Weekly capsule of India Business News Headlines (7th-11th)May

May 12, 2018 Team Tentaran 0 Comment Weekly India Business news headlines

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Weekly Business News from 7th May to 11th May 2018.

Corporates:

Walmart is planning to open 50 new stores in the next 4-5 years. It currently has 21 stores in India.
Siemens Ltd, the Indian arm of Siemens AG, is keen on tapping the stressed assets market and plan to focus on sectors like power and steel, as these have the most stressed assets.
Sebi has released new governance norms for listed firms and has split the CMD post. As per the new governance norms, companies will have six independent directors including a woman.
Private equity fund, KKR India and its affiliates, have agreed to invest Rs1,250 crore in the Sintex. The funds will be used to refinance debt as also finance growth in B2C business.
Making the competition tougher for other telcos, Reliance Jio has announced a new post-paid plan with monthly rental of Rs199 with ISD calls starting at 50 paise per minute to US and Canada. For other telcos, this could mean losing more customers as people with high international calling may switch to Jio.
Future Group is also looking to sell around 10% stake to a global retailer. It is said to be in talks with Walmart and Amazon.
The government has not approved the merger of Jet Lite with Jet Airways. Both the companies will now operate under separate air operator permit.
BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager and Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management are front-runners to buy IDFC Mutual Funds, which manages assets of around Rs 70,000 crore. If Reliance succeeds in acquiring IDFC MF, it will become India’s largest asset management company with combined assets of around Rs3.15 trillion.
Vijay Mallya has lost UK lawsuit filed by Indian banks to collect more than $1.55 billion. The London court said that the lenders can enforce an Indian court ruling that relates to allegations that Vijay Mallya willfully defaulted on loan repayments.
Delhi high court has ordered sale of unencumbered listed shares owned by Shivinder Singh, former Ranbaxy promoter, and others in Rs3,500 crore arbitration award case in favour of Daiichi Sankyo.
NCLT has admitted plea of Union Bank of India for initiation of insolvency proceedings against Era Infra for recovery of Rs681.04 crore along with an overdue external commercial borrowing of $11.97 million.
Britania’s dairy division has not been able to contribute more than 5% of group’s total revenues despite changing executives and investing money, leaving a massive challenge for Britannia’s new dairy head, Venkat Shankar who joined the company in April.
As per a report published by JLL, a global property consultant firm, Delhi has topped the list of cities in terms of office space intake by Chinese companies, especially for smartphones.
Big Basket is in talks with investors for raising around 500 million dollars. They claim that they do not need additional funds as of now, but would need more capital since grocery will be a top priority for both Amazon and Walmart. It last raised $300 million from Alibaba Group and others in February.
Infibeam is set to buy Snapdeal’sUnicommerce for Rs 120-crore through convertible debentures on preferential basis.
To buy Novartis generics unit, Aurobindo Pharma has reportedly submitted a bid for $1.6 billion and is said to be the only Indian company bidding for the assets of Novartis which include production facilities, infrastructure and dermatology brands.
Temasek, a fund owned by Singapore Government, is planning to acquire a significant minority stake in Pine Labs, a digital payments platform, from firm’s promoters and Sequoia Capital for around $350-400 million. The deal will value Pine Labs at 1 billion dollars.
Reliance Industries is planning to invest around Rs60,000 crore into its telecom unit this fiscal year to speed up its broadband services roll out as also expand its wireless network.
Big wilful defaulters to Punjab National Bank owes loans worth around Rs15,171 crores as on 31st March 2018. PNB has been putting out names of wilful defaulters and firms since June 2017.
The government is planning to allow Hybrid Instruments which will allow companies to raise funds without fear of losing control. The promoters will then be able to retain control of an entity even with a minority stake.
Paytm is planning to invest around Rs.5000 Crore in 2018.
JSW group has deferred a planned private equity infusion into its ports arm as the deal to acquire APM Terminals’ stake in the Pipavav Port has been delayed. JSW may now go for a pre-IPO placement in early 2020 from private equity funds.
HPCL has launched home-delivery of diesel in Mumbai and will deliver diesel to select customers having fixed equipment and heavy machinery in their premises in surrounding areas of Uran, Raigad. It is planning to expand the service to other cities also.
Government is planning to bring LIC under the ambit of corporate social responsibility, which makes it mandatory for LIC to spend 2% on CSR.

Policies & Practices:

28% GST on luxury hotels with a tariff of Rs.7500 and above is likely to stay as the Government is unlikely to amend the tax slab as of now. The hotel industry has been requesting the Government for a lesser GST.
has decided to increase the validity of WHO and GMP certification to three years from the existing two years for the companies, which help to boost the pharma export and promote ease of doing business.
Ola has introduced a donation option in its app, through which riders can contribute Re1 per ride to a pool of funds to support cancer care initiatives in India. The funds will be managed by Alamelu Charitable Foundation of Tata Trust.
N/Core has tied up with Omidyar Network to support non-profit startups that deal with land and property inclusivity. Initially, five start-ups will be taken in for a six-month incubation program and will also be given an innovation grant of Rs10 lakh each.

M&As:

Steuart Walton, grandson of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, Dirk Van den Berghe, regional CEO – Walmart Canada and Asia and Judith McKenna, president Walmart International will join Flipkart board, after the acquisition.
Max Financial’s board has approved fundraising through both equity and debt up to Rs5,000 crore for potential acquisition of Max Life Insurance. Blackstone Group and Warburg Pincus are in talks to invest in Max Financial Services for a minority stake.
Venture debt firm Alteria Capital has invested Rs15.5 crore in Topper Technologies, which runs a learning platform offering learning programs focused on the school curriculum.
Bira 91 has raised Rs.335 Crore funding, led by Sofina, a Belgian family fund. The latest round of funding values the firm at around $120 million.

Start-ups:

Japanese casual clothing retailer, Uniqlo, is set to open its first Indian store in Delhi in fall 2019. It has already created its Indian subsidiary, Uniqlo India Pvt. Ltd, earlier this month. Uniqlo is known for high quality, affordable everyday wear items like T-shirts, jeans, etc.
Avaamo, an AI startup, has raised around Rs.95 Crore in serial A round of funding. The funds may be used for expanding firm’s sales and marketing.

Ongoing cases:

Fortis update – The board of Fortis has approved a binding offer from Hero Enterprise and Dabur chairman Anand Burman’s family office. The Hero-Burman consortium will infuse Rs800 crore through a preferential allotment of equity shares and another Rs1,000 crore through warrants.
Wealth managing firms like IIFL Investment Managers and Kotak Wealth Management are ready to pitch the individuals who made windfall gains in Flipkart sale, including Sachin Bansal and employees vesting their stock options. Real estate firms are also expecting huge investments in properties by these individuals
India suffered its first big ‘cryptojacking’ attack last month when over 2,000 computers at Aditya Birla Group were held hostage by hackers mining cryptos. The firm has however reported no data loss due to this activity. Cryptojacking is a new kind of cyber-warfare where hackers misuse target’s terminals and their processing power to mine cryptocurrency.
Wealth managing firms like IIFL Investment Managers and Kotak Wealth Management are ready to pitch the individuals who made windfall gains in Flipkart sale, including Sachin Bansal and employees vesting their stock options. Real estate firms are also expecting huge investments in properties by these individuals.
Flipkart-Walmart deal: Walmart’s takeover of Flipkart may possibly get the Indian tax department a windfall. Income tax department has already “sensitized” the parties involved about the tax implications. Walmart announced that it will pick up 77% stake in Flipkart for $16 billion, valuing Flipkart at $21 billion
Binani Cement update – The scheduled meeting to consider UltraTech’s revised proposal for Binani Cement is said to have have been called off in view of the objections raised by Dalmia Bharat.
Bhushan Steel update – NCLAT has allowed creditors of Bhushan Power to consider Liberty House’s resolution plan. It has also asked them to seek suggestions from operational creditors of the firm before deciding upon a successful resolution applicant.
Flipkart Updates: Flipkart and Walmart deal is expected to be announced by the end of this week. In the world’s biggest e-commerce deal, Walmart and Google parent company, Alphabet Inc, together, will buy around 75% stake in Flipkart. $2 billion in fresh capital would also be invested and rest of the shares would be bought from existing Flipkart investors at a valuation of $17-18 billion.
Flipkart-Walmart deal – As per the latest reports Sachin Bansal will sell his entire stake of 5.5% to Walmart and exit Flipkart. Binny Bansal may be appointed Executive Chairman of the new entity.
Vodafone tax dispute case – The HC has rejected the plea of Central Government to stay Vodafone’s UK Arbitration in the case of a tax dispute and have asked them to plea to UK Arbitration tribunal for any objections.
Flipkart-Walmart deal – SoftBank has decided to consult with tax experts before selling off their stake to Flipkart so that they do not attract a hefty sum as the tax liability.
Fortis update – Manipal Hospital has revised its offer and promised to infuse Rs2,100 crore at Rs160 per share, as against an earlier proposal of Rs1,800 crore using its exclusive agreement with Fortis which gives it the right to revise the proposal within five days after the bidding ends.
Vodafone tax case update – Delhi High Court may give its verdict today for the ongoing Government & Vodafone arbitration row on the tax liability of $11 billion on Hutchinson Telecom acquisition.

People:

Jubilant Industries has appointed Manu Ahuja as MD & CEO of the company effective 10th May. Ahuja was earlier with ASSA ABLOY Asia Pacific, world’s largest lock and security solutions supplier, as president for South Asia overseeing operations in 18 countries.

Here we cover the essential Weekly Business News from 7th May to 11th May 2018, hope it is helpful for you. Don’t forget to give your feedback.

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