Indian tycoon's $9 billion tidy-up is too cleverKumar Mangalam Birla has taken his tidy-up a step too far. The Indian tycoon is merging his two listed holding companies in a $9 billion deal. It helps to streamline his Aditya Birla conglomerate. But the overly complex deal gives investors on both sides reasons to grumble.Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABN), which has interests in everything from insurance to telecoms, will be taken over by Grasim, which owns India's biggest cement company, UltraTech, and other chemicals and textiles businesses. The share swap is effectively a zero-premium merger based on stock prices before news of the deal began to leak. The enlarged entity will then separately spin off its financial services arm.The deal will consolidate some small shareholdings in other publicly traded companies such as Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail but the tie-up creates more uncertainties than benefits.ABN investors had hoped for a simple spinoff of the financial arm, which has come of age

Too clever by half

Reuters

India pharma deal suggests Fosun is an M&A junkieFosun is still a deal junkie. The Chinese conglomerate's drug unit is buying India's Gland Pharma for up to $1.3 billion. Shortages should boost prices of injectable drugs in the United States, a key market for the group backed by private equity firm KKR. Still, it is hard to reconcile Fosun's latest deal binge with its promise to cut debt.The Chinese group picked up interests in everything from Club Med to Canada's Cirque du Soleil before Fosun boss Guo Guangchang abruptly disappeared at the end of last year to help Chinese authorities with an investigation. When he resurfaced, Guo said he would pull back on foreign acquisitions, at least in pricey-looking developed markets, and had a clear plan to reduce debt.For a short while, Fosun seemed committed to overcoming its deal addiction. It walked away from private bank BHF Kleinwort Benson and Israeli insurer Phoenix Holdings. Credit rating agencies took comfort from the vows of finan

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Samsung win is bittersweet for ruling Lee familyThe Lee family behind Samsung will be breathing a heavy sigh of relief. A $9 billion intergroup merger has been narrowly passed by shareholders, despite opposition led by Elliott, the hedge fund manager. That helps the family, whose patriarch is seriously ill, in its succession planning. But the US activist is likely to fight on. And, the challenge shows South Korea's largest conglomerate is vulnerable to restive investors as it continues to restructure.Samsung went to extraordinary lengths, handing out watermelons to shareholders and publishing pleading newspaper adverts. The target company, C&T, even sold six per cent of itself to friends in order to rally support for the takeover by Cheil Industries, the family's key control vehicle. Even so, only 69.5 per cent of shareholders who voted said yes, only three per cent more than the minimum required.So, the victory is bittersweet because it shows that serious opposition is finally eme

Bittersweet

Online boom reboots private equity in IndiaPrivate equity is rebooting in India. Even as billions of dollars remain stuck in investments from the last cycle, a record year of fundraisings and deals is underway. One reason is that new players have flocked to cash in on the country's online boom.Investments into private equity have already totalled $9.5 billion in the first six months of the year, data compiled by Bain & Company shows. At the current pace, volumes will exceed the record $17.1 billion the consultancy says was invested in 2007. New fundraisings are booming too.With investors lured by the promise of Alibaba-like returns in a potentially huge consumer market, e-commerce is the showstopper. An investment by an affiliate of the Chinese giant into the owner of mobile wallet Paytm claims the spot as the biggest private equity investment so far this year, worth $635 million. New financial backing for taxi-hailing app Ola comes in next.Bain data also shows that three of the 10

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Una Galani

Una Galani

Una Galani

Too clever by half

Relapse

Guts or nuts?

Just the start

Hanging up

Solid foundation

Test of faith

Mainland squeeze

Heroic effort

Merry times

Air today

Power clean

The best things are free

Uber under

Slippery slope

A new model

Bittersweet

Online riches

No shelter

Open the floodgates