M&A Magazine

Raymond Group , having an interest in Textile & Apparels, Real Estate, FMCG and Engineering products has decided to streamline its corporate structure. In pursuant to this, the company will separate its lifestyle business division to separate company & later to list it separately. Raymond Limited ( Raymond ) is India's largest integrated worsted suiting manufacturer that offers end-to-end solutions for fabrics and garmenting. Over the years, Raymond has been synonymous with quality, innovation and market leadership. It has some of the leading brands within its portfolio - Raymond Ready to Wear, Park Avenue, ColorPlus, Parx, Raymond Made to Measure amongst others. Raymond has one of the largest exclusive retail networks in the country with over 1500 stores across 601 towns. As a part of the diversified Group, it also has business interests in men's accessories, personal grooming & toiletries, prophylactics, engineering and auto components across national and int...

The real estate sector in the country is in the doldrums as the slump in the residential segment because of poor demand and high inventory shows no sign of improvement. Lakhs of home buyers have been left stranded after a number of real estate companies have failed to deliver their projects on time. Leading companies like Jaypee Infratech is facing bankruptcy at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the Supreme Court has asked the government-owned NBCC to take over all projects of Amrapali Builders and complete them as home buyers are stuck with incomplete projects for six to seven years and even much more. With sales going down and prices flat to declining, cash flows have dried up and construction activities have slowed down dramatically. And now with bank lending rates rising, buyers may stay away from loan-backed home purchases. The situation is even grave for smaller real estate companies as they are starved of funds as banks are reluctant to finance residential ho...

In the Indian e-start-up business space, Quikr has become everyone's envy. The pace at which it is acquiring companies to grow and diversify is remarkable. Since January last year, it has acquired around 8 companies, and the latest, it is buying two arms of HDFC's brokerage business – HDFC Realty and the digital business HDFC Red in an all-stock deal. It is estimated that the deal would be pegged around Rs 400 crore. In return, HDFC Ltd, the housing finance arm of HDFC Bank, will pick up 5% stake in Quikr, a leading online cross-category classifieds platform. The valuation of Quikr, one of a handful of homegrown unicorns (start-ups worth $1 billion), is pegged at around $1.5 billion, or around Rs 10,000 crore. The acquisition of these two arms of HDFC Ltd will help Quikr to scale up its business as it strives to get into potential business areas like real estate, automobiles, jobs and other customer-related services. The acquisition will also help Quikr to generate l...