Weekly Corporate and Finance News

1. Top Headlines
Nokia offers $369M to unfreeze India assets.
IIP slumps 1.8%, shrinks for first time in four months.
Blackstone sitting on $8.5B paper profit on Hilton deal.
IFC to lend up to $21M to Visakha Water Reclamation
Infra.
Actis raises over $1.15B for new energy fund.
Torrent acquiring Elder Pharma’s domestic formulation
business for $322M.
GMR to sell 40% in Istanbul airport for $303M.
Bangalore-based Big Data startup Spire Technologies
raises $8M in Series A funding.
Japan's CAC Corp to buy 51% stake in IT services firm
Accel Frontline
Inside The Story
Nokia offers $369M to unfreeze India assets.
Nokia has offered to pay 270 million euros to Indian authorities to
unfreeze assets in a tax dispute, according to sources familiar with the
matter.Nokia's offer would come on top of an earlier payment of around
85 million euros. The Finnish company has been in disagreement with
Indian authorities over an income tax bill of Rs 20.8 billion, one of
several tax disagreements involving foreign companies in India.Nokia
has been trying to unfreeze its Indian assets, including a Chennai
factory, ahead of the sale of its mobile phone business to Microsoft.
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2. IIP slumps 1.8%, shrinks for first time in four months
India's industrial production contracted for the first time in four months
in October in a sign that economic recovery remains fragile, government
data showed on Thursday.Industrial output slumped 1.8 per cent in
October after growing 2 per cent in September. Analysts polled by
Reuters had predicted industrial output would contract by 1.2 per cent
for the month.The manufacturing sector, which constitutes about 76 per
cent of industrial production, contracted 2 per cent from a year earlier,
the statistics ministry said.Capital goods production, a barometer for
investments in the economy, grew 2.3 per cent in October from a year
earlier.Industrial activity was hit as the infrastructure output, which
includes coal, electricity, cement, crude oil and steel factories
contracted.
Blackstone sitting on $8.5B paper profit on Hilton deal.
The initial public offering (IPO) of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. will
set the stage for one of the biggest exits in the private equity industry
and windfall for its owner The Blackstone Group. The alternative asset
management major, which will hold 76 per cent in Hilton post issue, will
be sitting on a paper profit of $8.5 billion.Hilton, the world's biggest
hotel operator, raised $2.35 billion in the largest IPO for a hotel
company. Hilton was acquired in an all-cash buyout by Blackstone
Group in a $26 billion (including debt) deal in 2007. The deal was done
through Blackstone's real estate and corporate private equity funds.
IFC to lend up to $21M to Visakha Water Reclamation
Infra.
International Financial Corporation (IFC), a division of the World Bank,
has proposed to lend up to $21 million to Visakha Water
Reclamation Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, which is a special purpose company
set up to develop a 63 million litres per day (MLD) tertiary treatment
plant in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.Visakha Water will use the
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3. fund for supplying treated municipal waste for industrial re-use
applications in Vishakhapatnam. Also, “The project will use the sites of
city’s existing Laxmi Talkies sewage treatment plant and Appu Ghar
sewage treatment plant,” the statement said.
Actis raises over $1.15B for new energy fund.
Emerging markets private equity major Actis has raised over $1 billion
for its third energy fund, with the pool being oversubscribed. The firm
said in a statement that Actis Energy 3 "was heavily oversubscribed,
raising a total of $1.15 billion, exceeding its original target of $750
million by 50 per cent."The fund also has discretionary co-investment
capital worth $262 million. Actis Energy 3’s investor base includes
public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and families from the US,
Europe and Asia.Actis Energy 3 will invest in electricity generation and
distribution businesses in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The Actis
energy team of 19 dedicated investment professionals has already
started building the fund’s portfolio.
Torrent acquiring Elder Pharma’s domestic formulation
business for $322M.
Mumbai-based Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd is selling its domestic
formulation business in India and Nepal to Ahmedabad-based drug
maker Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd for Rs 2,004 crore, the companies
said in a filing.According to Elder, the company has over 30 brands
across women’s healthcare, pain management, wound care and
nutraceuticals which would be transferred to Torrent as part of this
transaction.Torrent will fund for this acquisition through a mix of
internal accruals and bank debt, according to the release.
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4. GMR to sell 40% in Istanbul airport for $303M
Indian infrastructure developer GMR Infrastructure Ltd is close to
offloading its 40 per cent equity stake in Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen
International Airport for about €220 million or around Rs 1,900
crore to Turkey-based TAV Airports Holding Co, Mint reported citing
two persons privy to the development."Right of First Refusal (ROFR)
process in respect of the sale of stake is in progress and hence the deal
is not concluded," GMR clarified in a filing with the exchange.Apart from
GMR, Turkish conglomerate Limak Holding holds 40% equity stake in
Sabiha Gokcen, while remaining 20% is held by Malaysia Airports. The
consortium had won the mandate to build the airport in 2007 and
operate it for 22 years for a licensing fee of €2.17 billion.
Bangalore-based Big Data startup Spire Technologies
raises $8M in Series A funding.
Bangalore-based Spire Technologies and Solutions Pvt Ltd, a Big Data
startup that offers a contextual search engine to enterprises to manage
their talent requirements, has secured $8 million in Series A funding
from an unnamed investor. The capital will be used to ramp up its R&D
team and boost sales & marketing activities.The development was first
reported by TechCrunch. Spire has already raised $1 million in a seed
round from several angel investors.The firm was founded by Saurabh
Jain in 2008. Jain holds an advanced master’s degree in Global
Enterprise Management from GDW Consortium – a joint initiative of IIM
Bangalore, SDA Bocconi School of Management (Milan), University of
Hong Kong, and UCLA Anderson School of Management (Los Angeles).
In the past, he had worked with Yahoo, SAP, Oracle, Worldspan and
Galileo in various roles.
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5. Japan's CAC Corp to buy 51% stake in IT services firm
Accel Frontline
Japan's CAC Corporation is picking up at least 51 per cent stake in
Chennai-based IT services company Accel Frontline Ltd. The
deal involves CAC Corporation picking part of the stake held by
promoters of Accel Frontline and besides fresh infusion of capital. This
will be followed by an open offer for another 26 per cent in the
company.According to estimates, including the open offer, the deal
would cost CAC Corporation around Rs 90-95 crore. After the deal, CAC
will be a strategic partner in BSE-listed Accel Frontline with the
promoters continuing to hold some stake.CAC will buy 25.2 per cent of
post issued share capital of the company from promoter entities - Accel
Limited, Accel Systems Groups Inc and NR Panicker. This promoter
group holds 65.65 per cent in Accel Frontline, nearly a third of which is
pledged. This stake buy will cost CAC around Rs 34 crore. It will pick up
another 18.48 per cent through preferential issue of fresh shares costing
Rs 25 crore. These would give CAC 43.7 per cent stake in Accel
Frontline.
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