Disney acquires Fox, SC stays order in Unitech Case, Warburg acquires Airtel DTH stake- Weekly Digest #56

Ericsson has roped in senior counsel Darius Khambata to represent it in its insolvency petition against RCom at NCLT. Khambata is also representing CDB in its insolvency plea against the Rcom company to recover dues worth $1.78 billion
Simility, a provider fraud prevention solution, has secured $17.5 million in Accel-led series-B funding. The proceeds are to be utilised to fuel its expansion plans.
Owing to high investor expectation regarding BJP retaining majority in the crucial state of Gujrat, the market stayed on a positive note. The Sensex gained 205 points to close at 33,456 points while the Nifty rose 57 points to close at 10,322 points.

Consumer inflation touched a 15-month high in November at 4.88%, while industrial growth dropped to a 3-month low in October. This has been a blow for an economy recovering from effects of tax revamp and demonetisation.
A consortium of Aion Capital Partners and JSW emerged the strongest contender for acquiring Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd. The latter was one of the 12 companies listed by the RBI for insolvency proceedings.
Private equity firm Warburg Pincus to acquire 20% stake in DTH arm of Bharti Group for an amount of $350 million. The proceeds are likely to be utilised to stay in competition with Reliance Jio.
Owing to oil prices climbing $65 per barrel, the market broke a 3-day bullish streak with the Sensex falling 228 points to 33228 points and the Nifty falling 82 points to 10240 points.
PNB raised an amount of ₹5,000 crore through QIP of equity shares issued @₹168 per share. The majority was subscribed by LIC.

E-retailer Flipkart has successfully completed its employee stock ownership repurchase plan worth over $100 million, making it the biggest such scheme in the Indian startup sector.
The board of Tata Communications has approved a proposal to transfer about 773 acres of surplus land to Hemisphere Properties India. This matter dates back to 2002 disinvestment of VSNL.
The SC stayed NCLT order directing the government to take over real estate firm Unitech. The Centre apologised for approaching the NCLT over a matter that was being dealt with by the SC,
The RBI has imposed a penalty of ₹3 crore on IndusInd Bank for breaching rules on income classification norms regarding non-performing loans and extension of non-fund based limits.

Walt Disney has acquired a stake in 21st Century Fox for an amount of $52.4-billion. The deal will enable the former to land into the Indian entertainment sector by giving rights to some of the country’s biggest media properties such as IPL.
Cognizant said it was beginning a $300-million accelerated share repurchase programme as part of its plan to buy back $1.2 billion of shares in 2018.
CCI has approved the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s stake purchase in the grocery e-retailer BigBasket. Alibaba to acquire 33% stake for $300 million.

Import duty on various electronics raised by the government through a notification. The move has been made to promote the Make in India initiative and will prompt companies like Apple to favour local production.
The government has announced March 31, 2018, as the new deadline to link Aadhar number with phone numbers.
Real estate developer, Jaiprakash Associates, to sell all its five hospitality assets under the brand Jaypee Hotels and Resorts for an estimated amount of ₹2,500 crore.
The SC has given Jaypee Infratech time until January 25 to pay the last ₹125 crore instalment for distribution to homebuyers in its delayed projects. It has warned it of contempt of court action if it fails to meet the new deadline.

Source: The Economic Times