Deals Buzz: Bharti Airtel to invest nearly Rs15,000 crore in India, South Asia
In other news, Vodafone Group to infuse $7 billion into Indian arm and Wipro Consumer arm to buy China FMCG firm
Mumbai: Mint brings to you your daily dose of top deals reported by newsrooms across the country.
Vodafone Group to infuse $7 billion into Indian arm
British telecommunication major Vodafone Group Plc. has infused 47,700 crore ($7 billion) in its Indian arm Vodafone India to help it acquire more spectrum, expand infrastructure, reduce debt, capitalize a proposed payments bank and improve service quality.
The telecom giant is infusing the money at a time when India is preparing for its largest auction of telecom radio waves on 1 October and in the background of an aggressive launch by Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the telecom unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, that threatens to disrupt the market. Read more
Avendus Capital hires Ambit’s Andrew Holland, team for hedge fund business
Investment bank Avendus Capital has hired the entire top management of Ambit Investment Advisory, including chief executive officer Andrew Holland, managing director Vaibhav Sanghavi and marketing head Bhautik Ambani, as it gets ready for its hedge fund play.
Holland joined Ambit in 2008 and was managing its flagship hedge fund, Ambit Alpha, which has now been acquired by financial services group Edelweiss for an undisclosed amount.
The hiring of Holland and the team—which includes fund managers and research analysts—is part of Avendus’s plan to enter the hedge fund business to expand its portfolio of alternative asset management businesses. Read more
Essel Highways to raise ₹ 400 crore from Aion Capital Partners
Essel Highways Ltd, a unit of Essel Infraprojects Ltd, is in advanced stage of discussion to raise Rs400 crore from special situations fund Aion Capital Partners, Mint reports, citing two people aware of the development.
The investment, which is expected to be closed shortly, will happen via structured debt products, one of the sources said. In May this year, the board of Essel Highways cleared a proposal to raise as much as Rs1,480 crore through private placement of debt securities.
On 12 August, Mint reported that Essel Highways raised $85 million from Goldman Sachs. The Aion deal, too, is part of this fund-raising. Read more
Edelweiss Group to acquire Ambit Alpha Fund
Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd has agreed to acquire Ambit Investment Advisors’s flagship hedge fund, Ambit Alpha Fund, with an assets under management of over ₹ 1,100 crore, for an undisclosed amount.
With the transaction, which is subject to due diligence and requisite regulatory approvals, Edelweiss will be its new investment manager. This is the second asset management acquisition by Edelweiss Group in the recent past.
Earlier in March, Edelweiss announced the acquisition of global giant JP Morgan’s onshore mutual fund business in India with assets worth over ₹ 7,000 crore. Read more
Carpediem Capital invests $6 million in GadgetWood
On-demand repair services and refurbishment company GadgetWood has secured $6 million in funding from Carpediem Capital, an India-focused private equity fund, and its investors.
Abhishek Sharman, founder and managing director of Carpediem Capital, will join the board of the company as part of the investment.
Founded in 2013 by Jayant Jha, Ankit Saraf and Anmol Gupta, GadgetWood offers repair and support services for mobiles and tablets across all brands. Read more
Bharti Airtel to invest around $2.2 billion in India, South Asia
Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s largest telecom operator, has decided to invest around ₹ 14,667 crore ($2.2 billion) in the Indian and south Asian markets in the current financial year (FY17), as it looks to strengthen network capabilities.
The firm made a capital expenditure of ₹ 4,133 crore in the first quarter of FY17, as per an investor presentation that was uploaded on the BSE.
Last year, Airtel had announced to invest ₹ 60,000 crore in three years to upgrade its network to provide better quality services to customers. Read more
Wipro Consumer arm to buy China FMCG firm
Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting (WCCL), part of billionaire Azim Premji-led Wipro Group, has agreed to acquire Zhongshan Ma Er Daily Products Ltd, a Chinese fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, for an undisclosed amount in an all-cash transaction.
The acquisition was routed through its Singapore-based arm Wipro Unza. It will be its second-biggest acquisition since it bought Unza Holdings Ltd, a Singapore consumer goods firm, for $246 million in 2007.
This will be Wipro Consumer Care’s 10th acquisition since 2003. With this, it expects its international businesses to account for 55% of its total global revenue. The company said it has spent around $600 million in total on buyouts over the past 13 years. Read more
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