Global deal volume falls by 29% in January-February

The sluggishness in the funding environment continues. The number of funding deals across the world fell by a third in the first two months of this calendar year. There are only a few regions that have bucked the trend.Meanwhile, the US reported a fall of 33.8 per cent., followed by the UK at 21.4 per cent., China at 23 per cent and India at 13 per cent. “A total of 6,705 deals, which include mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and venture financing deals, were announced globally during January-February 2024. This reflects a fall of 29 per cent when you compare with 9,465 deals reported in the same period last year,” GlobalData, a data and analytics company, has said.“This year so far seems to be no different from the previous year as deal activity remains sluggish. Deal activity shrank in 2023 compared to 2022, and the declining trend has been continuing in 2024 as well. All the regions and most of the key markets also followed the same trend,” Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, said. All the deal types under coverage witnessed a year-on-year decline in volumes during January-February 2024.“The number of mergers and acquisitions deals declined by 23.8 per cent during January-February 2024 compared to January-February 2023, whereas the volume of private equity deals and venture financing deals fell by 36.1 per cent and 36.5 per cent YoY, respectively,” he said. South and Central America reported the highest percentage of decline (43.3 per cent) in the number of deals. North America, which continues to top the chart in terms of deal volume, stood second with a fall of 34.4 per cent. While Europe reported a fall of 28.6 per cent in the number of deals reported during the two months, Asia-Pacific registered a drop of 19.6 per cent MEA (Middle East and Africa) 33.1 per cent and South and Central America registered a decline of 43.3 per cent in the number of deals during the period under study.  

OneVerse continues acquisition trail, acquires Calling Station, Batball11

Metaverse and gaming technology company OneVerse online poker platform Calling Station and fantasy sports platform BatBall11. The company did not diclose the deal value.This adds to the portfolio of gaming companies it has acquired recently, an online game development studio Spartan Poker for an undisclosed amount. The acquisitions are a part of OneVerse’s ongoing M&A strategy to solidify its position in the gaming market and advance its goal of becoming India’s leading gaming entity, recent macroeconomic challenges have presented favourable conditions for M&A efforts. The company is looking to close a few more acquisitions in the next three months, as a part of a larger strategy. “They are both very efficient companies when it comes to unit economics and are in a high growth trajectory phase. We are very impressed with the execution capabilities of the leadership at Batball11 and Calling Station. They have achieved substantial growth with very minimal capital infusion. We believe that they bring a valuable synergy to our gaming portfolio not just in terms of business value but the operating efficiency of their teams which is crucial for the next phase of growth,” said OneVerse’s CEO E. Paul Micheal. The company is looking at investing an additional ₹250 crore across its portfolio of planned investments which is expected to triple growth within one year, he added. Both the latest acquired companies have a combined user base of 1.4 million. This comes at a time when the real money gaming companies are impacted by the 28 per cent GST levied on the full value of bets placed in online games. This has led to some companies such as --Hike, Mobile Premier League (MPL) to lay off employees, while others such as Fantok have temporarily shut down operations.  

Aditya Birla Finance to merge with parent in 12 months

The board of Aditya Birla Capital on Monday announced the merger of wholly-owned subsidiary Aditya Birla Finance with itself to create a large unified operating NBFC, with the merger expected to be completed in 9-12 months. The merger is being proposed to consolidate the business and number of entities, rationalise and simplify the Group structure, improve financial stability, pool the knowledge and expertise of both parties, align their business plans, enhance stakeholder value, increase operational efficiency, the company notified the exchanges. “Our financial services business has scaled smartly to emerge as a core growth engine for the Aditya Birla Group. The proposed amalgamation will create a strong capital base for Aditya Birla Capital to grow its business,” said Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group.The plan for amalgamation is also in-line with RBI’s scale-based regulations, which required Aditya Birla Finance to be listed by September 30, 2025. The amalgamation is subject to regulatory and other approvals from NCLT, RBI, stock exchanges, SEBI, shareholders and creditors. Aditya Birla Capital is a listed systemically important non-deposit taking core investment company (NBFC-CIC), and has been classified as a Middle Layer NBFC (NBFC-ML) under the Scale-Based Regulations. Aditya Birla Finance is a non-deposit taking systemically important NBFC (NBFC-ICC), classified as an Upper Layer NBFC (NBFC-UL). It offers end-to-end lending, financing and distribution of financial products, including mutual funds and insurance. The merged entity, on pro forma basis, is expected to have lending assets worth Rs 1.1 lakh crore and its CRAR is expected to improve by 150 bps.Post amalgamation, Aditya Birla Capital will get converted from a holding company to an operating NBFC. It’s equity investment in Aditya Birla Finance will be cancelled. There will no change in the shareholding, management and control of the parent company, which will continue to hold existing investments in subsidiaries and associates. “This will create a unified large entity with greater financial strength and flexibility enabling direct access to capital. This will also help the Company to maximise opportunities by efficient utilisation and allocation of capital,” it said adding that the proposed amalgamation is tax neutral for both entities.The proposed merger will also enable operational synergies and lead to expansion and long-term sustainable growth through seamless implementation of policy changes and reduction in the multiplicity of legal and regulatory compliances. The merged entity will be engaged into the lending business (NBFC business of Aditya Birla Finance and housing finance business through its subsidiary), and various non-lending financial services and ancillary businesses, directly and indirectly, through subsidiaries and associates. Other than Aditya Birla Finance, Aditya Birla Capital’s subsidiaries include wholly-owned arms Aditya Birla Housing Finance and Aditya Birla ARC. Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, Aditya Birla Health Insurance, Aditya Birla AMC and Aditya Birla Insurance Brokers are subsidiaries where the company has 46-51 per cent shareholding, and Aditya Birla Money where it hold 74 per cent stake. “At Aditya Birla Capital, we follow a ‘One ABC, One P&L’ approach and are committed to drive quality and profitable growth by harnessing the power of data, digital and technology,” said Aditya Birla Capital CEO Vishakha Mulye, adding that the merger will also help the NBFC serve its customers better. Following the merger, Mulye will assume the role of MD and CEO, and Aditya Birla Finance CEO Rakesh Singh will be appointed Executive Director and CEO (NBFC). As of December 2023, Aditya Birla Capital had an aggregate AUM of Rs. 4.1 lakh crore and a lending AUM of Rs 1.15 lakh crore. Gross written premium under the life and health insurance business was Rs 13,500 crore.  

Three years after JSW Steel-BPSL deal, uncertainty still looms large

Nearly three years after the acquisition of Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL) by JSW Steel, uncertainty still looms over complete transfer of asset on a clean slate as assured under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the ₹19,350-crore bid of JSW Steel in September 2019. However, the Enforcement Directorate had issued a provisional order of attachment of BPSL’s assets in October 2019 and objected to the applicability of Section 32A of the insolvency law to the JSW-BPSL deal. Section 32A of IBC provides immunity to Corporate Debtor for the offence committed prior to insolvency proceedings.However, NCLAT gave its final approval, including the immunity sought by JSW Steel against the investigation being carried against BPSL’s erstwhile promoters, in February 2020. The ED and BPSL’s erstwhile promoters moved the Supreme Court against NCLAT order. Accepting the petitions, the Apex Court allowed the lenders to implement the approved resolution plan with a condition that the assets will be transferred back to the lenders if the verdict goes against them. In March 2021, JSW Steel paid ₹19,350 crore and took control of the asset. Despite the looming uncertainty, BPSL has registered a net profit of ₹260 crore on a turnover of ₹5,030 crore in the December quarter.A JSW Group spokesperson said the company implemented the resolution plan in line with the terms of the approved resolution plan and has taken over control of BPSL and there is no legal impediment as on date. Given the favourable judgment by the NCLAT and certain other judgments of the Supreme Court, JSW Steel firmly believes that it has a good case on merits, he added. Durgesh Khanapurkar, Partner, Desai & Diwanji, said one can never rule out the risk of litigation especially in circumstances where laws are continuously evolving. In the BPSL case, he said the NCLT, NCLAT and the Supreme Court have acted swiftly in protecting the interests of the resolution applicant (JSW Steel) and have ensured that the plan is implemented. Further, even the legislature has introduced Section 32A of the IBC in an attempt to provide assets on a clean slate to resolution applicants, he added. Jayesh H, Co-founder, Juris Corp Advocates and Solicitors, said the Law enacted by the Parliament required admission or disposal within specified timelines, but the Supreme Court held this as discretionary and not mandatory. “This was the beginning of the slippery slope which got further worsened by the sanctity of the bidding process not being respected by the Committee of Creditors and the SC by allowing new bidders at a late stage and allowing a losing bidder to revise the bid after the winning bid being discovered as per the bidding process,” he added. Nakul Sachdeva, Partner, Luthra and Luthra Law Offices India, said though delays on account of attachments by various authorities including the ED deters the Resolution Process of a company, the legislature has been proactive in bringing about amendments to overcome such hurdles.  

Smith (DS) PLC Had a Continued Resilient Performance

DS Smith said that trading has been resilient in a challenging market and that its performance for the rest of the year is in line with management expectations. The London-listed packaging company said Wednesday that like-for-like corrugated box volume performance for the period since Nov. 1 has continued to improve compared with the first half of the fiscal year, with flat like-for-like volumes. North America and Eastern Europe saw good growth in the quarter, offset by a weaker performance in Northern Europe, DS Smith said. It added that focus remains on resilient pricing, operational efficiency and tight cost control with anticipated containerboard price increases expected to be reflected in ongoing packaging prices. The company didn't provide any update on the Mondi takeover approach. On Feb. 8 DS Smith said that it had received a highly preliminary expression of interest from larger peer Mondi over a possible offer, but that no proposal had been received at that stage. Mondi subsequently confirmed that it was considering an all-share merger with DS Smith. Any deal would create a company worth 10.525 billion pounds ($13.37 billion) based on each company's current market values. Mondi has until March 7 to either make a formal offer or walk away under U.K. Takeover Panel rules.  

CIEL invests in Courseplay amid IPO preparations

CIEL Group, a Chennai-based HR solutions provider, has acquired 51 per cent stake in Mumbai-based Courseplay, a global learning experience platform, for $2 million. This is CIELs fifth investment since December 2022, said K Pandiarajan, Executive Chairperson. As part of the deal, CIEL has acquired some shares from Courseplay Founder and CEO Arjun Gupta and IPV, a collective of angel investors. Gupta will continue to hold an entrepreneurial position in the organisation and remain CEO, he said. CIEL plans to strengthen its HRTech offering through the integration of Courseplay with its platforms like ProSculpt, HfactoR, Jombay and CielJobs. “Through these acquisitions, we remain a confederation of entrepreneurs with one or more people joining us as entrepreneurs,” he told newspersons on Tuesday. CIEL serves nearly 460 companies across industry sectors for temporary staffing needs and talent hunts for permanent positions in 2,600 companies. The first acquisition, in December 2022, was the ₹25-crore purchase of 76 per cent in Jombay, a ‘talent assessment and development platform’ start-up, which will contribute ₹9 crore to this year’s EBIDTA. The next two acquisitions were companies set up by Pandiarajan himself — Ma Foi Strategy (strategic advisory mainly to MSMEs) and Ma Foi Education (skill development). The fourth acquisition, announced in November 2023, was that of Aargee Staffing Services Pvt Ltd, funded by a combination of cash and share swap.  

BluPine Energy acquires 369 MW solar power assets from Acme Group

BluPine Energy on Monday said it has acquired power assets worth 369 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity from the Acme Group, taking its total renewable energy (RE) capacity to 2.4 gigawatts (GW). The assets are spread across 14 special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Karnataka. BluPine Energy aims to expand its portfolio to 4GW of solar and wind power as well as hybrid assets, complemented with battery energy storage (BES) in the next five years. Speaking to businessline, BluPine Energy CEO Neerav Nanavaty said: “By integrating these assets into its portfolio, BluPine reinforces its position as a significant player in the country’s rapidly evolving renewable energy landscape. The assets, strategically located across Uttarakhand, Punjab, and Karnataka, provide BluPine Energy a diversified geographical presence. “With this acquisition, we are now present in 10 states, enabling them to bolster their renewable energy capacities and helping them meet their respective renewable purchase obligations.” Abhishek Bansal, Partner, Energy Infrastructure at Actis, said the fund has an excellent track record in the Indian energy sector, having previously built and then sold two leading independent power producers in the country. “We’re leveraging this experience to rapidly scale BluPine Energy and build it into a pillar of the Indian renewables sector. The platform has an important role to play in accelerating India’s energy transition, driving sustainability and a positive social impact,” he added. Acme Group Chairman, Manoj Upadhyay, said: “This is our second successful collaboration with them. We relied on the expertise of Actis platform for this asset sale. At Acme Group, we continue to strengthen our presence in the renewable energy space, while simultaneously expanding the asset base.” On integration of the recently acquired assets, Nanavaty said: “Leveraging our operational proficiency, the integration process will ensure a smooth transition, with operations set to commence seamlessly from Day 1 of acquisition. In ensuring a smooth handover, the teams are implementing and streamlining various activities to enhance the safety and integrity of the assets. In parallel, we have also commenced optimisation initiatives across the portfolio.” When asked whether the company will go in for more acquisitions to scale up, he said the focus is on greenfield execution to build the pipeline BluPine has won, both on the utility scale and commercial and industrial (C&I) projects. “Having said that, we will continue to explore one-off acquisition opportunities if they seem compelling -– from a strategic alignment, quality of construction, and value perspective,” Nanavaty added.  

Advertisement rates may see correction following Disney-Reliance merger

While the Disney-Reliance  merger will rejig ad rates, experts are unsure if this is necessarily a bad thing. Advertisers are worried that the merged-co would rack up ad rates indiscriminately, especially as they wield a monopoly in live sports and linear programming. However, others argue that this is necessary course correction as far as pricing is concerned. Especially as the current ad rates are deemed too low to recover content costs for broadcasters and streaming firms.  Right after the merger was announced, a report by UBS predicted that ad rates will rise by 20-25 per cent across the board. “Bargaining power of the broadcasters (now fewer and larger) would increase at the cost of the advertisers. There would also likely be some rationalization in content costs as well, leading to industry-level margin improvement,” analysts at UBS said in a note. Reacting to the merger, international advertising firm dentsu emphasised the need for 2-3 strong players in the media market to keep ad rates in check. “For the advertising and marketing sector, this presents a dual prospect of opportunities and challenges. On the positive side, it unlocks fresh possibilities for crafting and deploying innovative and compelling campaigns across an extensive and diverse portfolio of channels and platforms, providing us with extensive reach. However, it also heightens competition and enhances the negotiating power of the newly merged entity, enabling it to exert greater control over pricing and inventory. I hope that in the coming years, the merger achieves a balanced outcome. It’s crucial to maintain two or three major players in the market to foster a healthy and competitive environment, which ultimately should serve the end consumer,”  Harsha Razdan, CEO, South Asia, dentsu, explained. On the streaming front, a Disney-Reliance merged co might not necessarily wield a definitive monopoly, as Netflix and Amazon Prime will be able to hold their own against the merged entity. But the same cannot be said about live sports and linear programming according to Santosh N, Managing Partner at D&P Advisory. “Ad rates will certainly go up for sports and linear TV, but that might not necessarily be a bad thing. Moreover, Disney-Reliance cannot increase the rates indiscriminately, especially because advertisers will simply opt out, given that they have many alternative mediums for advertising.”  

Acquisitions still on the radar, says Suven Executive Chairman

Acquisitions continue to be on the radar for Suven Pharmaceuticals, that has just announced its proposed merger with Cohance Lifesciences. The private equity-driven company is scouting for technologies and companies to add to its strengths as a CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organisation), Annaswamy Vaidheesh, Suven Executive Chairman, told businessline. It is a global business with international clientele and the company continues to look for technologies, in India or overseas, he said. Suven Pharmaceuticals and Cohance Lifesciences had announced, late on Thursday, a proposed scheme of amalgamation to merge both companies – a transaction that is expected to be sealed in 12-15 months. Once complete, private equity firm Advent would own about 66.7 per cent and the rest being with public shareholders. In fact, Advent International had (in December 2022) agreed to acquire a 50.1 per cent stake in Suven Pharmaceuticals from the Jasti family for ₹6,313 crore — one of the largest pharma deals in recent years. This was Advent’s fourth. In November 2022, Cohance Lifesciences (wholly-owned by Advent) was formed by bringing together three Advent portfolio companies — RA Chem Pharma, ZCL Chemicals and Avra Laboratories. While regulatory and shareholder approvals are awaited, Vaidheesh said he did not expect rationalising of the multiple manufacturing facilities between the different companies. Each production site has its particular role to play, and is mapped to international customers, he explained. On the research front though, he said the research and development sites will see consolidation into one site at Genome Valley. And common functions like Finance and Human Resources could also be “leveraged”, he said, indicating some reorganisation. The combined entity will have 12 manufacturing facliities, including Suven’s five and Cohance’s seven. The final entity would have five research centres, including a single facility from Suven. While Suven’s revenues for the year ended March 2023 stood at ₹1,340 crore, the merged entity is pegged at ₹2,677 crore. On the company’s final employee strength, he said, it was too soon to comment, on any change in workforce as the merger process takes time and needed to be analysed. The combined entity will, once approved, will have three growth engines — pharma CDMO, speciality chemicals CDMO, and APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients). Cohance shareholders will be issued 11 equity shares of Suven for every 295 equity shares held in Cohance.  

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Uday Shankar to be VC of merged Reliance-Disney media business: Report

Former Walt Disney executive Uday Shankar will be named as vice chairman of the board following a merger between the India media assets of Reliance Industries and Disney, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.Reliance and Disney are expected to make a formal announcement on Wednesday after signing a binding pact. Shankar is set to take a stake of around 9% in the new merged entity, Reuters reported in February. Reliance and Disney each have a streaming service and 120 television channels between them and the deal is expected to strengthen Reliance's hold over India's $28 billion media and entertainment market.Reuters on Tuesday reported that the new entity is likely to have Nita Ambani, wife of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, as chair of the board.  

Reliance, Disney sign $8.5 bn deal to form JV, to merge media ops in India

India's top conglomerate Reliance Industries and Walt Disney on Wednesday announced the merger of their India TV and streaming media assets, creating an $8.5 billion entertainment juggernaut far ahead of rivals in the world's most populous nation.Reliance, led by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, will inject $1.4 billion in the merged entity, with the company and its affiliates holding a more than 63% stake. Disney will hold about 37%, the companies said in a joint statement.  For Disney, the merger follows its long-drawn struggle to arrest a user exodus from its bleeding India streaming business and financial strain caused by billions of dollars in Indian cricket rights payments, in another example how foreign businesses can struggle to grow in India.  The merger values the India business of the US entertainment giant at just around a quarter of the $15 billion valuation when Disney acquired it as part of its Fox deal in 2019, sources have said. The companies said the transaction values the merged venture at around $8.5 billion on a post-money basis. They did not explain how they arrived at such valuation. Together, the Reliance-Disney merged entity will have 120 TV channels and two streaming platforms, helping Ambani eclipse rivals such as Japan's Sony, India's Zee Entertainment and Netflix in the country's $28 billion media and entertainment sector. Reliance said Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance boss Mukesh Ambani, would chair the board of the combined entity, and former top Disney executive Uday Shankar would serve as vice chair.  "The JV will be one of the leading TV and digital streaming platforms for entertainment and sports content in India, bringing together iconic media assets across entertainment," the companies said in a joint statement.  The deal comes when Disney is facing pressure globally to streamline its businesses. Bob Iger returned as Disney chief executive in November 2022, less than a year after he retired, and has since restructured the company to make the business more cost effective.     

Advertisement rates may see correction following Disney-Reliance merger

While the Disney-Reliance  merger will rejig ad rates, experts are unsure if this is necessarily a bad thing. Advertisers are worried that the merged-co would rack up ad rates indiscriminately, especially as they wield a monopoly in live sports and linear programming. However, others argue that this is necessary course correction as far as pricing is concerned. Especially as the current ad rates are deemed too low to recover content costs for broadcasters and streaming firms. Right after the merger was announced, a report by UBS predicted that ad rates will rise by 20-25 per cent across the board. “Bargaining power of the broadcasters (now fewer and larger) would increase at the cost of the advertisers. There would also likely be some rationalization in content costs as well, leading to industry-level margin improvement,” analysts at UBS said in a note. Reacting to the merger, international advertising firm dentsu emphasised the need for 2-3 strong players in the media market to keep ad rates in check. “For the advertising and marketing sector, this presents a dual prospect of opportunities and challenges. On the positive side, it unlocks fresh possibilities for crafting and deploying innovative and compelling campaigns across an extensive and diverse portfolio of channels and platforms, providing us with extensive reach. However, it also heightens competition and enhances the negotiating power of the newly merged entity, enabling it to exert greater control over pricing and inventory. I hope that in the coming years, the merger achieves a balanced outcome. It’s crucial to maintain two or three major players in the market to foster a healthy and competitive environment, which ultimately should serve the end consumer,”  Harsha Razdan, CEO, South Asia, dentsu, explained. On the streaming front, a Disney-Reliance merged co might not necessarily wield a definitive monopoly, as Netflix and Amazon Prime will be able to hold their own against the merged entity. But the same cannot be said about live sports and linear programming according to Santosh N, Managing Partner at D&P Advisory. “Ad rates will certainly go up for sports and linear TV, but that might not necessarily be a bad thing. Moreover, Disney-Reliance cannot increase the rates indiscriminately, especially because advertisers will simply opt out, given that they have many alternative mediums for advertising.” “The coming together of Reliance and Disney will create a very large and dominant player on the supply side. But we conveniently forget that the demand side has always had a very large and dominant Group M with a 50%+ market share. So a strong media entity will now balance the scales. Interesting times ahead!,” Sandeep Goyal, Chairman, Rediffusion, said.      

Uday Shankar to be VC of merged Reliance-Disney media business: Report

Former Walt Disney executive Uday Shankar will be named as vice chairman of the board following a merger between the India media assets of Reliance Industries and Disney, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.Reliance and Disney are expected to make a formal announcement on Wednesday after signing a binding pact. Shankar is set to take a stake of around 9% in the new merged entity, Reuters reported in February. Reliance and Disney each have a streaming service and 120 television channels between them and the deal is expected to strengthen Reliance's hold over India's $28 billion media and entertainment market. Reuters on Tuesday reported that the new entity is likely to have Nita Ambani, wife of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, as chair of the board.  

Reliance, Disney sign $8.5 bn deal to form JV, to merge media ops in India

India's top conglomerate Reliance Industries and Walt Disney on Wednesday announced the merger of their India TV and streaming media assets, creating an $8.5 billion entertainment juggernaut far ahead of rivals in the world's most populous nation.Reliance, led by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, will inject $1.4 billion in the merged entity, with the company and its affiliates holding a more than 63% stake. Disney will hold about 37%, the companies said in a joint statement. For Disney, the merger follows its long-drawn struggle to arrest a user exodus from its bleeding India streaming business and financial strain caused by billions of dollars in Indian cricket rights payments, in another example how foreign businesses can struggle to grow in India.  The merger values the India business of the US entertainment giant at just around a quarter of the $15 billion valuation when Disney acquired it as part of its Fox deal in 2019, sources have said.The companies said the transaction values the merged venture at around $8.5 billion on a post-money basis. They did not explain how they arrived at such valuation.  Together, the Reliance-Disney merged entity will have 120 TV channels and two streaming platforms, helping Ambani eclipse rivals such as Japan's Sony, India's Zee Entertainment and Netflix in the country's $28 billion media and entertainment sector. Reliance said Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance boss Mukesh Ambani, would chair the board of the combined entity, and former top Disney executive Uday Shankar would serve as vice chair.  "The JV will be one of the leading TV and digital streaming platforms for entertainment and sports content in India, bringing together iconic media assets across entertainment," the companies said in a joint statement. The deal comes when Disney is facing pressure globally to streamline its businesses. Bob Iger returned as Disney chief executive in November 2022, less than a year after he retired, and has since restructured the company to make the business more cost effective.    

NCLT approves Hinduja Group’s resolution plan for Reliance Capital takeover

National Company Law Tribunal has approved IndusInd International Holdings’ resolution proposal for the acquisition of Reliance Capital. The Hinduja Group company has been given 90 days to implement the resolution, subject to regulatory and other approvals.“The RBI and SEBI approvals are expected to come by next week or so but the IRDAI application is in the process of being filed and might take some time,” sources told businessline. The NCLT application was made by RCap administrator Nageswara Rao Y, who took charge of the company in November 2021 when RBI superseded the erstwhile board of directors and initiated insolvency proceedings against the company. The CoC was constituted in December 2021 and met a total of 49 times starting January 2022, before the final proposal was submitted to the NCLT for its approval. “The resolution plan provides for the implementation of the terms thereof within a period of 90 days from the approval of the Resolution Plan by the Adjudicating Authority and receipt of certified copy of the order approving the Resolution Plan,” the NCLT notice said, adding that the 90-day timeline may be extended if required. IndusInd International has submitted a proposal that includes upfront cash payment of ₹9,650 crore, accounting for 37.03 per cent of the initial amount claimed. The company has also proposed an amount net of ₹50 crore for the benefit of the CoC, which will be part of the upfront cash and an additional Rs 11 crore over and above the proposed amount. On successful completion of the resolution plan, the Hinduja Group will acquire majority shares in Reliance Capital and the company will cease to be listed on stock exchange. Existing shareholding of the company will be cancelled and new shares will be issued to the companies nominated by Hinduja Group. The proposed acquisition is now awaiting the approval of the RBI for Reliance Capital and Reliance Asset Reconstruction,  Company Limited, IRDAI for Reliance General Insurance and Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, CCI for the takeover, and SEBI for Reliance Securities and other entities. The deal is also subject to sale of shares of Reliance Home Finance held by Reliance Capital in the open market on various dates.      

AIUBEA’s General Secretary N Shankar

The merger of public sector banks signals the initial step towards privatization and potentially leads to its acquisition by foreign entities, according to N Shankar, the general secretary of the All India Union Bank Employees Association.Criticizing the lack of clarity in Parliament regarding the rationale behind these mergers, he said the amalgamation of public sector banks is driven by clear political agendas.  While labour unions are actively protesting against further mergers, the central government appears inclined to pursue its policies of merger, especially in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections, he said. Shankar was speaking at the inauguration of the 37th state conference of the Union Bank of India Employees Union in Kochi.The state conference gains significance as it is the first to be held post the merger of Union, Andhra, and Corporation Banks. C Ananthakrishnan, President of the Union Bank Employees Union (Kerala), presided over the conference. The conference’s delegate session highlighted the staffing challenges faced by bank branches across the country and criticized management’s reluctance to appoint sub-staff/part-time sweepers, despite government directives. B Ramprakash, general secretary, All Kerala Bank Employees Federation, inaugurated the session.Additionally, the escalating issue of non-performing assets, reaching ₹4.28 lakh crore, drew condemnation, with the delegate session accusing the central government of inaction. Amidst these challenges, the conference celebrated Union Bank of India’s achievement in surpassing its business target of ₹19 trillion and called for collective employee cooperation to achieve the ambitious goal of ₹21.5 trillion business by the end of the first quarter in March 2024.    

Railways plans to take over debt-ridden RINL’s forged wheel plant

New Delhi, Feb 24 The Railways has emerged as the likely front-runner for takeover of the Rae Bareli forged wheel unit of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), officials involved in discussions told businessline. While the Railways has agreed “in-principle” to take over the unit and ramp-up capacities, discussions are on regarding the “consideration” for such a “transfer”. The proposal is likely to be placed for Cabinet approval “soon”, officials across the two ministries said. There could be an outright purchase, or an outsourcing agreement (payment made depending on production basis), or “any other form of agreement, details of which are being finalised”. RINL’s forged wheel plant at Uttar Pradesh has already seen an investment of over Rs 2,250 crore. The plant has an installed capacity of 80,000 forged wheels annually, and was commissioned in 2021. Although initial orders for around 2,000 wheels was delivered in FY23, “the plant is unable to operate at full capacity for several reasons” it was noted at internal meetings across ministries. It was also held that the company does not have the requisite expertise to ensure profitability of operations there. The Railways internal projections state that it can take up production of 40,000 units in the first phase, and by 60,000 in phase two, with the excess stock being exported in future. A turnaround of the unit is also projected in the next few years. “It is a high-cost plant simply because the forged wheel unit is unable to produce more than 10,000 units annually (on a run-rate basis). But, as numbers increase, there will be economies of scale. Some investments could also happen in the coming days,” an official said. While piecemeal disinvestment of the forged wheel unit is expected to help bring down debt levels at RINL, which stood at Rs 20,400 crore in FY23 (as per the company’s annual report), a takeover by the Railways will help the Ministry bring down its annual import bill. Indian Railways has been importing various types of forged wheels required for locomotives and coaching stock (LHB) since the 1960s from the UK, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Romania, Japan, China, Ukraine and Russia. Due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, all wheel import requirements are being met from China, sources said. In FY23, 80,000 wheels, estimated at Rs 520 crore, were imported from China & Russia, with the remaining 40,000 being sourced from SAIL, which supplies at an average rate of Rs 1,87,000 per tonne.  

Best Havells fans: Upgrade to modern models this summer with top 7 picks

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