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Mahindra & Mahindra announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea’s Ssangyong Motor Company, to acquire a majority stake in the aot-maker. Earlier, it had announced its selection as a preferred bidder for the loss-making company which sells sports utility vehicles under brands such as Rexton, New Kyron and Actyon.
South Korea’s Ssangyong Motor Company announced that Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was the preferred bidder in its quest to find a strategic investor. It was one among six bidders for the failing auto company, whose prime attraction for bidders would be its product line-up, mainly sports-utility vehicles, and global sales network. M&M will now enter into a memorandum of understanding with Ssangyong, undertake due diligence followed by the final agreements.
Continue ReadingNorwegian telecom company Telenor Asia Pte Ltd. pumped in Rs 1,493 crore into its Indian telecom joint venture with Unitech, Unitech Wireless. The money is through the fresh equity into a bunch of subsidiaries that operate in the various circles. With this infusion, Telenor owns a 60.1% stake in the company, against 49% earlier, making it the majority shareholder. Telenor’s total investment in the telecom business is Rs 4,113 crore so far, and will increase to Rs 5,606 crore after this investment.
Continue ReadingIndian companies have gone and acquired companies abroad in several sectors such as software, chemicals, FMCG, metals, engineering. But in the sugar sector, we have not seen any major foray abroad.
Shree Renuka Sugars has become the first sugar player to acquire a company in Brazil, the largest sugar producer and exporter in the world with India being the largest consumer. In recent times, India has relinquished its status as a sugar exporter, and the rising demand has made it an importer.
Bharti Airtel and MTN were unable to convince the South African government to accept their cross-border merger proposal. The government did not object to the merger per se but to the structure, which was outside the current regulatory environment. The two companies had proposed a structure, which ostensibly involved MTN taking up a stake in Bharti by subscribing to ADRs/GDRs. Bharti would in turn take up a stake in MTN, which was a direct transaction.
Debt-laden pharmaceutical company Wockhardt continued its asset selling spree, handing over its nutritional foods business to Abbott. The US pharmaceutical company will pay $130mn or Rs 627 crore, for the business which will be distributed between Wockhardt, Carol Info Services, some subsidiaries of Wockhardt and associate companies.
Continue ReadingSanofi Aventis is acquiring the 80% stake that Merieux Alliance held in Indian vaccine company Shantha Biotech. The Hyderabad-based 90mn euro (Rs 620 crore) turnover company makes vaccines and its flagship product, a hepatitis-B vaccine Shanvac-B brought it fame. The company says this is India’s first WHO-Geneva pre-qualified vaccine. It also makes other vaccines including those used in inoculation of infants.
HCL Axon, a software company implementing SAP and a subsidiary of HCL Technologies, has acquired the enterprise solutions SAP practice from UCS Solutions, part of the South African UCS Group. The acquired division does SAP implementation for retail and wholesale companies. The consideration is $7.7mn plus an additional payment depending on the growth achieved over two years.
Gitanjali Gems, a jewellery maker, has acquired a stake in a group company Diamlink Inc. It announced to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that Gitanjali USA Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary, has acquired a 51% stake in New York-based Diamlink. The company has not shared details about the subsidiary’s turnover or the consideration paid.
Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, a 74% subsidiary of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, has come under fire from the FDA. American enforcement officials raided Caraco’s plants, seized medicines and ingredients used in their production. The seizure has been attributed to Caraco’s continued failure to meet cGMP norms (current good manufacturing practices). The FDA had warned Caraco in October 2008 and had given it time to rectify the deficiencies.
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