1. $12-Bn Flipkart-Walmart Deal: Investors Expect to Strike Rich
Tiger Global’s reward for being one of the oldest investors in e-commerce giant Flipkart could be $4 billion. With Walmart Inc being close to finalising a deal to buy a majority stake in the Bengaluru-based e-commerce firm for at least $12 billion, investors are expecting to strike it rich.
Flipkart’s founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, if they sell a substantial part of their 11 percent stake, could make close to $1 billion each. However, sources said the two might not exit the firm. The windfall would mark the biggest payout given to any investor of Indian start-ups in the past 15 years.
According to industry analysts, early-stage investors, including Tiger Global, Accel Partners, and Naspers, are set to earn between $1.2 billion and $4 billion once the Walmart-Flipkart merger goes through.
(Source: Business Standard)
2. TCS First Indian Company to Achieve $100 Billion M-Cap
Information Technology (IT) bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Monday, 23 April, emerged as the first Indian-listed company to cross the $100 billion mark in terms of market capitalisation (m-cap).
Around 11 am, the M-cap of the company stood at Rs 675,934.95 crore or $101.60 billion on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Shares of the company rose over four percent to a new high of Rs 3,557 per share.
On Friday, 20 April, the IT major’s shares rose over seven percent to Rs 3,419.80 per share, taking its M-cap to over Rs 6.50 lakh crore or around $98 billion — close to the $100 billion mark.
(Source: IANS)
4. ICICI Securities IPO Under Sebi Scanner
Stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought details of a large investment made by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund in the flop IPO of affiliate ICICI Securities Ltd, two people aware of the matter said.
ICICI Securities had to cut its IPO size to Rs3,520 crore from the original target of Rs4,017 crore because of poor investor interest. Of this, a large chunk was bought by ICICI MF.
“Queries have been sent to exchanges, merchant bankers and Registrar and Transfer Agents. This is based on the concern that a related party, ICICI MF, has taken a massive exposure to ICICI Securities during its IPO,” said one of the two people cited above. Both declined to be identified.
(Source: Livemint)
5. Is Bank of England the Next Stop for Raghuram Rajan?
Financial Times newspaper has named Raghuram Rajan as one of the top contenders for the job of Bank of England governor when incumbent Mark Carney’s term ends next year.
This is at least the second time that the former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor’s name has been mentioned as a candidate for a top central bank. In October, financial magazine Barron’s had said that Rajan would be the ideal choice to chair the US Federal Reserve, a role that eventually went to Jerome Powell.
Financial Times said that attracting Rajan would be a “coup” for Bank of England. A mail sent to Bank of England was not answered till press time.
(Source: Livemint)
6. Ex-Foreign Secy Jaishankar Joins Tata Sons as Global Corp Affairs Chief
Tata Sons has appointed former foreign secretary S Jaishankar as president, global corporate affairs. He will join the group on 1 May and will report to N Chandrasekaran, executive chairman of Tata Sons.
Having joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977, he was foreign secretary for three years till January 2018. He has been high commissioner to Singapore, ambassador to China and the United States, among other diplomatic stints. He had played a key role in negotiating the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement.
Responsible for Tata group’s global corporate affairs and international strategy development, Jaishankar would work with the Tata group companies to help them strengthen their business presence and positioning in their respective geographies globally, the company said in a statement.
(Source: Business Standard)
7. Salil Parekh Sets 3-Year Target to Stabilise, Turn Around Infosys
In his first formal address to investors as CEO of Infosys Ltd, Salil S Parekh pledged to stabilise and turn around the fortunes of India’s second largest information technology services company in three years.
On Monday, 23 April, Parekh presented a three-year roadmap to restore Infosys’s former position as the bellwether of India’s $167 billion IT industry, promising to make the company “more relevant” to its top customers, who farm out hundreds of millions of dollars of business to it every year. In recent years, Infosys has ceded the bellwether tag to rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions, which have consistently outpaced the Bengaluru-based firm in terms of new business generated per year.
(Source: Livemint)
8. Munjals, Burmans Extend Bid Validity for Fortis Healthcare Till 4 May
Sunil Munjal-backed Hero Enterprise and the Burman's of Dabur group have extended the validity of their revised Rs 15-billion offer for the Fortis Healthcare till 4 May.
The move comes in the backdrop of Fortis Healthcare Board’s decision to select new investors on Thursday. The Board has appointed an expert advisory committee headed by former PWC India Chief Executive Officer Deepak Kapoor to advise it on multiple offers.
Hero Enterprise and Burmans and Manipal-TPG combine have submitted binding bids, while three others including IHH, Fosun, and Radiant Life Care have sent non-binding offers to Fortis Healthcare.
(Source: Business Standard)
9. Essar Steel Insolvency Case: What the NCLT Order Said
The Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal had, on 19 April, 2017, asked lenders to Essar Steel Ltd to reconsider resolution plans submitted by Numetal Mauritius and ArcelorMittal India. The two firms had submitted resolution plans in the first round, but saw their bids rejected as the resolution professional – Satish Kumar Gupta – declared they were ineligible.
The detailed order of the Ahmedabad NCLT, put out on the court’s website on Sunday, 22 April, shows that the tribunal did not dispute the resolution professional’s view on eligibility but said that due process was not followed.
In addition, the order makes some key observations on the individual bids of Numetal Mauritius and ArcelorMittal India and extends the insolvency resolution process timeline – to effectively 300 days.
(Source: Bloomberg Quint)
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