Weekly

1. Top Headlines
 Allahabad MFI Sonata Finance raises $6.35M from Creation
Investments, others.
 Future Ventures buys Pantaloon’s salon & wellness chain Star &
Sitara.
 IntelleCash acquires majority stake in Arohan Microfinance.
 Reliance ADAG to own around 10% in Inox post Fame India-Inox
merger.
 Sistema set to buy Aircel for $3B in largest telecom deal since
Vodafone-Hutch buyout
 Vyome Biosciences raises $3.3M in Series A round led by IndoUS
Venture Partners
 Bharti Infratel files for mega IPO; Temasek, Goldman Sachs, others
part-exiting
Inside The Story
Allahabad MFI Sonata Finance raises $6.35M from Creation
Investments, others.
Allahabad-based micro finance institution Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd has
closed its Series D equity raising of Rs 35 crore or $6.35 million, led by
Chicago-based Creation Investments. Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
and economist Swaminathan Aiyar, two existing investors in the
company, participated in this round as well. Promoter Anup Kumar
Singh also invested in the MFI in this round.Existing investors in Sonata
include Caspian Advisors (through Bellwether and India Financial
Inclusion Fund), Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Swaminathan
Aiyar.
Future Ventures buys Pantaloon’s salon & wellness chain Star &
Sitara.
Future Ventures India Ltd has acquired the salon and wellness centre
business from Pantaloon Retail India Ltd that operates the business
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2. under the brand Star & Sitara. The public-listed investment-cum-
operational company, modelled after Warren Buffet’s Berkshire
Hathaway, recently struck another deal where its FMCG arm announced
plans to acquire the convenience store chain under the Future Group
flagship Pantaloon Retail. According to a stock market disclosure,
Future Ventures is acquiring 100 per cent stake in a firm called Star &
Sitara Wellness Pvt Ltd for Rs 1 lakh and is going to pump in another Rs
17.99 crore in the company.
IntelleCash acquires majority stake in Arohan Microfinance.
Mumbai-based IntelleCash Microfinance Network, a subsidiary of
investment banking services and advisory firm Intellectual Capital
Advisory Services (Intellecap), has acquired majority stake in West
Bengal-based microlender Arohan Financial Services through a series of
transactions for a total Rs 52 crore.The acquisition was executed by
IntelleCash through a combination of transactions including fresh
investment from Aavishkaar Goodwell II of Rs 6.6 crore ($ 1.2 million)
and purchase of shares by an existing shareholder Bellwether
Microfinance Fund. In this fresh equity infusion existing investors India
Financial Inclusion Fund (IFIF) and Michael and Susan Dell invested Rs
3.7 crore.
Reliance ADAG to own around 10% in Inox post Fame India-Inox
merger.
Life comes full circle for Reliance ADA Group which sold bulk of its
minority stake in Inox Leisure Ltd two years ago as it locked horns with
the company in a takeover battle for the smaller multiplex rival Fame
India Ltd.According to the merger plan, the swap ratio has been fixed at
5 shares of Inox for every eight shares of Fame. This would lead to
creation of some 34.5 million fresh shares of Inox (including the
treasury stock) and the Reliance ADA Group would get around 8 per
cent of the merged entity.
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3. Sistema set to buy Aircel for $3B in largest telecom deal since
Vodafone-Hutch buyout
Russia's SistemaJSFC is close to acquiring a controlling stake in Aircel
Communications for around $3 billion (Rs 16,000-17,000 crore),
making this one of the largest transactions in the telecom sector since
Vodafone bought Hutchison Essar for $11.7 billion in 2007. Two
persons familiar with the development said Sistema would buy into
Aircel's parent company based overseas with rights to have the Indian
arm transferred to it after an ongoing restructuring process is
completed.
Vyome Biosciences raises $3.3M in Series A round led by IndoUS
Venture Partners
Vyome Biosciences Pvt Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company with focus on
dermatology and skin care products, has closed its Series A financing
round of Rs 18.50 crore ($3.3 million) led by IndoUS Venture Partners
(IUVP) while Aarin Capital and existing investor Navam Capital came in
as co-investors. Vyome will deploy the funds for clinical development of
its lead anti-dandruff products and accelerating the pre-clinical
development of its anti-acne products.The company, which had raised
seed funding from Navam Capital, was set up in August 2010 by Rajesh
Gokhale, director of the Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology in
Delhi, Shiladitya Sengupta, co-chair at the Center for Regenerative
Therapeutics at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and assistant
professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Rajeev Mantri,
executive director of Navam Capital.
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4. Bharti Infratel files for mega IPO; Temasek, Goldman Sachs, others
part-exiting
Bharti Airtel Ltd’s tower subsidiary, Bharti Infratel, has filed its draft red
herring prospectus for its public issue that would see part exits by
financial investors including Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund
Temasek, Goldman Sachs and Japanese financial services group
Nomura.The IPO would involve fresh issue of 146.2 million shares
besides an offer for sale of 42.6 million shares by four investors
including the three mentioned above. The parentage of the fourth
investor selling its shares, Anadale, could not be immediately
ascertained.As per the DRHP, the company is looking to raise over Rs
2,940 crore through a fresh issue of shares, which would be used for
upgradation and replacement of existing towers, installation of 4,813
new towers, besides green initiatives at tower sites. Given this, the
company is looking at an issue price of at least Rs 200 a share.
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