BackDeals buzz: Bharti Airtel in talks to buy Telenor’s India business for $350 million
In other news, Aavishkaar to raise $150 million fund for Africa investments, while Blackstone in talks for a $250 million stake in K Raheja
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Mumbai: Mint brings to you your daily dose of top deals reported by newsrooms across the country.
Aavishkaar to raise $150 million fund for Africa investments
Impact investment firm Aavishkaar Venture Management Services (AVMS) plans to raise up to $150 million to invest in Africa, a senior executive told Mint.
The Africa fund will be the second overseas-focused fund from the impact investor. It will also be AVMS’s seventh fund. Aavishkaar is currently raising a $75 million Frontier Fund, which will invest in South and South-East Asia, its first overseas geography fund.
“We are looking to raise between $100 million and $150 million for the African fund. We will start the fund-raising around the middle of 2017 and we expect to close it in 2018," said Vineet Rai, founder of Intellecap-Aavishkaar group.
AVMS is part of the Intellecap-Aavishkaar group, which includes other entities such as Intellecap, which offers investment banking, consulting and other services for the impact investment space; Intellecash, which provides working capital and business loans to small and medium enterprises; Intelligrow, a venture debt provider; and Arohan, a microfinance lender. Read more
Everstone buys minority stake in OmniActive Health for $35 million
Home-grown private equity (PE) major Everstone Group has invested $35 million (approximately Rs232 crore) in Mumbai-based nutraceutical ingredient player OmniActive Health Technologies Ltd for a significant minority stake, the recipient company said on Monday.
The investment will help OmniActive in diversifying and expanding its offerings as well as in its inorganic growth strategy.
Mint was the first to report in November that the PE firm is in advanced discussions to invest Rs300 crore in OmniActive.
As part of the deal, Deep Mishra, managing director at Everstone India, will join OmniActive’s board as a nominee director, along with Leendert Staal, a nutraceutical expert and former chief executive officer of the global industry leader DSM Nutritional Products. Read more
GR Infraprojects evaluating bids for three road assets
Udaipur-based infrastructure and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company GR Infraprojects Ltd is evaluating bids to sell three of its road assets, two people aware of the development said.
The three assets are the Jodhpur-Pali Expressway and Reengus-Sikar Expressway in Rajasthan and the Shillong bypass in Meghalaya, the people cited above said.
While the Jodhpur-Pali Expressway is a toll-based project under the build, operate and transfer (BOT) model, the other two are annuity-based projects awarded by the National Highways Authority of India. Read more
Hathway Cable unit GTPL Hathway files papers for Rs300 crore IPO
Cable TV and broadband Internet services provider Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd’s subsidiary GTPL Hathway Pvt. Ltd has filed its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus with the capital market regulator, the company said in a filing to stock exchanges.
In August, Hathway’s board had approved the GTPL Hathway IPO.
GTPL Hathway offers cable TV and broadband services in several cities, including Pune, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.
According to the draft prospectus, the IPO will consist of both a primary offer, to help the company raise capital, and an offer for sale by the promoters. The company is looking to raise Rs300 crore through the primary offer.
GTPL will use the proceeds from the IPO to reduce debt. Read more
Blackstone in talks for $250 million stake in K Raheja
Blackstone Group has filed a formal bid to acquire a minority stake in the commercial unit of K Raheja Corp., one of India’s top three owners of tenanted offices, joining the race with Singapore’s Temasek Holding and rival private equity investor Warburg Pincus, The Times of India reported, citing sources.
The three bidders are in the final lap, though Temasek is said to be the front-runner as of now, the paper said.
The billionaire Chandru Raheja-led company plans to raise $250 million by divesting around 15% stake in the rent-yielding office space assets that operate under the brand Mindspace. It owns over 20 million sq. ft of leased space primarily in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad.
Blackstone, which has already emerged as the largest landlord of Indian commercial real estate, is also in advanced talks to buy 40% stake in DLF’s commercial unit. Read more
Bharti Airtel in talks with Telenor to buy India business for $350 million
India’s largest telecom operator by users is in discussion with Norway-based Telenor for the acquisition of its India business for $350 million, ET Now reported on Monday.
As part of the deal, Bharti Airtel is likely to take over half of Telenor India’s liabilities, while the latter is expected to bear the remaining half of its India liabilities, the report said. The deal is likely to be closed by January-end.
Telenor has been reportedly looking to exit India, having been pushed into a corner, thanks to its limited data spectrum holdings and its presence in only a few pockets.
Larger rivals like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm have been aggressively expanding 4G services. Read more
Industrialists Sunil Munjal and Saroj Poddar in talks to buy stake in Paytm
Industrialists Sunil Munjal and Saroj Poddar are in talks to pick a small stake in digital payments firm Paytm, which is owned by One97 Communications Ltd, The Economic Times reported.
Munjal, the chairman of Hero Corporate Services, the insurance redistribution and IT services arm of the Hero Group, and Poddar, chairman of fertiliser and engineering services conglomerate Adventz Group, are negotiating to pick a stake from early investor and former IDFC Securities analyst Nikhil Vora, it was reported.
Once the talks fructify, the deal will mark a partial exit for Vora who owns about 1.6 lakh shares—a 0.35% share—in the Alibaba-backed company, and will also boost the value of One97 Communications by nearly a quarter, the paper said. Read more
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