Corporate

Baring PE may buy stake in Trichy firm

US based private equity major Baring Private Equity Partners is in advanced talks with the promoters of Cethar Vessels, an unlisted power equipment manufacturer to buy 7.5 percent equity stake for about Rs 500 crore. Cethar Vessels plans to increase its capacity to meet the strong demand for power plants and has been scouting for finance to fund its plans to foray into turbine manufacture. Baring had valued the company at about Rs 6667 crore. Cethar which recently tied-up with US based Riley Power, currently has an annual capacity to make up to 8,000 MW of boilers and is planning to ramp it up to 12,000 MW. The Company had an order book of Rs 5,500 crore this year and hopes to close the revenues for FY11E would be around Rs 2,750 crore.

MindTree completes wireless business revamp

MindTree a mid-tier IT Solutions company announced that, it has completed the restructuring of the wireless product business of its wholly owned subsidiary MindTree Wireless into a design services business at a cost of $3.6-3.9 million. The move is expected to make it easier for the Company to do business with large global service providers. MindTree Wireless will later be merged into MindTree, the Parent Company. The process is underway and is expected to be completed shortly.

The Company is trying to monetize its long-term evolution (LTE) IP and phone design to offset restructuring costs. Restructuring costs will be mainly on account of people separation, fees paid to legal advisors, asset write-offs and payments to vendors for cancellation of contracts.

Gitanjali Gems buys 90 percent in Italian co

Gitanjali Gems has acquired 90 percent stake in Glantti Italia SRL, a company based in Milan. The Company has acquired the stake from its Dubai-based wholly owned subsidiary "Gitanjali Ventures DMCC." By virtue to this acquisition Glantti Italia S.R.L. has become a direct subsidiary of the Company. The acquisition is aimed at growing the branded jewelery business overseas and to gain the designing and branding concepts expertise from Italy. Gitanjali Gems also incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, Gitanjali Resources, in Belgium to explore and expand its businesses in Europe and conduct core diamond and jewelery business.

Prize Petro, HPCL arm may merge

The exploration and production (E&P) arm of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is expressing interest in picking up 50 percent stake in Prize Petroleum Company Ltd (PPCL), to merge with it's with its internal exploration and production arm, HP E&P. HPCL has a 50 per cent stake in PPCL while ICICI Bank and ICICI Venture Funds own 35 percent and 10 percent, respectively. HDFC holds the rest. In November, PPCL invited bids for selling the stakes of ICICI and HDFC. HPCL through HP E&P forayed into the upstream sector to have an access to equity oil to ensure energy security. The company, on its website, says it plans to invest around Rs 2,250 crore in the upstream sector during the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

(An article by DAS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT AND ADVISORS Pvt Ltd)