Race for Jabong, Primary Market on High, Fat Tax in Kerala – Weekly Digest #4

E-commerce giants including Alibaba, Future Group, Myntra and Aditya Birla’s E-commerce are in a race to acquire Jabong, the online fashion portal. The deal size is expected to be around $250-300 million.
Government looking towards the policy of ‘Value Capture Financing’ to recover some of the premium that public infrastructure generates for private landowners.
Ultratech cement has increased its acquisition price for Jaypee Cements from Rs 15,900 crores in March 2016 to Rs 16,189 crores.
India’s primary market is likely to hit a 5 year high this year as it has already raised over Rs 800 crores from IPOs and expects a further rise by IPOs of L&T Infotech, RBL Bank and centre for sight.

Vodafone is ahead of its competitors, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, in a race to buy out Telenor’s operations in India. The valuation of its 4G band is roughly estimated to be $1 billion.
Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra are looking to reclaim their positions as major players in the industry by investing more than a billion $ each , to sharpen research, get new products and increase the capacity.
Nazara Games, mobile gaming startup, earned revenue of over Rs 220 crores for the FY 15-16. It looks to launch its services in 20 additional countries.
Axis Bank gets a nod from the government to raise FDI from 62% to 74%. This is the highest permissible FDI in private banks. This move expects an inflow of Rs 13,000 crores.

For FY 15-16, Zomato India’s revenue saw a rise from Rs 46 crores to Rs 81 crores. However, the loss from operations saw a rise from Rs 62.3 crores to Rs 247 crores.
Vedanta Resources looks to expand its reach by investing $1 billion for establishing its operations in the African continent. It seeks growth for its metals and mining group.
The state of Maharashtra to improve its infrastructure in rural areas by funding over $10 billion in the project. This move comes in support of the fact that many countries are keen to invest in the state.
The government is using information collected under various international tax agreements to identify the tax evaders and to write them to urge them to come clean under the current black money scheme.

In a bid for GE capital’s stake in SBI card, final four participants have emerged as Credit Saison, Warburg, Carlyle-Cognizant and General Atlantic Tysys. It is expected to be India’s third largest credit card deal, valued at $750-1000 million.
Despite a relaxation of rules and norms for foreign companies selling products with ‘cutting edge’ and ‘state of the art’ technology, Apple Inc is in no rush to open retail stores in India, until there is clarity on sourcing rules.
Laforge’s India portfolio may end up with a domestic company, as Nirma, Ajay Primal Group and JSW Cements made it to the final shortlist to acquire it.
Avast Software has agreed to buy its competitor, AVG technologies, in $1.3 billion cash deal.
To tap the potential in the service sector, Snapdeal is looking to expand its portfolio of services, by including services among others like flight ticket booking, hotel reservation and ordering food.

Due to the uncertainty arising due to Brexit, Tata Steel has cancelled the sale of its assets in the country. It is now in talks with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp for a joint venture. However, it is still considering the sale of special units in the UK.
Kerala to introduce ‘Fat Tax’ on fast foods such as pizzas, burgers etc. The rate of such tax would be 14.5%.
Ringing Bells to initiate the delivery of its Rs 251 smartphone from 8th July. This comes a day after it requested Modi government a grant of Rs 50,000 crores to recover losses on the handset as a part of Digital India Scheme.

Source: The Economic Times
Moneycontrol.com