Three private equity firms - Carlyle, KKR and Warburg Pincus - are in discussions to acquire a 15-18% stake in Hero Honda Motors by purchasing a 60-70% stake in a special purpose vehicle that would fund the acquisition of Honda's existing 26% share in Hero Honda. Separately, Vodafone is leading negotiations to acquire a high-value cellular CUG contract from the government that would generate annual revenues of 300 crore rupees. Mahindra & Mahindra is also close to finalizing its acquisition of South Korean SUV maker Ssangyong Motors in November, having hired local legal counsel and begun drafting rehabilitation plans.

1. By : Amit Chawla
Mba-2B
(18-23rd OCTOBER)

2. PE stars may team up to buy 18% in Hero Honda
Hero To Sell 60-70% In SPV To Fund Buyout
 THREE leading US-based private equity (PE)
firms—Carlyle, Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR)
and Warburg Pincus—are likely to acquire an
effective stake of 15-18% in Hero Honda Motors
 BM Munjal-owned Hero group is in advanced
discussions with these three PE firms to sell 60-70%
stake
 In a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to fund the
acquisition of Honda’s 26% shareholding.

3. Vodafone leads 300-cr a year CUG deal
 CELLULAR service provider Vodafone Essar is
leading the race
 Vodafone is leading the tally with 91 points
followed by Airtel (79.5), Tata Teleservices (55),
BSNL (50) and Idea (40 points), government
sources say.
 The CUG contract will generate annual revenues
of 300 crore.
 As on September end, Vodafone is leading the
Gujarat circle with a subscriber base of 1.23 crore
while Airtel and Idea have a customer base of 60
lakh each.

4. M&M to ink Ssangyong deal in Nov
 UTILITY vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is in the final
stages of completing its acquisition of South Korean sports utility
vehicle (SUV) maker Ssangyong Motors.
 Hired South Korea’s largest legal firm, Bae Kim & Lee, to draft the final
share purchase agreement for the deal.
 M&M is also in the process of picking internal candidates who will
work with the Korean management and has ruled out an Indian
management for re-structuring the company.
 It has also drafted a rehabilitation plan, focusing on exports and R&D,
for submitting before a Korean court

5. Essar close to buying oil & gas blocks
in Africa
 Company Scouting For Assets To Fuel Refineries In India, Kenya
 The refinery arm of the London Stock Exchange-listed Essar Energy is
eyeing overseas oil assets as it is expanding its refinery in India and
owns half of Kenya Petroleum, which runs a refinery in Mombasa.
 Essar is expanding the capacity of its refinery in Gujarat to 18 million
tonnes a year from the current level of about 14 milliontonnes
 Africa holds about 10% of world’s oil and gas reserves and has become
the favoured destination for oil companies.

6. Obama to press for open doors in retail
 US PRESIDENT Barack Obama is expected to raise the issue of
allowing foreign investment in multi-brand retail during his visit next
month, after Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke sets the stage next week with a
strong pitch for liberalising the industry.
 New proposal on 51% FDI in retail soon
 When FDI liberalisation was discussed during the first innings of UPA,
Congress president Sonia Gandhi called for a detailed study on its likely
impact on street vendors.

7. I-T dept raises 11,000cr tax demand on Vodafone
 Supreme Court to take final call on dispute;
ruling to influence pricing & structure of all
future cross-border deals
 THE battle between tax authorities and
telecom major Vodafone is nearing its climax.
The income tax (I-T)department on Friday
 raised a demand of over 11,000 crore on
Vodafone International Holdings BV, on
account of its $11-billion deal to acquire Indian
telecom firm Hutchison Essar in 2007.

8. Next

9. I Hope increased