Bangalore-based online DVD rental company Seventymm Services Pvt Ltd has received $12.5 million (Rs 50 crore) from NEA Indo US Ventures. This will be the third round of funding for Seventymm, which now has a total capital of around $22 million. While DFJ with ePlanet Ventures had invested $2 million [...]

The board of Balaji Telefilms Ltd has approved an agreement with Rupert Murdoch's Star Group, under which their agreement entered in 2004 has been terminated. Under the 2004 agreement, Star had bought 26 per cent stake in Balaji through its affiliate Asian Broadcasting FZ-LLC (ABF) for Rs 123 crore. Also [...]

Matrix Partners India has made a Series-A investment of $7 million (Rs.30 crores) in pre-school educator Tree House Education and Accessories Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai-based Tree House claims to be the largest non-franchised, branded pre-school educator in the country and currently operates more than 45 pre-schools in Mumbai. With the current [...]

One of the world’s largest law firms, UK-based Clifford Chance, has recruited Rahul Guptan, a senior partner from India's leading law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. Guptan was heading the firm's capital markets practice. He also has experience in takeovers, privatisation, joint ventures, private equity [...]

Milestone Capital Advisors, the private equity fund which was till now focused on the real estate and infrastructure sector, has launched $150 million (Rs 600 crore) has launched India Build Out Fund-I (IBF-I), which will invest in sectors such as education and media & entertainment. The fund also has a [...]

International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private equity arm of the World Bank, has exited its investments in Dabur Pharma with 41 percent return (not factoring in dividend payout) over a three year period. This translates into a compounded annual growth rate of 12.31 percent. The exit is believed to be [...]

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has acquired a majority stake in the third largest tractor company in China, Jiangsu Yeuda Yancheng Tractor Manufacturing Co Ltd (Yancheng Tractor), for $26 million. Under the terms of the deal M&M and Yancheng Tractor will form a joint venture, which will have assets of [...]

Bangalore-based online photo printing company Picsquare is going offline. The company has received undisclosed investment from city-based Bhola Digital Lab, an offline photo printing company. Picsquare is a customer of Bhola Digital Labs, which has been using its printing services. With the present investment, it will have both online and [...]

Exclusive: Delhi-based e-waste management company Attero Recycling Pvt. Ltd has received series A funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA IndoUS Ventures. The amount invested is not known. Attero was founded in 2007 by the brothers, Rohan Gupta and Nitin Gupta. The company plans to set up an automated Waste [...]

After equity it is debt financing for SVB in India. The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, SVB Financial Group, has announced opening of its non-bank venture lending operation in India, SVB India Finance Pvt. Ltd. The venture lending arm will provide debt capital to domestic, venture-backed, early and mid-stage, [...]

Exclusive: Mumbai based financial services company Edelweiss Capital is learnt to be setting up a private equity fund, and it is understood to have roped in Debi Guha from Government of Singapore Investment Corporation to head up the proposed fund. The size of the proposed fund is not known. Edelweiss [...]

Baring Private Equity Asia is picking up a 40 per cent stake in RSP Architects & Planners India for $100 million. The deal would value the Bangalore-headquartered architectural firm at $250 million (Rs 1,000 crore), reports Economic Times. The Singapore-based parent company holds a controlling stake in the firm while [...]

Famy Care Ltd, the world's largest contraceptive pill maker, is in talks with world's third-largest generic drug maker Mylan Inc and some private equity funds to dilute upto 15 per cent stake. Mumbai-based Famy Care had recently signed a strategic alliance with Mylan to sell 22 women healthcare products in [...]

Indian market regulator Securities Exchange Board of India has announced several measures which would make fund raising easier for Indian businesses. One decision is to reduce the timelines for rights issues from 109 days currently to 43 days, which will make the entire capital raising via rights issue a faster [...]

This is the first acquisition of the Singh brothers after they sold Ranbaxy to Daiichi Sankyo. Ranbaxy Group promoted Fortis Healthworld has acquired 90 percent stake in CRS Health, a Delhi-based pharma and wellness retail chain for Rs 15 crore, reports Economic Times. Fortis is also planning to rebrand itself [...]

Greater Pacific Capital (GPC), a London-based private equity firm, has acquired 38 per cent stake in Ahmadabad-based outsourcing firm Azure Knowledge Corporation Pvt Ltd for $32.5 million. GPC will pick up 26.4 per cent stake for $11.8 million in the first phase of the deal. The stake has been picked [...]

US-based Federal-Mogul, an automotive component maker, has picked up 51 per cent stake in Anand Group's Perfect Circle India Limited for $4 million (Rs 17 crore), reports Economic Times. This follows Federal-Mogul's acquisition of the engine bearings unit from the Anand Group's Gabriel. It had last year also bought out [...]

Global Hedge Fund DE Shaw is hiking its equity stake in regional media house Amar Ujala Publications, which publishes the newspaper Amar Ujala. Sources told VC Circle that DE Shaw, which had 18 percent stake each in Amar Ujala Publications and the group's printing arm A&M Publications, will increase its [...]

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) and Lok Capital LLC have invested $1.5 million in Arohan Financial Services Ltd, a Kolkata-based microfinance institution (MFI). Arohan already has commitments of about $500K (Rs 2 crore) from Bellwether Microfinance Fund. Swaminathan Ankleshwar Iyer, author and journalist, is also an investor in Arohan. [...]

Tata Group's financial arm, Tata Capital, is talking to Japanese securities broker Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co to handle trading orders for Indian stocks from Japanese investors as well as investment banking services, reports Nikkei English News. The two companies are expected to sign the memorandum of understanding today. Tata Capital [...]

The private equity division Swiss financial major Credit Suisse has invested $100 million (Rs 430 crore) in Hyderabad-based Indu Projects Ltd, an infrastructure and real estate company. A minority stake has been picked up in the company and not in any specific construction projects, reports Times of India. This is [...]

As the Reserve Bank of India has been tightening the lending screws on the real estate sector, special purpose vehicles have become a preferred route to raise money for real estate companies from private equity players. "Private equity players find it safer to invest in projects rather than a developer. [...]

The Oman Investment Fund, an investment arm of the Sultanate of Oman, is picking up 18.7% in Quippo Telecom Infrastructure for Rs 480 crore ($113 million) which values the firm at Rs 2,556 crore ($603 million). Besides, some of existing investors in the holding company Quippo Infrastructure (which is into [...]

HummingBird Suites Pvt Ltd, Bangalore-based service apartment operator has received venture funding of $4 million from Helion Ventures Partners. This is the first round of funding for HummingBird. The company, which has a presence in five cities across the country, will use this round of funding for further expansion and [...]

India's largest stock exchange National Stock Exchange (NSE) continues to be the favourite among investors. Hero Honda and Srei Infrastructure Finance have acquired stakes from IFCI and Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) at Rs 3,500 per share. SHCIL , a depository, has earned Rs 20.02 crore by selling 57,200 [...]