skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today said it will invest Rs 9,000 crore in deepwater oil exploration business by 2009, besides infusing Rs 8,000 crore to meet minimum work programme (MWP) commitments.
''The company will invest about Rs 9,000 crore in the deepwater oil exploration in the next two years. We also have plans for incurring additional expenditure of Rs 8,000 crore to meet our WMP commitments,'' Reliance Gas Transport Infrastructure Ltd Vice President (Gas Pricing and Regulatory Affairs) E V S Rao said while addressing the 6th Petro India 2007 on India's Changing Gas Scenario: The New Imperative.
The company has already invested Rs 9,000 crore on the deepwater oil exploration, he added.
At present, 82 per cent of company's Indian acreage lies in deepwater, where exploration is three times costlier than the onshores.
Currently the company is evaluating seven oil and gas exploration blocks to surrender to the government, Rao said.
New Delhi: The Indian auto industry is not as hot a proposition as it was last year, going by the sharp drop in private equity deals in the sector.
The present calendar year has seen just 6 PE deals involving a total amount of $111 million. This compares to 24 in 2006 (Jan- Dec) worth $450 million. However, mergers & acquisitions continued to be buoyant, with the first 10 months registering 27 deals with a combined value of $700 million, exceeding last year’s score of 23 at $517 million, according to Grant Thornton data.
The PE deals stitched in the first 10 months this year include the following: JM Financial India Funds which picked up stake in International Tractors Ltd (ITL) for $27.78 million and in Sona Group for $26.67 million; CLSA Capital that invested $16.13 million in Sanghvi Movers for a 10.9 per cent stake; IL&FS Investment and Evolvence Capital, which invested $35.90 million in RSB Group, and Ares Investments’ 10.22 per cent stake in Rane Holdings for an undisclosed amount.
“The last two quarters’ results have been subdued. Many PE firms are shying away from investing in auto as compared to sectors like infrastructure and mining where returns are much higher. Also, several domestic companies have acquired overseas firms at high valuations which has not translated into performance,” said Santosh Singhi, Director-Finance, Amtek Auto. He, however, added that companies would continue to take the M&A route as opportunities would be there for the coming few years before a lot of business moves to countries such as India, China and Thailand.
Hemant Luthra, President, Mahindra Systems & Automotive Technologies, cited other reasons for the sector losing its sheen, including rupee appreciation.
"PE firms seem to be concerned about the component industry's export competitiveness lessening. Also, many of the players like to invest in companies of a certain scale and there are not many companies who can absorb that much amount and others have not been able to show the ability to scale up," he said.
The surge in the M&A deal size this year was led by Mahindra's majority stake in Punjab Tractors for $222 million and Crosslinks' acquisition of Daewoo Motors' Indian plant for $170 million. This stood ahead of the largest investment last year, which was $133 million by Hinduja Group's in Ashok Leyland, Mahindra's acquisition of 67.90 per cent stake in Jeco holding AG for $125 million, and Apollo Tyres' acquisition of Dunlop Tyres International for $64.44 million.
New Delhi: Britain-based Voxtel Telecom Pvt Ltd, a leading digital communication products maker, Wednesday said it would be investing $5 million in India by the end of next year.
"Voxtel plans to spend $5 million in its brand building and expansion of its network to appoint 75 distributors and 7,000 dealers by the end of 2008," Sat Murthi, international sales director, Voxtel Telecom, told a press conference here.
Murthi also said the company is aggressively tying up with major retail giants and telecom operators across the country to enhance its marketing operations.
"The company is targeting a sales revenue of over $100 million by end 2008 through its wide range of telecom and personal navigation products. With enhanced market reach and penetration, sales would double by end 2010," Murthi added.
Voxtel Telecom, part of $500-million telecom major Binatone Electronics International Ltd, launched its high-performance, GPS-based personal navigation devices and Internet phones Wednesday.
"We are looking at India as a strategic hub to funnel our growth plans in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions," said Dino Lalvani, CEO, Voxtel Telecom.
The company is also planning its research and development centre in Bangalore to cater to the global software and research market.
New Delhi: Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd plans to invest $2.5 billion (over Rs 9,961 crore) in expanding its Visakhapatnam refinery capacity to 16 million tons, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
HPCL plans to debottleneck units at Visakhapatnam refinery to augment the throughput to 10 million tons from current 7.5 million tons, by the end of XIth Plan (2012), Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said in a written reply to a question.
The company would then raise the capacity to 16 million tons by the end of XII Plan (2017).
"HPCL has undertaken a preliminary feasibility study to set up a petrochemical complex at Visakhapatnam in consortium with a partner, after which, the capacity and costs can be firmed up," he said.
To a separate question, Patel said public sector fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum lost Rs 26,363 crore during first half of current fiscal on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene at prices below cost.
The companies lost Rs 2,638 crore on petrol, Rs 9,919 crore on diesel, Rs 8,206 crore on PDS kerosene and Rs 5,608 crore on domestic LPG, he said.
The retailing firms would be issued bonds for an amount equal to 42.7 per cent of their under-recoveries and one-third of the revenue loss would be borne by upstream companies like ONGC, he said.
To another question, Patel said the fuel retailers have planned 3,215 new petrol pumps in the country during 2007-08.
New Delhi: ICICI Venture Funds Management Co has completed a $800 million (Rs 3,200 crore) deal to acquire a minority stake in Delhi-based Jaypee Infratech, a subsidiary of the infrastructure-to-hotels Jaypee Group. Sources said ICICI Ventures will be picking up between 10 and 15 per cent in the company. The company has an enterprise value of Rs 25,000 crore.
The deal will be formally announced in a few days. ICICI Venture declined to comment on the issue. Jaypee Infratech is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Jaypee Group and was set up to execute the 165-km Taj Expressway project, connecting the cities of Noida and Agra in Uttar Pradesh along the banks of the Yamuna river. The company also has the right to develop land and real estate along the expressway. The project is expected to be completed in 24 to 30 months. The deal includes a combination of up-front equity and a convertible debenture issue that will be converted in tranches. ICICI Ventures will be financing the deal through at least two of its equity funds, though it has not yet decided which ones. ICICI Venture handles assets of over $2 billion and has an ambitious plan to handle assets worth $10 billion in 2010, the next three years. The private equity fund has already announced the $2 billion real estate fund, a $1 billion diversified fund and a smaller $400 million mezzanine fund amongst others.
Till now the country''s largest private equity player has done deal sizes within the $100 million range. It recently bought equity in Karvy Consultants for $100 million, its largest deal so far. The Taj Expressway project, which was awarded in 2003, was delayed due to a major political controversy during Mayawati''s previous tenure as Uttar Pradesh chief minister when opposition leaders accused her of corruption. With Mayawati''s return, the project is back on track with an inquiry commission set for the project giving it the go ahead. The expressway is expected to be completed within 30 months.
DLF Ltd, the largest real estate developer in India, has announced its equal partnership with Aman Resorts, to enter into definitive agreements to acquire a controlling interest in the Aman Resorts Group. Aman Resorts has announced its equal partnership with DLF Ltd, which has entered into definitive agreements to acquire a controlling interest in the Aman Resorts Group.
The entire transaction, when completed, is estimated to be valued at $400 million with an assumed debt of approximately $150 million. Aman Resorts is one of the world''s leading hospitality and lifestyle businesses and currently owns and operates 22 luxury hotels, many with residences, in 12 countries. Several of the properties, such as the famed Amanpuri in Phuket and Amandari in Bali have received numerous awards over the years. In addition to expanding its resort locations, Aman Resorts is developing projects in key gateway cities around the world, the first of which is scheduled to open in New Delhi, India, in 2008. It has ambitious growth plans with many new properties in various stages of development. Luthra & Luthra Law Offices acted as adviser to DLF in this transaction.
Chennai: The Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW group, with interests in steel, power and industrial gases, has chalked out an ambitious plan to expand its steel plant capacity and also start a power plant in Tamil Nadu at a total outlay of Rs 7,500 crore.
Addressing a press conference here, JSW Steel Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Sajjan Jindal, said the company proposed to double the capacity of its Salem-based Southern Iron and Steel Company (Siscol) from the present one million tonne at a total investment of Rs 3,000 crore. Siscol, which produces round and long products for construction and engineering applications, was recently merged with JSW Steel. The company was acquired by JSW Steel in 2004.
The company's plant at Mecheri in Salem would become the largest integrated steel facility in South India once the capacity was expanded. The expansion would be taken up involving an investment of Rs 3,000 crore.
However, the total investment of Rs 7,500 crore depended on Tamil Nadu Government's permission to grant iron-ore mining rights in Salem and Tiruvannamalai districts in the state and approval for setting up a 1,000 MW power plant. The company had announced its intention to invest Rs 700 crore in this project and start mining operations after two years recently.
Sajjan Jindal plans to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi later on Monday evening to finalise mining rights in the districts where 640 hectares and 340 hectares of land had been identified respectively. If the state government allowed mining, the company would set up a Rs 400-crore plant for segregating low-grade iron ore that remained unexplored in these districts.
The company would also seek approval from the Chief Minister for building a 1,000 MW coal-based power plant, to be set up preferably near the Ennore Port in North Chennai with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.
New Delhi: Hospitality chain Orchid Group of Hotels is planning to invest over Rs 1,000 crore in the next 18 months to set up seven 5-star hotels across major towns of the country, as it mulls an international foray with properties in China and South Africa.
"The group has essentially been into management contract business with a few completely owned properties. Going forward, we are looking at adding nearly 2,000 completely owned rooms at seven locations across the country," Pushpinder Kumar, CEO, Orchid Group, told PTI.
He said the company invests in a range of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore in setting up each room.
In addition to the seven new completely owned hotels, the company has also entered into management contract for 10 new hotels which would come up in various parts of the country over the next two years.
The company's completely owned hotels would come up in tier-I cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Jaipur and Kolkata among others.
Kumar said the company would soon foray into the international market and has acquired sites for two hotels in China and another in South Africa.
Orchid Group would launch a new luxury boutique hotel brand - O Hotels - in Pune in the next two months and might extend it to other parts of the country based on the response to the Pune property.
New Delhi: Banking on robust car rental market in the country, Hertz India has earmarked an investment of Rs 1,000 crore over the next three years for a ten-fold increase in its fleet size to 25,000 cars by 2011.
The company, which presently operates a fleet of 2,500 cars, expects its top-line to touch Rs 1,000 crore over the next four years, up from 2007-08 estimates of Rs 130 crore.
"The car rental market in India is expanding exponentially and offers huge opportunities. To keep up with the growing demand from the market, we have earmarked Rs 1,000 crore to expand our fleet to 25,000 cars by 2011," Hertz India Chief Executive Officer Rajiv K Vij said.
Hertz offers car rental (both self and chauffeur-driven), car leasing and radio cab services in the country.
The company is also in the process of setting up 25 exclusive car rental outlets across the country targeted at tourists.
"Tourists now want to hire cars and travel without a driver as is prevalent in west. We are targeting such tourists and would open up 25 exclusive outlets specifically for this purpose," Vij said.
The first such outlet opened in September in Delhi and the company would soon set similar outlets in Mumbai, Bangalore and other metropolitan cities by the end of this fiscal, he said.
Hertz would dedicate as many as 500 cars to these outlets by March next year.
New Delhi: Vijay Mallya-led United Spirits Ltd will invest about Rs 140 crore in next three-four years to increase wine production capacity both in India and France as it plans to flood the domestic market with about 100 brands.
After introducing the 'Bouvet Ladubay' range of wine in the country following its acquisition of the French firm for 15 million euro in August last year, United Spirits Ltd (USL) is pumping in 10 million euros (about 57 crore) to double production capacity to eight million bottles per year.
"We will put an additional 10 million euro to double the capacity from the current four million bottles and to upgrade the existing facility in France," USL Business Head (Wines) Abhay Kewadkar told the media.
On the domestic front, he said the company would be investing Rs 80 crore in the next 3-4 years in increasing its domestic wine capacity at the Baramati unit.
Kewadkar said USL plans to introduce a slew of wine brands, both domestic and imported, as it eyes a 30-40 per cent share in the Indian wine market which is estimated to be about one million bottles a year. USL is planning to launch its domestic wine brand 'Four Seasons' in January with six different variants.
"Besides our own domestic brand - Four Seasons and Bouvet Ladubay, we are also going to launch more international brands," he said, adding very soon the company will also be launching imported wines from New Zealand.
In order to create awareness of its products, USL is planning a blitzkrieg of promotional activities in India.
Kewadkar, however, declined to comment on how much the company will spend on the promotional activities, saying "it will be much more than any of the existing market players have dared to do so".
Hyderabad: ICICI Ventures and Baring Private Equity Asia will infuse around Rs 500 crore, to pick up a 25 per cent stake in Karvy Stock Broking Ltd (KSBL), part of the Hyderabad-based, Karvy Group. The investment of funds will witness the exit of Pacific Century Group, Hong Kong which held an equity of 20 per cent in KSBL. MAPE Advisory acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Karvy and its shareholders. The investment in KSBL represents Baring Asia''s largest investment in India to date. Advising funds with over $2 billion in assets, Baring Private Equity is investing in Karvy via an undisclosed affiliate. KSBL, which is going through troubled times with restrictions imposed by the SEBI, has over 580 offices covering 350 cities/towns and offers broking services to over 3,50,000 retail investors. The broking firm has plans to expand into the retail sector and set up an NBFC (non-banking finance company), apart from strengthening offices in Dubai and New York and cross border investments through the funds. Karvy''s diversified business line covering everything from stock broking to mutual funds to insurance are a strong competitive advantage which positions it well for further growth.
Mumbai: Private equity firm Blackstone Group is looking to invest more than $1 billion in India over the next two years, the Economic Times said on Friday, citing the firm's country head.
"We may make investments of $500-$600 million per year, and in two years may invest more than $1 billion dollars," Akhil Gupta, chairman of Blackstone India, told the paper.
"We are already much ahead of our target of $1 billion in five years and if we continue to find deals, then the allocation for India would also continue to increase," he was quoted as saying.
Blackstone, which recently paid $65 million for a reported 26 per cent stake in Indian engineering firm MTAR Technologies, has said it had a huge pipeline of deals in India.
It has made a series of investments this year, including in apparel firm Gokaldas Exports, $150 million in Nagarjuna Construction Co Ltd and $275 million in regional media firm Ushodaya Enterprises Ltd.
Chennai: Jamna Auto Ltd, which recently acquired the assets of the leaf springs business of Tata Motors, intends to merge two group companies with itself and invest Rs 120 crore in expansion.
The JAI group had set up in 1997 a company, Jai Parabolic Springs Ltd, which has a manufacturing unit near Chennai. The group also has a company, MAP Springs, which markets auto components.
JAI group intends to merge Jai Parabolic Springs and MAP Springs with the flagship company, Jamna Auto Ltd. The turnover of the merged entity in 2007-08 is expected to be Rs 530 crore, projected to grow to Rs 670 crore next year.
R&D centre in Chennai
Randeep Jauhar, CEO, JAI group, told a press conference here today that the group would invest Rs 120 crore in expansion. Of this, Rs 75 crore would be invested in expanding the Jamshedpur plant, which would house the plant and machinery bought from Tata Motors.
The group is investing another Rs 10 crore in a greenfield plant at Uttaranchal and another Rs 15 crore in an R&D centre in Chennai.
Clearwater Capital Partners - a private equity player - has invested Rs 40 crore of equity in the company in June 2007 at Rs 72 per share. On the BSE today, Jamna Auto shares closed at Rs 51.35.
New Delhi: DLF Ltd is buying the privately-held super luxury resorts and spa chain Singapore-based Amanresorts for around $ 250 million. This will be the first overseas acquisition by India''s largest real estate company, which recently went public. At $250 million, the deal is being concluded at an extremely conservative valuation. In addition to this payout, DLF will assume debt of approximately $220 million as part of the deal. DLF, the country''s largest realty firm by market capitalisation at over Rs 1,48,527 crore, had declared a month ago that it intends to mop up $750 million overseas for acquiring and developing properties abroad. Part of the proceeds would be used for funding the Amanresorts acquisition.
The 20-year-old Amanresorts has 18 operational properties under its belt in Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Bhutan, India, the Philippines, the United States, French Polynesia and France. All Amanresort properties have a room tariff of over $600 per night, giving it a hugely exclusive tag. Singapore-based Silverlink Holdings holds a majority stake in Amanresorts and will completely exit the company after the acquisition. The acquisition also entails DLF taking over a prime property at Delhi''s Lodhi Road. Amanresorts had bought this property from the India Tourism Development Corporation five years ago for Rs 76.22 crore.
Mumbai: Global IT giant, Google Inc, will be investing up to Rs 22.5 crore (around $5.5-million) in Ventureast TeNet Fund-II, a seed-stage fund that will invest in technology companies trying to establish their foothold.
The fund is promoted by the Tenet Group of Chennai IIT and Hyderabad-based Ventureast Fund Advisors.
"Google has invested Rs 15 crore ($3.75 million) in this fund so far and is expected to put in the remaining amount by March 2008, when the fund is scheduled to close," Ventureast's Managing General Partner, Sarath Naru, told reporters.
Google's investment in the fund will then be 30 per cent and the remaining will be held by other investors, including SIDBI and Technology Development Board. Ventureast TeNet Fund has a total size of $18.75 million (about Rs 75 crore).
Seed-stage funds, as the name suggests, invest in early-stage companies, plying in technology-based sectors such as IT, renewable energy and bio-technology.
Google made its debut as an investor in venture capital funds in January this year, when it invested nearly $3.75 million in a domestic seed investment firm 'Seedfund', which has a total size of $3 million (Rs 52 crore).
This was followed by an undisclosed investment in the Bangalore-based early stage venture fund -- Erasmic Venture Fund, which has a size of around $10 million.
Google's Head of Corporate Development (South Asia), Samir Sood, was not available for comment.
Google's Indian fund investments are learnt to be the first venture fund investment of the US Internet search engine firm, which has clocked a $4.23-billion revenue in the quarter ended September 30.
Mumbai: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who pumped in a little over Rs 30,500 crore in net investments in the three weeks prior to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) outlining its draft restrictions on the former’s ‘participatory note’ based investments, have been net sellers to the tune of roughly Rs 3,500 crore in the three weeks since then.
This becomes clear from an analysis of SEBI’s trading data on FII investments during the relevant period. Between October 18 (the first relevant date of FII data since SEBI’s draft proposals were made public) and November 8 (the latest date for which such data is available), they were net sellers to the tune of Rs 3,505 crore.
In contrast, they had invested Rs 30,525 crore in equity during the three-week period (September 24 to October 17) immediately before that. Indeed, they have been net buyers on every single day during this period.
Opinions divided
But opinion is divided among local market participants with one section suggesting that this is an inevitable outcome of SEBI action which is aimed at overseas investors known for their extremely short-term outlook on investments.
“Many hedge funds operating through P-Notes have not been buying and that part of volume has come down and they have wound up as an opportunity to exit,” said Apurva Shah, Head-Research, Prabhudas Liladher.
“They have to sell as they cannot hedge their positions. So, they limit their exposure in the market,” said Shahina Mukadam, Head-Research, IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd.
There are others who think that the data on FII investments in the last three weeks is nothing more than an evidence of a ‘pause’ in the market action.
“The FIIs aren’t really winding up; it is just that they aren’t as aggressively buying like they used to. There is also talk about reshuffling taking place,” said Vijay L. Bhambwani, an analyst with BSPL India, a financial services firm based here.
He is also optimistic that if the FIIs end up toning down their level of participation , the market might well recapture the lost momentum with the prospect of Gulf money entering the market.
“The mutual funds are targeting Gulf money. There is a lot talk regarding the Shariah compatibility etc… They want to extract money from oil exporting countries”.
P.R. Dilip, a Mumbai-based portfolio manager, said: “Last week we saw a lot of uncertainties like the Credit policy announcement and the US Fed rate cut. We should see how the performance is from the coming weeks, where there will be fresh episode to begin with.”
The restrictions do not appear to have had any significant impact on the derivatives segment, the principal target of SEBI’s regulatory initiative.
‘Open interest’
The ‘open interest’, a measure of FIIs’ outstanding commitments on F&O contracts, is pretty much at the same level on November 8, as it was on October 18. According to the SEBI data, the cumulative value of ‘single stock futures’ contracts (essentially bets on the future value of individual stocks) stood at Rs 38,105 crore as on November 8.
That is, in fact, marginally higher than the value of such contracts at Rs 37,464 crore in the returns submitted to SEBI on October 18, the first date following the release of the draft proposals. The position is not much different in the case of ‘index futures’ (bets on future values of the indices).
But market participants discount any impact on trading volumes in the near term from FIIs in this segment of the market.
“FII investments are around 35 per cent of the current overall market wide open interest,” said Anand Kuchelan, Senior Analyst-Derivatives & Research strategy, PINC, a Mumbai-based stock broking firm.
SEBI has put down regulations which state that FIIs and their sub-accounts cannot issue or renew ODIs with underlying as derivatives with immediate effect and need to wind up existing positions in 18 months.
Also ‘sub-accounts’ of FIIs, which have not applied to be registered as FIIs, will have to wind up their existing investments mobilised through P-notes.
As for FIIs investing through ODIs, those with notional value of such investments outstanding (excluding derivatives) as a percentage of their Assets under Custody (AUC) of less than 40 per cent shall be allowed to issue further ODIs at an incremental rate of 5 per cent of their AUC in India and those with a percentage in excess of 40 per cent of their AUC can invest afresh only to the extent of redemptions from existing investments.
New Delhi, Nov. 6 ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of ONGC, is looking at more exploration assets in Sudan. The company is in negotiations to buy stakes in two oil blocks in the African country. OVL is seeking a 30 per cent stake from Petronas of Malaysia in Block 8 in Blue Nile Basin, northeast of prolific Melut Basin. Petronas Carigali Overseas has a 77 per cent interest in the block. The remaining equity is with Sudan''s national oil company Sudapet and High Tech Group. Petronas has undertaken some seismic surveys in the block, and drilling is yet to begin. Total has 31-32 per cent stake in the block. The block also has White Nile as a partner.
OVL already has three blocks in Sudan 5A, 5B, and 1,2,& 4. Petronas had waived off its pre-emption rights to permit OVL to acquire Austrian firm OMV''s stake in Block 5A and 5B. OVL purchased OMV''s 26.125 per cent stake in exploration block 5A, and 24.5 per cent stake in Block 5B for $115 million. Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd (Petronas) is the operator of Block 5A, with the remaining five per cent with Sudapet. Considerable exploratory drilling has been carried out in the block by the consortium and two fields namely Thar Jath and Mala have been put on production and cluster of discoveries around Mala are in the stage of development.
The Thar and Mala Field began production in 2006, while production from Mala satellite will commence in 2008. Block 5A, which contains the undeveloped Thar Jath field with gross proven and probable oil reserves of 149.1 million barrels, is producing 25,000 barrels per day. In Block 5B, Petronas has 41 per cent, Sudapet 10 per cent and Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum AB 24.5 per cent. The total resource of the block is estimated at 3.5 billion barrels. Block 5B is a large block and is located in the Sudd swamp.
Siemens has bagged Rs 870 million (Rs 87 crore) order from McNally Bharat Engineers for supplying electricals for Rashtriya Ispat Nigam's new sinter plant at Vizag. This sinter plant is currently the second largest of its kind in India and will be commissioned by August 2009.
The Industrial Solutions & Services (I&S) division of the company has bagged an order from McNally Bharat Engineers, for the electricals of the new sinter plant 3 at RINL's Vizag steel plant. The scope of work for this order includes designing, engineering, supply, erection and commissioning of complete power distribution system, motors and drives, automation as well as instrumentation on a turnkey basis. This project is the second sinter plant order for electricals to be executed by the company in a turnkey basis and is scheduled to be commissioned by August 2009.
The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle. I&S uses its own products and systems and process technologies in order to enhance productivity and improve competitiveness of companies in the sectors of metallurgy, water treatment, pulp and paper, oil and gas, marine engineering, open-cast mining, airport logistics, postal automation, intelligent traffic systems and industrial services.
The company made this announcement on 06 November 2007.
New Delhi: Private equity (PE) investments in the country have grown to $10 billion from $2 billion in 2005, emerging as the top destination in Asia, after Japan.
The real estate and infrastructure sector in India have been the key contributors to this increasing trend as it emerged favourite with 50 shares in value of all private equity investments, having received about $5 billion in 52 deals this year, according to a study by IndusView Advisors Pvt Ltd.
India has surpassed China that recorded $8.3 billion in investments so far, the study further says.
''India's private equity market can expand fourfold using deal value as a per cent of Gross Domestic Product and maintain the top slot ahead of China, its nearest competing economy, and the infrastructure sector will provide the necessary edge,'' said IndusView Chairman Bundeep Singh Rangar.
Real estate emerged as the favourite segment with 26 per cent share in value of all private equity investments, having received $2.6 billion in 32 deals closely followed by telecommunications with 21 per cent share in value of all investments at $2.1 billion.
Globally, real estate and infrastructure fundraising by international real estate private equity funds, has been brisk, with 116 funds raising as much as $72 billion in 2006, according to estimates and another $50 billion raised in the first eight months of 2007, according to the study.
A large per centage of these funds raised are focused outside of the US for investing in emerging markets such as India and China, it adds.
India’s growth trajectory is the region's steepest, increasing at a 51 per cent annually since 1998. India’s private equity investments as a percentage of the country’s (GDP) at one per cent vis-à-vis Western countries like the US at 2.3 per cent, and the UK at 3.3 per cent best describes the emergence of private equity as an asset class in India with much room for growth.
China received $13 billion in private equity investments in 2006 compared to $7 billion in India during the same period.
The equation has changed since then, with India well in the lead this year.
A significant share of international real estate funds will find their way in to the Indian real-estate and infrastructure market, which has the capacity to absorb as much as $300 billion over the next five years, according to government estimates, with key segments like roads, energy, marine ports and airports identified, among others, as likely contributors to the inflow that currently have a miniscule share of $197 million in private equity investment.
''Indian infrastructure’s favourable investment flavour is its predictable investment climate and a strong entrepreneurial culture as the sector is characterised by developers across small pockets in the country’s diverse geography with immense scope of development and large land holdings,'' said Rangar.
Global private equity funds such as Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, Blackstone Group L P, Warburg Pincus, the Carlyle Group, Washington, Actis Capital LLP, have mapped out investment strategies for the country.
New Delhi: Adani Agrifresh plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in the next three years to create a supply chain from farmgate to retailers of fresh fruits and vegetables, aimed at becoming a major player in the organised segment.
"We have plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in the next three years to set up cold chain, pack houses, distribution centres and in expansion of capacity of present facilities," company's President Ravindra Jain told PTI.
Adani Agrifresh, a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, has already invested Rs 200 crore to set up three state-of-the-art controlled atmosphere cold stores and grading and packing houses with a combined capacity of 18,000 tons in Himachal Pradesh for apple trading.
The company has increased its procurement of apple by more than three-fold to 18,000 tons this year from 5,000 tons last season, when it first entered the market.
Outlining the company's future strategies, Jain said Adani Agrifresh aims to become a long-term player in the perishable fruits and vegetables sector, where the investment is very high and margin low.
"Volume is the most critical factor in this business where investment is high and margin is low," he said.
The priority is to build a distribution network across the country to supply fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the year, he added.
"We first started with apple last year and this year added grapes, pomegranate, orange, litchi and cherries," Jain said, adding that the company would venture into vegetables segment two years down the line.
He said the company chose apple to start its business as the fruit has a potential of being in stores for a longer time through technological interventions.
The company is adopting several models to sell the fruits it procures directly from farmers without entering into any contract with them.
Jain said the company has tied up with wholesellers in 20 cities, besides selling the product to organised retailers like Reliance.
"This year we have not tied up with retail chains as we hope to start the marketing of apple soon. Last year, we supplied to Reliance Fresh, Mother Dairy, Food Bazaar, Big Apple, Choupal Fresh, Trinetra and Namdhari," he said.
Adani Agrifresh is also exploring the option of exporting the fruits and vegetables, though it feels the domestic demand itself was very huge that needs to be tapped.
India consumes about 90 million tons of fruits and vegetables annually, Jain said.
The company also intends to enter into cash-and-carry model by setting such stores at the planned distribution centres.
Unitech, real estate behemoth, is reportedly clinched the country''s largest single land deal by buying a 1,750-acre plot in Vishakhapatnam from the Andhra Pradesh Infrastructure & Industrial Corporation (APIIC) for Rs 3,328 crore. Unitech''s deal is enormous in that DLF, India''s largest real estate firm, paid Rs 1,675 crore this August for acquiring 38 acres from DCM Shriram Consolidated (DSCL) in West Delhi. Though DLF did win a Rs 50,000-crore bid for developing New Bangalore, a 9,000-acre township at Bidadi, the project did not involve a single land deal. It is, however, the largest in terms of size and investment. The company will get some portion of the 9,000 acres from the state government but will have to buy a big chunk directly from farmers at Rs 57 lakh per acre. The exact split is yet to be disclosed.
As for the Unitech deal, industry sources said the company outbid Dubai-based Al Hamrah Real Estate Development LLC. The company plans to develop a total built-up area of 100 million sq ft, comprising villas, high-rise apartments, a golf course & club house, IT park, eco resort, hotel, shopping centre, amusement park, hospitals and educational centres. The project will be developed at an estimated investment of Rs 30,000 crore, phase-wise, over the next 10 years. Unitech is targeting a revenue of Rs 75,000 crore from the project on completion, a source said. Incidentally, the last 15-18 months have seen India''s two leading real estate developers pitted against each other for the biggest land deals. Last year, Unitech bagged a 340-acre deal in Noida for Rs 1,560 crore. This August, DLF bought the prime Swatantra Bharat Mills property from DSCL for Rs 1,675 crore. Though Unitech''s Vizag deal is higher in terms of total value, the DLF-DSCL deal, at about Rs 44 crore, is significantly higher on a per acre basis. It also continues to be the largest private sector land deal.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has entered into joint venture with US based Gulf Interstate Engineering Company (GULF). The new venture L&T - GULF Pipeline Engineering will be located in the company's modern engineering campus at Faridabad in the national capital region.
The company provides comprehensive engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning services for pipeline projects in India and overseas with operating centres across the GCC countries and Malaysia. The company has also built the world’s longest LPG pipeline in India.
Established in 1953, GULF is one of the world's leading international, project management and engineering, companies for pipelines and associated facilities and is ranked number two, among pipeline design companies worldwide, by Engineering news record (ENR) 2007. GULF designs large diameter pipelines for extreme conditions and is currently active in the USA, Mexico, South America, Russia and the Middle East.
The joint venture engineering company will augment the company's offering in pipelines, support GULF and provide end-to-end engineering & project management services to the hydrocarbon pipeline industry in India & overseas.
The company made this announcement during the trading hours today, 02 November 2007.
On 1 November 2007, L&T secured engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai international Airport (MIAL) to build the new integrated passenger terminal to modern and expand the existing facilities.
On 18 October 2007, L&T bagged four contracts valued at Rs 452 crore for projects in Andhra Pradesh. Of the four orders, one order worth Rs 226 crore is from NTPC for Simhadri Coal Handling Plant. The project is to be completed in 39 months.
Three more contracts aggregating Rs 226 crore are from Public Health & Municipal Engineering Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh.
On 11 October 2007, L&T signed a share sale agreement with Malaysia-based Tamco Corporate Holdings for acquiring Tamco Switchgear Malaysia Sdn Bhd. Tamco Switchgear Malaysia Sdn Bhd is a major player in medium voltage (MV) switchgear sector in Malaysia.
On 10 October 2007, L&T secured $60 million order for setting up a methylamines & dimethyl formamide plants for Methanol Chemical Company in Saudi Arabia.
Larsen & Toubro’s net profit rose 72.95% to Rs 348.02 crore on 43.54% rise in total income to Rs 5,523.27 crore in Q2 September 2007 over Q2 September 2006.
The company manufactures a wide range of engineering products like earthmoving, industrial and chemical machinery, switchgears, valves and welding alloys.
Pyramid Saimira Theatre has acquired Texas Company that offers a unique, hollywood-based multimedia entertainment format appealing to the booming population of affluent South Asians in the United States arid Canada. It has also acquired a theater and radio presence in Chicago with plans to expand rapidly to other major North American cities.
Pyramid Saimira Entertainment America, the North American unit of Pyramid Saimira Theatre acquired FunAsia of Richardson, which operates hollywood multimedia entertainment venues in Houston and suburban Dallas for an undisclosed amount of cash. At the same time, the company acquired an existing cinema and radio drive-time hours in Chicago and radio time in Houston, its first steps in taking the FunAsiA multimedia entertainment concept across the United States and Canada.
Pyramid Saimira has acquired drive-time hours from two radio stations - WCEV-AM 1450 in Chicago and KGBC-AM 1540 in Houston-to add to the existing FunAsia owned radio, KHSE-AM 700 in Richardson which is broadcast across the entire Dallas-Fort Worth area.
FunAsia will acquire additional radio program hours in the other markets it enters as well as expand to these cities the existing FunAsia DesiPages, a glossy, thick monthly magazine currently distributed free throughout South Asian communities in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.
The brothers who founded FunAsiA - Dr. Farrukh, John and Shariq Hamid - remain as executive advisors, assisting the new owners with taking the multimedia entertainment concept coast to coast.
The company made this announcement after the trading hours Wednesday, 31 October 2007.
