Deals Feed

"Square Yards Consulting Pvt. Ltd, a real estate listings and advisory firm, has raised $12 million from the private equity arm of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group,” reported Mint.

"A week after the Essar group signed a mega $12.9bn deal to sell Essar Oil and Vadinar Port to Rosneft of Russia, three banks — ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Standard Chartered Bank — have received over $2.5bn (around Rs 16,750 crore) from the Essar group towards repayment of loans to Essar Global,” reported the Indian Express.

The Supreme Court is close to banning the sale of firecrackers in Delhi, as it today said it will soon pass an order prohibiting the licensing authority for the sale of firecrackers from issuing new licenses. It will also ask the authority to suspend existing licenses and to recall the existing stock of firecrackers with sellers.

"Detergent major Nirma, which in July had agreed to buy the cement business of the French major Lafarge India, today raised Rs 4,000 crore debt to fund the deal, making it the largest rupee bond sale for a leveraged buyout,” reported Money Control.

"In one of the largest deals in the retail real estate market in India, Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management and Virtuous Retail, the retail development arm of The Xander Group, have partnered to form a joint venture worth $450m, the companies said in a statement,” reported VC Circle.

"The Rs 1,112.50-crore IPO of Varun Beverages was subscribed 1.86 times at a price band of Rs 440-445. The public issue was open during October 26-28.” reported the Economic Times.

“State-owned NBCC’s share sale garnered 1.54 times subscription from institutional buyers, who put in bids totalling more than Rs 2,700 crore,” reported the Economic Times.

"ECL Finance, a part of the Edelweiss group, has raised Rs 502 crore by selling masala or rupee-denominated bonds to overseas investors in its debut issuance of such securities. Sun Global Investments, London and Emirates NBD Bank, Dubai are the global coordinators and joint lead managers on the transaction,” reported the Economic Times.

“Wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy on Wednesday said it will sell a 49 per cent stake in its 50 megawatt (MW) solar project in Telangana to wind energy company Ostro Energy, months after selling a project to CLP India,” reported Mint.

HLE Engineers made an offer to buy a majority stake in Swiss Glascoat Equipments for $9.4m. Vivro Financial Services is the manager to the open offer, according to the Bombay Stock Exchange announcement.

“Internet giants YouTube and Google are in a bind. The Madras high court has directed them to disclose details of a user (Marupakkam Seithigal) who posted a video that a private company (Lebara Foundation) termed defamatory,” reported the Times of India.

"Motilal Oswal Private Equity (MOPE) managed India Business Excellence Fund – II and India Business Excellence Fund – IIA have agreed to invest Rs 100 crore to buy a minority stake in Kolkata based Ganesh Grains. The Kolkata based unlisted firm is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling of branded food staple,” reported the Economic Times.

Tata Sons’ former chairman Cyrus Mistry, who was unexpectedly fired from the organisation on Monday, has reportedly decided to approach the Bombay high court challenging his dismissal, although we understand that no case has been filed yet.

"Emerald Media, a Pan-Asian platform established by leading global investment firm KKR for investing in the media and entertainment sector, acquired a significant minority stake in YuppTV for $50m. YuppTV is one of the world’s leading over-the-top (OTT) video platforms for South Asian content offering live TV, catch-up TV and movies on-demand in 14 languages across the globe,” reported Business Wire.

"Online travel firm MakeMyTrip Ltd has agreed to buy Ibibo Group’s travel business in India in an all-stock deal, creating the country’s largest online travel firm which, according to a note by Morgan Stanley, is worth $1.8 billion. The deal value wasn’t announced, but the $1.8 billion valuation and the fact that Ibibo’s owners, Naspers and Tencent, end up with a 40% stake in the merged entity, translate into a transaction worth $720 million. Naspers owns a third of Tencent, its most valuable investment.” reported Mint.

"Fortis Healthcare has completed the acquisition of 51 per cent stake in Fortis Hospotel Ltd and also acquired compulsorily convertible preference shares issued by Escort Heart Institute and Research Centre,” reported the Economic Times.

"The acquisition is the biggest foreign acquisition ever in India and Russia’s largest outbound deal. Billionaire brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia have agreed to sell 98 per cent of Essar Group flagship firm Essar Oil to Russian oil major Rosneft and a consortium of oil trading firm Trafigura with private investment group United Capital Partners for $13 billion, making it the largest foreign direct investment in India.” reported The Hindu and others.

VC firm DSG Consumer Partners has made a partial exit in food processing industry company Veeba Fine Foods (founded in 1983, making sauces, dips, emulsions and dessert toppings) to Brussels-headquartered Verlinvest Asia, which was created by several families of the Anheuser-Busch InBev empire to make investments in the food and beverage space.

"In an attempt to boost capacity and expand its footprint into new markets, Orient Cement Ltd has struck a two-pronged deal with Jaypee Group to purchase a pair of cement businesses at an enterprise value of Rs1,950 crore,” reported Mint.

Squire Patton Boggs and Luthra & Luthra advised Manpasand Beverages on its approximately $80m qualified institutions placement.

PDS Legal advised Tata Capital Healthcare Fund on selling its shares in Sandor Nephro Services, which was advised by Fox Mandal, to Fresenius Medical Care which was advised by Samvad Partners.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) advised ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and ICICI Bank on Rs 60,568 million initial public offer. S&R Associates and Davis Polk & Wardwell advised the lead managers to the issue: DSP Merrill Lynch, ICICI Securities, CLSA India, Deutsche Equities India, Edelweiss Financial Services, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India), IIFL, JM Financial Institutional Securities, SBI Capital Markets and UBS Securities India.

Legasis Partners advised deals and discounts website Nearbuy in raising Rs 15 crore ($2.25m) from non-banking financial company Blacksoil which was advised by IndusLaw.

PDS Legal won relief from entry tax, for e-commerce major Flipkart’s logistics arm Instakart, in the Patna high court.

"Third-party administrator Vidal Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd Monday said Ambit Pragma Ventures Pvt. Ltd, the private equity arm of Ambit Holdings Pvt. Ltd, has invested about $10 million in the firm to buy a significant minority stake,” reported Mint.

Universal Legal advised Carlyle-backed Newgen KnowledgeWorks on acquiring a majority stake in Pune-based digital learning and software company Exult Infosolutions which was advised by LegaLogic Consulting.

"PayU Global, the digital payments provider owned by South Africa’s Naspers Group, will buy rival Citrus Pay for $130 million in an all-cash deal. PayU India will have more than 30 million customers post the acquisition of Citrus Pay. The company forecast it will process an estimated 150 million transactions, worth $4.2 billion, in 2016. The deal, once concluded, is expected to provide an attractive exit to Citrus Pay’s investors—Ascent Capital, Beenos and Sequoia Capital. PayU confirmed that the early investors will exit but declined to disclose details,” reported Mint.

"German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer AG has won over US seeds firm Monsanto Co. with an improved takeover offer of around $66 billion, ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time. The $128 a share deal, up from Bayer’s previous offer of $127.50 a share, is the biggest of the year so far and the largest cash bid on record. The deal will create a company commanding more than a quarter of the combined world market for seeds and pesticides in the fast-consolidating farm supplies industry,” reported Mint.

"Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications Ltd (R-Com) has signed a definitive agreement to merge its wireless business with smaller rival Aircel Ltd to create India’s third largest telecom operator by users,” reported Mint.

India-based language service provider Mayflower Language Services has entered into a joint venture with Polish language services provider Summa Linguae, which will see both companies take 25% minority stakes in each other. to “generate cost and revenue synergies” and “expand their existing range of services in new language pairs” to “cater to clients with more complex needs and higher expectations”, according to a company press release.

"Piramal Fund Management Pvt. Ltd will invest Rs 2,320 crore in Lodha Developers Pvt. Ltd’s signature World Towers project in central Mumbai, it what is probably the single largest debt financing deal in Indian real estate. A part of this money will be used to repay debt and the remaining will be used to complete construction of the project."

"In what could be termed as the biggest news in the gaming industry this year, Delta Corp Ltd., India’s largest gaming and hospitality company announced its foray into the online gaming space in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges. In its note to the stock exchanges and shareholders, Delta Corp informed its intention to acquire 26% shares in Gauss Networks Pvt. Ltd., the holding company which owns and operates Adda52.com and is saide to be the market leader in the online poker space in India,” reported gaming industry law blog GLaws.

"Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) on Wednesday announced the sale of its sports network TEN Sports to Sony Pictures Network (SPN) in an all cash deal for $385 million,” reported Mint.

"Courier service provider Pigeon Express Pvt. Ltd is in advanced talks to acquire e-commerce focused logistics service provider GoJavas (Quickdel Logistics Pvt. Ltd), which suspended operations last week amid an organisational overhaul, in a cash and stock deal, said two people aware of the development,” reported Mint and others earlier this month.

"India has a new tech unicorn. Hike, a four-year-old messaging app, today announced that it has closed $175 million in funding led by new investors Chinese internet giant Tencent and manufacturing firm Foxconn. The Series D round values the company at $1.4 billion, founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal confirmed to TechCrunch,” reported Techcrunch.

The Supreme Court today lifted a ban on registering diesel cars, SUVs and other vehicles with an engine capacity of 2,000 cc and more in the National Capital Region after depositing one per cent of the ex-showroom price as environment compensation charge (ECC) with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Japanese healthcare media giant M3 has acquired a stake in Health Impetus Private Limited - which offers disease management services - from its existing shareholder, Health Care at Home India Private Limited, and by subscribing to equity shares in the target for an undisclosed amount.

"Tata Chemicals Ltd has agreed to sell its urea plant in Babrala, Uttar Pradesh, to the Indian unit of Norway-based Yara International ASA for Rs 2,670 crore, as it seeks to position itself as a maker of consumer products rather than fertilizers,” reported Mint and others.

"Credit rating firm ICRA Ltd said on Friday it has struck a deal to sell its software development arm, ICRA Techno Analytics Ltd, to IT firm Nihilent Technologies Ltd for Rs 68.75 crore ($10.3 million),” reported VCCircle.

AZB & Partners recent lateral partner Nisha Kaur Uberoi has on 8 August obtained phase 1 merger clearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for Ultratech Cement’s Rs 16,189 crore ($2.4bn) acquisition of the cement assets of the Jaypee Group.

CX Partners (a PE firm focused on the Indian mid-market) and Capital Square Partners sold for $420m its stake in Minacs to Concentrix Global Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Synnex Corporation, as reported by the Economic Times as one of the largest in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, and Concentrix’ second largest deal.

"P C Jeweller will raise up to Rs 257 crore through issue of preferential shares to US-based investment firm Fidelity for business expansion,” reported the Economic Times.

"Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd, the Hong Kong-listed company controlled by billionaire Guo Guangchang, will acquire India’s Gland Pharma Ltd for $1.3 billion (Rs 8,700 crore), the company announced on Thursday. According to the agreement, Fosun will acquire an approximate 86% stake in Gland, including the 36% stake held by existing private equity firm KKR & Co,” reported Mint.

“State Bank of India (SBI) has kick-started the formal process of merging associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank, which would create a banking entity with total assets worth about Rs 29 lakh crore. The bank has appointed merchant bankers, valuation consultants and law firms to complete the process,” reported The Economic Times.

"Flipkart Ltd has acquired Jabong through its unit Myntra in a cut-price deal that values the online fashion store at $70 million, moving to preserve its position as India’s No.1 e-commerce marketplace in the face of an onslaught by Amazon India,” reported Mint.

"With non performing assets-saddled banks trying to raise money from sale of non-core assets, global credit information company TransUnion has raised its stake in its Indian subsidiary Cibil to 77.1% by buying out ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda’s holding in it.” reported Mint.

“Sajjan Jindal-controlled JSW Energy has agreed to acquire a 500 MW thermal power plant located in Madhya Pradesh from Jaiprakash Power Ventures for an enterprise value of ₹2,700 crore in an all-cash deal.” (Hindu Businessline)

"Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax India Holdings Corp. ... said it had agreed to acquire a 51% stake in Privi Organics Ltd for about Rs 370 crore. Privi Organics is a supplier of aroma chemicals to many large fragrance and consumer goods companies globally.” reported Mint.

Pursuant to the liberalisation of foreign investment in the insurance sector, Prism Cement sold 23% out of its 74% stake in Raheja QBE General Insurance Company to an affiliate of QBE Asia Pacific Holdings for Rs 110 crore (AUD 21.5m).

PDS Legal and Desai & Diwanji together acted for the Wadia group-owned airline GoAir in its order to buy another 72 Airbus 320 NEO aircrafts for around $7.7bn.

Shearman & Sterling, DLA Piper, White & Case and Allen & Overy had the largest number of recorded Indian M&A deals in the first six months of 2016, according to data intelligence provider mergermarket, each with five or four transactions.

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has topped the list of 13 domestic law firms’ M&A mandates by value of deals done with $6.2bn worth of transactions, followed by AZB & Partners and Vaish Associates, with stronger performances across the board than at the same time last year.

Nirma will buy Lafarge India’s assets for $1.4bn from LafargeHolcim according to reports, with several law firms getting a slice of the action including Ashwath Rau’s old and new firm.

Nishith Desai Associates Mumbai acted for Tiger Global and DST Global, which invested $30m (Rs 200 crore) in a series C round in home rental company NestAway, which was advised by K Law.

K Law acted for Capital Float, the online lending platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in its $25m (Rs 170 crores) fundraising round led by Creation Investments, which was advised by J Sagar Associates (JSA) Delhi partner Lalit Kumar along with senior associate Bharti Joshi.

Talwar Thakore Associates (TTA) has advised Reliance Industries (RIL) on a joint venture agreement to set up a payments bank with State Bank of India (SBI) on 30 June, in which RIL will hold a 70 per cent stake.

MDP & Partners won for IndusInd Bank in the Bombay high court yesterday, which directed the stock exchanges and others to allow the bank to correct its filing mistake in its subscription of Mahanagar Gas Limited’s initial public offer (IPO).

Khaitan & Khaitan advised Cremica Food Industries on Rabo Equity Advisors' Rs 100 crore ($15m) investment in Cremica. Rabo was advised by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

Clove Legal advised Indian equipment rental company Rent Alpha on investment in it by Hong Kong based investor Bravia Capital which was advised by Khaitan & Co.

IndusLaw and Gibson Dunn advised Amplus Energy Solutions and I-Squared Capital on their acquisition of various SunEdison Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) developing and operating around 7 MW rooftop solar power assets in India. SunEdison was advised in house.

Taxi aggregator Uber started a joint venture with Tata Motors, which envisages Uber drivers buying Tata cars financed via Tata Capital Financial Services and Tata Motors Finance loans with insurance from Tata.

Economic Laws Practice (ELP) advised thermal power company BLA Power on Prism Cement’s acquisition of 15.23 per cent stake in it for 21 crore ($3m). Prism was advised by Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM).