Mar 8, 2016 - Foreign players, private equity funds, local firms to vie for Lafarge India assets

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Sree Vijaykumar From the Editor's Desk Amazon has built its empire on incremental shifts in retail convenience - starting with e-commerce itself. Enter Ether-commerce, where products order themselves, and you are never out of stock. In late 2015, its Dash Replenishment Service (DRS) came online. It's Dash Button but without the button: Manufacturers large and small can bake automated purchasing into their devices, so long as those devices run software and can talk to the Internet. As of January, Brother and Samsung printers, Gmate glucose meters, and GE washers began ordering supplies for themselves without human intervention. The whole thing seems preposterous, but didn't e-commerce once seem unlikely, too? In time, inevitably, we'll adjust to robot shoppers, for good or for ill - Comment Foreign players, private equity funds, local firms to vie for Lafarge India assets A host of foreign cement companies, private equity funds and domestic players are in the race to acquire Lafarge’s cement assets in India and have submitted expressions of interest (EoI) for the forthcoming sale. According sources, the list of likely bidders include the Brazilian cement giant Votorantim Group, CRH, Heidelberg Cement, private equity funds KKR and Blackstone and domestic players like JSW and the Piramal Group. Sources familiar with the development said that bidding for the 10.75 million tonne of assets will start in a month’s time and Arpwood Capital, founded by former Carlyle and TPG India executives Rajeev Gupta and Amol Jain, have been retained as advisers by Lafarge for the transaction. Suzuki plans $1.8 billion bond sale to fund India expansion Suzuki will sell the bonds primarily to fund the factory it’s building in Gujarat, according to a statement filed Monday to the Tokyo stock exchange Wall Street, Silicon Valley excited about India: Michael Schlein >Enthused by India's financial inclusion drive, US-based Accion, one of the biggest microfinance organizations in the world, has renewed its focus in India. In an email interview with Namrata Acharya, Michael Schlein, CEO, Accion, talks about the Govt narrative on Aadhaar has not changed in the last six years: Sunil Abraham The bill is basically the same as the UPA version, with some cosmetic changes, and some tokenism towards the right to privacy, says Abraham How Birla Corp. sealed cement deal with R-Infra Focussed on Lafarge, Lodha saw R-Infra as a distraction. But in evaluation of its assets, there was a surprise Sebi may peg M&A ‘control’ cap at 25% Regulator’s move is aimed at removing ambiguities that companies confront during takeovers DRT freezes Vijay Mallya’s sweetheart deal with Diageo Debt recovery tribunal says payment to Vijay Mallya can’t be made until case filed by SBI, other lenders is disposed of Thomas Cook India inks pact with Western Union, DCB Bank The announcement aims to assist Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in India with their trade payments across borders. Does India have too many banks? Or too few? Bankers have "strongly supported" the idea of consolidation, suggesting the government to form a panel of experts to devise a merger strategy, Jaitley said. State-run lenders hold more than two-thirds of assets in India's banking industry. Govt relaxes CCI financial threshold limits for deal approvals The merger control thresholds have been increased by 100% under the Competition Act among others in a bid to improve ease of doing business Did Kingfisher use Indian bank loans to pay F1 team's foreign loans? Did Kingfisher use Indian bank loans to pay F1 team's foreign loans? - It is suspected airline diverted loans to other Mallya firms to be routed to the racing team. India's first small bank to start operations on April 13 Jalandhar-based Capital Local Area Bank currently active as local area bank TPG Growth looks to invest in Indian consumer Internet start-ups TPG Growth, which owns a minority stake in Lenskart, is looking to partner with venture capitalists for future funding rounds Seeds of trouble: Monsanto threatens to pull out of India Monsanto has threatened to pull its genetically modified crop technology from India if the government goes ahead with its plan to cut the company's royalty fees. Blackstone to team up with Ganesh Ayyar for Mphasis stake Tech Mahindra, Apollo Global Management too in race to buy Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s 60.55% stake Lodha in IPO talks with two i-banks Mumbai-based developer’s stock exchange listing may take place as early as 2017 if work progresses as planned Kotak is a product of India’s reforms: Uday Kotak The bank’s executive VC and MD says a ‘truly efficient’ financial sector in India is still a work in progress Iran central banker visiting India over $6-billion oil dues With lifting of sanctions, some Indian oil companies want to clear the unpaid bill at the exchange rate 3 years back India to study mergers of state-run banks in efficiency push Bankers have "strongly supported" the idea of consolidation, suggesting the government form a panel of experts to devise a merger strategy, Arun Jaitley said after a two-day annual brainstorming event of industry leaders and officials from the central bank and finance ministry. Why Ashok Leyland dragged Nissan to court Around Rs200 crore vendor liability figures quoted by Nissan are not in the JV’s books; the overall liability figures are only around Rs700 crore, far less than Rs1,200 crore quoted by Nissan Swift India goes live in JV with 9 Indian banks Global banking cooperative Swift SCRL has initiated its India operations under Swift India Domestic Services as a joint venture with nine partner banks aimed at addressing the domestic market needs of the Indian financial industry. Offline retailers say no to Lenovo The retailers also want matters such as expensive spare parts and poor after-sales service resolved. Lenovo India declined to comment for this story. Woodland eyes global expansion, to open stores in countries like Russia and China Woodland, whose outlet count in the country crossed 600 mark this fiscal, already operates about a dozen international stores in Hong Kong, opened over the last three years. Puma and Adidas seek government's permission to operate ecommerce portals Adidas had in November 2015 announced its intent to open its first fully-owned outlet in India in the second half of the fiscal. Domestic retailers lose out in high-end malls Homegrown retail brands are facing tough times in retaining their spots in top performing malls as a host of international brands make a pitch for quality real estate. Changing gears, Trent Hypermarket plans swift expansion Likely to open 20-30 stores in Maharashtra & Karnataka in FY17; expansion plan might require capex of Rs 100 crore IKEA to open first India store at Hyderabad in 2017 First IKEA India store to open at Hyderabad in 2017 - The company plans to open 25 stores by 2025 in nine Indian cities. Mukesh Ambani's $20 billion bet on TV, telecom may rekindle wealthy brothers' rivalry Mukesh Ambani plans to spend around $2 billion over three years to capture India's TV sets, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said. TRAI warns telcos of legal action if directives aren't implemented A DoT official said telecom companies had voiced concerns over lack of clarity on policy concerning internet-based voice calls during a meeting Japan telecom Softbank to reorganize into 2 subsidiaries Softbank's strategic move is at positioning its two core businesses as future growth drivers. Ecommerce trends: India's wallets are going mobile Saravandas, a restaurant owner in Kerala’s Palakkad town, would have a nightmare every time he leaves the cash box in someone’s custody and steps out to recharge his mobile phone. The young entrepren Google prepares to test Project Loon in India in partnership with telecom providers Google's managing director for South East Asia and India Rajan Anandan told The Economic Times in an interview that the company is in talks with local tele Viu expands into India, Malaysia Two American digital content platforms vie for the large Indian market, but use completely different strategies to push their brands. Morgan Stanley India telecoms report: Cash is king ahead of spectrum auctions, 'overweight' on Jio A sweeping Morgan Stanley India telecoms report for March stays "overweight" on Reliance Jio led by its high potential for savings leveraging existing licenses available with RCom. Amazon's localization of mobile tech boosts demand for its app More Indians installed Amazon’s app than any rival’s app in the last three months of 2015, claims online retailer Missed opportunity The Centre’s short-term view of telecom as a cash cow will damage its own initiatives such as Digital India and Smart Cities Budget hotel room aggregator OYO Rooms lowers its sights and now looking for at least a quarter of the $400 million it had set out to raise last November Budget hotel room aggregator could also find it tough to close its acquisition of smaller rival ZO Rooms Ninjacart raises $3M from Accel Partners, Qualcomm & others B2B marketplace startup Ninjacart has raised $3 million from VC firm including Accel Partners and Qualcomm Ventures, M&S Partners, and Zop Smart, the parent Amazon India planning launch of digital wallet in a bid to build online payments business Amazons largest domestic rival Flipkart launched its digital wallet last week as online payments increasingly become pivotal. Amazon becomes the most trusted online shopping brand in India; outranks Snapdeal, Flipkart Amazon, the most trusted online shopping brand in India, outranks Snapdeal and Flipkart -- a study conducted by TRA reveals. TradeBriefs Publications are read by over 10,00,000 Industry Executives India Business Brief | India Retail News | India Food Brief | India Telecom Brief | India Finance Brief | India Software Brief | India Digital Brief | India Ecommerce Brief | India Franchise Brief | India HR Brief | India Logistics Brief | India Construction Brief About Us  |  Advertise Privacy Policy    Unsubscribe You are receiving this mail because of your subscription with TradeBriefs. Our mailing address is GF 25/39, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110008, India