India October 24 Weekly Newsletter 2011

This document covers news related to India with a special focus on areas like mergers & acquisitions, private equity & venture capital.

Volume 107, October 24th, 2011

For the period October 17, 2011 to October 23, 2011 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER]

Highlights

Capital18 Puts Glitz Cinemas On The Block…(3)

SkillSoft Acquires NIIT's US Subsidiary - ElementK For $110 mn…(4) Content Pages Jyothy Labs Acquires 12.05% Stake In Henkel Mergers & Acquisitions News 3-4 India Via Open Offer…(5)

Mergers & Acquisitions Deals 4-9 BCCL Acquires BBC's Stake In Worldwide Media JV…(6) Private Equity News 9-11 Falcon Tyres Acquires Chamundi Plasto Sacks…(6) Private Equity Deals 11-13 Suryachakra Power In 50:50 JV With US Venture Capital News 13-13 Firms For Renewable Energy…(7)

Venture Capital Deals 13-14 GVK Buys 14% More In Bangalore Int’l Airport; Ups Stake To 43%…(7)

Systemair Acquires International Airconditioning For $9.56 mn…(8)

International Tractors To Raise Rs450 cr For Acquisition…(9)

Triangle Real Estate Fund To Raise $200 mn…(10)

CDC Group Invests $50 mn In Pragati India Fund…(11)

Fire Capital Announces JV With OmShakthy For Township Projects…(12)

Naaptol Raises $25 mn From NEA, Canaan Partners & Silicon Valley Bank…(13)

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 2 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER]

Mergers & Acquisitions News

Glencore May Acquire 24% Stake In Cronimet Alloys For Rs 50-75 cr

Glencore International is talking to Dubai based Cronimet Mercon for a 24% stake in Cronimet Alloys in a deal worth Rs50-75 cr. Currently, the market value of the 24% stake is Rs43 cr. Cronimet Alloys India Limited is a ferro chrome manufacturing company established in March 2006 by GMR Industries Limited by spinning of it's metallurgical division. The company is primarily in the operations of manufacturing of high carbon ferro-chrome which is basically used by the stainless steel industry. The company's manufacturing facilities are located at in Andhra Pradesh and it manufactures two standard grades of ferro chrome viz high silicon and low silicon.

Promoters Of VLCC Healthcare Talking To Buyout Firms For Stake Sale

According to a report on ET, the promoters of VLCC Healthcare are talking to buy-out firms including Apax, Bain and TPG Capital to sell a majority stake in the wellness chain. VLCC Healthcare was founded twenty years ago by Mukesh Luthra and Vandana Luthra. VLCC operates slimming centers and spas, it also retails personal care products through it's wellness chain. The company has a network of 150 centers in Indian, Nepal and some countries in the GCC region. VLCC also runs a training institute which provides training in the areas of nutrition and beauty care for students seeking professional skills in these domains. Vandana and Mukesh Luthra recently bought back 13.65% stake in the company from an investment arm of CLSA for an undisclosed amount. CLSA had invested $10 mn in VLCC in 2004. Everstone Capital holds about 15% stake in the company. It had invested $11.30 mn in the company through CCDs.

Capital18 Puts Glitz Cinemas On The Block

Capital18 - the private equity arm of Network18 has put it's multiplex business - Glitz Cinemas on the block and is seeking a valuation of Rs3 cr per screen or around Rs80-90 cr. Glitz Cinemas is promoted by Stargaze Entertainment. It was founded by Capital18 and Sumant Bhargava in July2008. It has a strong presence in Dehradun, Ranchi, Bilaspur, Raipur, Ajmer, Kurushetra and Delhi offering over 4,000 seats per show. It has three product offerings - Glitz Lounge, Glitz Max and Glitz 3D. The valuation which the promoters are asking for is much higher than INOX - Fame India deal. Last year, Inox Leisure acquired 43.28% in Fame for Rs66.48 cr in cash, translating to a valuation of Rs1.6 cr per screen.

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 3 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER]

Denmark Based FLSmidth Acquires Transweigh India

Denmark based FLSmidth has acquired Transweigh India Limited for an undisclosed sum. Transweigh India was established in 1987 by Habib Futehally as a JV with Pfister, Germany. Pfister's stake was later acquired by FLSmidth. With head office and production facilities located in Mumbai, India, the company today employs around 300 people. It is a supplier of gravimetric feeding equipment, mainly to the steel, iron and cement industries. The company also markets and sells FLSmidth Pfister's leading fuel feeder product range to the growing Indian market. Transweigh also sells a large number of proprietary products such as belt weigh feeders, apron weigh feeders, apron feeders, loss in weight feeders, solid flow meters, bin weighing equipment and feeding electronics. The products are sold as standalone products but most often together with auxiliary equipment forming a complete feeding system with integrated material handling components. FLSmidth & Co is a engineering company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Employing about 11,300 people worldwide, it provides the global cement and mineral industries with plants, machinery, services and know-how. This is FLSmidth second acquisition in India. In 2009, it acquired EEL India Limited. EEL India Limited's product range includes rotary packers for bag packing and bag loading systems, silo feeding and extraction systems, bulk loading systems as well as rotary & stationary big bag filling systems for the cement and related industries.

Mergers & Acquisitions Deals

SkillSoft Acquires NIIT's US Subsidiary - ElementK For $110 mn

NIIT has sold it's US based subsidiary - ElementK Corporation to SkillSoft Corporation for $110 mn in an all cash deal. NIIT has also signed a long-term strategic and licensing agreement with SkillSoft to become a product and content developer for the Irish firm. The funds will be used to strengthen it's managed training services business, cloud campus, school venture - NGuru and university programme - YuvaJyoti. Part of the funds will also be used to retire debt. NIIT had acquired ElementK Corporation for $35 mn in 2008. NIIT Limited is into IT education and corporate training. It has training centers in over 40 countries and provides both classroom and on-line learning solution.

FDC Limited Acquires Anand Synthochem

FDC Limited has acquired Mumbai based Anand Synthochem Limited for Rs6.43 cr. Anand Synthochem does not have any substantial operations apart from 81,555 sq. ft land in Dombivali. FDC Limited was incorporated in 1940, for marketing vitamins and a range of prescription formulations. FDC presently operates in a number of high-growth therapeutic segments such as anti-infectives, dermatologicals, respiratory and haematinics and is the leader

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 4 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER] in oral rehydration solutions and ophthalmics. Some of its key brands are Electral, Zifi, Pyrimon, Zoxan Zocon and Mycoderm.FDC exports to over 50 countries, including the US, the UK, South Africa, New Zealand and Japan. The company has plants in Roha, Waluj and Sinnar in Maharashtra, Verna in Goa, and Baddi in MP.

Netcore Acquires Mobile Marketing Firm – Ravience

Netcore Solutions Pvt Ltd has acquired Mumbai based mobile marketing services provider - Ravience for an undisclosed sum. Ravience was incorporated in 2008 by former Netcore executive - Veer Bothra. Post deal, Veer will join Netcore as the Chief Strategy Officer. Ravience has a multi modal response management suite - Responage, which is used for brand building. It also allows rapid creation of mobile websites which are compatible across handsets, visitor analytics and validation of responses. The platform integrates various stages of digital campaigns - starting from media, visitor management, response management and finally lead management, thus filtering higher quality leads and identifying their sources. NetCore provides mobile messaging solutions and enterprise email services to over 2,000 companies in India. This is Netcore's second acquisition in 2 years. Last year, it acquired Greynium Information Technologies Pvt Ltd. Greynium owns Indian language Internet portal OneIndia.in, and online Indian classifieds portal Click.in.

Jyothy Labs Acquires 12.05% Stake In Henkel India Via Open Offer

Jyothy Labs has acquired 12.05% stake in Henkel India Ltd through an open offer. With this, Jyothy's shareholding in Henkel India has gone upto 83.65%. Jyothy had acquired 50.97% stake in Henkel India from Henkel AG & Co for Rs 118 cr. Before that, it had 14.9% stake in Henkel for Rs. 60.73 cr in an all cash deal. It bought 1,73,51,686 shares of Henkel at Rs.35 each from Tamil Nadu Petro Products Ltd. Henkel India was incorporated in 1987 as a JV between Henkel AG and Tamilnadu Petroproducts Ltd to manufacture detergents. Company has presence in fabricare, dish wash, household cleaning and personal care categories. Henkel was planning for divestment because of lackluster performance and its inability to capture market share-despite being in the Indian market since 1987. Henkel India and Jyothy Laboratories are both present in the home care, fabric care, dish washing soap, personal care and household cleaning segments. The move will help Jyothy increase its market share in the fast growing domestic detergents market. Jyothy Labs is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of fabric whiteners, soaps, detergents, mosquito coils, incense sticks and personal care products. It is known for its flagship brand 'Ujala'. The company has 28 manufacturing facilities in 16 locations across India. Company has also forayed into the organized laundry business through its subsidiary - Jyothy Fabricare Services Ltd.

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 5 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER]

BCCL Acquires BBC's Stake In Worldwide Media JV

Bennett Coleman & Co has bought out BBC Worldwide's 50% stake in Worldwide Media Private Limited for $9.45 mn. Worldwide Media Private Limited was set up in 2004 as a JV between BCCL and Worldwide Channel Investments Limited (subsidiary of BBC Worldwide Limited) for publishing magazines in India. The magazines published by Worldwide Media include Filmfare, Femina, Top Gear, Hello, BBC Good Homes, Grazia and What to Wear. The sale is part of a wider effort by the commercial arm of BBC to exit its magazine business. BBC sold off it's magazine publishing business to Exponent Private Equity for $198 mn. Exponent acquired all the non-BBC-branded magazines after a sale process and, as part of a series of licensing and contract deals, has negotiated the rights to publish its branded titles such as Top Gear. The bidding process also drew interest from several media organizations including Bauer and Hearst. BCCL's media assets include The Times of India, Economic Times, Mumbai Mirror and other regional newspapers, radio channels Radio Mirchi, TV channels Times NOW, ET NOW , MOvies NoW and Zoom. It's online portfolio includes Indiatimes, online remittance business Times of Money, and classifieds businesses Times Jobs, Simply Marry, Magic Bricks. BCCL also owns UK based radio station - Absolute Radio - which it bought from SMG Plc in 2008 for $105 mn. BCCL may sell-off the radio station due to declining listening figures.

NSDC Invests Rs4.5 cr in NSDC-Laurus SPV For A 27% Stake

National Skill Development Corporation has acquired 27% stake in NSDC - Laurus SPV for Rs4.5 cr. NSDC and Laurus are setting up a SPV with an objective to train over 11 lakh students over the next 10 years by setting up over 546 centres. Out of the 546 centres 55 will be through acquisitions, 157 greenfield facilities, 328 franchisees and six through TOT Advanced Training Centres. These centres would focus on Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharastra, Rajasthan and Bihar. The sectors targeted includes automotive, construction, textiles, electronics and IT hardware and education and skill development sector. The total project cost is about Rs. 54 crores out of which over Rs. 40 crores will be brought in by NSDC. NSDC would put in Rs 4.5 cr as its Equity contribution and the balance by way of loan to the SPV. Laurus Edutech will be contributing about Rs14 cr as equity towards the 73% stake.

Falcon Tyres Acquires Chamundi Plasto Sacks

Ruia Group owned Falcon Tyres has acquired Mysore based Chamundi Plasto Sacks Pvt Ltd. It will now operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Falcon Tyres. Falcon Tyres was incorporated in 1973 and became a Ruia Group company in December, 2005. It's present installed capacity is 11 million tyres. It sells its product under the Dunlop, Donin and Falcon brands supplying to OEMs like Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto, Piaggio, Mahindra and Mahindra and Royal Enfield. The company has manufacturing facilities in Mysore, Karnataka and Haridwar. It exports tyres to 21 countries including Latin America, West Asia and Africa besides some Asian countries. Confidential LKP Securities Limited 6 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER]

Warburg Pincus Cuts Kotak Mahindra Bank Exposure; Pockets $73 mn

Private equity major Warburg Pincus has cut more stake in private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, selling a little over 1% in the market for Rs 356.25 crore ($73 million). The shares were sold by the PE firm for Rs 475 a unit, around the same price as the earlier sales. Warburg had earlier sold 2.28% in June and July for Rs 768 crore in the company. The latest round of share sale came as the stock markets recovered last week. Warburg Pincus held 9.28% stake in Kotak Mahindra as of March, 2011, and has now reduced its holdings to less than 6%. The PE firm had first invested in the bank way back in 2004. Warburg Pincus had initially picked up 2.75% stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank in late 2004 for Rs 75.9 crore, through a fresh issue of shares. And it continued to acquire shares in the bank through market transactions as the Uday Kotak-led promoter group was shedding its stake to meet RBI norms. Warburg Pincus also got RBI permission in 2005 to increase its stake in the bank up to 10%.

Suryachakra Power In 50:50 JV With US Firms For Renewable Energy

Suryachakra Power Corporation Limited is forming an equal equity joint venture with American Bio Sources Inc (ABS)and Environmental Energy Finance Corporation Inc. USA (EEFC) for developing up to 500 MW renewable energy power projects in India, through the Special Purpose Vehicles. This is the second such partnership struck by Hyderabad-based Suryachakra Power Corp this year. In June it forayed into the wind energy sector by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with C Sivasankaran-owned Sterling Group's WinWind Power Energy Private Ltd. This agreement involves setting up a 250 MW wind energy project in Tamil Nadu. In the latest deal, Suryachakra Global Ventures Ltd., Hong Kong (SGVL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Suryachakra Power Corp has entered into a MoU with ABS and EEFC for implementing renewable energy power projects in the country. The agreement involves SGVL and ABS/EEFC to set up 50:50 joint venture for developing up to 500 MW renewable energy power projects (biomass/solar/wind etc) in India, through SPVs. ABS has $ 200 million approved funding from EXlM Bank (USA) to set-up renewable energy power plants in India. ABS and EEFC will work with SGVL to secure funding for commissioning the power plants under BOOT model. ABS/EEFC shall assist and coordinate with SGVL in identifying and sourcing of low interest rate funding, namely EXIM/institutional or any other attractive funds for the projects. SGVL will bring in coordination and documentary support to hasten the implementation and completion of the projects.

GVK Buys 14% More In Bangalore Int’l Airport; Ups Stake To 43%

Infrastructure giant GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd has completed the transaction to acquire another 14% stake in the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) from Siemens for Rs 613.82 crore ($135 million), valuing BIAL at Rs 4,378 crore. The deal will make GVK the single largest shareholder in BIAL, increasing its stake from the current 29% to 43%. Bangalore Airport & Infrastructure Developers Pvt Ltd, a step-down subsidiary of GVK Power & Infrastructure, has Confidential LKP Securities Limited 7 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER] exercised its right of first refusal for acquiring 53.84 million shares held by Siemens Project Ventures GmbH (Siemens), at a price of Rs 114 per equity share.

Germany Based - Comparex Group Acquires IRIS Unified Technologies

Germany based Comparex Group has acquired Delhi based software consulting and technology services provider - IRIS Unified Technologies Pvt Ltd. IRIS will operate under the COMPAREX brand. The new company will focus on leveraging the significant potential of the Indian market for the Comparex Group. IRIS MD – Navin Kapur and his leadership team will continue to head the merged Indian organization with more than 70 employees. Founded in 2001, IRIS Unified Technology Pvt. Ltd. resells software and provides typical maintenance, professional services and IT training. It has strategic partnership with a number of IT companies including Microsoft, Symantec, HP, IBM, Cisco, EMC2, Radware, Juniper, Websense, Stonesoft, Trend Micro, etc and serves 400 clients that include a diverse range of Fortune and SME companies. In May 2011, Comparex Group evolving from PC-Ware Information Technologies AG announced the global rebranding of all entities under the COMPAREX brand. The single-brand approach is designed to support the company's three-dimensional growth strategy. Comparex is one of the leading Microsoft Large Account Reseller (LAR) in Europe and has more than 2,300 certifications from approx. 55 suppliers, including Citrix, VMware, Adobe, Symantec and McAfee as well as Hitachi, IBM and EMC.

ADI BPO Acquires Macmillan's Indian Unit - MPS Limited

ADI BPO Services Private Limited has acquired 61.46% stake in MPS Limited from UK based - HM Publishers Holdings Limited for Rs37.4 cr. ADI BPO has also made an open offer to acquire 33,64,534 shares representing 20% of the paid up equity share capital of MPS at a price of Rs37 per share. ADI has also paid Rs9.3 cr non compete fee to HM Publishers. MPS Limited was set up in Jan 1970 as outsourcing unit of Macmillan. It is in the business of publishing business process outsourcing services which comprises of project management services, copy- editing services, proofreading services, composition/type-setting services and graphics design services. ADI BPO Services was incorporated in 2006 by Nitish Arora (an IIM Ahmadabad and Harvard Business School alumnus). It call centre services to the domestic market from its facilities in Dehradun and Noida. It has a 2,000 seat facility in Dehradun and a 400 seat infrastructure in Noida and its clients include operators in the telecom and DTH markets. Nitish Arora is also the founder of International Typesetting and Composition (now renamed Glyph), a leading provider of publishing services to American book publishers. He is also the co-founder of ADI Media, a leading B2B magazine publisher.

Systemair Acquires International Airconditioning For $9.56 mn

Systemair AB is acquiring International Airconditioning Products Pvt Ltd for $9.56 mn. International Airconditioning is a part of the Suvidha Group. It is the manufacturing and products

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 8 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER] sales arm of the Suvidha Group. The company manufactures and promotes sales of airconditioning products used in Central Airconditioning systems. The company has a manufacturing facility in Greater Noida. Systemair is a ventilation company with operations in 41 countries. The Group's products are marketed under the Systemair, Frico, VEAB and Fantech brands. The group comprises of about 60 companies. This is Systemair's second acquisition in India. In 2009, it acquired Ravistar. Systemair has already sales offices in New Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune and a centralized warehouse and assembly plant in Alwar to support local market.

Reliance Entertainment Invests In TalentHouse, Forms JV For India Biz

Reliance Entertainment has invested in California based Talenthouse. It has also entered into a JV with the creative collaboration platform for the Indian market. Arun Mehra - who headed Zapak will be the CEO of the JV - Talenthouse India. Talenthouse will be based out of Mumbai and will oversee growth and businesses in India and Southeast Asia. It will focus on nurturing fresh and creative talent in the country and provide opportunities for collaboration at international level as well. Internationally, Talenthouse has been associated with artists like Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Naomi Campbell, Rod Stewart, Brett Ratner, Queen and Kylie Minogue to identify and provide a platform for fresh talent. Talenthouse India has already running talent hunts looking for an assistant designer for fashion designer Rocky S, male models for ZOD!, assistants for choreographer Rajeev Surti, designers for Opium Sunglasses, and models for Elite. It had also recently conducted a talenthunt looking for a rockband to perform with Metallica at their F1 gig.

Private Equity News

International Tractors To Raise Rs450 cr For Acquisition

Sonalika Group's International Tractors Limited is talking to Private Equity investors for an investment of upto Rs450 cr by selling 10% stake in the company. The funds will be used to buy a Europe based tractor manufacturer and increase production capacity. International Tractors manufactures Sonalika tractors between 30 HP to 90 HP, and the CERES brand between 60HP to 90HP. It has a strategic alliance with Japan's second largest tractor manufacturer - Yanmar. The tractors are exported to Nepal, Bangladesh, Africa and South America. International Tractors has raised private equity funding from JM Financial, Citi Venture Capital International and 3i Group Plc. Yanmar also holds 10-12% stake in the company. Sonalika Group is planning to increase its manufacturing capacity from 60,000 units per annum to 1 lakh units per annum. It is also setting up a vendor park in Hoshiarpur near it's tractor manufacturing plant. Recently, it has forayed into Myanmar by appointing a dealership in the country.

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 9 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER]

Nova Medical To Sell Stake In It's Subsidiary - Nova Pulse

Nova Medical is talking to two foreign healthcare chains to sell minority stake in its In Vitro Fertilization subsidiary - Nova Pulse. The transaction is expected to value Nova Pulse at around Rs250 cr. Nova is also talking to investors to raise funds by selling about 15% stake in the parent entity - Nova Medical. Nova forayed into IVF after it bought a majority stake in the IVF business of Ahmedabad-based Pulse Women's Hospital for an undisclosed amount in August. The IVF arm accounts for about one-third of its revenues, which is expected to close at over Rs100 cr this fiscal. Nova Medical Center was founded by New York-based private equity firm GTI Group LLC and Mahesh Reddy. Nova raised $3.5 mn from GTI LLC in its initial round of funding and followed it up by further investments by New Enterprise Associates and GTI group. Nova Medical plans to expand across the country by forming joint ventures with regional players. It has formed a JV with Dr. Ramayyas' Pramila Hospitals for setting up centers in Hyderabad. It also has a 69:31 JV with Max Healthcare Institute Limited for setting up ambulatory surgery centres centers in the NCR region. The company recently created a 51:49 JV with Oman based - Omzest Group to set up ambulatory surgery centres in Dubai, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.

Triangle Real Estate Fund To Raise $200 mn

Triangle Real Estate Fund is planning to raise Rs200 mn for it's second India centric real estate fund. It will be a close ended fund with a tenure of eight years and will be raised in offshore markets. The fund managers intend to start the fund raising activity in the next two-three months and hope to start deploying through this second fund from early 2013. It will target at least 25% return on its each investment. The fund is co-promoted by ICS Realty Group and South Africa- based Old Mutual Investment Group Property Investments. It will acquire land on its own and then enter into a partnership with a local developer as against an earlier approach of investing in the project after the land acquisition is over. It is in talks for the acquisition of land on peripheral locations of Bangalore, Mumbai and NCR. Out of its first India-focused realty fund worth $115 million, Triangle has already invested about $68 million for a 35% stake in three retail-led projects of Provogue’s subsidiary Prozone Enterprises in Aurangabad, Nagpur and Coimbatore. The fund is talking to a number of real estate investors to deploying the remaining $47 mn from the first fund that saw its initial closing in March 2008.

Macquarie, SBI Plan Up To $1.5 bn For New India Infra Fund

Macquarie Group and top Indian lender State Bank of India are drawing up plans to raise $1 billion to $1.5 billion for their second fund to invest in infrastructure assets and companies in India. Macquarie and SBI hope to get the paperwork complete and be ready for launch over the next two months, although given global uncertainty and weak investor appetite.

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 10 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER]

Yahoo To Exit Tyroo, Callezee, Sell Stake To Xplorer Capital

Yahoo Inc. is selling its' stake in online advertising network 'Tyroo' and directory search service 'Callezee' to Xplorer Capital, a fund floated by ex-Yahoo executives including former senior V-P Keith Nilsson. Yahoo had acquired around 30% stake in the Chennai-based Info Network Management Company Pvt Ltd, the company that owns Callezee, in 2008 and a minority stake of around 35% in Gurgaon-based Tyroo in 2007. Last week, Yahoo exited Consim Info Pvt Ltd by selling it's 12% stake to Bessemer Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund and Canaan Partners for Rs100 cr. This deal values the the operator of bharatmatrimony.com at Rs900 cr. Info Network Management Co. Pvt. Ltd started in Chennai in September 1990 with the introduction of a first time discount card in India. It currently covers 17 cities across India, under the brand name Callezee. Xplorer Capital is an investor in the company. Tyroo is digital ad network offering strong Rich Media, Video and Display marketing driven performance products. It has worked with global brands like Microsoft, Nokia, HP, Groupon, Google, Vodafone among others. These exits are coming at a time when Yahoo itself is subject to takeover bids. Many suitors including Microsoft and Alibaba have shown interest to acquire Yahoo.

Private Equity Deals

Reliance PE Invests Rs136 cr In VVF Limited

Reliance Private Equity has invested Rs136 cr in VVF Limited. The deal involves investment in different entities of the VVF Group by a combination of equity shares and compulsorily convertible debentures. Founded in 1939, VVF Limited manufactures personal care products and oleochemicals. It has three business divisions - Personal Care division which includes brands like Jo and Doy soaps, oleochemicals - which manufactures and sells fatty acids, fatty alcohols and glycerin and contract manufacturing. It has manufacturing facilities in Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. Earlier in June, VVF sold two soap brands - Aramusk and Moloy to Wipro Consumer Care And Lighting. It had acquired these brands and 'Mahabringol' hair oil from German consumer products firm Henkel.

CDC Group Invests $50 mn In Pragati India Fund

CDC Group Plc is investing $50 mn in Narayanan Shadagopan's Pragati India Fund Limited. The fund will make growth investments in Indian SMEs. It will not invest in real estate and mining sectors. CDC has been a fund of funds since 2004, when it took on a fund-of-funds approach following the divestment of its direct investing business to PE firm Actis LLP. It has made investments in cleantech company, Moser Baer Photo Voltaic Limited in 2007 and in 2008. It has invested $ 10 mn in Rabo Equity Advisor's India Agri Business Fund in 2009. Ventureast, an early-stage venture fund has also raised money from the CDC group. Last year

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 11 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER] in July, it committed $30 mn investment in Renuka Ramnath's Multiples Alternate Asset Management Fund. It also invested $12.5 mn in SeedFund.

Svenska Hotels Raises Rs30 cr Mezzanine Funding From DMI Finance

Svenska Design Hotels has raised Rs30 cr mezzanine funding from DMI Finance for setting up hotels in Tier 2 & 3 cities. Sweden based - Swenska Hotels develops and manages small format(30-100 rooms) luxury hotels. It opened it's first hotel - Swenska Mumbai in December 2010. It currently operates two hotels in India. The group is looking at 1,000 room inventory in 10 years with a budget of around Rs1,000 crore. The company has 20 hotels in the pipeline with hotels planned in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh and Bhilwara, Rajasthan. The company is also looking at properties in Delhi and Kolkata where the development work will start in 2012. The group is also looking for land in Dehradun and Thiruvanathapuram. Svenska Design Hotels has tied up with 'World Hotels' for international marketing and will have sales network across six main markets. The Group also owns, manages and franchises various food & beverage concepts, including Miro (Mediterranean specialty), Soul (contemporary Indian restaurants), Mesa (multi-cuisine all-day-dining bistros, delis and lounge bars) and Sensen (al-fresco pan- Asian/ Japanese bars & grills). Founded in 2008 by Shivashish Chatterjee and Yuvraja Singh, DMI Finance provides structured finance solutions for commercial real estate development and land acquisition among others.

Fire Capital Announces JV With OmShakthy For Township Projects

Fire Capital has entered into a 50:50JV with Tamil Nadu based Omshakthy Agencies Madras Ltd to develop residential projects and townships in and around Chennai. The JV has been named as Omshakthy FIRE Realty Private Limited. The two parent companies have set a target to make Omshakthy Fire Realty a Rs700 cr entity in 3 years. Chennai-based real estate firm Om Shakthy was incorporated in 1991 and has a land bank of 340 acres distributed across various locations. The company has two construction arms - Santha Build-Tech (India) Private Limited, which is engaged in construction of Over Head Tanks, road construction, laying of OFC cables, etc and Senthil Constructions, which is engaged in developing residential, commercial complexes, hospital buildings, institutional buildings, industrial buildings, road works and other utility buildings. Omshakthy had announced it's plans to raise upto Rs75 cr from private equity investors in February this year for a township project spread over 150 acres at Pallavaram, near Chennai.

Solar Firm Sunpreme Gets $50 mn Funding From IFC, Others

US-based photovoltaic solar company Sunpreme Inc., co-founded by Indian-origin entrepreneur Ashok K. Sinha, has raised $50 million in a fresh round of funding, led by International Finance Corporation (IFC). Existing investors, Silicon Valley-based Capricorn Investment Group and Beijing-based China Environment Fund III, L.P. (managed by Tsing Capital), also took part in

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 12 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER] this round. The fund raised will be used to construct a manufacturing facility in Jiaxing, China, the company has said. Incidentally, Sunpreme’s SmartSilicon concept is positioned as a disruptive solar cell technology that helps deliver high-efficiency solar photovoltaic panels at lower costs. The company is engaged in developing and commercializing SmartSilicon-based solar cells and also focuses on R&D, manufacturing and sales & marketing of photovoltaic cells. The firm is based in Sunnyvale (California), with a facility in Shanghai.

Venture Capital News

No news in the current week

Venture Capital Deals

Naaptol Raises $25 mn From NEA, Canaan Partners & Silicon Valley Bank

Naaptol Online Shopping Pvt Ltd, owner of the shopping site Naaptol.com, has raised $25 million (Rs 123 crore) in an all cash deal, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Earlier investors Canaan Partners and Silicon Valley Bank also participated in the round that ended in August 2011. This is NEA’s first direct investment in an e-commerce start-up in India. It has previously invested in technology and communications firms such as enterprise mobility solutions company Valuefirst; low-cost netPC developer Novatium Solutions Pvt Ltd; unified communications firm Intellisys; technical support and reverse logistics provider Intarvo and outsourced services company GlobalLogic. The funds will be used to fuel Naaptol’s massive hiring plans as well as invest in its Internet business, supply chain and inventory. Naaptol was founded in August 2008 as an online shopping site and in 2010, raised $7 million (Rs 33 crore) in venture capital funding from Canaan Advisors Pvt Ltd which included a fresh issue of shares and acquisition of shares held by Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd. It also raised another Rs 7 crore from Silicon Valley Bank in 2010. Since then it has launched a private sales site called Naaptol Club and forayed into television with an investment of Rs 60 crore. Naaptol continues to experiment with more online models and may launch new properties going forth.

IndoUS Venture Partners II Raises $97.5 mn

IndoUS Venture Partners, a venture capital firm which has backed companies like Snapdeal.com and Via, has raised up to $97.5 million for IndoUS Venture Partners II, LLC, according to a form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Bangalore- based venture firm, which raised $189 million for its debut fund, is targeting $150 million for the current offering, according to the filing made. And the firm has managed to raise $97.5 million

Confidential LKP Securities Limited 13 October 24, 2011 [INDIA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER] after being open for subscriptions only for two weeks. According to the filing, the capital has been raised from 13 investors. IndoUS Venture Partners II, LLC has three promoters – Vani Kola, Kumar Shiralagi and Rajesh Raju. However, Vinod Dham, who had led the first fund and is well-known for developing Intel’s Pentium microprocessor, will not be involved with the new fund. But he will continue to work with existing portfolio companies (from Fund I) as they mature. While Kola and Shiralagi were also involved with the first fund, Raju has recently joined IndoUS after working as an investment director at Peepul Capital for five years.

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Confidential LKP Securities Limited 14