDynamics founder Jyoti Bansal’s new startup
Harness raises $60-M
ZD Net
Harness, a San Francisco-based firm that offers
a "continuous delivery-as-a-service" platform
has closed a USD 60 million Series B funding
round led by IVP, GV, and ServiceNow Ventures.
The firm plans to use the new funding for R&D as
well as to grow its engineering, sales, and
customer success teams.
Founded by AppDynamics founder and former CEO
Jyoti Bansal and former Apple DevOps platform
architect Rishi Singh, Harness emerged from
stealth in October 2017. Its customers include
McAfee, Home Depot, SoulCycle, Bank of Santander,
NCR and Beachbody.
Hyderabad- and US-based workforce mgmt platform
Ceipal raises $7.5 M
Finsmes
Ceipal, a
Rochester, NY (USA)- and Hyderabad -based
provider of an SaaS platform that helps automate
business operations of staffing companies, has
raised USD 7.5 million from Resolve Growth
Partners and existing backer Mistral Venture
Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Jit
Sinha and Chris Rhodes will join Ceipal’s board
of directors. The company intends to use the
funds to scale product development, sales and
support teams.
Ceipal provides a product suite that offers a
complete workforce management platform including
a fully integrated applicant tracking system (ATS)
and human resource information system (HRIS).
The company claims to serve over 1,000 customers
and 12,000 recruiters globally.
Kotak
sells 19.77% stake in Matrix Business Services
for Rs.10-Cr
Money Control
Kotak Mahindra Investments Ltd (KMIL), a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank,
has agreed to sell its entire equity stake of
19.77% (82,680 shares) in Chennai-based
Matrix Business Services,
at INR 1,248.17 a share, aggregating to about
INR 10.32 crore.
Matrix provides business assurance services,
claims processing, including employee background
verifications checks and product and process
audits. Matrix had a net worth of INR 33.74
crore as of March 31, 2018, and a turnover of
INR 57.70 crore in 2017-18.
Other Deals - Listed Firms
Sunil
Mittal buys over 6% stake in CG Power for
Rs.150-Cr
Times of India
Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal,
through Bharti (SBM) Holdings, has picked up an
over 6% stake in publicly listed Avantha Group
company
CG Power and Industrial
Solutions. The investments, done via
open market purchases starting in March, cost
Mittal around INR 150 crore.
CG Power makes electrical equipment like
transformers and switchgears. The investment by
Mittal comes as lenders, including asset
management major KKR India Financial Services
and L&T Finance, have revoked pledged shares in
the company, taking a 21.6% stake. The
shareholding of the Avantha Group, which has
been selling assets to reduce group debt, has
fallen from 34.4% to 12.7% during the March
quarter.
IPO
Neogen
Chemicals’ Rs.132-Cr IPO fully subscribed
Economic Times,
Economic Times
The initial public offering (IPO) by
Neogen Chemicals
was fully subscribed. The INR 132 crore IPO
received bids for 54,74,170 shares against the
issue size of 43,29,038 units, which was 1.26
times of the total issue size. Qualified
institutional buyers (QIBs) quota was subscribed
0.94 times, non-institutional investors (NIIs)
0.8 times and Retail, 2.30 times. The IPO
comprised a fresh issue of up to INR 70 crore
and an offer-for-sale of up to 29,00,000 equity
shares including an anchor portion of 18,46,715
equity shares.
Mumbai-based has raised INR 39.70 crore from a
total of seven anchor investors at INR 215 per
share. The anchor investors include mutual funds
SBI Contra Fund, SBI Magnum Comma Fund, SBI Long
Term Advantage Fund Series; SBI Long Term
Advantage Fund Series V, Axis Mutual Fund
Trustee Ltd – Axis Small Cap Fund, Sundaram
Mutual Fund – Sundaram Small Cap Fund , L&T
Mutual Fund Trustee Ltd – L&T Emerging
Opportunities Fund – Series I.
Neogen makes organic chemical compounds –
Bromine compounds and other organic compounds
containing chlorine, fluorine and iodine-based
and combination – used in application industries
such as pharmaceutical, agrochemical, flavour
and fragrance and electronic chemicals.
Real Estate Transactions
Indiabulls Real Estate to sell London property
worth Rs.1,800-Cr to promoters
Business Line
Indiabulls Real Estate is to sell its London
property to promoters for GBP 200 million
(approximately Rs 1,800 crore). The company has
decided to focus on the Mumbai and NCR markets
and, hence, has decided to divest Century Ltd,
the company that houses Hanover Square property,
London. The company had a net debt of INR 4,590
crore as of March 31 and expects to reduce it to
INR 3,000 crore after the proposed deal with
promoters. Indiabulls had purchased this
property for GBP 161.5 million and the current
valuation has been pegged at GBP 189 million.
The company posted a 95% drop in consolidated
net profit at INR 108.56 crore for the quarter
ended March 31, as against INR 2,181.13 crore in
the same period last year. Net revenues declined
37.1% to INR 2,040.61 crore in the quarter, from
INR 3,244.25 crore in the corresponding period
of the previous year.
Undone:
K Raheja, Mafatlal Group firm call off Rs.355-Cr
land deal
Economic Times
Realty developer K Raheja Corp and Mafatlal
Group company Standard Industries have called
off the deal for 62.25 acre of land parcel in
Navi Mumbai’s Ghansoli locality. In September
2016, K Raheja Corp had entered into a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to acquire
this plot for INR 355 crore. Standard Industries
(erstwhile Standard Mills) with interests in the
textile business, was expected to transfer and
assign its leasehold rights for the property at
Trans-Thane Creek Industrial Area in the
villages of Ghansoli and Savali. The plot was
expected to be acquired by Feat Properties, a
subsidiary of K Raheja Corp. The land parcel has
a total development potential of about 8 million
sq ft.
Debt Financing
IFC to
lend $75-M to Mahindra Finance
Investor Disclosure
IFC is to lend INR 525 Cr (US$75 M) to
Mahindra & Mahindra
Financial Services Limited (MMFSL)
via 3-year senior, secured funding. IFC’s
investment will help MMFSL augment its lending
program to MSMEs.
Digital
lender KrazyBee raises Rs.100-Cr from BAC
Acquisitions, Northern R Capital, others
Entrackr
Students-focused digital lending platform
KrazyBee is
raising INR 100 crore debt from Sachin Bansal’s
BAC Acquisitions, Unifi AIF, BRD Securities and
Northern R Capital along with a couple of other
investors. BAC Acquisitions is reported to be
investing INR 15-20 crore. Unifi Alternative
Investment Fund and Northern R Capital are
putting in about INR 50 crore together. BRD and
AU Small Finance Bank would be investing around
INR 20 crore together. Telema Investments and
Hinduja Leyland Finance are expected to
contribute in the range of INR 10-15 crore.
Besides partnering with over half a dozen
lenders such as IIFL, KrazyBee has NBFC license
that allows it to lend on its own. So far,
KrazyBee has raised about USD 13 million in risk
capital from investors like Xiaomi and Shunwei
Capital, Essel Group’s E-City Ventures and RK
Group
Two-wheeler rental co Bounce raises $3-M from
Innoven Capital
Mint
Two-wheeler rental startup Bounce has raised USD
3 million in debt from Innoven Capital. This is
Bounce’s second round of funding from the
InnoVen, taking the total debt investment to USD
6 million. The company, founded in 2014 by
Vivekananda H.R., Varun Agni and Anil G. under
the Wicked Rides branding, currently has a fleet
of 5,000 keyless bikes in Bengaluru and the
current funding will be used to expand its base
within the city. Since the start of its service
in September 2018, Bounce bikes claims to have
clocked close to 15 million kms.
Till date, the company has raised over USD 22.5
million in equity (from investors like Omidyar
Network, Accel India, Chiratae Ventures and
Sequoia Capital India.)
Omnivore raises
$97-M for second fund
Economic Times
Agri-business focused VC firm Omnivore Partners
has raised USD 97 million for its second fund,
higher than the targeted USD 75 million. Several
investors, including UK’s CDC Group, Dutch
development bank FMO, Swiss Investment Fund for
Emerging Markets, Belgian Investment Company for
Developing Countries, BASF Venture Capital,
Japan-based Mistletoe and various family
offices, chipped in.
Omnivore has made five investments — with cheque
sizes ranging from USD 500,000 to USD 4 million
— from its second fund till date.
Snacks
maker Haldiram’s to invest in consumer product
startups in tie-up with Venture Catalyst
Business Line
Snacks maker Haldiram’s plans to collaborate
with Venture Catalyst (VCats), an integrated
incubator and investment platform, for investing
in consumer products startups. Haldiram’s plans
to invest in 10-15 consumer products goods
startups over the next two years with the help
of VCats, which has already incubated startups
such as men’s grooming brand Beardo, female
hygiene brand PeeSafe and herbal energy shot
drink FYRE.
VI
Updates
|
Deal Showcase |
|
|
The Deal:
Mastercard acquires Transfast |
|
The Deal:
Oman India Joint Investment Fund to
acquire shares of PNB Metlife The JSA Team comprised Partner – Sidharrth Shankar, Principal Associate – Prakriti Jaiswal, Senior Associate – CV Srikant, and Associates - Shweta Gupta, Srishti Moitra and Aman Bhatia. |
Highlighted Sponsor
Technology Holdings is an M&A and strategic
advisory group that assists companies and
private equity funds globally with their
acquisition, growth and exit strategies. We are
exclusively focused on creating strategic
transactions for IT Services & BPO, Technology &
SaaS, Analytics, Digital Transformation,
Healthcare IT/BPO and Engineering Services
companies. Technology Holdings has offices
across India, USA and the UK. For more
information, please visit:
http://www.technology-holdings.com/
Write to us at:
anurag@technology-holdings.com
or call us at +91-9108671235
Private Equity/Strategic Investments
SoftBank in talks to invest $2-3 B in
Reliance Jio
Entrackr
Japanese investing giant SoftBank, through
its SoftBank Vision fund, is in talks to
invest USD 2-3 billion in telecom operator
Reliance Jio. Softbank Vision fund is
currently carrying out due diligence on the
company.
Carlyle-Zydus, Advent eye Bharat Serums
with bids of Rs.3,450-3,600 Cr
Economic Times
A consortium of PE firm Carlyle and Zydus
Cadila is competing with private equity
group Advent International to acquire Mumbai
based bio-pharmaceutical company Bharat
Serums and Vaccines (BSV). The two have
submitted non-binding offers in the range of
INR 3,450-3,600 crore (USD 500-520 million).
They are up against domestic pharma
companies Dr Reddy’s Labs, ChrysCapital-backed
Mankind Pharma and Goldman Sachs which have
also made offers in the range of INR 3,000
crore (USD 400-440 million). The binding
offers are due this month end. The promoter
Daftary family, existing investors Kotak
Private Equity and OrbiMed Asia are looking
to sell a majority stake in the company and
had mandated investment bank Jefferies
to manage the sale process. The two funds
together hold 23% stake and the rest is with
the founders.
From the Venture
Intelligence PE-VC Deal Database:
In the last round - in Sep-16 - Orbimed and
Kotak PE had invested about INR 350 Cr in
Bharat Serums & Vaccines. (Subscribers to
the database can login to view the
valuation, deal structuring and other
transaction details.)
Nitesh Estates to raise Rs.1,300-Cr for
commercial office portfolio
Mint
Bengaluru-based developer Nitesh Estates Ltd
plans to raise about INR 1,300 crore to
build a commercial office portfolio even as
it mulls exiting the residential business.
The company will raise INR 800 crore as
equity and partner a foreign investor
primarily to build a commercial office
platform and has mandated Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to manage
the fundraise.
Nitesh Estates also plans to raise up to INR
500 crore of mezzanine capital or structured
debt for three to four residential projects,
which will be eventually converted into
offices. Last year, Nitesh Estates was in
talks with China’s Fosun Group to raise
about INR 800 crore through a 51% stake sale
in the company, but a deal was held up due
to tightening of norms for outbound
investment by the Chinese government.
eBay in talks to lead $170-M round in
Paytm’s e-commerce unit
Economic Times
US-based online marketplace giant eBay has
begun talks to lead a USD 160-170 million
strategic investment in Paytm Mall as it
looks to explore an offline-to-online
commerce and payments strategy in India.
eBay will continue to run its independent
online portal in India.
The deal would mark eBay’s third bet in an
Indian ecommerce player, after Snapdeal and
Flipkart,.
Logistics aggregator Sagisu to raise
$10-M
Business Line
Logistics aggregator Sagisu is looking to
raise USD 10 million in Series A funding, as
it plans to increase its fleet strength to
1,000 trucks. This follows a recent
seed-funding round in which the startup
raised USD 2.1 million from investors in the
US and India.
Sagisu doesn’t own a fleet of trucks but
provides truckers within the city more
business. The company helps e-commerce
providers such as Urban Ladder and Rentomojo
in discovering logistics providers within
the city through its app. The company was
set up in May 2016 by Mithun Kadur, an
IIM-Bengaluru alumnus, and Rajanna, a former
CEO of Bombay Dyeing.
Hard water treatment product maker D’Cal
looks to raise funding
INC42
Hyderabad-based
D’Cal,
which offers treatment for turning hard
water into soft water, is looking to raise
funds in the next 4-5 months. D’Cal is
currently bootstrapped and recorded more
than INR 1 crore in sales last quarter, with
the highest demand coming from Gujarat,
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Currently, D’Cal,
founded by Uday Nadiwade and Rajesh Saraf in
2018, earns revenue through sales on
ecommerce platforms such as Amazon and its
own website. Priced at INR 2,700, the device
has been available for almost a year.
Digital logistics assistance co Transport
Hub scouting for partners
Business Line
Digital logistics assistance startup
Transport Hub is scouting for partnerships
to scale up its business. The company has
developed a device — ICE (improvement in
cold chain efficiency) — to address the
inefficiency in the transportation of
perishable goods and cold storage systems.
Major clients of the ICE solution include
Vadilal Industries, Sakata Seeds and Kanchan
Pharma. Promoted by Rohit Chaturvedi, an
ex-KPMG and Crisil logistics veteran,
Transport Hub’s device enables users to
remotely control the air-conditioners of a
moving truck through a customised mobile
application.
MT Educare to spin off online education
app Robomate, raise funds
Economic Times
Mumbai-based MT Educare has begun the
process of spinning off its online education
app Robomate into a separate entity. The
education services company’s promoters have
held early talks with investors including
New Silk Route and Bertelsmann India
Investments.
MT Educare is reported to be seeking a
valuation of INR 700-1,000 crore for
Robomate, which competes with the likes of
Byju’s. The capital raised is likely to be
used towards scaling up Robomate.
Canada’s Brookfield in talks to acquire
majority stake in Mytrah Energy: report
Mint
Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is
in talks to buy a majority stake in
Hyderabad-based Mytrah Energy for more than
USD 1 billion. Mytrah has a renewable power
portfolio of around 1.6 GW.
Secondary Issues
PSU firm Hindustan Copper looking to
raise funds via QIP issue
Mint
State-owned Hindustan Copper will consider a
proposal to raise funds through an issue of
equity shares to qualified institutional
investors. The issue size might be as much
as INR 900 Cr.
M&A
JHS Svendgaard eyes personal care co in
south
Business Line
Publicly listed oral care products
manufacturing company JHS Svendgaard
Laboratories plans is in talks to acquire a
south-based personal care product
manufacturing company for about INR 75 crore.
JHS, which has a manufacturing facility at
tax-free zone in Himachal Pradesh, makes
toothpaste, toothbrush, and mouthwash for
almost all leading brands including Colgate,
Dabur, Patanjali, Emami and Apollo. Post
deal, it will move a part of manufacturing
from Himachal to the south to service
customers better and bring down costs.
Jaypee Infra buyout race picks up with
Adani, NBCC bids
Mint
The battle to acquire the debt-laden Jaypee
Infra has become more intense with NBCC
submitting a fresh bid on April 24 and the
Adani Group also entering the fray. The
Committee of Creditors (CoC) has asked Adani
Infrastructure and Developers to submit
their bid by April 24 as the committee would
finalise the best bid on April 30. Adani
Infrastructure and Developers requested the
CoC to allow it to submit its resolution
plan by April 27.
Arvind Fashions looks to sell foreign
brand licences
Economic Times
Publicly-listed Arvind Fashions is talking
to various companies to sell the India
licences of Gant, Izod and Nautica. It is
also weighing to exit US-based Ed Hardy as
part of its restructuring plans.
New Venture
SP Group in talks with Ariisto Developers
for Goregaon project
Economic Times
Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate is in
advanced talks with Ariisto Developers to
enter into a joint development agreement to
develop a residential project of around one
million square feet in Mumbai’s Goregaon
suburb. Ariisto Developers has already
developed the rehabilitation component of
the slum project and has now started work on
the free-sale component of the project
through this alliance. Shapoorji Pallonji
Real Estate is likely to pay around INR 250
crore upfront to Ariisto as per terms of
this alliance.
Expansion/Diversification
Dish TV forays into OTT segment with
‘Watcho’
Mint
Dish TV forayed into online ‘video on
demand’ segment by launching OTT
(over-the-top) platform 'Watcho'. It expects
to get 10 million users within a year. The
company will provide OTT service to its
existing DTH subscribers of Dish TV and D2H
brands, which are estimated to be around 23
million, free as of now. Watcho will offer
over 1,000 hours of library content,
including movies and short films.
Celebrity mgmt firm Kwan Entertainment
enters China
Economic Times
Celebrity management firm Kwan Entertainment
has become the first such Indian company to
enter China in partnership with local
company E Stars Films. Kwan has signed an
exclusive, long-term business association
with E Stars CEO Allen Liu. Kwan also wants
to open up a new market for the Indian
talent pool in China.
People
Amit Jain quits as Uber's Asia-Pac head
Times of India
Uber Technologies' head of Asia-Pacific
operations has put in his papers and is to
be replaced by Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty.
Amit Jain had joined the app-based
ride-hailing company as its India operations
chief in 2015 and had taken over as head of
Uber’s Asia-Pacific business last year.
Vinod Joseph joins Argus as partner
Legally India
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) India
legal counsel Vinod Joseph has joined Argus
Partners. Joseph had previously headed legal
at DFC Alternatives, which had been acquired
by GIP last year.
Maternity hospital chain Cloudnine
appoints Raviganesh Venkataraman as CEO
Economic Times
Bengaluru-headquartered private-equity
backed Cloudnine, which runs a chain of
maternity, childcare and fertility care
hospitals, has appointed Raviganesh
Venkataraman as its Chief Executive Officer.
Raviganesh was until recently a director on
the board of Metro Cash & Carry India and
has held leadership roles in the past with
Bharti Airtel, Subhiksha Retail, Coca Cola
India, Titan Industries and Godrej Boyce.
Cloudnine Group, founded by neonatologist
Dr.R. Kishore Kumar and three others in
2007, is backed by Matrix Partners, Sequoia
India and TrueNorth.
Twitter appoints Manish Maheshwari as
India MD
Mint
Twitter has appointed Manish Maheshwari as
the Managing Director of its India
operations. Maheshwari, who previously
served as the CEO of Network18 Digital,
takes over the new role from April 29.
Gaurav Sahay joins HSA as Partner
Press Release
Gaurav Sahay joins HSA Advocates as a
Partner in the firm's Corporate and M&A
practice. He will be operating out of the
firm’s Bangalore office. Prior to joining
HSA, Gaurav was the Partner at Kochhar & Co.
New Incubators
Entrepreneur Sid Mookerji sets up food
tech, retail accelerator in Mysuru
Business Standard
Entrepreneur Sid Mookerji - whose tech firm
Softvision was acquired by Cognizant last
year - has set up a retail and food-tech
focused startup accelerator in Mysuru.
Mookerji’s US-based venture capital firm
Silicon Road and French startup accelerator
Numa have partnered to launch, ‘Silicon Road
Accelerator’. The 4-month startup
acceleration programme will providing
funding support and infrastructure for
startups, particularly in the food and
retail tech sector.
Real Estate News
Ansal API CEO quits amid scrutiny of
company for fund diversion
Economic Times
Publicly listed Ansal API’s chief executive
and joint managing director, Anil Kumar, has
resigned. The development comes amid a
scrutiny of the company by the Uttar Pradesh
real estate regulator for potential
diversion of INR 600 crore from one of its
township projects.
Regulatory News
Madras HC lifts ban on Chinese video app
TikTok
NDTV
The Madras High Court has lifted the ban on
downloading the Chinese video-sharing app
TikTok. The court had imposed the temporary
ban on April 3.
TikTok was launched in 2019. Using this app,
users can create and share short videos with
special effects. TikTok reached the one
billion download mark in February.
Bankruptcy
Banks OK Rs.2,400-Cr Resolution Package
for Uttam Group Cos
Economic Times
Lenders to the distressed steel assets of
Uttam Value Steels and Uttam Galva Metallics
have approved a INR 2,400 crore resolution
package in a staggered payment plan that
requires banks to take haircuts of more than
60% on the loans. The resolution plan,
backed by CarVal Investors and Asset
Reconstruction Company of India (Arcil), is
said to include equity commitment of INR 100
crore. About INR 650 crore will be paid
immediately, with the remaining spread over
the next five-six years.
The assets, which are associate companies of
Uttam Galva Steels, comprise onemillion
tonne hot-rolled production capacity of
Uttam Value Steels at Wardha in Maharashtra,
for which the former purchases pig iron from
Uttam Galva Metallics. A consortium of
lenders, led by State Bank of India (SBI),
has INR 6,113 crore of loans outstanding in
these two accounts. Other banks with
significant exposure to the assets include
Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Andhra
Bank.
NCLT pulls up lenders of Sterling SEZ
Business Standard
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)
asked the committee of creditors (CoC) to
file an affidavit in 24 hours, detailing the
reasons for their acceptance of one-time
settlement (OTS) offer from the promoters
knowing that they were absconding and were
involved in fraudulent activities. It also
asked the bank executives to be present at
the tribunal for the hearing of the matter
or else the tribunal would direct an inquiry
against the CoC.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) had
earlier objected to the tribunal’s decision
accepting the withdrawal of insolvency plea
against Sterling SEZ by Srei Infrastructure
Finance but had later stayed the decision as
MCA is of the view that Section 12A of the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) cannot
be applicable to an absconder. The ED is
trying to declare Nitin and Chetan Sandesara,
promoters of Sterling group, as fugitives
under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.
NBCC submits revised bid for Jaypee
Infratech
Economic Times
State-owned NBCC Ltd submitted its revised
bid to acquire debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech
and complete over 20,000 delayed apartments
in Noida . NBCC and Suraksha group, which
are in the race to acquire the Jaypee Group
firm, were asked to sweeten their offers by
the lenders. Suraksha had earlier submitted
its revised bid. Meanwhile, Adani Group had
also expressed interest to bid for Jaypee
Infratech. However, lenders are unlikely to
seek Adani's offer until this round of
insolvency proceedings gets completed.
ACG Capsules seeks NCLT re-look at its
bid for Sterling Biotech
Business Line
ACG Associated Capsules, whose bid was
rejected by lenders earlier, has approached
the NCLT to reconsider its bid for Sterling
Biotech.This comes amidst the lenders moving
an application seeking to withdraw the
bankruptcy plea on Sterling Biotech.The
tribunal had fixed April 26 as the next date
of hearing on the plea seeking to take the
company out of bankruptcy proceedings.
Essar Steel CoC cannot discriminate
between operational creditors: NCLAT
Economic Times
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal
(NCLAT) has ruled that the Committee of
Creditors of Essar Steel cannot discriminate
between operational creditors of the
debt-ridden firm. The CoC of Essar Steel has
divided operational creditors of the company
into two types -- one with claims under INR
1 crore and another above INR 1 crore.
According to the resolution plan of
ArcelorMittal approved by CoC on October 24,
2018, operational creditors having claims
below INR 1 crore will get their dues and
those with claims of over INR 1 crore will
receive almost nothing. Financial creditors
would get an upfront INR 41,987 crore
payment against their admitted claims of INR
49,395 crore while operational creditors are
getting INR 214 crore against their dues of
INR 4,976 crore.
NCLT rejects Haldia Petro’s plea on NOCL
Business Line
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT),
Chennai, has dismissed an application of
Haldia Petrochemical Ltd (HPL) to appoint
one of the valuers registered with the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI)
to value Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd (NOCL)
and submit a report.
HPL had proposed the names of RBSA
Valuers, GAA Advisory and
Protocol Insurance
Surveyors & Loss Assessors. It
had also sought a direction to NOCL’s
Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) to
provide support to the valuers.
NCLT rejects ArcelorMittal’s plea for EPC
re-vote
Economic Times
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has
rejected Arcelor-Mittal India’s plea to set
aside the resolution plan submitted by
Royale Partners Investment Fund (RPIF) for
EPC Construction India (EPIL), formerly
Essar Projects India. The lenders of EPC
Construction India have approved RPIF’s
revival plans with 73% voting.
The local subsidiary of Luxembourg-based
ArcelorMittal Group sought the NCLT
intervention to direct EPIL’s lenders to
re-vote on its plan and restrain the
resolution professional (RP) and lenders
from proceeding with implementation of
RPIF’s resolution. ArcelorMittal is also
vying for Essar Steel.
Law firm Khaitan & Co and
EY are advising Royal Partners for EPIL.
MCA to probe wrongdoings in over 200
entities facing insolvency: report
Times of India
Forensic audit of over 200 companies facing
corporate insolvency resolution action under
the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has
revealed irregularities of more than INR 1
lakh crore, including possible diversion of
funds. The ministry of corporate affairs
(MCA), which is responsible for
implementation of IBC, is expected to
initiate action against the promoters,
directors and even auditors in some cases.
Apart from siphoning of funds, instances of
transactions with related parties and
several other irregularities have been
found, including involvement of banks.
Others
Over The Counter Exchange files for
voluntary liquidation
Times of India
Over The Counter Exchange of India (OTCEI)
has filed for voluntary winding up of its
operations after its members sought its
closure on March 1. The announcement called
for stakeholder claims by April 7,
signalling the end of small companies
exchange. OTCEI - promoted by a clutch of
banks and insurance companies including
ICICI Bank, LIC, GIC, United India Insurance
among others - was incorporated in 1990 as a
Section 25 company.
NSL Sugars CFO held for embezzlement
Business Line
The Hyderabad police have arrested Namburi
Bala Srinivasa Rao, Chief Financial Officer
of NSL Sugars, for allegedly swindling INR 5
crore. The company alleged that the CFO
diverted the money to his accounts by making
it believe that a fee was paid to two
consultancy firms in connection with a loan.
ZipGo lays off 60 employees and halts
intracity services: report
Entrackr
Shuttle service ZipGo has laid off 60
employees and closed intra city services. In
Aug-18, ZipGo had announced INR 300 crore in
funding from the Essel Group. The strategic
investor soon after faced a debt crisis and
has not come through with the funding
commitment. Orios Venture Partners had led
the seed round in Zipgo.
NCLT slaps fine on CaratLane for not
setting up remuneration committee
Business Line
The Chennai Bench of the National Company
Law Tribunal (NCLT) has imposed a fine on
CaratLane Trading Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of
Titan, its Managing Director and Company
Secretary, for not constituting a nomination
and remuneration committee in 2016 - as
mandated under Section 178 of the Companies
Act, 2013 - when the company’s turnover had
crossed INR 100 crore. The NCLT imposed a
fine of INR 3 lakh on the company and INR
50,000 each on Mithun Padamchand Sacheti,
Managing Director, and Bharatraj Panchal,
Company Secretary. The company was directed
to pay the penalty from its accounts but the
two officers shall pay from their own
resources
The Assistant Registrar of Companies had
noted that CaratLane became Titan’s
subsidiary on August 4, 2016, when its
turnover had crossed INR 131 crore. The
company should have constituted a nomination
and remuneration committee by September 4,
2016, in compliance with the Companies Act.
However, it constituted such a committee,
and appointed an independent director, only
on March 20, 2018. The period of violation
was from September 4, 2016, to March 19,
2018
No takers for PSU helicopter co Pawan
Hans
Business Standard
The government’s disinvestment plan has
faced yet another setback as public sector
aviation firm Pawan Hans failed to attract
any bidder. The last date for submitting a
financial bid for the helicopter company
expired last month and the date could not be
extended due to the model code of conduct
rules during the elections.
Avalon Consulting
is pleased to present a view on “The
Great Indian Gastro- Economy: Succeeding in
India with Investments in the Food Industry”.
This is part of our “Avalon
Perspectives”, a series of thought
papers/ insights/ industry relevant
literature which identifies and analyses
current industry trends.
With changing food consumption patterns,
demographic shifts, a positive private
equity and venture capital investment
scenario backed by government policies and
initiatives, India is all set to experience
the new wave of growth in the food industry.
This paper dseep-dives into the opportunity,
hot-spots in food and agri-business and how
investors can benefit from the India growth
story. You can download this document at the
link
here.
We hope you find this content insightful and
look forward to your thoughts and feedback
on the same. We would be happy to engage in
a more detailed conversation, should you
have any questions. Please feel free to
write back to us.
Connect with Avalon Consulting on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to receive interesting insights and updates.
Economic Laws Practice
("ELP") is a leading full-service Indian law
firm established in the year 2001 by eminent
lawyers from diverse fields. The firm’s
Private Equity & Venture Capital practice
brings onboard a unique understanding of
commercial matters and legalese to be able
to provide effective solutions to all
stakeholders in a transaction. The team
looks at providing a bespoke legal service
experience, which is sector agnostic in
nature and driven towards successful
consummation of the relevant transactions.
ELP advises clients on all aspects of
private equity and venture capital
transactions, whether from a fund formation
perspective or a potential portfolio
investment or a relevant exit transaction.
Our services include right from
conceptualising a structure, to conducting
the legal due diligence exercise, to the
preparation of the relevant documentation,
to providing assistance to the final closure
including negotiations and corporate
secretarial assistance.
ELP is the firm of choice for clients
because of its in-depth expertise,
continuous availability, geographic reach,
transparent approach, competitive pricing
and most importantly the involvement of
partners in every assignment.
Basiz is a high end and
specialized fund accounting service provider
with international footprints, with offices
in Mumbai, Chennai and Coimbatore in India,
besides Singapore, London and New York.
Basiz primarily focuses on servicing Fund
administrators, Hedge Funds, Mutual Funds,
Private Equity / Venture Capital Funds,
Family Offices, REIT Funds, Insurance
Portfolios and Managed Accounts.
Contact Information
Sesh A.V ACA, Managing Director
Basiz Fund Services Pvt. Ltd
M: +918286008554, E:
sesha@basizfa.com
http://www.basizfa.com
Technology Holdings is an M&A and strategic advisory
group that assists companies and private equity
funds globally with their acquisition, growth and
exit strategies. We are exclusively focused on
creating strategic transactions for IT Services & BPO, Technology & SaaS, Analytics, Digital
Transformation, Healthcare IT/BPO and Engineering
Services companies. Technology Holdings has offices
across India, USA and the UK.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.technology-holdings.com/
Write to us at:
anurag@technology-holdings.com
or call us at +91-9108671235
Deal Digest Daily
Delivered by email on all working weekdays, the
Deal Digest Daily newsletter summarizes Private
Equity / Venture Capital Investment & Exits,
IPO, M&A activity in India. Our coverage
includes not just completed deals, but "Deals in
the Making" as well: i.e., companies planning to
raise PE/VC funding or on the IPO path, looking
for acquisition etc. The Deal Digest also
includes news on new funds being raised,
executive movements and much more – making it
“start the day with” update for executives in
the Indian deal ecosystem.
It is a companion to the weekly Deal Digest that
is published each Friday.
Click Here to request a trial.
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