Sebi asks depositories, DPs to pay Rs115cr
Mumbai: The IPO manipulation scam earlier this year has had another effect. In continuation of the interim order dated April 27, 2006, G Anantharaman, whole-time member of Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) passed an interim order asking both the depositories viz. National Securities Depository (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) (CDSL) and eight (8) depository participants namely Karvy Stock Broking, HDFC Bank, Khandwala Integrated Financial Services, IDBI Bank, Jhaveri Securities, ING Vysya Bank, Pravin Ratilal Share & Stock Broking and Pratik Stock Vision to jointly and severally disgorge an amount of Rs115.81 crore within six months from the date of passing of the order.

The order further states that "all parties are at liberty to seek contribution/indemnity from any party, which they believe is liable to a greater extent than quantified here as also from individuals and companies that were involved in the IPO cornering/fraud but are not named not being intermediaries under S. 12 of the SEBI Act 1992."
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SET to list by March '07
Mumbai: Sony Entertainment Television, Japanese giant Sony's Indian subsidiary is planning to enter the Indian capital market with an IPO.

The company is likely to list on the Indian bourses with an offering of about $200m by March '07. JM Morgan Stanley, Kotak Investment Banking and UBS have been appointed lead managers of the issue.

US-based fund Capital International and Indian promoters have a 32 per cent holding in SET and are looking to exit the company for some time. The IPO will be a mix of fresh issue and offer for sale. The Indian promoters will sell the stake and Sony may raise money.

Earlier this year, SET India had gone through a restructuring process, and had acquired SET Singapore, which broadcasts and uplinks the Sony channels. SET India, on the other hand, is the advertising and sales agent of the Singapore broadcaster.

The share swap ratio was set at one share of SET India for 16 shares of SET Singapore. The shareholding pattern of SET India and SET Singapore are identical. While Sony Pictures International holds 61 pc stake in both the companies, the balance is held by local investors and foreign institutions.

The Indian promoters include Singapore-based banker Rakesh Agarwal, Shemaroo Films managing director Raman Maroo, World Media group director Sudesh Iyer, MobiApps Holding's Jayesh Parekh and actor Jackie Shroff.
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Foreign SEs can acquire up to 26 pc stake in BSE
New Delhi: Foreign stock exchanges like London Stock Exchange or New York Stock Exchange can now acquire a stake in Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and other Indian bourses as the government has fixed the foreign direct investment limit in the exchanges at 26 pc. The guidelines in this regard are expected to be issued shortly.

The total foreign investment has been capped at 49 pc the FDI limit would be 26 pc, and 23 pc could be held by foreign institutional investors.

The guidelines outlining the foreign investment policy of the government are expected to be issued by RBI and Sebi soon. However, the government is yet to firm up its views on foreign investment in commodity exchanges.
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Derivatives terminals to start again
Mumbai: As trading volumes on the BSE derivatives segment have picked up over the past one month, many broker members are reactivating their dormant derivative terminals.

Many brokers have applied for reactivation of their derivative terminals and the number is expected to rise in coming days, said sources. Daily-traded turnover on the BSE derivatives segment has crossed the Rs 500-crore mark, but it is nowhere close to the average daily turnover of around Rs20,000 crore in the NSE derivatives segment.

The trend in the BSE's F&O segment showed that turnover in Sensex futures have shot up from a few crores to some hundred crores in the past few months. Post-AGM, the turnover surged to Rs204 crore in October (average daily Rs10 crore) to Rs4,023 crore in the current month (Rs287 crore).
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Info Edge subscribed 54.77 times
Mumbai: The IPO of Info Edge, the promoter of jobs portal ww.naukri.com, was subscribed 54.77 times. The shares of Info Edge listed at a premium of 50 per cent over its issue price of Rs320 at Rs480 and hit a high of Rs624 in noon deals and finally closed at Rs593 - a gain of 85 per cent (Rs273).

The offer consisted of 53.23 lakh equity shares of which 5.32 lakh shares were reserved for employees.

In May this year, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures picked up close to 5 pc stake in Info Edge for $6 million. ICICI Venture also owns a stake in Info Edge, and had invested Rs 7.29 crore in 2000.

Info Edge generated a total income of Rs84.05 crore for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, and reported a net profit of Rs13.29 crore.

Info Edge's recruitment classified and related services are being offered through naukri.com and Quadrangle (an offline executive search business) accounting for 92 pc revenue (including other income) of Rs 84 crore for the year ended March 31, 2006.
The other verticals — Jeevansathi.com and 99 acres.com — contributed about 5-6 pc in the period. Info Edge acquired Jeevansathi.com in September 2004 and 99acres.com was launched in September 2005.
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Ishaan RE raises 180mn pounds through London float
New Delhi: Indian realty firm Ishaan Real Estate Plc has raised 180 million pounds (over Rs1,500 crore) with the successful completion of its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.

The company said the IPO of 180 million ordinary shares was priced at one pound per share and conditional dealings in the shares would begin today.

The shares would be admitted for trading on LSE's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and unconditional trading would begin on November 24, after which almost 100 per cent of Ishaan's issued ordinary share capital will be freely tradeable.

A part of K Raheja Group, Ishaan is a real estate investment company and plans to invest in Indian real estate development projects located in the southern and western parts of the country — such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune.
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Infosys prices ADS at $53.50
Mumbai: Infosys Technologies has priced its secondary offering of three crore

American Depository Shares (ADSs) at $53.50 each (excluding underwriting discounts and commissions), taking the aggregate size of the offering to over $1.6 billion (around Rs7,200 crore). The ADS issue was priced 3.2 pc below the closing share price of $55.27 on the Nasdaq yesterday.

As part of the offering, 50 lakh ADSs, representing an equal number of equity shares, would be placed with Japanese investors through a Public Offer without Listing (POWL).

The company would not receive any proceeds of this offering and the entire amount would be distributed to the selling shareholders.
The unsold shares would be returned to the selling shareholders by December 4.

The combined holdings of all the shareholders who offered their shares in the Indian invitation to offer were 24.61 crore equity shares.
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Gulshan Sugars to float FPO to fund expansion
New Delhi: Calcium carbonate producer Gulshan Sugars and Chemicals plans to raise Rs26.4 crore from its follow-on public issue, to part-finance its expansion including setting up a new unit to cater to the demand from the paper industry.

GSCL would offer 66 lakh equity shares of Rs8 each at a premium of Rs32 per share aggregating to Rs26.4 crore. The FPO closes on November 28 and would constitute 51.51 per cent of the fully diluted post issue paid up capital of the company.

SREI Capital Markets is the lead manager to the issue.

Post-expansion, the company's capacity would reach 90,000 TPA. Besides, the Rs37.4 crore expansion plan also includes installation of a 3 MW captive power plant.
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Aditya Birla Nuvo to come out with rights issue
Mumbai: Aditya Birla Nuvo said a meeting of the special committee, constituted by the board of directors would be held on November 23, for deciding various matters in connection with the proposed rights issue.

The special committee meeting would consider fixing record date, the price, premium, number of shares and ratio in respect of the rights issue, Aditya Birla Nuvo informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Earlier, Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd had said that it decided to raise funds up to Rs780 crore through the issue of equity shares on a rights basis.

It had said that the funds raised through the rights issue would be utilised for repayment of existing debt and general corporate purposes.
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