Kausik Datta: No full stops on M&A street

My Week

Sunday
My leisurely breakfast was interrupted by a phone call and at that moment I realised that it was going to be another working Sunday (did I hear you say 'What's that?'). On the line was a banker friend who broke the news that the Anchor Group was about to announce the sale of its electrical business to a foreign firm on Monday. It was time to hit the phone lines. Several calls and a particularly cold breakfast later, I had three names "" French giant Schneider, Japan's Matsushita and Germany's Siemens. Ahem, I also learnt that Schneider was in advanced stages of discussion with the Shah family, the promoters of Anchor. Trust me, for an M&A reporter, every bit of information counts..

Monday
I am getting familiar with the idea of waking up to phone calls now. This time, it was an M&A executive from a large, diversified group doing the honours. He was sure that Schneider, which wanted complete control of Anchor Electricals, will not be in a position to wrap the deal since the Shah family wanted to retain a minority stake. He was also sure that the second highest bidder, Matsushita, and Anchor will address a press conference at noon. How I wish I had this information some nine hours back! As it turned out, my contact was spot-on and Schneider pulled out of the deal. The Shah family, in yet another example of Indian family-run businesses getting excellent valuations from foreign firms, sold an 80 per cent stake in Anchor Electricals.

Tuesday
It promised to be a long day, as Vedanta Resources was to announce its acquisition of the country's largest private sector iron ore exporter, Sesa Goa. On my way to the venue, the Taj Mahal Hotel in south Mumbai, I got a call from the editor who told me to ensure that we got an exclusive interview with the Vedanta chairman, Anil Agarwal. Piece of cake indeed, I mean, to ask a reporter to get an exclusive interview and really another thing to get it done "" more so, since it was going to be a simultaneous announcement in India and Japan (Sesa Goa's owner is Japan's second largest trading company, Mitsui & Co). At times miracles do happen though "" Anil Agarwal was in a mood to celebrate and had all his time for me.

Wednesday
I though it would be another exciting day when I saw an international agency report that Coca-Cola was interested in buying out Glaceau, the American energy water company in which Tata Tea has a 30 per cent stake. But it turned out to be a dull, routine news report as the Tata Group remained tight-lipped on their strategy. The evening was rather colourful at the former Lazard India chairman Udayan Bose's Bengali New Year party. I saw Sushim Mukul Dutta enjoying his drink in a quiet corner of the hall which was filled up by almost all the top editors of financial newspapers in the city.

Also...
The Indian acquisition spree continues. I learnt on Thursday that eight metal companies including Hindalco and Vedanta Resources have expressed interests to acquire an 88 per cent stake in Bosnia's Aluminji Mostar. It seems no foreign company's sell-off is complete without having attracted an Indian bid, a banker friend said at an evening gathering. That is good news for an M&A reporter, especially in the midst of the results season.