You are on page 1of 59

India

Mutual Fund And Venture Capital Fund Updates

In this issue:
Mutual Funds And Venture Capital Funds
Regulatory Updates
Updates
Brokerages to revise costs for Issue No 8
MFs August 2009

New direct tax code to make fund-


Regulatory Updates
raising easier for VCs

India widens foreign VC funds' Brokerages to revise costs for MFs


investment options
Distributors of mutual funds are planning to revise their transaction cost structure to
Bank-sponsored PE, VC funds attract investors as the charge for buying units in a mutual fund goes from tomorrow,
face capital adequacy norms something they believe will increase sales.

Management Fees – Are These Tax


Distributors are now waiting to see whether asset management companies
Deductible?
(AMCs) announce distribution commission for various schemes, and they could charge
advisory commission from customers on that basis
Parity of Exit load among all
classes of unit holders
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on June 18, asked mutual funds not to
Lower Filing Fees for Mutual deduct marketing and distribution charges from the investments made by subscribers.
Funds - SEBI
More
Press News

Cinema VC funds unfazed by flops


New direct tax code to make fund-raising easier for VCs
Subbu Subramaniam Leaves
Baring Over Differences With With the government allowing tax pass-through to financial intermediaries, including
Bhasin domestic venture capitalists (VCs), in the direct tax code unveiled on August 12, VCs
are optimistic about fund raising.
Harbinger Withdraws From Asarco
Race; May Back Sterlite A pass-through in taxation means that the business entity need not pay tax. Instead, all
taxable income is passed through to its owners or members.
Red Fort Capital to pick up 50%
stake in Noida project
More
DHFL Venture Capital Forms JV
With Redwood Group India widens foreign VC funds' investment options

From $30M In 2006 To $300M In


Indian regulators have opened the doors to foreign venture capital funds (FVCFs)
2008; Cleantech Investments
beyond the select investment options they were being offered in recent times.
Shoot Up

The decision, reflected in some of the communications between the Reserve Bank India
Mahindras float in-house PE firm
and custodian banks of VC funds, could not only make life easier for foreign funds and
to fund new projects
widen the scope for their risk capital, but also boost foreign direct investment (FDI) in
Tata Capital to launch private the country.
equity fund
In the past one year, FVCFs, which were allowed to come in, were specifically told to
Mphasis Acquires AIG Systems stick to activities such as infrastructure, bio-technology, nano-technology, biofuel, IT-
Solutions related activities for hardware and software development and a few other areas outlined
by the government in the list of 10 sectors identified for tax benefits to VCs.
TA Associates Raises $4 Billion
Fund

More
FIPB Clears Warburg Pincus
Investment in Synergy Media

Bank-sponsored PE, VC funds face capital adequacy norms


Sequoia Capital India Picks Up
6.8% stake in eClerx
In a move that could affect private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds being set
Nalanda Capital Picks Up up by banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said it was planning to lay down a
Additional 2.2% Stake in Berger risk management and capital adequacy framework for bank-sponsored private pools of
Paints capital.

SUUTI eyes Rs 7K cr from sale of The move, a part of the new set of prudential norms being discussed by financial sector
17% in Axis Bank regulators across the globe in the wake of the credit crisis, was being discussed in view
of the reputational risk arising from undertaking such activities, RBI said in its annual
IndiaCo Ventures To Invest $2-5
report for 2008-09.
Mn Each In Neo Corp, Grow VC

Compensation Hikes Muted For PE More

Industry This Year

Aavishkaar Picks Up 21% Stake In


Management Fees – Are These Tax Deductible?
Saraplast

Vistaar Religare Fund Invests In The Indian Income tax laws exempt income of a SEBI registered Domestic Venture
Hollywood Production 'The Capital Fund (DVCF), from its investments and such income is taxable in the hands of
Jonses' investors, thereby granting ―tax pass through‖ status to DVCF. As per the amended
provisions in force, this exemption is granted if DVCF makes investments in VC
Warburg Pincus To Exit Dainik
undertaking engaged in 9 specific sectors (eligible VCU). If DVCF makes investment in
Bhaskar
Morpheus Venture Partners To non eligible VCU, it would not be able to avail such benefits.
Raise Rs 2 Cr Seed Fund
The intention of the legislature was to tax the income at the level of DVCF instead of
BanyanTree Picks Up 10% Stake in
taxing at the level of the individual investor. Thereby it was intended that only the point
GEI Industries
of taxation should change and not the tax position.

Frontline Strategy Picks Up


Taxability of income, other than from investments in eligible VCU is governed by the
Secondary Stake in Tejas
structure of the DVCF entity. Since most DVCF are structured as trust, the taxability is
Networks
based on the provision of trust taxation.
PE-Backed HomeShop18 To Raise
Funds In Next 12 Months More

Parity of Exit load among all classes of unit holders


Religare MF launches debt fund

Six Private Equity Funds Show SEBI circular no. SEBI/IMD/CIR No. 6/172445/2009 dated August 7, 2009 on Exit Load
Interest in MCX-SX Stake Sale – Parity among all classes of unit holders.

Cybernet-SlashSupport Appoints It is observed that the mutual funds are making distinction between the unitholders by
Sreenidhi Sharma As New CEO charging differential exit loads based on the amount of subscription. In order to have
parity among all classes of unit holders, it has now been decided that no distinction
Hedge Fund Brevan Howard Sets
among unit holders should be made based on the amount of subscription while
Up Mauritius Units To Invest in
charging exit loads. Further it states that ―any imposition or enhancement in the load
India
shall be applicable on prospective investments only‖ and parity among all classes of
RBS Hires Anil Gudibande From unit holders in terms of charging exit load shall be made applicable at the portfolio level
AIG Private Equity
More
Value of deals falls 66% in H1:
Grant Thornton
Lower Filing Fees for Mutual Funds - SEBI

Mutual fund AUM crosses Rs 7 Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) clarified that the revised filing fee for offer
lakh cr in July documents of mutual funds will be applicable to those schemes registered with the
market regulator on or after 1 July.
Inflows into gold ETFs rise 32%
year to date The filing fee for offer documents of mutual funds has been reduced from 0.005% to
0.002% of the amount raised in the new fund offer, subject to a minimum of Rs1 lakh
Indian mutual fund industry to
and a maximum of Rs50 lakh.
revisit fund

Mutual Fund industry trend


More

Shinsei AMC launches Industry


Leaders Fund

SBI set to take over UTI AMC,


create biggest fund house
MF assets set to grow by 29% Press News

Cinema VC funds unfazed by flops


International News

Singapore PE Firm Orient Global The initial response to films funded by cinema-focused venture funds might not have
Exits India Infoline At A Loss been overwhelming, but that is not stopping them from promising high returns.

Blackstone Beats Estimates, Has Despite the bombing of films like Victory and The Stoneman Murders at the box-office,
$29 Bln To Invest cinema venture capital funds are promising up to 35 per cent return as against 18-20
per cent internal rate of return being offered by private equity and other VC funds.
LGT Capital Announces First
Close Of Secondaries PE Fund At
At present, Vistaar Religare Film Fund and Cinema Capital Venture Fund are the two
$268M
cinema VCs registered with the capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange

John Harley Appointed Ernst & Board of India (Sebi).

Young Private Equity Head More

Temasek's New Charter Looks To


Downplay Govt Links
Subbu Subramaniam Leaves Baring Over Differences With Bhasin
Manulife buys AIC's mutual funds
N. ―Subbu‖ Subramaniam (right), a partner with Baring Private Equity Partners India,
has quit the Delhi-based private equity fund on a bitter note after 12 years of
association with the firm. Subramaniam has quit over "professional differences" with the
firm's managing partner Rahul Bhasin (left), sources told VCCircle.

When contacted, Bhasin confirmed the development saying Subramaniam is no longer


with Baring. However, the partnership matters are yet to be settled as both the partners
have appointed arbitrators to decide on the issue. A PE firm usually gets about 2% of
the funds under management and 20% of the profits from investment as carry.

More

Harbinger Withdraws From Asarco Race; May Back Sterlite

Harbinger Capital, a hedge fund and one of US copper firm Asarco‘s largest
bondholders, has decided to withdraw from the race to take-over Asarco. This leaves
the two key contenders India‘s Sterlite and Grupo Mexico in the race to gain control of
Asarco, according to this report. Sterlite may get the support of Harbinger Capital
Partners in its take-over plan.
Although the report did not state any reason why Harbinger may back Sterlite, it is well
known that the hedge fund( which has support from Citigroup), earlier extended its
support to Asarco in the fight against Grupo Mexico and the environmental suits.
Citigroup and Harbinger together comprise Asarco‘s largest bondholders and their
support is crucial for Sterlite. It had also said that it would oppose Grupo Mexico‘s bid.

More

Red Fort Capital to pick up 50% stake in Noida project

Private equity fund Red Fort Capital will pick up around 50 per cent stake in a Noida
residential project, a source familiar with the development said.

The project —Lotus Boulevard, is spread over 40 acres in Sector 100 of Noida and is
being developed by the 3C Company.

3C Company has already delivered over 12 million square feet of commercial projects,
which includes Wipro‘s Gurgaon campus and Patni Computer Systems Noida office.

―Red Fort Capital will acquire up to 50 per cent stake in the project. The total project
cost is in the range of Rs 1500-1600 crore,‖ the source said.

More

DHFL Venture Capital Forms JV With Redwood Group

DHFL Venture Capital Pvt. Ltd has tied up with Redwood Group to raise a private equity
fund focused on logistics and warehousing. DHFL Venture Capital, which is registered
with SEBI, is the subsidiary of India‘s third largest home finance company Dewan
Housing Finance Corp. Ltd.

The two firms have entered into a 50:50 JV which will raise funds from both domestic
and overseas markets. While the fund will raise $150-200 million from the international
markets, it will also raise another Rs 150-Rs 200 crore from the domestic markets,
reports Business Standard.

More
From $30M In 2006 To $300M In 2008; Cleantech Investments Shoot Up

Private equity and Venture capital investments increased by nearly ten times from
$30M in 2006 to $300M by 2008, according to a recent report by E&Y. PE/ VC players
invested $527 mn in the sector –which also accounts for 24% of the total transaction
value in India for the period Jan 2005 and 21 July 2009.

Key PE/VC transactions include Moser Baer (investor CDC Group, Credit Suisse, IDFC,
Morgan Stanley and Nomura International); SE Forge (investor IDFC); Vestas RRB
India (investor Merrill Lynch); Orient Green Power Company (investor Olympus
Capital); Cobol Technologies‘ (investor Pangea Capital).

It also saw significant transaction activity with deals worth $2,155 million announced
between January 2005 and July 2009. The average deal size (based on deals with
announced value) stood at $69.5 million during the same period. Suzlon‘s acquisition of
REPower, worth $1,327 million accounts for 61.6% of transaction activity in value.
Another significant transaction was Gammon India‘s acquisition of a 50% stake in
Sofinter for $101 million.

More

Mahindras float in-house PE firm to fund new projects

The $6.3-billion Mahindra group has set up an in-house private (PE) equity division that
will serve as a launch pad for new projects within the group.

―What we have created is a new division within the group called Mahindra Partners.
Loosely, it‘s a kind of private equity within the group,‖ said Anand Mahindra,
vicechairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra. The PE vertical is a ‗fairly
significant change‘ in the architecture of the group, Mr Mahindra added. The PE vertical
will be the group‘s growth driver of the future, he said.

More

Tata Capital to launch private equity fund

Tata Capital, the financial services arm of the Tata group, is likely to come out with a
private equity fund shortly. This was announced by Tata Capital Managing Director,
Praveen P Kadle, here on Tuesday.

Kadle declined to say what could be the size of the private equity fund, but according to
early indications, the fund-size will initially be of USD 350-400 million. Tata capital has
an Rs 8,500 crore alliance with the Japanese Mizuho Financial Group.

More

Mphasis Acquires AIG Systems Solutions

Baring Private Equity backed Mphasis Limited, a Bangalore based IT and BPO
company, is acquiring AIG Systems Solutions Pvt Ltd (AIGSS), an India captive back
office arm of the insurance major, American International Group (AIG).

With this acquisition, Mphasis strengthens its portfolio in financial services and
insurance (FSI) verticals, said a press statement. It will allow Mphasis to offer industry
specific solutions to its customers. The FSI segment contributes around 39% to
Mphasis‘ total revenue. With the acquisition, around 800 employees of AIGSS will join
Mphasis, which currently has 33,000 employees worldwide.

More

TA Associates Raises $4 Billion Fund

TA Associates, a growth oriented private equity firm, has closed its new $4 billion
private equity fund, TA XI, L.P. The fund is the successor to TA X, a $3.5 billion fund
which was closed in March 2006. TA Associates has an office in Mumbai, besides
offices in Menlo Park, London, and Boston.

TA Associates has been investing in India, and picked up a minority stake in Idea
Cellular along with ChrysCapital in late 2006. TA Associate's managing director Ajit
Nedungadi, who is based out of London, looks after investments in India and other
emerging markets, besides Europe. The private equity firm also has Naveen Wadhera,
a director based out of Mumbai, who was previously with Goldman Sachs' Asian
Special Situations group.

More

FIPB Clears Warburg Pincus Investment in Synergy Media

Warburg Pincus (through investment arm Cliffrose) is picking 3.2% stake in Synergy
Media Entertainment, the radio broadcasting arm of media group Dainik Bhaskar for Rs
1.52 crore. The private equity major has received approval from the Foreign Investment
Promotion Board (FIPB), the nodal body for clearing foreign investment into India, for
the deal. This deal values the radio broadcaster at Rs 47.5 crore, marginally short of
$10 million.

Synergy Media operates under the brand My FM. It started radio broadcast in Jaipur in
May 2006 and has now expanded presence to 17 stations including Ahmedabad,
Ajmer, Amritsar, Bilaspur, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur,
Jalandhar, Jodhpur, Kota, Nagpur, Raipur, Surat and Udaipur.

More

Sequoia Capital India Picks Up 6.8% stake in eClerx

Sequoia Capital India continues to cherry pick stocks from the open markets. The
venture and growth capital investor has picked up a 6.8% stake in eClerx Services Ltd
from open markets for around Rs 43 crore. eClerx was one of the first Indian knowledge
process outsourcing firms to go for an IPO and was listed in 2007. The company
provides data analytics and data process management services to the retail,
manufacturing and financial services industries.

The stake has been picked up from Burwood Ventures, an investment firm based in
Virgin Islands which invested in 2005. Burwood held a 17.49% stake in eClerx as of
June-end, 2009. The stake was picked at a share price of Rs 330, near its 52-week
high of Rs 340. eClerx reported FY09 revenues of Rs 193.2 crore as against Rs 128.3
crore in the corresponding period last year. The profits after tax for the year stood at Rs
61.8 crore.

More

Nalanda Capital Picks Up Additional 2.2% Stake in Berger Paints

Singapore-based Nalanda India Fund is picking an additional 2.2% stake in Berger


Paints to hike its existing holding to around 5.8%. Although the price at which Nalanda
would subscribe to the fresh shares is not clear, at current market price it would have to
shell out around Rs 34.5 crore.

As of June 30, Nalanda held 3.7% in Berger Paints. According to a disclosure made to
the stock exchange Berger Paints will issue up to 7.2 million equity shares of a face
value of Rs 2 each at a price not lower than the minimum price specified as per Sebi
guidelines for preferential issue.
The relevant date for determining the issue price shall be August 17, 2009. cKolkata-
based Berger Paints is a Rs 1,500 crore firm making it the second largest paint
company in the country by revenues behind Asian Paints.

More

SUUTI eyes Rs 7K cr from sale of 17% in Axis Bank

State-owned Special Undertaking of UTI (SUUTI) is looking to offload part of its stake in
Axis Bank, country‘s third-largest private sector lender, within next four months.

SUUTI holds a 27.02% stake in the bank and is looking to divest around 17%. It
expects to realise Rs 6,000-7,000 crore from the sale, a 13-30% premium over the Rs
870 closing price of Axis Bank share on the National Stock Exchange

―With the market situation improving, SUUTI has restarted talks with investment
bankers, including JP Morgan and Citi Group, and is expecting to offload about 17%
stake in coming months,‖ said a senior finance ministry official, who did not wish to be
identified.

More

IndiaCo Ventures To Invest $2-5 Mn Each In Neo Corp, Grow VC

IndiaCo Ventures Ltd, a Pune based private equity firm, has received directors‘ nod to
invest $2-5 million each in Madhya Pradesh based manufacturing company Neo Corp
International Ltd and UK based venture capital fund Grow VC Advisors Ltd. The
proposed investment will be made in the next 18 months time, Rahul Patwardhan, Vice-
chairman and MD, IndiaCo Ventures Ltd, told VCCircle.

Patwardhan informed that IndiaCo is not committing to put in $2-5 million to each of the
firms, rather it will look at the opportunities and invest on the basis of the capital
requirements for the companies.

Neo Corp International provides applications for textiles, agriculture and infrastructure
and construction industry. IndiaCo's investment in Neo Corp is part of its regular
investment activity. Investment in Grow VC will help IndiaCo to leverage opportunities
outside India, while at the same time it will help bring in technologies for the portfolio
companies, said Patwardhan.

More

Compensation Hikes Muted For PE Industry This Year

Salaries of top Indian private equity professionals -- who take home anywhere between
Rs 25 lakh to Rs 4 crore a year -- have taken a knock this year as a result of a decline
in deal flow and a lack of exits in 2008-09. And, it appears that the compensation hikes
will continue to be muted in 2010 with investors pushing for more returns on their buck.

―The compensation for the VC/ PE industry has saturated,‖ said Sunit Mehra, Managing
Partner & Founder, Hunt Partners. Shalini Sethi, Chairperson & MD, Emploi Globale, a
Bangalore-based recruitment firm focused on the private equity and investment banking
industry, reflected the same sentiment: ―Existing funds have rationalised annual
bonuses and raises (many to nil). This has been done across funds.‖

According to a 2009 study of private equity compensation conducted by Hunt Partners,


a recruitment firm focused on private equity and venture capital, there has been a fall in
the compensation of PE professionals especially at the vice president and director level.
They source, negotiate, and close transactions, monitor them and even sit on boards of
portfolio companies.

More

Aavishkaar Picks Up 21% Stake In Saraplast

Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund (Aavishkaar), a Mumbai based venture
fund focused on rural and semi-urban India, has picked up 21% stake in Pune based
Saraplast Pvt Ltd. Saraplast is a sanitation solutions provider, which operates under the
brand name ‗Shramik‘ or ‗3S‘. Saraplast will deploy the fund in expanding its presence
across India and enhance operations in waste management services.

Vineet Rai, founder and CEO of Aavishkaar stated that it has invested in Saraplast
considering its necessity for social and environmental development. ―Coupled with
strong business logic, a highly scalable model and a dynamic management team, we
are building another early stage partnership with Saraplast that has far reaching
positive consequences for the nation,‖ said Rai.

More
Vistaar Religare Fund Invests In Hollywood Production 'The Jonses'

Vistaar Religare Film Fund (VRFF) has made an investment in a Hollywood movie
starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny titled 'The Joneses'. The film premieres at
Toronto International Film Festival 2009 (TIFF 2009), which is scheduled to be held on
September 10-19, 2009. The Joneses is a comic drama, which is produced by Douglas
Mankoff‘s Echo Lake Productions that earlier funded Deepa Mehta‘s ‗Water'. The film is
directed by Derrick Borte.

Sheetal Talwar, MD, VRFF stated that they are committed to funding good content and
talent and will continue to fund Indian films, besides funding mainstream Hollywood
projects. This is the first investment by a SEBI-registered fund in a Hollywood project.
VRFF has earlier invested in a South African film called 'Finding Lenny'.

This development comes after Anil Ambani led Reliance Big Entertainment recently
signed a deal to produce movies with renowned Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's
DreamWork's Studios.

More

Warburg Pincus To Exit Dainik Bhaskar

Warburg Pincus is completely exiting its three year old investment in Dainik Bhaskar
group flagship DB Corp. The PE firm will sell out its 7% stake in the company as a part
of the initial public offer of DB Corp. DB Corp is coming with an issue of 24.78 million
shares of which 12 million shares are on offer for sale from Cliffrose, an investment arm
of Warburg.

According to VCCircle estimates the cost of investment for Warburg is around Rs


125/share after taking into account changes in capital structure including bonus issue.

Incidentally, Warburg was earlier looking to sell a part of the shares it held. The original
draft prospectus filed in late 2007(just before the market crash) had said Warburg is
looking to sell a part of the shares to a ‗third party‘ prior to the IPO.

More

Morpheus Venture Partners To Raise Rs 2 Cr Seed Fund


Bangalore-based startup incubator Morpheus Venture Partners (MVP) is considering
raising Rs 1-2 crore ($200k-500k) venture capital fund. The company is planning to
target high net worth individuals (HNI) to raise the proposed amount.

Speaking to VCCircle, Sameer Guglani, co-founder of MVP, said that ―work on raising
the fund is expected to begin in next three months, wherein we would be targeting an
investment of Rs 25-30 lakhs ($50-60,000) from each investor.‖ Guglani had earlier co-
founded Madhouse.in, an online DVD rental company, which was funded by Mumbai
Angels. It was later sold to Seventymm.com.

MVP will invest Rs 5 lakh ($10,000) in each company under its portfolio, once the
targeted fund is raised, added Guglani.

More

BanyanTree Picks Up 10% Stake in GEI Industries

BanyanTree Growth Capital LLC, a Mauritius based private equity fund, has picked up
nearly a 10% stake in Bhopal based GEI Industrial Systems. GEI is engaged in the
manufacturing of air cooled heat exchangers, air cooled steam condensers, and
associated systems for oil, gas and power sectors.

The private equity fund is picking up the stake for around Rs 11 crore. BanyanTree will
have a board representation. Mumbai based Singhi Advisors were the sole financial
advisor to GEI Industrial Systems in the deal.

GEI's FY09 revenues stood at Rs 213 crore, as compared to Rs 186 crore a year
earlier. The net profit for FY09 stood at Rs 10.3 crore, as compared to Rs 9.2 crore in
FY08. The stake has been picked at a price of Rs 75 per share. GEI stock, which
closed at Rs 63.85 yesterday, was up by more 10% touching a high of Rs 71.5 per
share before settling down at around Rs 68.

More

Frontline Strategy Picks Up Secondary Stake in Tejas Networks

Private equity firm Frontline Strategy Ltd has made an investment in Tejas Networks
Limited, an optical networking equipment manufacturer in India. The investment comes
out of India Industrial Growth Fund (IIGF), a $200 million fund launched in 2007
focusing on growth sectors and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The fund's
other investments are Krishna Saa Fabs Pvt Ltd (a galvanizing/structural engineering
firm) and Shriram SEPL Composites Pvt Ltd (a manufacturer of glass reinforced
polyester composite pipes).

Frontline has picked up the stake through a secondary transaction. In the issued
release the firm did not mention the deal size or from which shareholder of Tejas the
stake was bought. Tejas has raised private equity funding from investors like Battery
Ventures, Cascade Capital Management (investment arm Gururaj Deshpande, co-
founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks), Mayfield Fund, Intel Capital, Goldman
Sachs and Sandstone Private Investments.

More

PE-Backed HomeShop18 To Raise Funds In Next 12 Months

Private equity firm SAIF Partners-backed home shopping format HomeShop18, part of
media group Network18, is on a fund-raising course. HomeShop18 has initiated talks
with prospective partners and is looking at raising funds over the next 12-month
horizon, a top official told VCCircle.

―We are in discussion with some prospective financial and strategic partners. The
process is in a premature stage,‖ says HomeShop18 CEO Sundeep
Malhotra. HomeShop18 has outlined three priority areas for growth: To be visible in
every television household; to invest in customer experience; and, to reward loyal
customers.

So far, Network18 and SAIF Partners have invested nearly $30 million in the venture, in
which they hold 65% and 35% interest respectively. HomeShop18 raised $10 million
from SAIF Partners in the first round and, in July 2008, it raised another $21 million
(SAIF Partners contributed $16 million and the balance came from Capital18).

More

Religare MF launches debt fund

Religare Mutual Fund has launched a fund scheme that would invest primarily in debt
securities and money market instruments.

Religare Credit Opportunities Fund, an open ended income scheme, aims to beat its
benchmark by investing in instruments that offer superior yield, and would invest in
short-term corporate bonds, Religare Enterprises said in a statement to the Bombay
Stock Exchange.

Religare MF is a part of Religare Enterprises, which is a diversified financial services


group. The scheme, which closes on August 25, offers retail and institutional plans.

More

Six Private Equity Funds Show Interest in MCX-SX Stake Sale

India‘s newest stock exchange MCX Stock Exchange Ltd (MCX-SX) has attracted
interest from around six private equity funds for a 5% stake. The firms include General
Atlantic, Fidelity International Ltd, hedge fund TPG-Axon, CME Group, Abu Dhabi
Investment Authority (ADIA) and a group company of Singapore‘s sovereign wealth
fund Temasek, reports ET. This comes after London Stock Exchange (LSE) and New
York Stock Exchange Euronext (NYSE) showed interest to pick up a 5% stake each in
MCX-SX.

The promoters of the stock exchange, Financial Technologies (FT) and commodity
exchange MCX, have already divested 30% stake to domestic public-sector and private
banks and institutions, while the remaining 70% stake is with them. The promoters
intend to bring down their respective stakes to 15% each, in line with regulations that
limit promoter ownership in a stock exchange to 15%.

More

Cybernet-SlashSupport Appoints Sreenidhi Sharma As New CEO

Private equity backed technology operations management firm Cybernet-SlashSupport


(CSS) has appointed Sreenidhi Sharma as the new CEO. CSS has four lines of
business – enterprise support services, customer support services, remote
infrastructure management and application life cycle management. Sanjiva Singh, who
was the interim-CEO of the firm, has now taken the postion of President in the
company.

Prior to his joining in CSS, Sharma, who is popular in the industry as Nick Sharma, was
heading the infrastructure management services (IMS) business at Satyam.

In July 2009, VCCircle reported that the firm has $30 million cash on its balance sheet
and is looking to acquire a company which could augment one of its four businesslines.
CSS mentioned that revenue size of the target firm could be up to $50 million.

More
Hedge Fund Brevan Howard Sets Up Mauritius Units To Invest in India

Europe's largest hedge-fund manager Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP has set
up two Mauritius-based investment entities to route funds from its flagship $15 billion
Brevan Howard Master Fund to invest in India. The London-based fund house, which
manages $24 billion in assets world-wide, disclosed this in a stock-exchange filing last
week.

Given its status as a tax haven, Mauritius is the most common way to route funds into
India by both financial and strategic foreign investors. Over time it has become the
biggest source of foreign direct investment into the country even as there are no big
Mauritius located firm to have operations in India.

It is not clear if Brevan Howard already has an exposure in India market. In in


disclosure to the London Stock Exchange, it announced the creation of two trading
subsidiaries BHIOF Investments Limited and BHMF Securities Limited.

More

RBS Hires Anil Gudibande From AIG Private Equity

Anil Gudibande has been appointed to head the corporate financing and risk solutions
(CFRS) division of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in India, reports FinanceAsia.
Gudibande joined AIG Investments in mid-2008 as part of its private equity team.
Before AIG, Gudibande was part of Citi India.

The main areas of responsibility for Guibande would be to develop the bank's CFRS
business and to compliment and enhance some of its key relationships in the global
banking and markets business. Guibande will be placed directly under the RBS country
head for global banking and markets in India, Madan Menon and Sanjeev Kumar, who
heads the CFRS division in the Asia-Pacific region.

More

Value of deals falls 66% in H1: Grant Thornton

The total value of deals, including mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and private equity
(PE), in the first half of 2009 dropped 66 per cent to $7.81 billion from $23.02 billion in
the first half of last year.

While Indian corporates witnessed fewer M&A transactions and PE investments, there
were signs of recovery in the economy in the second quarter of the current year, said a
study by Grant Thornton.

The total number of M&A deals announced in the first six months of 2009 stood at 123,
with a total value of $4.93 billion.

More

Mutual fund AUM crosses Rs 7 lakh cr in July

The total value of deals, including mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and private equity
(PE), in the first half of 2009 dropped 66 per cent to $7.81 billion from $23.02 billion in
the first half of last year.

While Indian corporates witnessed fewer M&A transactions and PE investments, there
were signs of recovery in the economy in the second quarter of the current year, said a
study by Grant Thornton.

The total number of M&A deals announced in the first six months of 2009 stood at 123,
with a total value of $4.93 billion.

More

Inflows into gold ETFs rise 32% year to date

With exchange-traded funds (ETFs) fast gaining popularity among investors, including
those from overseas, Indian ETFs which track gold are witnessing substantial increase
in inflows.

Despite the fact that prices of the yellow metal are highly volatile, inflows into gold ETFs
have jumped 32 per cent year to date compared with the same period last year.
According to figures available with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), gold
ETFs have seen net inflows of Rs 176 crore during the period under review, as against
Rs 133 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Currently, there are six gold ETFs in the market — one each from Benchmark, UTI,
Kotak, Quantum, SBI and Reliance Mutual Fund.

More

Indian mutual fund industry to revisit fund


India has 36 asset management companies (AMCs) and at least some of them are
planning to start their own distribution business instead of selling funds through third-
party distributors

Mumbai: The Rs7.2 trillion Indian mutual fund industry is revisiting its business model to
be in sync with the new norms put in place by the capital market regulator, the
Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi.

India has 36 asset management companies (AMCs) and at least some of them are
planning to start their own distribution business instead of selling funds through third-
party distributors. Among other things, they plan to cut distributors‘ commission by 25-
30 basis points (bps) and shift their focus from frequent churning of funds to managing
money for the longer term.

More

MUTUAL FUND INDUSTRY TRENDS

Scheme Mergers by various Fund Houses

In the recent past, UTI, ING and JM Mutual Fund have merged few of their schemes
with small AUM into larger schemes. Following the trend, Kotak, Principal and Fidelity
Mutual Fund merged some of their small schemes into their large schemes in the month
of July.

Such mergers may result in lesser overhead cost and better management of schemes.
They may also result in reduction of number of duplicate funds within the same asset
management company

Kotak Technology fund, Kotak MNC and Kotak Global India being merged with Kotak
Opportunities; while Principal Junior Cap was merged with Principal Emerging Blue chip
fund. These are the examples of few recent mergers in the industry

More

Shinsei AMC launches Industry Leaders Fund

(India) launched its maiden equity scheme christened as Shinsei Industry Leaders
Fund. The new fund offer for the scheme opened for subscription on July 27 and will
close on August 25
Shinsei Industry Leaders Fund is an open ended equity scheme which will invest in
equity and equity related securities of companies identified as ―Industry Leaders‖.

An Industry Leader is a company which in the opinion of the fund manager, has the
following attributes:

More

SBI set to take over UTI AMC, create biggest fund house

The State Bank of India (SBI) is close to taking control of UTI Asset Management
Company (AMC). SBI outbid the other three sponsors. Earlier this year, the government
had decided to put the AMC on the block, but restricted the bid to the four original
sponsors - SBI, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Punjab National Bank (PNB)
and Bank of Baroda (BoB).

SBI is now poised to gain control of the AMC, with the government set to approve the
deal, according to industry officials privy to the development. The realisation for the deal
is reckoned to be over Rs 1,000-1,500 crore. The proposed transaction will result in the
emergence of the biggest fund house in the country.

More

MF assets set to grow by 29%

The country‘s burgeoning mutual fund industry is expected to see its assets growing by
29 per cent annually in the next five years, with high household savings rate and low
retail penetration attracting foreign asset managers, a report has said.

"The total assets under management in the Indian mutual funds industry are estimated
to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29 per cent in the next five
years," the report by global consultancy Celent said.

More

International News
Singapore PE Firm Orient Global Exits India Infoline At A Loss

Singapore-based billionaire Richard Chandler led investment firm Orient Global has
exited its one and half year old investment in financial services group India Infoline,
apparently at a loss of more than 50% according to VCCircle estimates. Orient Global
had invested in India Infoline at the peak of the bull market and at the end of March‘08
held over 11% stake through two funds—Orient Global Tamarind Fund Pte and Orient
Global Cinnamon Capital Ltd.

Orient Global had picked stake through a preferential allotment in early 2008 after
striking the deal in November 2007. It had picked 3.7 million shares at a price of Rs
1,500/share costing about Rs 550 crore (after stock split the shares cost works out to
Rs 300/share) and valued the firm at Rs 8,564 crore (~$2.1 billion at that time).

More

Blackstone Beats Estimates, Has $29 Bln To Invest

Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP reported higher quarterly earnings on


Thursday, topping Wall Street expectations, and said it was sitting on its biggest cash
pile ever, with $29 billion to deploy.

The credit crunch and lack of financing have meant private equity firms have struggled
to spend money on leveraged buyouts over the past year, and thus have large amounts
of cash, known as "dry powder," to invest.

More

LGT Capital Announces First Close Of Secondaries PE Fund At $268M

LGT Capital Partners has held a first close its Crown Global Secondaries II plc (CGS II)
at $268 million. The secondaries private equity market provides liquidity to private
equity investors, allowing them to sell positions in private equity funds and liquidate
equity stakes in private companies.

Tycho Sneyers, Partner at LGT Capital Partners, comments: ―With a target of $750
million, we are raising a mid-sized secondary fund which allows us to be very selective
and focus on those transactions where we have proprietary insights. We believe our
disciplined approach of acquiring high quality assets through smaller, less
intermediated transactions will achieve attractive returns while taking limited risks.‖

More

John Harley Appointed Ernst & Young Private Equity Head

In a major reshuffle of the top management, International accounting firm Ernst &
Young, has appointed John Harley, the current chief of Private Equity for Europe,
Middle East, India and Africa to head its private equity division replacing Simon Perry.

―John brings an outstanding depth of knowledge and experience to this role. This will be
invaluable as we continue to develop our private equity capabilities,‖ said Steve
Almassy, Global Vice Chair, Office of the Chairman Accounts and Industry on the
appointment of Harley in a release.

He further added that ―with $1 trillion of committed capital to invest, private equity
continues to have a pivotal role in the global financial system. This is despite the current
lack of liquidity, which is forcing firms to do fewer deals and to turn their attention
toward improving the performance of their portfolios‖.

More

Temasek's New Charter Looks To Downplay Govt Links

Temasek, the largest sovereign wealth fund active in India has changed its global
charter which emphasises its mission "to create and deliver sustainable long-term
returns for our stakeholders". The charter, which was first made public in 2002, stated
earlier that the Singapore government — through Temasek — needed to own and
control firms deemed critical to the city-state‘s security, economic well-being or public
policy objectives. This earlier note has been struck off in the revised charter.

Analysts view this as Temasek downplaying its links to government policy or strategic
interests, as it eyes more overseas assets.

Temasek chairman, S Dhanabalan, said, "Temasek's mission remains to create and


deliver sustainable long-term returns for our stakeholders. We have refined our Charter
to more clearly articulate our focus as a value-oriented investor, and also as a
shareholder focused on achieving sustainable returns by engaging with the boards and
management of our portfolio companies. We will continue to review our Temasek
Charter regularly, and update it as needed in consultation with our shareholder, to
ensure that it remains relevant to our current activities and aspirations as an institution."

More

Manulife buys AIC's mutual funds

Manulife Financial Corp said on Wednesday it has bought AIC Ltd's Canadian retail
investment fund business, boosting its mutual fund arm in another big-player takeover
of an independent fund company.

Manulife, which did not disclose the value of the deal, said the move to buy Burlington,
Ontario-based AIC's funds will boost its retail fund assets under management to C$13.7
billion ($12.5 billion) and be "accretive" to earnings, but declined to speculate on how
much or when it expects the purchase to add to profits.

More

Regulatory Updates

Brokerages to revise costs for MFs


UTVi – 01 August 2009

Distributors of mutual funds are planning to revise their transaction cost structure to attract investors as the charge for buying
units in a mutual fund goes from tomorrow, something they believe will increase sales.

Distributors are now waiting to see whether asset management companies(AMCs) announce distribution commission for
various schemes, and they could charge advisory commission from customers on that basis.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), on June 18, asked mutual funds not to deduct marketing and distribution
charges from the investments made by subscribers.

Jagannadham Thunuguntla head (equity), SJS Capitals, said: "Days of easy and guaranteed money for distributors are gone.
AMCs need to sacrifice their margins now and pay the distributors or they can mop up advisory commissions from investors
linked to certain schemes. However, the business of big distributors is unlikely to be hurt."

Distributors believe that although their revenue might be affected in the short-term, it would pick up in the medium- to long-
term as more investors come in.
"Volume will pick up in the medium-term as investors would start showing interest gradually. Though there would be some
stress on revenue in the short-term, in the medium-term more buying interest would start pouring in from investors," Anup
Bagchi, executive director, ICICI Direct, said.

Top

New direct tax code to make fund-raising easier for VCs


Buisness Standard – 14 August 2009

With the government allowing tax pass-through to financial intermediaries, including domestic venture capitalists (VCs), in the
direct tax code unveiled on August 12, VCs are optimistic about fund raising.

A pass-through in taxation means that the business entity need not pay tax. Instead, all taxable income is passed through to its
owners or members.

According to the provisions of the Income Tax Act, VC funds that invest in nine designated sectors — biotechnology,
nanotechnology, IT hardware and software, research and development for new chemical entities, seed research, dairy, poultry,
bio-fuels and large hotel-cum-convention centers — do not pay any tax on the gains realised on such investments. But the
investors or limited partners (LPs) in these funds pay the tax.

―It will create a level-playing field for investors. For instance, people who are investing from Malaysia will get the benefit of tax
pass-through. At present, we have a trust structure where investors cannot exit from a fund in the middle. The direct tax code
has opened various sources of funding and now we can even raise funds from high net-worth individuals,‖ said Axis Private
Equity CEO Alok Gupta.

Foreign VC funds registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) are exempted from paying any tax in India
as most of them are also registered in Mauritius.

Funds have to pay tax while exiting their investments other than the prescribed sectors. VCs and private equity players said
the tax treatment often discouraged a lot of domestic funds from investing in other sectors even if the underlying opportunity
was good.

―It is unfortunate that most of the funds have registered in Mauritius. It is a welcome step, but a bit-too late since the industry
has been demanding this for long. Since most PEs have raised funds, it will be beneficial for the new ones,‖ said Arun
Natarajan, managing director, Venture Intelligence.

―This will bring us in parity with foreign funds. There will be no difference as we will not pay any tax. We will have to see
whether the funds raised in 2005 and will exit in 2011 will get the benefit of the new tax regime,‖ said Rajesh Singhal,
managing partner, Religare Milestone Private Equity.
At present, there are 132 Sebi-registered domestic VC funds and 129 foreign venture funds.

Top

India widens foreign VC funds' investment options


Business Standard - 28 August 2009

Indian regulators have opened the doors to foreign venture capital funds (FVCFs) beyond the select investment options they
were being offered in recent times.

The decision, reflected in some of the communications between the Reserve Bank India and custodian banks of VC funds,
could not only make life easier for foreign funds and widen the scope for their risk capital, but also boost foreign direct
investment (FDI) in the country.

In the past one year, FVCFs, which were allowed to come in, were specifically told to stick to activities such as infrastructure,
bio-technology, nano-technology, biofuel, IT-related activities for hardware and software development and a few other areas
outlined by the government in the list of 10 sectors identified for tax benefits to VCs.

Recently, RBI, while giving the green light to some of the FVCFs, has said ―if the FVC investor intends to make any private
equity investments, then it may have to avail the FDI route‖. This means that barring a few sensitive sectors, an FVCF
registered in India is free to invest in almost any business in the country.

For buying into firms which are outside the 10 sectors, the fund will have to either approach the Foreign Investment Promotion
Board for FDIs where the board approval is required, or invest directly in areas where FDI is permitted under the automatic
route.

Responding to the development, Vikram Shroff of the law firm Nishith Desai Associates said, ―The regulator‘s intention seems
to be to allow FVC entities to invest beyond what is permissible under the Sebi FVC regulations, albeit under the FDI route.‖
Shroff, who advises several FVCFs, said, ―Upon RBI clarifying, offshore venture capital and private equity funds may no longer
need to set up separate entities for pursuing FDI in India.‖

According to private equity circles, FVCFs have interest in businesses like BPOs, telecom, media and entertainment, among
other segments. RBI‘s latest stand, however, does not pave the way for FVCF investment in the real estate space —
something the central bank forbids.

Fearing a real estate bubble, RBI generally insists on an undertaking from FVCFs that they will not invest in property firms.
This, according to private equity circles, is unlikely to change.

But on a broader plane, this is a welcome move by RBI and will encourage foreign investments, said Punit Shah, executive
director of PricewaterhouseCoopers. ―Of course, FVCs enjoy certain regulatory benefits under Sebi and Fema regulations,
such as exit and entry pricing and lock-in relaxations. These will not be available for its investments under FDI route, but RBI
has certainly made things convenient for the foreign funds.‖

Interestingly, the RBI letter is also a rare instance when a local regulator makes a mention of ‗private equity‘ — a widely-used
generic term for which there is no regulatory definition in India. ―It needs to be understood that venture capital and private
equity are largely similar activities — only the stage differs. Both provide risk capital. While VCs fund early stage, PEs focus on
medium to late stage companies. In several cases, the same fund undertakes both investment activities,‖ said Shroff.

Top

Bank-sponsored PE, VC funds face capital adequacy norms


V.C.Circle – 28 August 2009

In a move that could affect private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds being set up by banks, the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) today said it was planning to lay down a risk management and capital adequacy framework for bank-sponsored
private pools of capital.

The move, a part of the new set of prudential norms being discussed by financial sector regulators across the globe in the
wake of the credit crisis, was being discussed in view of the reputational risk arising from undertaking such activities, RBI said
in its annual report for 2008-09.

Laying emphasis on the macro-prudential dimension of the systemic risk assessment, the banking regulator said it was also in
the process of revising the guidelines on stress testing and liquidity risk management and would factor in the new guidance
issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in March. Indian banks had not shown any strain during the stress test
conducted by RBI.

While banks such as ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are already in the private equity arena, others such as State Bank of India and
Yes Bank are looking to launch such funds. While RBI had initially expressed certain concerns about State Bank of India‘s
entry into the private equity-venture capital space, it asked the country‘s largest banks to initiate certain steps before foraying
into the business. Canara Bank also has a venture capital fund.

If RBI goes ahead with the move, banks would have to factor in the capital they might have to set aside to cover the risk of VC
and PE funds promoted by them.

In recent years, the regulator has laid emphasis on initiatives such as consolidated supervision of banking groups. And with
Indian financial players venturing outside the country, steps are also being taken to strengthen cross-border supervision.

RBI said elements of macro-prudential regulation were visible in India even before the global crisis started. The central bank
had started using counter-cyclical risk weights and provisioning norms, such as those for bank loans to the real estate sector,
to ensure that the risk was contained.

In light of the global financial turmoil, the global initiative would focus on a multi-pronged approach that would focus on
introduction of automatic stabilisers by adopting counter-cyclical capital charge. This would help build a cushion during boom
years to deal with asset-quality issues in a downturn.

Further, RBI said that in the coming days, regulators could focus on elements such as offbalance sheet exposure, risk
concentration and valuation of financial instruments, among others, to strengthen supervision. In addition, they could promote
market discipline through better disclosure and clarity on risks associated with certain instruments.

RBI said regulators could provide capital requirements for reputational and other risk-associated securitisation and activities
undertaken by sponsored or connected conduits. Another element that can be used is stipulating capital treatment for trading
book exposures, besides supplementing the regulatory approach to minimise the incentive for regulatory arbitrage between
banking and trading books.

The regulator said the second element would be adequacy and quality of capital in line with the Basel II risk-based capital
framework and use of simpler measures such as the leverage ratio.

Top

Management Fees – Are These Tax Deductible?


V.C.Circle - 04 August 2009

The Indian Income tax laws exempt income of a SEBI registered Domestic Venture Capital Fund (DVCF), from its investments
and such income is taxable in the hands of investors, thereby granting ―tax pass through‖ status to DVCF. As per the
amended provisions in force, this exemption is granted if DVCF makes investments in VC undertaking engaged in 9 specific
sectors (eligible VCU). If DVCF makes investment in non eligible VCU, it would not be able to avail such benefits.

The intention of the legislature was to tax the income at the level of DVCF instead of taxing at the level of the individual
investor. Thereby it was intended that only the point of taxation should change and not the tax position.

Taxability of income, other than from investments in eligible VCU is governed by the structure of the DVCF entity. Since most
DVCF are structured as trust, the taxability is based on the provision of trust taxation.

Income-tax Concerns

Are management fees deductible for computing capital gains?

DVCF makes investments in start-up companies and the typical income streams are dividend or capital gains which generally
arise only after a time frame of 3-5 years. During this time, DVCF primarily incur management fees paid to the fund managers.
The issue that arises is whether DVCF would be able to claim deduction for expenses incurred by it from its taxable income.
Generally DVCFs make investment with a long term objective and hence, the income earned on such investments is
investment income as against the business income.

Since dividend income is exempt in the hands of the shareholders, there is no scope of claiming deduction against dividend
income. In fact Rule 8D of Income-tax Rules, 1962 disallows a portion of expenses under section 14A of the Income tax Act,
1961 (‗the Act‘) treating it as incurred for earning exempt income.

DVCF also earns capital gains on sale of its investments. Capital gain computation mechanism under the Act contemplates
deduction of cost of acquisition, cost of improvement and expenses incurred on sale. Hence it would need to be examined
whether management fees could be treated as cost of acquisition, cost of improvement and / or expense on sale of
investments.

Cost of Acquisition

At the time of investments, fund managers spend lot of time in not only identifying the right investment but also, after
preliminary identification, for the evaluation of investment, associated investment risk, documentation, approval, etc. The
investment process generally goes on for 3-6 months and even longer. All expenses incurred in respect of acquisition of asset
are capitalized as cost of acquisition. Even section 43 (1) of the Act recognizes this principle and requires that the tax
assessee capitalizes interest cost incurred before the asset is put to use.

Cost of Improvement

Fund Managers provide not only investment advisory services to the fund but also monitor the investments, assist the
management of portfolio companies to effectively run the VCU, assist in outlining the strategy for the VCU, etc. It therefore
needs to be evaluated whether such assistance can be treated as cost of improvement in the value of investment.

Improvement in the value of the investment is driven primarily by improvement in the business of the VCU, which has
following key attributes: provision of seed capital at the right time;effective management of the company by the entrepreneurs;
and assistance by the fund manager.

Hence, one can argue that the fees paid during the period between investment and sale is for improvement of the business of
the company thereby improving the value of DVCF‘s shares.

Expenses in relation to sale

Even during divestment stage, fund managers spend substantial time and energy in not only negotiating the right price of
investment but in ensuring the exit is in tax efficient and in regulatory compliant manner. They also ensure that no liabilities
attach on the fund or investor in respect of investment sold by the fund. Hence, management fees payable in respect of sale
of investment could be argued as deductible for computing taxable capital gains.

Attribution of management fees

If one argues and claims that management fees as deductible for tax purposes, one would need to identify the amount
attributable to each investment. The determination of amount attributable to investment should be done on a scientific basis.
The fund could either apportion management fees based on

a) time spent by the Fund Manager in respect of each investment (based on time summary details, if any, maintained by the
fund management team) or
b) based on the investment value of different investment, or any other scientific basis.

In case tax authorities do not allow the management fees as deductible expenses then the investors would be required to pay
the capital gains tax on gross amount of capital gains derived from the investments in the non eligible VCUs (ie without
adjustments for management fees).

What if DVCF has both Eligible and Non Eligible investment

In case DVCF has made investment in both eligible and non eligible VCUs the challenge of apportion of expense is even
greater. This issue arises as the income from investment in eligible VCU is taxable on distribution, whereas, the income from
non eligible VCUs is taxable once it is received / accrued to DVCF, irrespective of its distribution.

Top

Parity of Exit load among all classes of unit holders


SEBI - 07 August 2009

(SEBI circular no. SEBI/IMD/CIR No. 6/172445/2009 dated August 7, 2009 on Exit Load)

It is observed that the mutual funds are making distinction between the unitholders by charging differential exit loads based on
the amount of subscription. In order to have parity among all classes of unit holders, it has now been decided that no
distinction among unit holders should be made based on the amount of subscription while charging exit loads. Further it states
that ―any imposition or enhancement in the load shall be applicable on prospective investments only‖ and parity among all
classes of unit holders in terms of charging exit load shall be made applicable at the portfolio level

Top

Lower Filing Fees for Mutual Funds - SEBI


www.iTrust.in - 09 August 2009

Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) clarified that the revised filing fee for offer documents of mutual funds will be
applicable to those schemes registered with the market regulator on or after 1 July.

The filing fee for offer documents of mutual funds has been reduced from 0.005% to 0.002% of the amount raised in the new
fund offer, subject to a minimum of Rs1 lakh and a maximum of Rs50 lakh.

As per the revised SEBI regulation, the revised filing fee would be applicable to those schemes whose scheme information
document (SID)has been filed with SEBI on or after 1st July 2009

Top
Press News

Cinema VC funds unfazed by flops


V.C.Circle - 05 August 2009

The initial response to films funded by cinema-focused venture funds might not have been overwhelming, but that is not
stopping them from promising high returns.

Despite the bombing of films like Victory and The Stoneman Murders at the box-office, cinema venture capital funds are
promising up to 35 per cent return as against 18-20 per cent internal rate of return being offered by private equity and other VC
funds.

At present, Vistaar Religare Film Fund and Cinema Capital Venture Fund are the two cinema VCs registered with the capital
markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Vistaar Religare has offered 30 per cent IRR, while Cinema Capital Venture is offering 25-35 per cent based on different
projects. Sources said that Walkwater Media, controlled by Manmohan Shetty and UTV, was also planning to launch film
funds.

―Once high networth individuals (HNIs) are assured of the returns and there is some amount of experience with these funds, it
will gather popularity as an asset class. Right now, a lot of people are apprehensive with the way movies are perceived — a
game of hits and flops. But these will add professionalism to the industry,‖ said an industry source who did not wish to be
identified.

Cinema funds are structured like a typical venture fund and invest in film projects through special purpose vehicles. They also
provide finance to companies, enterprises, entities and ventures involved in film production with an intention to generate risk
adjusted returns.

While the targeted rates of return seem too high for a high-risk industry such as movies, experts said the funds would
eventually be able to recover their costs through various rights associated with the movie. There are 42 rights, including
distribution, music, DVD and satellite to be recovered over 18 months.

―We are in the process of monetising rights for movies that have been released. It is not a co-production deal always. For
some movies, we work on P&A (print and advertising) deal projects wherein we fund the print and advertising campaigns. In
those cases, we are first ones to get out with our profit share. The fact that promoter group pumped in 20 per cent and we got
commitments from some of the large institutional investors was a great confidence booster,‖ said Vistaar Religare Chairman &
Managing Director Sheetal V Talwar.

Top
Subbu Subramaniam Leaves Baring Over Differences With Bhasin
V.C.Circle – 05 August 2009

N. ―Subbu‖ Subramaniam , a partner with Baring Private Equity Partners India, has quit the Delhi-based private equity fund on
a bitter note after 12 years of association with the firm. Subramaniam has quit over "professional differences" with the firm's
managing partner Rahul Bhasin (left), sources told VCCircle.

When contacted, Bhasin confirmed the development saying Subramaniam is no longer with Baring. However, the partnership
matters are yet to be settled as both the partners have appointed arbitrators to decide on the issue. A PE firm usually gets
about 2% of the funds under management and 20% of the profits from investment as carry.

In the case of Baring, the fund management fee would be about $15 million a year (since it manages $750 million) and would
also have a huge carry since it made a multibagger exit from Mphasis, besides others. Fund management companies spend
only a fraction of their management fee on running the firm while the rest are profits and belong to the General Partners (GPs).
Some GPs invest their profits in the funds itself and increase their shareholding. A split among GPs mid-way can create
problems in deciding the value of these assets.

In the case of Baring, arbitration proceedings to decide on the valuation of the partnership stake indicate that the split has not
been amicable.

Bhasin denied if Subramaniam's departure will have an effect on the fund. "He is not a key man in any of the funds," said
Bhasin. Under the "key man" clause, limited partners are allowed to pull back their investments or halt new investments if the
key management of the general partner or private equity fund manager leave. LPs of Baring include UK's CDC Group and
Evolvence Capital. Now the firm is left with three partners, which include, besides Bhasin, Munish Dayal and and Akhil
Awasthi.

Top

Harbinger Withdraws From Asarco Race; May Back Sterlite


V.C.Circle – 05 August 2009

Harbinger Capital, a hedge fund and one of US copper firm Asarco‘s largest bondholders, has decided to withdraw from the
race to take-over Asarco. This leaves the two key contenders India‘s Sterlite and Grupo Mexico in the race to gain control of
Asarco, according to this report. Sterlite may get the support of Harbinger Capital Partners in its take-over plan.

Although the report did not state any reason why Harbinger may back Sterlite, it is well known that the hedge fund( which has
support from Citigroup), earlier extended its support to Asarco in the fight against Grupo Mexico and the environmental suits.
Citigroup and Harbinger together comprise Asarco‘s largest bondholders and their support is crucial for Sterlite. It had also
said that it would oppose Grupo Mexico‘s bid.
BIDS AND COUNTERBIDS:

Harbinger earlier proposed a $500 million take-over offer to the US bankruptcy court in May, countering the bids of Sterlite and
Grupo Mexico, the former owners of Asarco. The fund house had termed Sterlite and Grupo Mexico as ‗unreliable suitors‘
while making its own proposal at the Southern District court of Texas.

Asarco, which filed for bankruptcy in 2005 with over $1 billion in environmental damage and asbestos claims, is seeking to sell
assets as part of a bankruptcy reorganisation plan. Sterlite had offered $1.1 billion in cash and a $600 million note. Mexican
miner Grupo Mexico, which acquired Asarco in a leveraged buyout in 1999 but lost board control of the company due to the
bankruptcy, has made a $1.55 billion competing offer for Asarco (including $1.3 billion in cash).

Sterlite Industries had recently increased its offer price for Asarco by $170 million to $1.87 billion to counter a revised offer by
Grupo Mexico which reportedly put in a fresh bid of $2.9 billion (including 1.3 billion in cash against Vedanta‘s $1.1 billion
cash). Sterlite raised the non-cash portion of its bid due to rising copper prices which makes the acquisition attractive.

Top

Red Fort Capital to pick up 50% stake in Noida project


V.C.Circle – 06 August 2009

Private equity fund Red Fort Capital will pick up around 50 per cent stake in a Noida residential project, a source familiar with
the development said.

The project —Lotus Boulevard, is spread over 40 acres in Sector 100 of Noida and is being developed by the 3C Company.

3C Company has already delivered over 12 million square feet of commercial projects, which includes Wipro‘s Gurgaon
campus and Patni Computer Systems Noida office.

―Red Fort Capital will acquire up to 50 per cent stake in the project. The total project cost is in the range of Rs 1500-1600
crore,‖ the source said.

A formal announcement on the deal will be made Thursday. With revival in demand for residential space, a number of private
equity funds are now looking to invest in realty projects.

The global economic downturn and liquidity crunch had forced many of realty funds to defer their plans of investing in India-
based realty projects. Red Fort Capital currently has one realty fund, Red Fort India Real Estate Fund I LP.

The private equity fund has already allocated over $400 million across 10 deals in India. In June, Red Fort Capital had
acquired an 18 per cent stake in a luxury residential project of Parsvnath Developers in Delhi for Rs 90 crore.

Top
DHFL Venture Capital Forms JV With Redwood Group
V.C.Circle – 07 August 2009

DHFL Venture Capital Pvt. Ltd has tied up with Redwood Group to raise a private equity fund focused on logistics and
warehousing. DHFL Venture Capital, which is registered with SEBI, is the subsidiary of India‘s third largest home finance
company Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd.

The two firms have entered into a 50:50 JV which will raise funds from both domestic and overseas markets. While the fund
will raise $150-200 million from the international markets, it will also raise another Rs 150-Rs 200 crore from the domestic
markets, reports Business Standard.

Redwood has offices across Asia and Europe and was founded in 2006 with investments of $10 billion. Several Indian private
equity real estate firms have entered into joint ventures with overseas players to raise India-focused funds. While the overseas
partner can bring in the fund raising muscle, the Indian players can give the local expertise and connections to the fund
manager.

Another JV logistics fund is Indospace Logistic Partners, which is being raised by Future Capital Holdings and Realterm
Global, an American industrial real estate investment firm. Apollo's real estate division also runs a real estate fund, the $630
million Sun-Apollo Ventures, with Delhi-based Sun group. Last year New York-based Vornado Realty Trust partnered with
Mukesh Ambani-led RIL to launch $500 million fund to acquire, develop and operate retail shopping centers across key cities
in India.

Top

From $30M In 2006 To $300M In 2008; Cleantech Investments Shoot Up


V.C.Circle – 10 August 2009

Priavate equity and Venture capital investments increased by nearly ten times from $30M in 2006 to $300M by 2008,
according to a recent report by E&Y. PE/ VC players invested $527 mn in the sector –which also accounts for 24% of the total
transaction value in India for the period Jan 2005 and 21 July 2009.

Key PE/VC transactions include Moser Baer (investor CDC Group, Credit Suisse, IDFC, Morgan Stanley and Nomura
International); SE Forge (investor IDFC); Vestas RRB India (investor Merrill Lynch); Orient Green Power Company (investor
Olympus Capital); Cobol Technologies‘ (investor Pangea Capital).

It also saw significant transaction activity with deals worth $2,155 million announced between January 2005 and July 2009.
The average deal size (based on deals with announced value) stood at $69.5 million during the same period. Suzlon‘s
acquisition of REPower, worth $1,327 million accounts for 61.6% of transaction activity in value. Another significant transaction
was Gammon India‘s acquisition of a 50% stake in Sofinter for $101 million.

Kuljit Singh (Partner and Transactions Advisory Leader for Infrastructure, Real Estate and Government, Ernst & Young), ―The
recent years have seen the emergence of several funds with clean tech themes, venture capital backed development
companies being set up to aggregate assets in India, growth of carbon financing, etc. With this, greater depth will emerge on
the PE/ VC investments front.‖

According to the report, the country has immense Renewable Energy (RE) potential, which, if harnessed, can help it control its
emissions, without compromising on its economic growth, and also bridge the supply deficit to an extent. The sector-wise
break of the total RE potential in India is - wind energy (48,561 MW); small hydro power (15,000 MW); and Biomass (120-150
million tonnes of surplus biomass per year can be converted into 16,000MW).

Huge demand-supply gap in power, depletion of fossil fuels and energy security have been the key drivers behind sustained
investments in the sector, said the report. Government incentives such as Generation based incentives (GBI), accelerated
depreciation, tax holidays and subsidies are a step in the right direction.

The Government has outlined ambitious capacity expansion and investment plans for the eleventh five year plan period (FY07
– FY12). It has proposed an addition of 15,000 MW of RE generation capacity during the period. Wind power projects form
70% (10,500 MW) of the proposed capacity addition, while Small Hydro Projects (SHP) account for 9.3% (1,400 MW). The
total investments on development of RE during the plan period is expected to be about $2 billion, adds the report.

Top

Mahindras float in-house PE firm to fund new projects


V.C.Circle – 11 August 2009

The $6.3-billion Mahindra group has set up an in-house private (PE) equity division that will serve as a launch pad for new
projects within the group.

―What we have created is a new division within the group called Mahindra Partners. Loosely, it‘s a kind of private equity within
the group,‖ said Anand Mahindra, vicechairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra. The PE vertical is a ‗fairly
significant change‘ in the architecture of the group, Mr Mahindra added. The PE vertical will be the group‘s growth driver of the
future, he said.

Along with serving as a launch pad for new projects and start-ups, Mahindra Partners will advise a division on exit strategies if
the group wishes to quit that business.

However, unlike corporate PE funds such as the ones floated by R-ADAG, Aditya Birla group, Nicholas Piramal and Tata
Capital, Mahindra Partners will not have specified earmarked funds. A private equity fund is a pooled investment vehicle used
for investing in equity.

―Each project and start-up will be evaluated and funded appropriately,‖ Mr Mahindra said. ―That‘s precisely the difference
between Mahindra Partners and a conventional PE or what other corporates are doing.‖

A typical PE fund faces pressure on redemption, say, after seven years. However, Mahindra Partners will be allowed more
elbow room to scale up its start-ups and not ―pressured to get in and out of a business within a certain period of time.‖ In
addition, the diversified Mahindra group‘s experience with new ventures has convinced it that the traditional external PE
culture is not growth-inducive.

―Club Mahindra took us 8-9 years to get critical mass and an IPO,‖ Mr Mahindra said. ―Also, if a corporate house simply
mimics a PE, why should it do better? After all, the real strength of a corporate group is management and institution-building .‖

From now, all new business opportunities for the group will be filtered through the new PE fund. ―Mahindra Partners‘ job is to
determine whether it can take a business to a point where it has enormous potential , fits in with the Blue Chip Mantras, in
which case then it is passed on through into the edifice of the Mahindra group,‖ Mr Anand Mahindra said.

The Mahindra group‘s new business ventures are based on its Blue Chip Mantras: global footprint or potential, innovation
quotient , sectors in which the group can be a leader and free cash-flow and return on capital employed. The Mahindra group
operates in 10 business areas. While the PE vertical will allow the group to find new business opportunities, it will also offer an
exit option for the ventures that don‘t meet the Blue Chip Mantra yardstick. ―Even if a business is incubated successfully, but
we don‘t believe we want it to become a part of the edifice of the group or we don‘t have the bandwidth to manage that, it will
be spun off and harvested in a classic PE fashion,‖ Mr Mahindra said.

Top

Tata Capital to launch private equity fund


V.C.Circle – 11 August 2009

Tata Capital, the financial services arm of the Tata group, is likely to come out with a private equity fund shortly. This was
announced by Tata Capital Managing Director, Praveen P Kadle, here on Tuesday. Kadle declined to say what could be the
size of the private equity fund, but according to early indications, the fund-size will initially be of USD 350-400 million. Tata
capital has an Rs 8,500 crore alliance with the Japanese Mizuho Financial Group.

And Kadle said the alliance with Mizuho provided the right platform for Indian corporates to tap the Japanese market. He said
Japan offered tremendous opportunities for Indian companies to raise capital through equity as well as debt.

Yukata Endo, deputy president of Mizuho, said Japanese corporations and retail investors saw India as a major investment
destination. "The Japanese retail investment has touched USD one billion and they are mostly through mutual funds," Endo
said, adding that the time is ripe for Japanese investors to invest in India, cashing in on the opportunities the market offers.

He said the Japanese were looking at India for big investments now as they felt the country along with China are poised for
sustained high-growth. Asked if Mizuho was looking at an equity stake in Tata Capital, Endo said "we have not discussed this.

Top

Mphasis Acquires AIG Systems Solutions


V.C.Circle - 12 August 2009
Baring Private Equity backed Mphasis Limited, a Bangalore based IT and BPO company, is acquiring AIG Systems Solutions
Pvt Ltd (AIGSS), an India captive back office arm of the insurance major, American International Group (AIG).

With this acquisition, Mphasis strengthens its portfolio in financial services and insurance (FSI) verticals, said a press
statement. It will allow Mphasis to offer industry specific solutions to its customers. The FSI segment contributes around 39%
to Mphasis‘ total revenue. With the acquisition, around 800 employees of AIGSS will join Mphasis, which currently has 33,000
employees worldwide.

Ganesh Ayyar, CEO, Mphasis stated that the acquisition further strengthens its presence in the insurance segment. "Post the
acquisition, the company will be able to add greater value to its existing clients and wil leverage the opportunity to add more
clients," said Ayyar.

AIGSS is an India based company and part of American International Group. It provides IT services and solutions to AIG
companies worldwide. Its services include application development and maintenance, application implementation, testing,
product development and support services.

Mphasis Limited was formed in June 2000 after the merger of the US based IT consulting company Mphasis Corporation and
the Indian IT services company BFL Software Limited. In June 2006 Electronic Data Systems (EDS) purchased a controlling
stake in the company (52%) for $380 million and now operates as an independent EDS unit.

Top

TA Associates Raises $4 Billion Fund


V.C.Circle - 12 August 2009

TA Associates, a growth oriented private equity firm, has closed its new $4 billion private equity fund, TA XI, L.P. The fund is
the successor to TA X, a $3.5 billion fund which was closed in March 2006. TA Associates has an office in Mumbai, besides
offices in Menlo Park, London, and Boston.

TA Associates has been investing in India, and picked up a minority stake in Idea Cellular along with ChrysCapital in late 2006.
TA Associate's managing director Ajit Nedungadi, who is based out of London, looks after investments in India and other
emerging markets, besides Europe. The private equity firm also has Naveen Wadhera, a director based out of Mumbai, who
was previously with Goldman Sachs' Asian Special Situations group.

The new fund will look at investments in profitable, private companies in growth industries. The fund will look to make both
minority investments to buyouts with deal sizes ranging from $60 million to $350 million. TA Associates has invested in nearly
400 companies globally, and currently has over $6 billion in actively investing funds. In 2007, TA Associates closed a $1.75
billion private equity fund, TA Atlantic and Pacific VI, which was raised from non-US investors.

―Despite a challenging fundraising environment, there was notable investor interest in TA XI. We not only exceeded the
original target of $3.5 billion, but also did so in a relatively short time,‖ said C. Kevin Landry, Chairman and Managing Director
of TA Associates.

Top

FIPB Clears Warburg Pincus Investment in Synergy Media


V.C.Circle - 13 August 2009

Warburg Pincus (through investment arm Cliffrose) is picking 3.2% stake in Synergy Media Entertainment, the radio
broadcasting arm of media group Dainik Bhaskar for Rs 1.52 crore. The private equity major has received approval from the
Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the nodal body for clearing foreign investment into India, for the deal. This deal
values the radio broadcaster at Rs 47.5 crore, marginally short of $10 million.

Synergy Media operates under the brand My FM. It started radio broadcast in Jaipur in May 2006 and has now expanded
presence to 17 stations including Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Amritsar, Bilaspur, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur,
Jaipur, Jalandhar, Jodhpur, Kota, Nagpur, Raipur, Surat and Udaipur.

Apparently the deal agreement is almost two years old. DB Corp, the holding company of the media group which was in the
process of floating a public issue in 2008 had disclosed in its red herring prospectus filed with market regulator Sebi that the
promoters have entered into a agreement in December‘07 with Warburg for this transaction.

The transaction value has not changed since then and reflects the status quo on valuation in the sector. In some other
sections of the media industry current valuations are much lower compared to that last seen at the peak of the bull market
which ended in January‘08.

Warburg Pincus already holds 7.14% stake in DB Corp which was acquired for around Rs 150 crore in 2006, valuing the firm
at Rs 2,143 crore at that time. DB Corp had disclosed that Warburg was looking to exit its investments in the media group by
selling out to a third party investor. But the private equity firm is yet to sell the stake.

With the new transaction with Warburg Pincus, Dainik Bhaskar's holding will come down from 56.82% in Synergy to 55% post
the transaction. Another deal in the space is India Value Fund's investment in Music Broadcast Pvt. Ltd (Radio City FM), in
which the PE firm holds a majority stake.

Top

Sequoia Capital India Picks Up 6.8% stake in eClerx


V.C.Circle - 14 August 2009

Sequoia Capital India continues to cherry pick stocks from the open markets. The venture and growth capital investor has
picked up a 6.8% stake in eClerx Services Ltd from open markets for around Rs 43 crore. eClerx was one of the first Indian
knowledge process outsourcing firms to go for an IPO and was listed in 2007. The company provides data analytics and data
process management services to the retail, manufacturing and financial services industries.
The stake has been picked up from Burwood Ventures, an investment firm based in Virgin Islands which invested in 2005.
Burwood held a 17.49% stake in eClerx as of June-end, 2009. The stake was picked at a share price of Rs 330, near its 52-
week high of Rs 340. eClerx reported FY09 revenues of Rs 193.2 crore as against Rs 128.3 crore in the corresponding period
last year. The profits after tax for the year stood at Rs 61.8 crore.

Sequoia Capital India has been aggressively picking up stakes in companies from open market. Sequoia's managing director
Sumir Chadha told Mint in June that the firm had invested in seven listed companies between October and February 2009,
picking up stake from open markets. The investments have been made from Sequoia's first growth fund, whose size was $400
million.

It invested $9.3 million in Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd, and exited the investment at $22.3 million when
the markets bounced since May. Sequoia has also invested in Info Edge Ltd, the owners of Naukri.com. The other five public
markets investments are not known as they have been made using participatory notes.

Top

Nalanda Capital Picks Up Additional 2.2% Stake in Berger Paints


V.C.Circle - 14 August 2009

Singapore-based Nalanda India Fund is picking an additional 2.2% stake in Berger Paints to hike its existing holding to around
5.8%. Although the price at which Nalanda would subscribe to the fresh shares is not clear, at current market price it would
have to shell out around Rs 34.5 crore.

As of June 30, Nalanda held 3.7% in Berger Paints. According to a disclosure made to the stock exchange Berger Paints will
issue up to 7.2 million equity shares of a face value of Rs 2 each at a price not lower than the minimum price specified as per
Sebi guidelines for preferential issue.

The relevant date for determining the issue price shall be August 17, 2009. cKolkata-based Berger Paints is a Rs 1,500 crore
firm making it the second largest paint company in the country by revenues behind Asian Paints.

Nalanda Fund which is headed by Pulak Prasad, who was managing director with Warburg Pincus in India earlier, and went on
to set up his own fund couple of years ago has been pretty active in the stock market. It had been picking small stakes in small
and mid-sized Indian listed companies over the last few months through open market transactions.

Given that a number of transactions were sealed post September‘08 when Lehman Bros bankruptcy led to crash in stock
markets, it should be sitting on a good return in its portfolio companies or would have averaged out high priced buys in the
past. Some of its investments during the period include Triveni Engineering & Industries, Kirloskar Engines, Mastek, Sun TV,
Carborundum Universal, MindTree, Aztecsoft and Page Industries.

Top

SUUTI eyes Rs 7K cr from sale of 17% in Axis Bank


V.C.Circle– 17 August 2009

State-owned Special Undertaking of UTI (SUUTI) is looking to offload part of its stake in Axis Bank, country‘s third-largest
private sector lender, within next four months.

SUUTI holds a 27.02% stake in the bank and is looking to divest around 17%. It expects to realise Rs 6,000-7,000 crore from
the sale, a 13-30% premium over the Rs 870 closing price of Axis Bank share on the National Stock Exchange.

―With the market situation improving, SUUTI has restarted talks with investment bankers, including JP Morgan and Citi Group,
and is expecting to offload about 17% stake in coming months,‖ said a senior finance ministry official, who did not wish to be
identified.

Commenting on the premium that SUUTI is looking for, Tarun Sisodia, head of research at brokerage house Anand Rathi
Financial Services said: ‖Depending on the way in which the deal is structured, long-term players and strategic investors will
be willing to pay this premium which the government is looking for.‖

SUUTI‘s relative stake in the bank would soon drop from the current 27.02%, 97,224,373 equity shares, with the bank looking
to raise fresh equity through preferential allotment of shares, global depository receipts and qualified institutional placements.
Since SUUTI is not participating in this preferential allotment, its stake in Axis Bank would come down to 22.5%.

The special undertaking had earlier shelved its plans to offload its stake in Axis Bank in August 2008 due to lack of buyers, as
the stock markets had nose-dived following the liquidity crunch and the global financial crisis.

When asked whether LIC, the second-largest investor in Axis Bank, will be given preference as a prospective buyer the official
said, ―LIC has earlier shown interest in picking up SUUTI‘s stake in Axis Bank. But, due to opposition from certain quarters and
regulatory hurdles, government did not give a go ahead at that time. If LIC is still interested, we will re-examine that option
also.‖ The special undertaking will not be able to offload its entire stake in the bank because of a lock-in clause.

SUUTI was carved out of the erstwhile Unit Trust of India in February 2003 to take over about 25 assured return schemes,
including US-64, of the beleaguered UTI. While it was supposed to be wound up earlier this year, it has recently been given an
extension for another five years to March 31, 2014. The other major holding of the institution includes a 12% stake in ITC and
9% L&T.

Top

IndiaCo Ventures To Invest $2-5 Mn Each In Neo Corp, Grow VC


V.C.Circle – 17 August 2009

IndiaCo Ventures Ltd, a Pune based private equity firm, has received directors‘ nod to invest $2-5 million each in Madhya
Pradesh based manufacturing company Neo Corp International Ltd and UK based venture capital fund Grow VC Advisors Ltd.
The proposed investment will be made in the next 18 months time, Rahul Patwardhan, Vice-chairman and MD, IndiaCo
Ventures Ltd, told VCCircle.
Patwardhan informed that IndiaCo is not committing to put in $2-5 million to each of the firms, rather it will look at the
opportunities and invest on the basis of the capital requirements for the companies.

Neo Corp International provides applications for textiles, agriculture and infrastructure and construction industry. IndiaCo's
investment in Neo Corp is part of its regular investment activity. Investment in Grow VC will help IndiaCo to leverage
opportunities outside India, while at the same time it will help bring in technologies for the portfolio companies, said
Patwardhan.

IndiaCo invests from its balance sheet and has invested in three companies so far in the last two years. They include Verity
Technologies Pvt Ltd (25.64% stake), which provides value added services in telecom sector, Info Dynamic Telesystems Pvt
Ltd (48.93% stake) in telecom infrastructure and Laser Cosmetics Pvt Ltd (20.83% stake) in healthcare sector.

IndiaCo invests through three of its vehicles – IndiaCo Telecom, IndiaCo Healthcare and IndiaCo Clean Energy. These are
100% subsidiaries of IndiaCo Ventures and focused on telecom, healthcare and clean energy sectors respectively. Besides
telecom, healthcare and clean energy, IndiaCo is also interested in investing in several other sectors including manufacturing,
defense & aerospace, IT & education and educational institutes.

Though the company did not invest through IndiaCo Clean Energy aggregate vehicle yet, but Patwardhan informed that it has
been evaluating certain companies for making investment.

The company has posted Rs 3.9 crore as revenue in March 31, 2009, down from Rs 4.3 crore from its corresponding figure in
the previous year. The net profit was at Rs 1.1 crore in March 31, 2009 as compared to Rs 1.7 crore in the previous year.

Top

Compensation Hikes Muted For PE Industry This Year


V.C.Circle- 18 August 2009

Salaries of top Indian private equity professionals -- who take home anywhere between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 4 crore a year -- have
taken a knock this year as a result of a decline in deal flow and a lack of exits in 2008-09. And, it appears that the
compensation hikes will continue to be muted in 2010 with investors pushing for more returns on their buck.

―The compensation for the VC/ PE industry has saturated,‖ said Sunit Mehra, Managing Partner & Founder, Hunt Partners.
Shalini Sethi, Chairperson & MD, Emploi Globale, a Bangalore-based recruitment firm focused on the private equity and
investment banking industry, reflected the same sentiment: ―Existing funds have rationalised annual bonuses and raises (many
to nil). This has been done across funds.‖

According to a 2009 study of private equity compensation conducted by Hunt Partners, a recruitment firm focused on private
equity and venture capital, there has been a fall in the compensation of PE professionals especially at the vice president and
director level. They source, negotiate, and close transactions, monitor them and even sit on boards of portfolio companies.

Their seniors - managing directors/partners who make portfolio investment decisions and guide the firm‘s strategy– also could
not get a hike in their pay owing to a slowdown in deals and absence of liquidity events (such as IPOs and strategic sales) i n
the last couple of years.

While most senior private equity pros took home around 10-15% less money than they did the previous year, their juniors -
associates and senior associate level – fared a little better. Salaries at the junior level –engaged in analytical and research
functions-- were higher across all funds and sizes (see table) as pay is a key talent retention tool in this segment.

No Big Bucks This Year

The compensation levels in the PE business predictably have a direct co-relation with deal flow. Indian private equity deals
have drastically fallen in 2008-09 compared to the boom days of 2007. There were 433 PE deals worth $15 billion in 2007
compared to 470 deals worth $11.7 billion in 2008. There has been a 20% decline in value of deals. Besides, many new funds
looking to set up office in India have put their plans on hold while firms such as Engelfield Capital and Babcock & Brown have
shut down their India operations; Lehman Brothers merged its PE operations with that of Nomura, all of which have resulted in
depressed hiring and salary hikes.

Industry recruiters VCCircle spoke to say salaries have rationalised across the board. ―In 2010, I do see this cautious approach
continuing as exits have got delayed and many funds may ask for extensions. So saving on compensation becomes the key to
the General Partners‘ strategy,‖ said Sethi.

There are also pressures and, in some cases, demands from limited partners (investors in funds) to moderate the excesses in
pay. ―Limited partners (LPs) are getting much tougher now on negotiating carried interest or carry (the gains from the fund over
and above the investment) with their General Partners (the partners in funds),‖ said Shekhar Purohit, Principal, Asia-Pacific
Leader for Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance, Hewitt Associates, an HR consulting firm.

Also, LPs are raising concerns over hurdle rate (minimum acceptable rate of return). LPs are telling GPs if they want 15-20%
of the carry, then they need to deliver more than the traditional 8% return. While some LPs are demanding 10% hurdle rate,
the preferred hurdle rate may go up to 9 or 9.5%. ―There is certainly a pressure to perform at a higher hurdle rate and
compensate for the additional incentive fee that PE funds are drawing,‖ said Purohit.

Compensation math

Most private equity firms work on a 2/20 compensation model, where they get 2% of the funds under management as fee
every year, and 20% of the profits as carry. Funds typically have a minimum guaranteed rate of returns of 8% (called hurdle
rate), and the team will be eligible for carry only if the returns cross the hurdle rate.

The management fee – a fund with, say, $1 billion under management, will get $20 million every year as management fee - is
used to pay salaries, meeting fund management and office expenses. The carry – which is usually several millions of dollars in
the case of a high performing fund – will be distributed among partners and other senior professionals at the end of the term of
the fund (about seven to 10 years).

The growth in management fee is dependent on whether the funds have been able to raise new funds. The fund raising
environment has been very tough since last year, and only pedigreed funds have been able to meet their targets. Many firms
have shelved their plans or are still on road to raise their second or third fund.

Also the salaries of the professionals are dependent on the size of the funds. The bigger the fund, the higher are the salaries.
A partner at a $250-500 million fund may draw a maximum of $242,000 a year, while his counterparts at a fund of $500 million
to $1 billion will get about $442,000 and at funds over $1 billion under management will get around $1 million or more. This
difference percolates down to principal/director and to the associate levels.

Top

Aavishkaar Picks Up 21% Stake In Saraplast


V.C.Circle-18 August 2009

Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund (Aavishkaar), a Mumbai based venture fund focused on rural and semi-urban
India, has picked up 21% stake in Pune based Saraplast Pvt Ltd. Saraplast is a sanitation solutions provider, which operates
under the brand name ‗Shramik‘ or ‗3S‘. Saraplast will deploy the fund in expanding its presence across India and enhance
operations in waste management services.

Vineet Rai, founder and CEO of Aavishkaar stated that it has invested in Saraplast considering its necessity for social and
environmental development. ―Coupled with strong business logic, a highly scalable model and a dynamic management team,
we are building another early stage partnership with Saraplast that has far reaching positive consequences for the nation,‖ said
Rai.

Aavishkaar has raised $35 million so far, spread over three funds including Aavishkaar Goodwell Fund. Aavishkaar Micro VC
targets investments with a size ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 2 crore in areas including renewable energy, dairy, healthcare,
agri-implements, besides other small and medium sectors.

From its initial funding in 2002 to Chennai based Servals Automation, a manufacturer of kerosene burner, Aavishkar has so far
made 23 investments and 17 of them are in rural ventures.Some of its existing portfolio companies include Servals Automation
(Chennai based rural technology firm which sells efficient kerosene burner and micro-irrigation device), Shri Kamadhenu
Electronics (involved in technologies for dairy co-operatives), Tide Technocrats (Bangalore based rural energy solutions firm)
and Craftsbridge (Pune based handicrafts firm)among others.

Top

Vistaar Religare Fund Invests In Hollywood Production 'The Jonses'


V.C.Circle- 19 August 2009

Vistaar Religare Film Fund (VRFF) has made an investment in a Hollywood movie starring Demi Moore and David Duchovny
titled 'The Joneses'. The film premieres at Toronto International Film Festival 2009 (TIFF 2009), which is scheduled to be held
on September 10-19, 2009. The Joneses is a comic drama, which is produced by Douglas Mankoff‘s Echo Lake Productions
that earlier funded Deepa Mehta‘s ‗Water'. The film is directed by Derrick Borte.
Sheetal Talwar, MD, VRFF stated that they are committed to funding good content and talent and will continue to fund Indian
films, besides funding mainstream Hollywood projects. This is the first investment by a SEBI-registered fund in a Hollywood
project. VRFF has earlier invested in a South African film called 'Finding Lenny'.

This development comes after Anil Ambani led Reliance Big Entertainment recently signed a deal to produce movies with
renowned Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's DreamWork's Studios.

Top

Warburg Pincus To Exit Dainik Bhaskar


V.C.Circle-19 August 2009

Warburg Pincus is completely exiting its three year old investment in Dainik Bhaskar group flagship DB Corp. The PE firm will
sell out its 7% stake in the company as a part of the initial public offer of DB Corp. DB Corp is coming with an issue of 24.78
million shares of which 12 million shares are on offer for sale from Cliffrose, an investment arm of Warburg.

According to VCCircle estimates the cost of investment for Warburg is around Rs 125/share after taking into account changes
in capital structure including bonus issue.

Incidentally, Warburg was earlier looking to sell a part of the shares it held. The original draft prospectus filed in late 2007(just
before the market crash) had said Warburg is looking to sell a part of the shares to a ‗third party‘ prior to the IPO.

At that point DB Corp was coming out with an issue worth 18.8 million shares. Although the issue was put on the backburner
even before a price band could be made public (after market tanked) the company was looking to raise more than Rs 660
crore which would have meant a valuation of over Rs 350/share. This would have valued the firm over Rs 6,500 crore, making
it one of the most valued media firms in the country at that time.

But as per the new draft filed now, the company is looking to raise much smaller amount of around Rs 270 crore. Since the
company is looking to issue a lower number of shares(12.75 million as against 18.8 million last year) it will have to price the
issue above Rs 210/share.

Although, the actual issue price is yet to be determined and would most certainly be less than what it had planned earlier, at
Rs 210/share as the lower end of the price band Warburg will stand to sit on a return of around 68% on its three year old
investment.

At this pricing, the company would be valued at around Rs 3,810 crore, ahead of media firms such as Jagran Prakashan,
Deccan Chronicle, IBN 18, TV 18, Zee News and NDTV.

The move to exit investment in the flagship company comes even as the PE firm appears to be going ahead with the other
deal, where it is picking a small 3.2% stake in the radio business of the group, Synergy Media for Rs 1.52 crore.
Top

Morpheus Venture Partners To Raise Rs 2 Cr Seed Fund


V.C.Circle – 20 August 2009

Bangalore-based startup incubator Morpheus Venture Partners (MVP) is considering raising Rs 1-2 crore ($200k-500k)
venture capital fund. The company is planning to target high net worth individuals (HNI) to raise the proposed amount.

Speaking to VCCircle, Sameer Guglani, co-founder of MVP, said that ―work on raising the fund is expected to begin in next
three months, wherein we would be targeting an investment of Rs 25-30 lakhs ($50-60,000) from each investor.‖ Guglani had
earlier co-founded Madhouse.in, an online DVD rental company, which was funded by Mumbai Angels. It was later sold to
Seventymm.com. MVP will invest Rs 5 lakh ($10,000) in each company under its portfolio, once the targeted fund is raised,
added Guglani.

The company, as of now, runs a 4-6 months Business Acceleration Programme (BAP), during which it extends assistance, as
a limited co-founder to start-up organizations under its portfolio in areas like product development and launch, team building,
devising a revenue model, customer relations, and other nitty-gritty‘s in exchange of 4% to 8% stake. MVP recently announced
the beginning of batch 3 of its BAP, which consists of ten new start-ups.

The batch 3 companies are very diverse in nature, as the business area varies from education domain, apparel, automotive,
advertising and financial services. Companies under batch 3 portfolio are - Adscoot, Easy Square Feet, Interview Street,
Naabo, Picsean, ReachTax, Retail Vector, RobotsAlive, Scopial and VeriCAR. The number of companies under the MVP
portfolio has increased to 20 in 2009 from four companies it had in its first batch, which commenced in January 2008. Of the
20 companies under its portfolio, three firms, Instablogs, CommonFloor and Crederity have raised venture capitalist funding.

Indus Khaitan, a Silicon Valley technology evangelist and entrepreneur, has recently joined founders Sameer Guglani and
Nandini Hiranniah as a partner at MVP.

Top

BanyanTree Picks Up 10% Stake in GEI Industries


V.C.Circle – 21 August 2009

BanyanTree Growth Capital LLC, a Mauritius based private equity fund, has picked up nearly a 10% stake in Bhopal based
GEI Industrial Systems. GEI is engaged in the manufacturing of air cooled heat exchangers, air cooled steam condensers, and
associated systems for oil, gas and power sectors.

The private equity fund is picking up the stake for around Rs 11 crore. BanyanTree will have a board representation. Mumbai
based Singhi Advisors were the sole financial advisor to GEI Industrial Systems in the deal.

GEI's FY09 revenues stood at Rs 213 crore, as compared to Rs 186 crore a year earlier. The net profit for FY09 stood at Rs
10.3 crore, as compared to Rs 9.2 crore in FY08. The stake has been picked at a price of Rs 75 per share. GEI stock, which
closed at Rs 63.85 yesterday, was up by more 10% touching a high of Rs 71.5 per share before settling down at around Rs
68. Promoted by first generation entrepreneur C.E. Fernandes, GEI is a leading provider of heat transfer solutions to the oil
and gas and the power sector. GEI specializes in air cooled heat exchangers and steam condensers.

A Centre for Science and Environment 2001 report said that thermal power plants discharge 27 trillion liters of waste water in
India and accounted for over 85% of total industrial water consumption. GEI‘s products help reduce the water footprint of these
plants and the firm plans to grow on the increased awareness about the environment. The new funds will be used to expand its
current production facility and its product offerings.

BanyanTree has made two other investments this year. Its investments include Kalpena Industries, a manufacturer of PVC
compounds; IT Infrastructure management services company Trimax IT Infrastructure & Services and synthetic rope
manufacturer Axiom Impex.

Top

Frontline Strategy Picks Up Secondary Stake in Tejas Networks


V.C.Circle – 21 August 2009

Private equity firm Frontline Strategy Ltd has made an investment in Tejas Networks Limited, an optical networking equipment
manufacturer in India. The investment comes out of India Industrial Growth Fund (IIGF), a $200 million fund launched in 2007
focusing on growth sectors and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The fund's other investments are Krishna Saa Fabs
Pvt Ltd (a galvanizing/structural engineering firm) and Shriram SEPL Composites Pvt Ltd (a manufacturer
of glass reinforced polyester composite pipes).

Frontline has picked up the stake through a secondary transaction. In the issued release the firm did not mention the deal size
or from which shareholder of Tejas the stake was bought. Tejas has raised private equity funding from investors like Battery
Ventures, Cascade Capital Management (investment arm Gururaj Deshpande, co-founder and chairman of Sycamore
Networks), Mayfield Fund, Intel Capital, Goldman Sachs and Sandstone Private Investments.

Tejas Networks is an enabler of telecom infrastructure by developing carrier class communications equipment. The company
has raised around $70-75 million in funding, and investors reportedly hold nearly a 50% stake in Tejas. Tejas recorded
revenues of Rs 234 crore in FY07, up from Rs 128 crore in FY06 and Rs 47 crore in FY05. The company was founded in 2000
by four technology professionals — Sanjay Nayak, Kumar N Sivarajan, Arnob Roy and Deshpande. Tejas was planning to for
a public offering before the market crash.

Frontline Strategy has been making private equity investments since 2000. Some of its investments include CBay Systems,
Astra Microwave, Titagarh Wagons, among others. IIGF is sponsored by Madrid-based non-resident Indian Harish Fabiani.
Through different investment vehicles, the Fabiani family has invested in companies like Edelweiss Capital Ltd, Indiabulls
Financial Services Ltd and Nimbus Communications.
Top

PE-Backed HomeShop18 To Raise Funds In Next 12 Months


V.C.Circle – 22 August 2009

Private equity firm SAIF Partners-backed home shopping format HomeShop18, part of media group Network18, is on a fund-
raising course. HomeShop18 has initiated talks with prospective partners and is looking at raising funds over the next 12-
month horizon, a top official told VCCircle.

―We are in discussion with some prospective financial and strategic partners. The process is in a premature stage,‖ says
HomeShop18 CEO Sundeep Malhotra. HomeShop18 has outlined three priority areas for growth: To be visible in every
television household; to invest in customer experience; and, to reward loyal customers.

So far, Network18 and SAIF Partners have invested nearly $30 million in the venture, in which they hold 65% and 35% interest
respectively. HomeShop18 raised $10 million from SAIF Partners in the first round and, in July 2008, it raised another $21
million (SAIF Partners contributed $16 million and the balance came from Capital18).

HomeShop18, a 24X7 television channel for comprehensive retailing, has invested around $25 million over the last 14 months.
HomeShop18 claims, it has reached 1.5 million consumers across 2,700 cities in India. With 350 brands and over 20,000
products on offer, HomeShop18 clocks around Rs 1-crore sales per day and gets a new customer in every 12 minutes.

The company recently partnered with celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor to retail cookware and bakeware products of his brand –
Wonderchef, which he launched last year as a shop-in-shop format in Tata‘s Croma store.

Top

Religare MF launches debt fund


V.C.Circle – 17 August 2009

Religare Mutual Fund has launched a fund scheme that would invest primarily in debt securities and money market
instruments.

Religare Credit Opportunities Fund, an open ended income scheme, aims to beat its benchmark by investing in instruments
that offer superior yield, and would invest in short-term corporate bonds, Religare Enterprises said in a statement to the
Bombay Stock Exchange.

Religare MF is a part of Religare Enterprises, which is a diversified financial services group. The scheme, which closes on
August 25, offers retail and institutional plans.
"Credit markets have stabilised, liquidity is plentiful... with the gradual economic recovery, the prospective rewards for taking
credit risk across fixed income markets are attractive," Religare MF CEO Saurabh Nanavati said.

The minimum application amount under offer is Rs 5,000 for the retail plan and Rs 1 crore for institutional investors.

According to the company, no entry load will be charged on investments but an exit load of 0.25% would be applicable on
investments redeemed on or before one month of allotment.

Top

Six Private Equity Funds Show Interest in MCX-SX Stake Sale


V.C.Circle – 28 August 2009

India‘s newest stock exchange MCX Stock Exchange Ltd (MCX-SX) has attracted interest from around six private equity funds
for a 5% stake. The firms include General Atlantic, Fidelity International Ltd, hedge fund TPG-Axon, CME Group, Abu Dhabi
Investment Authority (ADIA) and a group company of Singapore‘s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, reports ET. This comes
after London Stock Exchange (LSE) and New York Stock Exchange Euronext (NYSE) showed interest to pick up a 5% stake
each in MCX-SX.

The promoters of the stock exchange, Financial Technologies (FT) and commodity exchange MCX, have already divested
30% stake to domestic public-sector and private banks and institutions, while the remaining 70% stake is with them. The
promoters intend to bring down their respective stakes to 15% each, in line with regulations that limit promoter ownership in a
stock exchange to 15%.

Out of the divested 30% stake, a group of banks including Bank of India and Union Bank of India hold 25%, while the
remaining 5% stake is with Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd (IFCI), which bought the stake for Rs 250 crore in July
2009.

In October 2008, market regulator Sebi gave approval to the exchange to commence trading in currency futures on the
condition that the promoters would divest their stakes within a year‘s time by September 30. In order to meet these guidelines,
the promoters have appointed Deutsche Bank, Nomura and Antique Capital Markets as bankers for the divestment.
Meanwhile, MCX-SX has also sought the regulator‘s approval to start equities trading which is pending subject to the
demutualisation.

As of July, the daily turnover of MCX-SX has increased tenfold to Rs 3,838 crore, up from Rs.324 crore when it was launched
in October 2008.

Top

Cybernet-SlashSupport Appoints Sreenidhi Sharma As New CEO


V.C.Circle – 28 August 2009
Private equity backed technology operations management firm Cybernet-SlashSupport (CSS) has appointed Sreenidhi
Sharma as the new CEO. CSS has four lines of business – enterprise support services, customer support services, remote
infrastructure management and application life cycle management. Sanjiva Singh, who was the interim-CEO of the firm, has
now taken the postion of President in the company.

Prior to his joining in CSS, Sharma, who is popular in the industry as Nick Sharma, was heading the infrastructure
management services (IMS) business at Satyam.

In July 2009, VCCircle reported that the firm has $30 million cash on its balance sheet and is looking to acquire a company
which could augment one of its four businesslines. CSS mentioned that revenue size of the target firm could be up to $50
million.

Speaking on the appointment, Ravi Adusumalli, investor (SAIF Partners) and board member stated that over the last few
years, CSS has established a strong referenceable customer base and Sharma's expertise will further help CSS to enhance its
next phase of growth.

Sharma said that he is confident to successfully enhance CSS Corp‘s business objectives to support IT needs of its customers
capitalising on its strong manpower, focused expertise, alliances and partners.

Prior to his stint at Satyam, Sharma was at Unisys, USA as Vice President and managing partner for infrastructure
transformation services. He was also Vice President and General Manager at Nortel Networks in the US, Canada and Latin
America and Vice president at Compaq. He is a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University and an MS in
Industrial Management from the University of Texas.

CSS is headquartered in California and has its main development centre in Chennai. It also has offices in USA, Europe and
Philippines. In 2006, SAIF Partners had invested $22.5 million in CSS, which involved picking up of stake from Baring Private
Equity India and some through fresh issue. In 2007, CSS further raised a $25 million in a round led by Goldman Sachs.
Venture capital firm Sierra Ventures also holds a stake in CSS.

Top

Hedge Fund Brevan Howard Sets Up Mauritius Units To Invest in India


V.C.Circle – 28 August 2009

Europe's largest hedge-fund manager Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP has set up two Mauritius-based investment
entities to route funds from its flagship $15 billion Brevan Howard Master Fund to invest in India. The London-based fund
house, which manages $24 billion in assets world-wide, disclosed this in a stock-exchange filing last week.

Given its status as a tax haven, Mauritius is the most common way to route funds into India by both financial and strategic
foreign investors. Over time it has become the biggest source of foreign direct investment into the country even as there are no
big Mauritius located firm to have operations in India.
It is not clear if Brevan Howard already has an exposure in India market. In in disclosure to the London Stock Exchange, it
announced the creation of two trading subsidiaries BHIOF Investments Limited and BHMF Securities Limited.

"The purpose of each of the subsidiaries is to hold certain investments in India however the company does not expect any
such investments to be of a material nature," it said. So the two units may not lead to significant jump in inflows into Indian
bourses but it could open another channel of foreign money.

The interest of hedge funds on India could be due to sharp jump in stock prices over the last six months with the benchmark
index Sensex moving up over 75% from its lows.

UK-based fund house had escaped the blood bath faced by many other fund global managers as stock markets tanked
through much of 2008 and specially after Lehman Bros declared bankruptcy in September‘08.

Alan Howard, the firm‘s co-founder and biggest shareholder, switched assets to cash before the credit crisis blew apart.
Howard, a former head of the proprietary trading desk at Credit Suisse First Boston, had started Brevan Howard seven years
ago with four other colleagues.

Top

RBS Hires Anil Gudibande From AIG Private Equity


V.C.Circle – 27 August 2009

Anil Gudibande has been appointed to head the corporate financing and risk solutions (CFRS) division of Royal Bank of
Scotland (RBS) in India, reports FinanceAsia. Gudibande joined AIG Investments in mid-2008 as part of its private equity
team. Before AIG, Gudibande was part of Citi India.

The main areas of responsibility for Guibande would be to develop the bank's CFRS business and to compliment and enhance
some of its key relationships in the global banking and markets business. Guibande will be placed directly under the RBS
country head for global banking and markets in India, Madan Menon and Sanjeev Kumar, who heads the CFRS division in the
Asia-Pacific region.

This appointment comes even as RBS is in talks with UK bank Standard Chartered Plc to sell commercial and retail
businesses in China and India.

RBS faced bankruptcy due to the economic melt down after it recorded the highest ever loss by any British company
amounting to £24.1billion in 2008, before the British-government agreed to pump in £25.5 billion capital to save the ailing bank.
RBS has reported a net loss of £1.04 billion in the first half this year.

Top

Value of deals falls 66% in H1: Grant Thornton


V.C.Circle – 08 August 2009

The total value of deals, including mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and private equity (PE), in the first half of 2009 dropped 66
per cent to $7.81 billion from $23.02 billion in the first half of last year.

While Indian corporates witnessed fewer M&A transactions and PE investments, there were signs of recovery in the economy
in the second quarter of the current year, said a study by Grant Thornton. The total number of M&A deals announced in the
first six months of 2009 stood at 123, with a total value of $4.93 billion. Cross-border M&A deals have fallen from $12 billion in
the first half (H1) of 2008 to just $1.4 billion in H1 of 2009, declining more than 85 per cent.

The value of domestic deals also dropped to $3.5 billion in 2009 as against $4.3 billion in the H1 2008. The number declined
from 110 to 64. ―Indications of a recovery combined with an increase in availability of finance seemed to have increased the
appetite of India Inc for M&As and PE investments. ―Companies are also involving themselves in value-enhancing
restructuring exercises to better leverage their scale. There is also a surge in inbound transactions as global MNCs are once
again looking for opportunities to operate and benefit from the Indian markets‘ growth and cost efficiencies,‖ said Harish H V of
Grant Thornton. The top five M&A deals accounted for more than 69 per cent of the total value of deals in H1 2009 compared
with more than 57 and 73 per cent in H1 of 2008 and 2007, respectively. Most top five deals in 2009 were domestic, which is
significant considering the large cross-border deals witnessed over the last two years.

―The slowdown was primarily witnessed in outbound deals, which declined from 108 in H1 2008 to 27. In terms of sectors, the
first half of 2009 saw significant participation by sectors such as oil and gas, telecom, information technology and information
technology enabled services,‖ said the report.

A half-year analysis of PE investments in India shows a mixed trend. PE deals have declined from $6.93 billion (185 deals in
H1 2008) to $2.89 billion (93 deals in H1 2009). The Q1 of 2009 witnessed 43 deals amounting to $904.44 million compared
with 50 deals valued at $1.98 billion in the second quarter. The deal value more than doubled in the second quarter over the
previous quarter. The highest proportion of PE/VC (venture capital) investment was in real estate and infrastructure
management, shipping and ports, and telecom —$1.61 billion, $161 million and $129 million respectively.

Och-Ziff Capital Management, Orient Global, Sandstone Capital, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Prudential‘s investment in
Unitech for $352 million was the largest PE investment in India followed by HSBCs investment of $ 300 million in Indiabulls
Real Estate through a qualified institutional placement.

Top

Mutual fund AUM crosses Rs 7 lakh cr in July


PTI - 14 August 2009

The mutual fund industry's assets under management (AUM) touched a new peak at the end of July, crossing the Rs seven
lakh crore mark for the first time ever.
Riding on the back of fresh inflows into various schemes, the MF industry's AUM totalled Rs 7.20 lakh crore — a 24 per cent
rise over the previous month, Crisil FundServices said in a report.

Income and liquid funds saw strong inflows in July, with banks again parking money in mutual funds after withdrawals in June
end to meet quarter-end capital adequacy related requirements," Crisil FundServices Director Krishnan Sitaraman said.

Also, the nore than eight per cent rise in country's stock market barometer Sensex, on the back of strong foreign fund flows
and renewed investor confidence, during July, helped up the AUMs of all the fund houses.

"The positive market momentum saw continued interest in equity funds," Sitaraman said.

Top

Inflows into gold ETFs rise 32% year to date


Business Standard - 19 August 2009

With exchange-traded funds (ETFs) fast gaining popularity among investors, including those from overseas, Indian ETFs
which track gold are witnessing substantial increase in inflows.

Despite the fact that prices of the yellow metal are highly volatile, inflows into gold ETFs have jumped 32 per cent year to date
compared with the same period last year. According to figures available with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi),
gold ETFs have seen net inflows of Rs 176 crore during the period under review, as against Rs 133 crore in the corresponding
period last year.

Currently, there are six gold ETFs in the market — one each from Benchmark, UTI, Kotak, Quantum, SBI and Reliance Mutual
Fund.

Gold ETFs are open-ended mutual fund schemes that invest in standard gold bullion (0.995 purity). In these ETFs, the
investor‘s holding is denoted in units, which get listed on a stock exchange. These are passively-managed funds designed to
provide returns comparable with that from physical gold in the spot mark.

―We have seen awareness about gold ETFs increase over a period of time. Earlier, people were not aware of this asset class.
But now, the investor interest in physical gold is gradually shifting to paper gold, which is a healthy sign. There has been an
increase in the inflows for us as well,‖ said Rajan Mehta, executive director, Benchmark Mutual Fund.

Fund houses too seem to be excited about the asset class. Religare Mutual Fund has already moved the Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for a gold ETF and Reliance is planning to launch a gold savings fund.

―We are quite bullish on ETFs as a product but there is not much awareness right now. There are no product-pushers for ETFs
as trading is done through exchanges. Around 96 per cent of investment products in India are sold on distributor
recommendations. However, with the Sebi ban no entry load, gold ETFs will find more acceptance. High net worth individuals
(HNIs) will take to ETFs because of their low-cost model,‖ said Jaideep Bhattacharya, chief marketing officer of UTI Mutual
Fund.

―Investors must allocate at least 5-10 per cent of their portfolio to gold irrespective of market conditions,‖ said Sundeep Sikka,
chief executive officer, Reliance Mutual Fund. The total assets under management (AUM) for gold ETFs currently stands at Rs
865 crore, which is less than 1 per cent of the total AUM of the mutual fund industry.

Top

Indian mutual fund industry to revisit fund


Mint - 23 August 2009

India has 36 asset management companies (AMCs) and at least some of them are planning to start their own distribution
business instead of selling funds through third-party distributors

Mumbai: The Rs7.2 trillion Indian mutual fund industry is revisiting its business model to be in sync with the new norms put in
place by the capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi.

India has 36 asset management companies (AMCs) and at least some of them are planning to start their own distribution
business instead of selling funds through third-party distributors. Among other things, they plan to cut distributors‘ commission
by 25-30 basis points (bps) and shift their focus from frequent churning of funds to managing money for the longer term.

Sebi banned fund houses from charging investors an upfront fee of up to 2.25%, known as entry load, from 1 August. That
encouraged fund houses to fine-tune the exit load, or the penalty they charge investors on premature redemptions, from six
months to three years. In other words, fund houses have forced the investor to lock in their investment for three years if they
do not want to pay the exit load.

The exit load is currently capped at 1% of investment. However, only retail investors are subjected to this and fund houses do
not charge the exit load on any investment of Rs5 crore and above.

The plan was to use the exit load to take care of the commission paid to the distributors. The fund houses also announced a
new incentive structure for distributors ranging between 0.5% and 1.25%. JM financial However, this move has not gone down
well with the market regulator. It has directed fund houses to bring parity in the exit load for all class of investors, irrespective
of the amount of investment.

It also said fund houses should follow a uniform exit load structure for all plans within a scheme. Normally each mutual fund
scheme has different plans catering to different classes of investors.

Sebi asked the fund houses to limit the lock-in period to one year. The three-year lock-in, planned by AMCs, would have
covered a major portion of equity fund investments in the industry.

According to the industry lobby Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), 57.23% of all the equity investments as of 31
March were less than two years old. The rest of the corpus was more than two years old, but Amfi does not specify the
maturity profile.

According to Rajesh Krishnamoorthy, managing director of iFast Financial India Pvt. Ltd, a transaction intermediary, ―a
minuscule portion of assets would be more than three years old‖.

Top

MUTUAL FUND INDUSTRY TRENDS


www.iTrust.in - 26 August 2009

Scheme Mergers by various Fund Houses

In the recent past, UTI, ING and JM Mutual Fund have merged few of their schemes with small AUM into larger schemes.
Following the trend, Kotak, Principal and Fidelity Mutual Fund merged some of their small schemes into their large schemes in
the month of July.

Such mergers may result in lesser overhead cost and better management of schemes. They may also result in reduction of
number of duplicate funds within the same asset management company

Kotak Technology fund, Kotak MNC and Kotak Global India being merged with Kotak Opportunities; while Principal Junior Cap
was merged with Principal Emerging Blue chip fund. These are the examples of few recent mergers in the industry

Increasing Exit Load - An impact of No Entry Load Structure

The exit load and minimum time period of stay in the fund has been increased by the fund houses, as an impact of entry load
removal from the mutual fund schemes

Earlier, the fund houses used to charge 0.5% - 1% if the scheme is redeemed before 1 year of investment. But, post the
removal of entry load from mutual fund schemes, majority of fund houses have increased the exit load rate up to 1%. The
minimum time period of stay in the fund for avoidance of exit load is also increased to 2-3 years

Though such a measure may hamper the ease of short term liquidity for an investor, but will help in emphasizing the long term
investment philosophy

Increasing Mutual Fund Asset Under Management (AUM) in July 2009

The AUM of the Indian mutual fund industry has increased by 24% in July 09 to reach Rs 7.2 lac crore mainly due to the
surging stock market and launch of new fund offers by various asset management companies

Out of 35 existing Asset Management Companies, 24 AMCs have seen increase in their AUM. Reliance continues to be the
market leader with AUM of Rs 1,08,334 crore (approx) followed by HDFC and ICICI Prudential AMC
However, Morgan Stanley MF, JM MF, HSBC MF, ING MF, Mirae MF, Sahara MF etc are few of the fund houses whose AUM
has been declining on a month-on-month basis

Many Mutual Fund Companies eying to launch Gold Funds

IDFC, Reliance, Sundaram BNP Paribas, UTI and Religare MF have sought approvals from SEBI to start gold funds. Majority
of these schemes will invest in securities of mining and jewellery companies. Few of theses schemes may also act as feeder
funds to existing exchange-traded funds.

Since the investors are not allowed to invest in Gold ETFs without a demat account, such a move will enable more retail
participation in Gold Fund

Sectoral Picks of Fund Managers

Banking & Financial Services, Oil & Gas, Engineering, Cement and IT sector are the top 5 sectors where approx 56.6% of total
net assets of the various fund houses are invested

The Fund manager has taken minimum exposure in Tobacco, Real Estate and Consumer Durable sector this quarter

Reliance, HDFC and UTI have taken the maximum exposure in Banking & Financial Services totalling to approx Rs 12,149 cr
and top 3 contributors to the engineering sector are Reliance, SBI and UTI totaling Rs 7,831 cr

Top

Shinsei AMC launches Industry Leaders Fund


Economic Times - 27 August 2009
(India) launched its maiden equity scheme christened as Shinsei Industry Leaders Fund. The new fund offer for the scheme
opened for subscription on July 27 and will close on August 25

Shinsei Industry Leaders Fund is an open ended equity scheme which will invest in equity and equity related securities of
companies identified as ―Industry Leaders‖.

An Industry Leader is a company which in the opinion of the fund manager, has the following attributes:

A) Attained a major market share in India and possesses the potential to maintain or increase its market share in one or more
products or services within its principal sector. B) Been among the companies registering the highest growth rates in sales
in the sector over the last three years. B) Been among the most profitable company in the sector over the last three years.

Benchmarked against the BSE 100 index, the scheme offers both growth and dividend options to investors.
B) Speaking on the occasion, Sethuram Iyer, CIO Shinsei AMC said ―there is a strong investment rationale for this product as
industry leaders tend to have significant business advantages which in general translate into better stock market
performance.‖

David Pezarkar, Head – Equities at Shinsei AMC is the designated fund manager for scheme

Top

SBI set to take over UTI AMC, create biggest fund house
Economic Times - 27 August 2009

The State Bank of India (SBI) is close to taking control of UTI Asset Management Company (AMC). SBI outbid the other three
sponsors. Earlier this year, the government had decided to put the AMC on the block, but restricted the bid to the four original
sponsors - SBI, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of Baroda (BoB).

SBI is now poised to gain control of the AMC, with the government set to approve the deal, according to industry officials privy
to the development. The realisation for the deal is reckoned to be over Rs 1,000-1,500 crore. The proposed transaction will
result in the emergence of the biggest fund house in the country.

UTI AMC is the market leader in the domestic mutual fund business, with assets under management (AUM) aggregating Rs
21,000 crore, while SBI's mutual fund arm, SBI MF, manages assets worth around Rs 7,200 crore. UTI AMC has over 35
schemes on offer, while SBI MF offers over a dozen schemes.

No clarity on who will service UTI's tax-free bonds:

UTI AMC was carved out by transferring all the net asset value (NAV)-based schemes to a new outfit, following the bifurcation
of the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile UTI in '01-02. SBI, LIC, PNB and BoB were told to put in Rs 2.5 crore each by the
then government to sponsor the new AMC, with a view to managing a holding operation until its selloff.

SBI fits the bill, given its financial muscle and the fact that its fund management business is growing. However, the bank will
have to merge UTI AMC with its own mutual fund, considering that a bank cannot be a sponsor of two AMCs.

It may have to seek regulatory forbearance for running the AMC until a merger is completed, or take advantage of a clause
which was signed by the sponsors, which allows for third-party management of assets. This is subject to the condition that all
statutory requirements are complied with.

However, there are other thorny issues which may need to be ironed out. The fact that a French bank - Societe Generale holds
a 37.5% stake in SBI's mutual fund arm - could gain access to the largest domestic MF distribution network and investor base
through this transaction may ruffle political feathers. This is in the context of the opposition by the Left parties to any selloff in
the public sector.

Moreover, a potential conflict may arise with SBI Caps, a subsidiary of SBI, being given the role of an advisor. The valuation
exercise was carried out by two valuers assigned by the investment bank.

A question mark also hangs over the management of assets on behalf of UTI's specified undertaking, done by UTI AMC so far.
Besides, there is no clarity on the issue of who will service the tax-free bonds amounting to thousands of crores, which mature
by '09.

Top

MF assets set to grow by 29%


PTI - 27 August 2009

The country‘s burgeoning mutual fund industry is expected to see its assets growing by 29 per cent annually in the next five
years, with high household savings rate and low retail penetration attracting foreign asset managers, a report has said.

"The total assets under management in the Indian mutual funds industry are estimated to grow at a compounded annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 29 per cent in the next five years," the report by global consultancy Celent said.

The pace of the growth in assets is expected to be higher in the years ahead as compared to the CAGR of 25 per cent
witnessed in 2004-2009 period. "A very high household savings rate and low retail penetration make the market a target for
foreign asset managers,"

Top
International News

Singapore PE Firm Orient Global Exits India Infoline At A Loss


V.C.Circle – 04 August 2009

Singapore-based billionaire Richard Chandler led investment firm Orient Global has exited its one and half year old investment
in financial services group India Infoline, apparently at a loss of more than 50% according to VCCircle estimates. Orient Global
had invested in India Infoline at the peak of the bull market and at the end of March‘08 held over 11% stake through two
funds—Orient Global Tamarind Fund Pte and Orient Global Cinnamon Capital Ltd.

Orient Global had picked stake through a preferential allotment in early 2008 after striking the deal in November 2007. It had
picked 3.7 million shares at a price of Rs 1,500/share costing about Rs 550 crore (after stock split the shares cost works out to
Rs 300/share) and valued the firm at Rs 8,564 crore (~$2.1 billion at that time).

This transaction was part of a multiple deal where Orient Global picked minority stakes in two other businesses of India
Infoline. It had announced investments of $50 million to pick 10% in the Mumbai-based financial services firm‘s insurance
broking subsidiary and put in $76.7 million (Rs 300 crore) for a 22.5% stake in India Infoline Ltd‘s consumer finance subsidiary,
India Infoline Investment Services Ltd.

Orient Global had then picked around 5% in India Infoline through open market in the Jan-March‘08 period, which could have
been to average out the high priced transaction struck earlier. It is estimated that the firm put in close to Rs 300 crore to pick
this additional stake which brought down the cost of investment to around Rs 260/share after stock split. As of March‘09 Orient
Global held 11.5% in India Infoline. It sold some shares in the April-June quarter and exited the investments completely last
week in what could have fetched it around Rs 400 crore against the cost of investment of Rs 850 crore. This means it took a
haircut of around 53%. It is not clear what is the fate of the two other deals—insurance broking and consumer finance
business of India Infoline. Consumer finance in particular has been hit hard by the economic slowdown and many firms in the
business have either rolled back their exposure or exited the space completely.

Orient Global is sitting on a profit in its other investment which was struck right after the market crash -- minority stake in Cairn
India. It had acquired 2.6% in a deal worth Rs 1115 crore at Rs 228/share. Cairn India scrip closed at Rs 243, around 5%
above the cost price of Orient Global.

Top

Blackstone Beats Estimates, Has $29 Bln To Invest


V.C.Circle – 07 August 2009

Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP reported higher quarterly earnings on Thursday, topping Wall Street expectations, and
said it was sitting on its biggest cash pile ever, with $29 billion to deploy.
The credit crunch and lack of financing have meant private equity firms have struggled to spend money on leveraged buyouts
over the past year, and thus have large amounts of cash, known as "dry powder," to invest. "We now have $29 billion in dry
powder, the largest amount of available capital in the firm's history, and it couldn't come at a better time," Chief Operating
Officer Tony James said on a conference call. Times of market turmoil and dislocation are when Blackstone can find its most
profitable investments, he said. Blackstone, in a consortium that included rival private equity firm Carlyle Group, struck a deal
in May to buy troubled Florida lender BankUnited Financial Corp.

Top

LGT Capital Announces First Close Of Secondaries PE Fund At $268M


V.C.Circle – 12 August 2009

LGT Capital Partners has held a first close its Crown Global Secondaries II plc (CGS II) at $268 million. The secondaries
private equity market provides liquidity to private equity investors, allowing them to sell positions in private equity funds and
liquidate equity stakes in private companies.

Tycho Sneyers, Partner at LGT Capital Partners, comments: ―With a target of $750 million, we are raising a mid-sized
secondary fund which allows us to be very selective and focus on those transactions where we have proprietary insights. We
believe our disciplined approach of acquiring high quality assets through smaller, less intermediated transactions will achieve
attractive returns while taking limited risks.‖

Ivan Vercoutere, Partner at LGT Capital Partners, adds: "We have already completed five attractive transactions for CGS II,
where we have acquired a total of 13 underlying funds with portfolio investments in the US, Europe and China. These
transactions have performed very well as we have been able to acquire high quality and well performing assets at very
attractive prices. The current environment plays to our strength of targeting less competitive mid-market transactions.‖

LGT Capital Partners has been investing in secondaries for over 10 years, and over that period the firm claims to have
achieved a 25% IRR (without the use of leverage in completing transactions) on $1.3 billion of secondary investments.

Top

John Harley Appointed Ernst & Young Private Equity Head


V.C.Circle – 20 August 2009

In a major reshuffle of the top management, International accounting firm Ernst & Young, has appointed John Harley, the
current chief of Private Equity for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa to head its private equity division replacing Simon
Perry.

―John brings an outstanding depth of knowledge and experience to this role. This will be invaluable as we continue to develop
our private equity capabilities,‖ said Steve Almassy, Global Vice Chair, Office of the Chairman Accounts and Industry on the
appointment of Harley in a release.

He further added that ―with $1 trillion of committed capital to invest, private equity continues to have a pivotal role in the global
financial system. This is despite the current lack of liquidity, which is forcing firms to do fewer deals and to turn their attention
toward improving the performance of their portfolios‖.

The elevation to the top post is in continuation with the numerous important assignments Harley has been entrusted with, soon
after joining the firm in 2000 as the chief of its technology, media and telecommunications corporate finance practice.

In 2003, he was given the responsibility to overlook the running of its TMT European team, a position, which he overlooked till
2005, before being appointed as the global vice-chairman of accounts, industries and business development.

Top

Temasek's New Charter Looks To Downplay Govt Links


V.C.Circle – 27 August 2009

Temasek, the largest sovereign wealth fund active in India has changed its global charter which emphasises its mission "to
create and deliver sustainable long-term returns for our stakeholders". The charter, which was first made public in 2002, stated
earlier that the Singapore government — through Temasek — needed to own and control firms deemed critical to the city-
state‘s security, economic well-being or public policy objectives. This earlier note has been struck off in the revised charter.

Analysts view this as Temasek downplaying its links to government policy or strategic interests, as it eyes more overseas
assets.

Temasek chairman, S Dhanabalan, said, "Temasek's mission remains to create and deliver sustainable long-term returns for
our stakeholders. We have refined our Charter to more clearly articulate our focus as a value-oriented investor, and also as a
shareholder focused on achieving sustainable returns by engaging with the boards and management of our portfolio
companies. We will continue to review our Temasek Charter regularly, and update it as needed in consultation with our
shareholder, to ensure that it remains relevant to our current activities and aspirations as an institution."

Over the years, as Asia evolved, Temasek‘s underlying exposure outside Singapore has gone up. Currently, two-thirds of
Temasek‘s underlying portfolio is outside Singapore, as compared with a predominantly Singapore portfolio seven years ago.
Even today Temasek holds controlling stakes in many bluechip local firms such as Singapore Airlines, but has built overseas
exposure.

Some of the Indian firms where it has invested include Bharti Airtel, Tata Sky, Bharti Infratel and ICICI Bank. Temasek had last
year faced sharp drop in portfolio value as it sold shares of Bank of America(which it got after the merger with Merrill Lynch
where Temasek originally invested) and Barclays. But Temasek CEO Ho Ching has reiterated that the fund house will still
consider picking stake in Western financial sector firms.

The updated charter has however maintained status quo on the Singapore President‘s approval for the appointment or
removal of Temasek‘s board members and CEO. Temasek is looking for a successor to Ho after designated successor Chip
Goodyear, a former BHP Billiton CEO, unexpectedly resigned last month, reportedly, over differences in strategy.

Top

Manulife buys AIC's mutual funds


Reuters – 12 August 2009

Manulife Financial Corp said on Wednesday it has bought AIC Ltd's Canadian retail investment fund business, boosting its
mutual fund arm in another big-player takeover of an independent fund company.

Manulife, which did not disclose the value of the deal, said the move to buy Burlington, Ontario-based AIC's funds will boost its
retail fund assets under management to C$13.7 billion ($12.5 billion) and be "accretive" to earnings, but declined to speculate
on how much or when it expects the purchase to add to profits.

AIC, whose chairman, Michael Lee-Chin, has touted the firm as a "buy-and-hold" investment manager in the mold of Warren
Buffett, had mutual fund assets under management of about C$3.8 billion, the two companies said in a statement.

The deal is expected to close by Sept. 25, Manulife said. Manulife Canada Chief Executive Paul Rooney said the purchase
was a great fit for both companies. "This is a significant boost to Manulife's wealth management business in Canada,
particularly since it adds top-quality funds and AIC's focused investment style to our already-strong lineup of funds," Rooney
said in a statement. Manulife said its mutual fund arm will manage all AIC funds in Canada, while AIC's investment
management arm will continue to run 12 funds as an external manager under a new name. AIC will continue to sub-advise on
a number of its flagship equity funds. "This sale reflects our overall strategy to return to our roots of managing money and
concentrate on our investment advisory services," Lee-Chin said in a statement. AIC's investment management arm will
become a unit of Lee-Chin's privately held Portland Holdings Co after the deal, he said. "Our intent is to build on our core
competencies and service the investment advisory market across Canada," Lee-Chin said in a statement.

Top

Home | Security | Legal | Privacy

12, Dr. Annie Besant Road,


Opp. Shiv Sagar Estate,
Worli,
Mumbai 400 018
India

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, and its network of member firms, each of
which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the
legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and its member firms.

Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple
industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in 140 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities
and deep local expertise to help clients succeed wherever they operate. Deloitte‘s 165,000 professionals are committed
to becoming the standard of excellence.

Deloitte‘s professionals are unified by a collaborative culture that fosters integrity, outstanding value to markets and clients,
commitment to each other, and strength from cultural diversity. They enjoy an environment of continuous learning,
challenging experiences, and enriching career opportunities. Deloitte‘s professionals are dedicated to strengthening
corporate responsibility, building public trust, and making a positive impact in their communities.

These materials and the information contained herein are provided by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited
(DTTIPL) and are intended to provide general information on a particular subject or subjects and are not an exhaustive
treatment of such subject(s). Accordingly, the information in these materials is not intended to constitute accounting, tax,
legal, investment, consulting, or other professional advice or services. The information is not intended to be relied upon
as the sole basis for any decision which may affect you or your business. Before making any decision or taking any
action that might affect your personal finances or business, you should consult a qualified professional adviser. None of
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, its member firms, or its and their respective affiliates shall be responsible for any loss
whatsoever sustained by any person who relies on these materials and the information contained therein.

These materials and the information contained therein are provided as is, and DTTIPL makes no express or implied
representations or warranties regarding these materials or the information contained therein. Without limiting the
foregoing, DTTIPL does not warrant that the materials or information contained therein will be error-free or will meet any
particular criteria of performance or quality. DTTIPL expressly disclaims all implied warranties, including, without
limitation, warranties of merchantability, title, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security, and
accuracy.

Your use of these materials and information contained therein is at your own risk, and you assume full responsibility and
risk of loss resulting from the use thereof. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, its member firms, or its and their respective
affiliates will not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages or any other damages
whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, statute, tort (including, without limitation, negligence), or otherwise, relating
to the use of these materials or the information contained therein.

If any of the foregoing is not fully enforceable for any reason, the remainder shall nonetheless continue to apply.

©2009 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited.

You might also like