Bharti Retail is following its tried and tested model of acquiring small companies to kickstart its retail operations. Its much awaited retail stores in partnership with Wal-Mart are due to open in early 2008.

The Economic Times reports that Bharti may acquire Big Apple, a Delhi based supermarket chain having 65 stores and expanding itself by opening 100 more stores in NCR, Karnataka and Gujarat.

The deal may work well for Bharti as its retail operations are most probably expected to kick off from areas in Delhi and Punjab, and Big Apple already exists here. It would also give advantage in terms of a established business in various locations with a readymade supply chain.

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India’s number one publisher of business directories and special interest magazines, Infomedia India has found a third owner since its inception. ICICI Venture, which bought 50% stake in Infomedia from Tata for Rs.123 crore and 13% through open offer, has now sold its 40% stake to TV18 for Rs.178 crore.

Following the buyout TV18 would make a mandatory open offer for 20% at Rs.237 per share and if the open offer fails, then TV18 has an option to buy addition 13% stake from ICICI Venture.

The acquisition will help Network 18 group in further widening its media portfolio and would jell well with its existing activities thus aiding the group’s growth.

Infomedia will also complement TV18 as the Raghav Bahl owned company could cross leverage the existing brands.

For ICICI Venture, it is a case of leveraged sell off and they have earned a handome return of 81% since they bought the company in 2003. For Infomedia, it may mean better growth rates in future as they have come from the clutches of a financial investor into the hands of a media conglomerate.

India’s third largest property developer after DLF and Unitech, Indiabulls is using its zooming market capitalisation in financial services and real estate to venture into retail via its arm Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. which currently holds a land bank of 4,000 acres.

And pipping up Aditya Birla in the race for acquiring Piramyd Retail, Indiabulls has acquired 64% stake in the company from its promoter Ashok Piramal for Rs.133 crore. This would give Indiabulls Wholesale Services access to seven lifestyle ‘Piramyd Megastore’ and 35 neighbourhood ‘Trumart’ stores in prime locations across the country.

The acquisition would complement Indiabulls plans of opening 30 hypermarkets in Tier II cities with an investment of Rs.1500 crores. Now it also has lifestyle and convenience stores under its fold. The company’s wholesale stores are also taking shape and are modelled on a B2C concept rather than current B2B stores like Metro and Wal-Mart in India.

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In a takeover, which would clearly signify the intentions of DLF and its plans in the hospitality business, India’s largest real estate developer has bagged the Singapore based luxury hotel chain, Amanresorts.

Amanresorts has a unique portfolio as it owns 18 luxury resorts worldwide but each of them are small in size and have a beautiful location coupled with exclusivity. In the latest Zagat Survey, the group was ranked number one in the category of World’s Top Hotels, Resorts and Spas.

The deal has been reportedly struck for $250million (around Rs.1000 crore). Along with this DLF will also assume debt of $220 million which would be paid off from the future revenues of Aman resorts.

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Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications is looking at acquiring a controlling stake in Aircel Cellular Ltd. by buying out stake from Malaysian company Maxis Communications, who hold 74% stake and possibly from promoters of Apollo Hospitals who hold remaining 26%.

Aircel’s main operations are in Tamil Nadu and Chennai circles while it has got licence for a pan-India rollout. This make strategic fit for Reliance Communications as it can GSM licence and the necessary spectrum. It could also divert its slow growth rate in CDMA business in comparison to other GSM players.

For Maxis, it could mean getting a partner which has a national presence, strong brand, professional management and established infrastructure.

TRAI is also expected to allow for free competition, removing the 10% ceiling for a mobile firm to hold stake in companies in a single circle. It is also expected to allow for running both CDMA and GSM services under the same operating licence.

However, given Aircel’s lesser known brand name nationally and scale of operations, it may command lesser premium as seen in the recent Hutch-Vodafone deal. Also, given unclarity in Reliance Communications plans for GSM business and unstable guidelines, it may be a while before the deal actually takes place. Source

In the era of gearless scooters and motorcycles, the BIFR referred LML (Lohia Machines Ltd.) has introduced its 2 geared scooter models in Delhi.

LML has been a sick company since it closed down its production facility at Kanpur in February 2006. Since then it has closed its dealerships in India and instead was exporting to some African and South Asian countries.

If it meets with success in Delhi, it would probably replicate the model in other northern and eastern states.

Probably, LML would have an advantage as it has met with success in the export market leading to some positive cash flow and also there has been a revival in the scooter market as it has registered a growth of 17% in April-July 2007 quarter.

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Tour operator Cox & Kings has picked up a mountain in the Lungern-Schonbuel belt of the Swiss Alps in Central Switzerland on long-term lease.

The mountain is branded Mt. Cox & Kings and is targeted to Indian visitors. It offers range of activities including skiing, Swiss folk dances, chocolate making, walking trails and glacier rides.

The tour operator is also offering Indian cuisine with even a pure vegetarian option for Gujarati tourists who contribute the most of the revenues.

Cox & Kings is a 250 year old British origin company but now its owned by the Indian origin Kerkar family catering primarily to tourists in Indian sub-continent.

The move may work well for the company as it is one of its kind event of a tour operator branding a mountain. It may earn it additional revenues and profits for the company since the company can customise its offerings to different consumers as per their requirements. via

The Indian low-cost carrier model is being looked with interest not only from domestic players like Jet, Kingfisher and Paramount but also from foreign players. Dublin-based Ryanair, Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier is learnt to be interested in picking up a stake in SpiceJet.

The promoters, Kansagaras may divest 20-25% stake in favour of Ryanair for consideration of around Rs 200 crore, which could be used to fund its expansion plans of launching overseas services and increasing fleet size from current 11 to 18.

But according to Indian laws, foreign entities can old only upto 49% stake and already 46% of Spicejet holding being foreign, Ryanair has just 3% left to be picked up. So the only option for them is buy out share of existing foreign investors.

For Ryanair, Spicejet may be a perfect fit as latter has become the first low cost airline in India to become profitable reporting a net profit of Rs.18.5 crore in Q1 of FY08. Ryanair has also been moving out of its traditional European territory by expanding its presence overseas and picking stakes in Mexico’s Aerobus, Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air and Australia’s Tiger Air.

And with top-end reshuffle at Spicejet management, some change could be on cards soon.

Bisleri, the market leader in bottled water segment having 60% market share is believed to be in talks with various players such as France’s Danone, Coca-Cola and Wipro to sell itself, reported ET.

Bisleri’s sales are estimated at Rs.500-650 crore and suitors are believed to pay 4-6 times sales of company given its strong growth, leadership and wide distribution network.

Ramesh Chauhan had earlier sold his beverated drinks to Coke for Rs.180 crore in 1993. Chauhan wants to sell only a part initially or maybe float a JV before selling out completely.

But in an interview to CNBC-TV18, Ramesh Chauhan has declined that he is in talks with any player for sale and would instead focus on growth and expansion of company.

Given Bisleri’s strong brand recall and track record of having established successful brands, it seems unlikely that Bisleri would sell so soon. Instead, it would want to extract more from its operations and get full market value of its brand, which has become a generic name for branded water in India.

India’s top aluminium maker, Hindalco Industries has acquired 45% stake in Utkal Alumina International from Canada-based Alcan Inc, world’s third largest aluminium company, to raise its stake to 100% in the export-oriented company.

The Rs.4400 crore JV was established in 1992 to set up a 1.5 million tonne alumina refinery in Orissa but the project failed to kickstart due to opposition from local residents citing reason of displacement and environmental concerns.

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