ICICI arm to pick stake in Express holding firm

Leading private equity firm ICICI Venture is all set to pick up a significant stake in Nariman Point Building & Services, the holding company for the Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay).

The Express group is expected to get around Rs 500 crore from the deal.

The Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) that owns Express Towers, a prime property in the central business district of south Mumbai, is expected to be spun off so that the ICICI Venture investment is only in its real estate business.

When contacted, Indian Express' chief managing editor Shekhar Gupta said that he could not respond to queries on corporate developments.

The company's Mumbai -based corporate communications executive Vaidehi Thakar did not respond to Business Standard's queries on the deal.

The ICICI Venture spokesperson also declined to comment. But sources close to the deal said that the papers will be signed soon.

The publishing group has been looking to raise funds for expansion and the money from ICICI will help it in becoming a debt-free company.

In a letter written to the Express group employees in 2007, Gupta had said, "At this moment, we are also involved in a complex process of negotiating with bankers and exploring the market for making our company public. We expect that process to see fruition in the very near future. You will understand why, at this stage, we cannot disclose any more. But our company and brands have a huge equity in the market place."

In the past year or so the group has launched printing facilities in Mumbai (Mhape), Chandigarh, Lucknow and Aurangabad. It will soon launch printing facilities in Pune and Delhi.

Besides the flagship English daily and a business daily, the Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) publishes the film journal Screen and the Marathi daily Loksatta. It launched the independent Business Publication Division (BPD) in 1990, that covers sectors such as information technology, hospitality & travel, pharma & healthcare. ICICI Venture which manages assets worth $ 2.5 billion, is also planning a real estate fund of $2 billion.

The firm plans to raise $10 billion by 2010 and has already picked up stakes in properties in Mumbai and Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad.