Deals Feed

Chennai-based NBFC Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services has raised Rs 150 crores ($23.5m) in a Series-C funding round led by Swiss investment firm responsAbility with participation from existing investors Elevar Equity and Accel Partners, as reported by VCCircle and The Hindu. The investment was done by way of subscription to 100 equity shares and 317,423 compulsory convertible preference shares of Samunnati.

Zerick Dastur Advocates & Solicitors has filed an appeal before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) challenging the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) order of last week banning the Big 4 consultancy from auditing work in India.

Itochu Petroleum Co, the Singapore-based subsidiary of Japanese trading company Itochu Corporation has announced the acquisition of 19.7% stake in Aegis Logistics' wholly-owned subsidiary, Hindustan Aegis LPG (HALPG), for INR 239 crores (apporximately $37.8m), as reported by Business Standard and VC Circle in May of last year. In addition to India, Itochu Corporation, the Japanese multinational trading group specialising in oil & gas, metals and other commodities, operates LPG import hubs in Japan and the Philippines.

Senior advocate Harish Salve helped the Delhi high court approve, but not yet notify, a set of new rules which would enable it to impose a staggering and unprecedented amount of costs on litigants filing frivolous cases before it, encourage video-conferencing trials and reduce litigation time in other ways.

The death penalty would stay on Indian statute books for at least another 50 years, predicted a former Chief Justice of India (CJI) in a wide-ranging study of opinions of former apex court judges conducted by NLU Delhi on the death penalty in India.

AZB & Partners was the busiest and fastest growing law firm in India this year according to year-end rankings released separately by Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters.

“Ola, operated by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has acquired online food delivery start-up Foodpanda India from its German parent Delivery Hero AG in an all-stock deal that will see the ride-hailing firm infuse $200m in Foodpanda India’s operations,” reported Mint.

Acadgild, the Bengaluru-based online education startup operated by Edvista Education Services has recently been acquired by Aeon Learning in an all-stock deal amounting to Rs 64 crores ($10m) as reported by VC Circle and Mint. Acadgild focuses on online degrees and skill development programmes in big data, deep learning and UI/UX design web development, among others and had raised initial investment from venture capital firm Jupiter Capital and K. Ganesh of GrowthStory.

“Indo-UK Institute of Health (IUIH), a healthcare provider, said that work on the second of its 11 Medicity facilities in Amaravati is slated to begin in the coming days as IUIH is scheduled to get possession of allotted land from the Andhra Pradesh government very soon. The hospital is being built in association with King's College Hospital, London, at an investment outlay of Rs 1,600 crore,” reported the Times of India.

State-owned lender Union Bank of India (UBI) has proposed to raise up to Rs 2,000 crores (approximately $312.4 million) through qualified institutional placement (QIP) with an initial offer of Rs 1,000 crores followed by a green-shoe option for another Rs 1,000 crores, as reported by Financial Express. The placement document was filed with the Indian stock exchanges on 12 December 2017. As a part of the transaction, equity shares of face value of INR 10 each of UBI were placed with QIBs, aggregating to INR 2000 Crores.

“Airtel will sell a 15% stake in the DTH business to Warburg Pincus entity Lion Meadow Investment for Rs 1,623.76 crore, the telecom firm said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday. Another group company that holds 5% of Bharti Telemedia will offer its entire stake to the PE firm. The deal values Bharti Telemedia at close to Rs 11,300 crore. This may make it India’s second largest DTH player by valuation, according to industry experts,” reported The Economic Times.

"Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest telecom service provider, on Monday said that it has acquired a strategic stake in digital publishing platform Juggernaut Books," reported Mint.

“Portea Medical has raised series C funding of $26 million led by new investors Sabre Partners and MEMG CDC. Portea’s existing investors Accel, International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round. Avendus Capital provided financial advisory services to the latest funding round in Portea,” reported MediaNama.

KKR India Asset Finance, the realty-focused investment unit of global PE Firm KKR & Co. have invested INR 500 crores (USD 82 million) in a township project of the Bangalore-based Bhartiya City Developers Group by extending a term loan facility, as reported by Mint.

Trigyn Technologies, a company listed on the BSE and the NSE, has informed the Exchange regarding the scheme of reduction of share capital in the securities premium account has been approved by the NCLT by writing off the losses accumulated in its balance sheet against the amounts standing to the credit of the securities premium account of the company, as reported by Reuters.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas advised and acted as the legal counsel for Axis Bank and was led by the private equity group of their general corporate practice team for all the legal aspects of the transaction. The transaction team was led by executive chairman Shardul Shroff, Mumbai-based regional practice head Raghubir Menon (M&A and PE, General Corporate), partners Abhishek Guha, Yogesh Chande, and senior associates Ankit Kejriwal and Anwesha Haldar, associates Kanwardeep Kapany, Gaurav Malhotra and Keegan Pavrey.

Vodafone India, Vodafone Mobile Services and Idea Cellular have announced their proposal separately to sell their standalone telecom tower businesses to ATC Telecom Infrastructure, a majority-owned subsidiary of American Tower Corporation for about INR 7,850 crores ($1.2 billion), as reported by Mint. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of necessary regulatory approvals.

The promoters of Mumbai-based Donear Group have announced the acquisition of OCM Woollen Mills from its existing owner, a private equity fund house, as part of the strategy to consolidate their top position in Indian textiles industry, as reported by The Economic Times. OCM is one of India’s best-quality manufacturer of premium range of high-quality all-wool and wool-blended worsted suiting fabrics.

“The Rs 1,001 crore initial public offer has received good response from investors, with the issue getting oversubscribed 2.28 times. It was the first IPO by a power exchange in the country.”, reported Moneycontrol. IEX is India’s premier power trading platform and provides an automated platform for physical delivery of electricity, enables efficient price discovery and offers participants the opportunity to trade in a variety of energy products. The issue opened for subscription during October 9-11, with a price band of Rs 1,645-1,650 per share and debuted on the bourses on October 23rd.

KKR India Financial Services, Indian non-banking financial company of US private equity firm KKR & Co, has extended debt of Rs 125 crore (USD 19 million) through a three-year credit facility to Accord Builders, a part of the Mumbai-based Omkar Realtors group, as reported by The Economic Times & Mint. The funds are to be utilised for construction and development of two residential projects in Mumbai.

India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) has said to have provided a term loan of Rs. 156 crore (USD 23.8 million) to Gurugram based Mihit Solar Power under its Takeout Finance Scheme, for substituting the outstanding principal amount of the loan sanctioned by L&T Infrastructure Finance, for the purpose of developing and commissioning a 74 MW Solar Power Project in Mansa District, Punjab.

Subhash Chandra-owned, Essel Finance Management, the financial services arm of the Essel Group has acquired the controlling stake of insurance policy aggregator Bimadirect, operated by Coretree Insurance Brokers (India) for an estimated amount of Rs. 25-30 crores (approximately $3.8 - $4.6 million), as reported by The Economic Times & VC Circle. The deal will see Essel Finance paying 75% of the deal amount upfront, and the rest over a period of two years.

“The Rs 1,157-crore initial public offer (IPO) of Godrej Agrovet (GAVL) was subscribed 51.84 times times on the final day of bidding process”, reported The Economic Times. GAVL is a diversified, research & development focused agri-business company with operations across five business verticals of animal feed, crop protection, oil palm, dairy, and poultry and processed foods. The initial public offering opened for subscription on October 4th and closed on October 6th, with a price band of Rs 450-460 per share.

Torrent Pharma, the flagship company of the Torrent Group, have announced their acquisition of the domestic formulations business of Unichem Laboratories, one of India's oldest and largest pharma companies, for about Rs 3,600 crores (around $556m), through a business transfer agreement, as reported by The Economic Times and Business Standard.

Mumbai-based online lending startup Kissht, operated by OnEMi Technology Solutions has raised Rs 67 crore (USD 10 million) led by China’s Fosun International along with existing investors, venture capital firm Endiya Partners and early-stage investor Ventureast, as reported by VC Circle.

"The board of Tata Chemicals Ltd has approved the sale of its non-bulk phosphatic business to IRC Agrochemicals for Rs 375 crore," reported Mint.

“State-owned Andhra Bank has dragged Housing Development & Infrastructure to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in an insolvency petition because the Mumbai-based real estate developer failed to pay back Rs 55 crore invested by the bank in the company's non-convertible debentures (NCDs),” reported The Economic Times

Dutch development bank, FMO has raised close to Rs 200 crore (approximately $30.5 million) in debt through subscription of non-convertible debentures issued by renewable energy firm Azure Power India, as reported by Mint.

“Kotak Realty Fund, a part of Kotak Investment Advisors, has invested Rs. 240 crore in an under-construction shopping mall in Chennai and Rs. 80 crore in an ongoing office project in Mumbai from its $250 million offshore fund,” reported Livemint. Both the deals have been funded through debt financing by the issue of listed, secured, non-convertible, redeemable debentures by C&J Corporate Park, a group entity of National India Bullion Refinery to Kotak Realty.

Infradigital Technologies, a company promoted by Eros Labs, is reported to have sold its business undertaking engaged in the business of production and distribution of spiritual, devotional and religious audio-visual content and literature to Innertech Media Solutions, a portfolio company of Times Internet Limited. The business division was transferred as a going concern on a slump sale basis.

“Mid-market private equity firm Gaja Capital and global PE buyout specialist KKR have jointly led a Rs 980-crore investment in Avendus Capital, as the domestic financial services firm looks to scale up its asset management and newly-launched credit businesses,” reported the Economic Times.

Online lending startup Ziploan, operated by Delhi-based Blue Jay Finlease, has raised Rs 20 crores (around $3m) in a funding round led by Matrix Partners India along with existing investors Whiteboard Capital, Waterbridge Ventures, Capital 18 Managing Director Sarabvir Singh & GrowX Projects as reported by VC Circle and The Economic Times.

Online insurance selling platform Policybazaar, which is operated by ETechAces Marketing and Consulting, has raised Rs 515 crore ($79 million) in a Series E funding round, as reported by VC Circle.