Aditya Birla Group May Buy Colombian Mine For $1B - The Aditya Birla Group is in talks with American thermal coal miner Drummond Company to purchase a significant stake in coal mines in Colombia owned by the privately held company. The Kumar Mangalam Birla-promoted group wants to strengthen its mining business and utilise the coal for its captive power plants to make aluminium in India. The group is looking to own rights of anywhere between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the coal produced in these mines and this may need an investment of $1 billion. (Indian Express)
PE-backed Healthcare Global, Medica Synergie In Merger Talks - HealthCare Global Enterprises (HCG), the Bangalore-based cancer hospital chain, is understood to be looking at a merger with Kolkata-based Medica Synergie, in a deal estimated at Rs 300 crore. Premji Invest, Milestone Religare and Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund are investors in HCG. ICICI Venture arm I-Ven Medicare, which has invested close to Rs 70 crore in Medica, is expected to exit in the merger. (Business Standard)
Eni Spa To Exit India Projects - Italian firm Eni SpA plans to exit its oil and gas prospecting and production business in India and is in talks with state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC). Eni has decided to exit as it was facing many problems with its blocks. Through Eni India, Eni is present in three blocks in India. (Mint)
Private Equity Firms Eye SpiceJet Stake - Two foreign private equity firms have expressed interest in buying stake in Kalanidhi Maran-led no frills carrier SpiceJet and the airline is close to signing a term sheet with one of the two private equity companies. The airline’s management said they would prefer a deal with a foreign carrier provided foreign direct investment norms permit to do so. (Firstpost)
Mitsubishi May Buy Stake L&T Shipbuilding - Japanese engineering major, Mitsubishi Heavy industries may consider buying a stake in Larsen and Toubro's subsidiary, L&T Shipbuilding, as it looks to set up its first shipbuilding base outside Japan. L&T Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of domestic infrastructure major, Larsen and Toubro signed an agreement in December last year with Mitsubishi for technological assistance, ranging from design drawings to quality control. (Economic Times)
UB Group Shares Rally On Stake Sale - Shares of Vijay Mallya-led UB Group companies on Wednesday shot up to 20 per cent amid reports that the group is looking to sell stake in United Spirits, and spirits major Diageo is in the running to pick up the stake. Diageo, the world’s leading spirits, wine and beer making company, is said to be in the running to pick up USL stake, as the UB Group is looking to sell stake in USL to repay debt. (Business Standard)
Matrix Partners-backed Cloudnine Scouts For Acquisition In Metros - Cloudnine Hospitals, the Bangalore-based hospital chain focussing on maternity care, is looking to raise Rs 100 crore as part of its expansion plans. The company which has two hospitals, is looking to expand into Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad through the inorganic route. Cloudnine is a venture of Kids Clinic (Bangalore) Pvt Ltd, owned by Dr Kishore, and Scrips N Scrolls India, a company into property development and investments. (Business Standard)
Former TV Today CEO To Start Own Venture - After a 16-year stint with TV Today Networks Ltd, one of India’s leading English-Hindi news television networks that runs channels like Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, G Krishnan now plans to start his own television venture. He plans to launch two channels — a news channel and a crime-based programming channel. (Business Standard)
Suntory Forms JV With Narang Group - Japanese conglomerate Suntory, known for its whiskies and beers, has picked up majority stake in a subsidiary of Mumbai-based Narang Group to enter India's non-alcoholic beverage market. Suntory Beverage and Food Asia, which manages the M&A strategy and administration of group companies of the Rs 1.3 lakh crore Suntory Holdings in Southeast Asia, has bought 51% stake in Narang Connect. (Economic Times)
Lasalle Investment Raising $700M Asia Fund - LaSalle Investment Management, owned by the world’s second-largest property broker, is seeking to raise as much as $700 million for an Asia-Pacific property fund. The unit of Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL) has already purchased an industrial asset in China and an office property in Japan to seed the new Asia Opportunity Fund IV. (Bloomberg)
