Weekly Finance and Corporate Deals

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Top Headlines
Govt sells around 9% of Axis Bank for $912M; LIC,
Goldman Sachs among buyers.
IFCI buying IDBI’s entire 18.95% stake in Stock Holding
Corp.
India records fastest rollout of stores in Starbucks’ history:
Avani Davda.
Payment solutions firm Innoviti raises $1.6M from Tata
Capital, others.
Capital International close to picking 15% in snacks
maker Balaji Wafers for around $100M.
JPMorgan sells physical commodities unit to Mercuria for
$3.5B.
IFC to lend $25.5M to Janalakshmi and Vistaar Finance.
Nalanda Capital picks stake in TTK Prestige for $7.7M.
Info Edge puts in $2.2M more in online photography
startup Canvera, ups stake to 32%
Inside The Story
Govt sells around 9% of Axis Bank for $912M; LIC,
Goldman Sachs among buyers.
The government-controlled Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India
(SUUTI) has sold over 9 per cent or almost half of its stake in Axis Bank
for around Rs 5,557.2 crore ($912 million) through bulk deals executed
on BSE on Friday.SUUTI held 20.7 per cent equity stake in Axis Bank and
the government was looking to divest its holding in a few listed firms as
part of its move to rein in the fiscal deficit for the year.As per exchange
data, part of the shares was acquired by state-controlled insurance giant
LIC, which picked shares worth Rs 1,116 crore. Other buyers include

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FIIs like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and New World Fund.With this deal,
LIC joins SUUTI to become the
single-largest shareholder of Axis Bank with around 11 per cent stake
each.
IFCI buying IDBI’s entire 18.95% stake in Stock Holding
Corp.
State-run lender IFCI is buying IDBI Bank Ltd’s entire 18.95 per cent
equity stake in custodial and depository services provider Stock Holding
Corp of India Ltd (SHCIL), according to a stock market disclosure. The
value of the transaction, however, is not disclosed.Following the stake
acquisition, IFCI’s equity participation in SHCIL will increase to 52.86
per cent from 33.91 per cent, it added.IDBI Bank obtained approval
from its shareholders for the proposed stake sale on February 28.The
government and RBI had reportedly directed the state-run lenders to
offload their non-core holdings in an effort to boost and protect their
capital base.
India records fastest rollout of stores in Starbucks’ history:
Avani Davda.
World’s largest coffee chain Starbucks, which forged an equal joint
venture with Tata Global Beverages and opened its first outlet in India
in October 2012, has seen the fastest rollout of its outlets in the country
in the company’s history, according to a top company executive.At
present, Tata Starbucks has 40 outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and
Pune with its coffee plantations in the Coorg area of Karnataka state.
Globally, Starbucks— the world’s largest coffee chain—runs over
20,000 coffee stories across 64 countries, serving more than 70 million
customers per week.

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Payment solutions firm Innoviti raises $1.6M from Tata
Capital, others.
Bangalore-based payment solutions provider Innoviti Embedded
Solution Pvt Ltd has raised Rs 10 crore ($1.6 million) from Tata Capital
and a group of HNIs (High Net-worth Individuals) based out of India and
London, according to a report by The Economic Times, citing its CEO
Rajeev Agrawal.According to the report, three HNIs put in Rs 6 crore for
a minority stake in the company, while the rest came from Tata Capital
as a loan. The proceedings from this round will be used to expand its
operations to the Middle East and scale the team.
Capital International close to picking 15% in snacks
maker Balaji Wafers for around $100M.
Capital International Private Equity Funds (CIPEF) is said to be leading
the race to buy a stake in Gujarat-based potato chips and snacks maker
Balaji Wafers Pvt Ltd, as per a report in Mint citing unnamed sources in
the Indian company.The report said the PE firm may pick around 15 per
cent stake valuing the company at around Rs 4,000 crore. This would
mean deal worth around Rs 600 crore or just about $100 million.The
company hopes to conclude the stake sale to CIPEF in a month’s time,
the paper said.
JPMorgan sells physical commodities unit to Mercuria for
$3.5B.
JPMorgan is selling its physical commodities business to Mercuria for
$3.5 billion, the U.S. investment bank said on Wednesday, sweeping the
fast-growing Swiss trading house into the top league of commodities
traders.The all-cash transaction for one of the most powerful oil and
metals desks on Wall Street is expected to close in the third quarter,
JPMorgan said in a statement.In documents circulated to potential
buyers last year, JPMorgan had valued its physical commodity business

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at $3.3 billion, with an annual income of $750 million. JPMorgan paid
nearly $2 billion to buy the largest part of the business from RBS in
2010.JPMorgan decided to sell its multi-billion dollar physical
commodities division last year due to rising regulatory and political
pressure and so it could concentrate on the bank's core business of
lending.
IFC to lend $25.5M to Janalakshmi and Vistaar Finance.
International Finance Corp, the private sector lending arm of the World
Bank, may lend up to Rs 120 crore (close to $20 million) to microlender
Janalakshmi Financial Services Pvt Ltd and up to Rs 35 crore (around
$5.5 million) to Vistaar Finance, a non-banking finance company
focused on micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME).The Bangalore
headquartered MFI has a borrower base of more than 1 million women
and a loan portfolio of around Rs 1,400 crore ($223 million).
Nalanda Capital picks stake in TTK Prestige for $7.7M.
Public market focused private equity firm Nalanda Capital has picked
1.5 per cent stake in kitchen appliances maker TTK Prestige, the
flagship of southern India-based TT Krishnamachari group of
companies, for Rs 47 crore ($7.7 million).The stake was picked through
a market transaction where an existing investor Columbia Acorn Trust
sold shares.This is the second such public markets focused PE firm to
pick a stake in the company. Last year, emerging markets-focused
investment firm Cartica Capital had picked a minority stake in TTK
Prestige through a mix of preferential allotment and share purchase
from existing shareholders including the promoters.

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Info Edge puts in $2.2M more in online photography
startup Canvera, ups stake to 32%
Info Edge (India), which runs a slew of consumer Internet portals,
including Naukri.com, has invested Rs 13.5 crore ($2.21 million) more
in online photography startup Canvera Digital Technologies Pvt Ltd. The
investment was done through optionally convertible cumulative
redeemable preference shares.In total, Canvera has raised Rs 15 crore
in funding, of which the remaining Rs 1.5 crore was invested by a few
unnamed investors.With the fresh investment, Info Edge’s total
exposure to Canvera has risen to Rs 57 crore and it holds around 32 per
cent per cent stake in Canvera (on a fully diluted and converted basis),
up from around 27 per cent as of February 2014 this year.