Shailendra Mundra, former Director Lafarge North America Inc. has joined Subhkam Ventures as Joint Managing Director. Prior to joining Subhkam, he was associated for over 12 years with Lafarge in India, Nigeria and the USA. At Lafarge, he worked on business development and entry strategy for its operations in India before moving overseas to take up positions in Lafarge’s global operations in Nigeria and the USA. Earlier he was with Shaw Wallace & Co. Shailendra is an alumnus of IIT, Delhi and an MBA from ENPC, Paris. Rakesh Kathotia, Chairman, Subhkam Ventures, said, “Shailendra Mundra’s experience in the areas of strategy, mergers & acquisitions, and marketing shall further add to Subhkam Ventures’ industry domain expertise.” Subhkam Ventures is a boutique private equity firm, which invests in Private Equity and PIPEs. The company has been building up its portfolio and scale over the years and with a portfolio covering various sectors is one of the prominent players in the private equity space. The company has built up a strong team of professionals and the induction of Shailendra Mundra as Joint Managing Director will further strengthen its team.

Mumbai, June 12, 2008: Private equity player Subhkam Ventures has increased its stake in Shakti Pumps (India) Ltd., a leading stainless steel submersible pump manufacturer in India, to 12.05%. The mode of increase in holding is by way conversion of warrants allotted to Subhkam Ventures on preferential basis. Explaining the rationale, Mr. Manu Punnoose, Director & CEO, Subhkam Ventures, said, "Shakti Pumps (India) Ltd. has demonstrated its products´ superiority and credentials and is successfully competing with the world largest player Grundfos in the export market. This is quite evident from the fact that its sales predominantly comes from exports. Backed by a range of quality products, it is poised to improve its performance substantially in the years ahead. The most striking feature of its product line is its energy efficiency of over 30 per cent over other competing products." The Company follows its accounting year ending on June 30 and it is expected to close FY08 with turnover of over Rs. 100 crore. The Company caters to both the domestic as well as export market. Lately, the Company has increased its production capacity substantially and is set to increase its turnover significantly in the near future. Buoyed by the success of its pumps in the market, the Company has major plans to ramp up its distribution network in India ands across the world. The Company has two state of the art facilities in Indore. Based on its superior quality, Shakti Pumps has been able to successfully compete with world leader Grundfos in the major international markets. The pumps of the Company are almost 30% more energy efficient than other pumps in the market. The efficiency of Shakti Pumps has been certified by various state agencies in India. Shakti Pumps energy efficiency quotient will keep it in good stead in the future. At present, farmers are given power subsidy in various states in India. However, the government of few states has realized that subsidized power is not long-term solution and is working towards rationalizing subsidies. This will augur well for the energy efficient Shakti Pumps. With concern on global warming increasing by the day, companies such as Shakti Pumps stand to gain. As the pumps consume less power for similar output compared to other pumps in the market, it is probable that projects / agencies using energy efficient pumps including Shakti Pumps would be eligible for carbon credits. Also, the Government is mulling with the idea of making it compulsory for government bodies to use pumps marked with Bureau of Energy Efficiency certification. This would substantially benefit companies such as Shakti Pumps. About Shakti Pumps (India) Ltd. Becoming a Limited company in the year 1995, Shakti Pumps (India) Ltd. became one of the few Indian Companies catering to the international market. Today, brand Shakti is a force to reckon with due to its strong product line and technology that´s at par with the best in the international markets. With wide range domestic and industrial applications, Shakti comes across the most versatile range of Stainless Steel Submersible Pumps. It has carved a niche among quality conscious users around the globe. Today, it fabricates 4", 6", 8" 10" and 12" Submersible Pumps, which are exported to more that 40 countries around the globe. The quality control department keeps a constant watch on the entire manufacturing process starting from raw material procurement to every phase of assembly line, testing, packaging etc. Research & Development under guidance of technical experts is an on going process ensuring continuous improvement of the products. About Subhkam Ventures Subhkam Ventures is a boutique Private Equity, which has been investing in Private Equity and PIPEs for over the past nine years. The Company typically invests between $2 million to $10 million in these companies. Subhkam has build up a private equity portfolio of around 24 companies over a period of time with focus on mid sized companies especially in the sectors like Infrastructure, Telecom, Healthcare, Financial Services, Aerospace, Tourism, Environment, Alternate Energy and the likes. Contact Details (For Press Reference Only): Name:- Molecule PR Tel:- Email:- moleculepr@gmail.com Company:- Molecule PR

The company will be the anchor investor, putting in 25% of the fund which will be deployed within a year Private equity (PE) firm Subhkam Ventures will raise its first formal fund of $100-125 million (Rs403-503.75 crore) in March. The firm, founded by first generation entrepreneur Rakesh Kathotia, has been quietly running on reinvested proprietary capital of $200 million across its PE and broking businesses Subhkam Securities Pvt. Ltd and Subhkam Stocks and Shares Ltd. Of that, more than $100 million has been placed into PE investments, mostly in the power and ancillary infrastructure sectors. Subhkam typically invests $3-10 million, but will raise that range to $5-15 million for the new fund. Of the firm’s 22 deals, a quarter have been Pipe (private investment in public equity) transactions. Its latest private investment was in Aqua Infra Projects Ltd, which is establishing a greenfield project in Uttarakhand for water distribution. Other investments include a 2004 Pipe deal with Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd, in which Blackstone Group later invested $150 million, and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd, which saw investments from ICICI Venture Funds Management Co. Ltd and International Finance Corp. of the World Bank. Subhkam has exited from five companies, including its 2005 exit from Nagarjuna. Manu Punnoose, chief executive of Subhkam’s PE business, said this is the right time to raise a fund because the sectors they have expertise in have become more attractive. The new fund will be raised domestically and Subhkam will be the anchor investor putting in 25%, or $25-31.25 million. The funds will be deployed in six months to a year, after which it will look to raise a second, larger fund. He said the business has grown more than 100% in five years, but is expecting 25-30% growth for the new fund. He said the market dip makes this a ripe time to raise a domestic fund as the limited number of investors may be even more ready to invest in PE. “The savvy investor now sees PE as an asset class,” he said.

Sequoia Capital India is picking up 29.09 per cent stake for Rs 120 crore in Delhi-based financial services firm Unicon Financial Intermediaries Pvt Ltd. The investment is done by Mauritius based Sequoia Capital India Growth Investments I. The company’s promoters include former Indiabulls executives Gajendra Nagpal and Ram Mohan Gupta. It also has one NRI investor Nitish R Doshi who holds 5.92 per cent stake. Unicon Financial Intermediaries is the holding company of the Unicon Group, which owns various subsidiaries doing businesses in commodity broking, stock broking, real estate broking, insurance agency and broking, and non-banking finance activities. Unicom Financial was incorporated in 2004, while the subsidiaries were formed during 2005 and 2006. Nagpal has served at senior positions for five years with Kotak securities at a regional level and Indiabulls Securities for four years at national level assignments. He has significant experience in building a retail broking network at Indiabulls. Gupta has held senior level positions in Karvy stock broking and Indiabulls Securities. Capital Use Sequoia has proposed to make a minimum investment of Rs 70 crore and a maximum investment of Rs 120 crore for 29.09 per cent stake. The holding company will use the capital from Sequoia for carrying on businesses of the five subsidiaries – Unicon Commodities (commodity broking; a member of NCDEX, MCX AND NMCE), Unicon Securities (stock broking, BSE and NSE), Unicon Real Estates (real estate broking), Unicon Insurance Advisors (corporate insurance agent), and Unicon Fincap (non-banking finance business). Unicon Securities, although incorporated in 1995 as Fairbusiness Securities & Leasing Pvt Ltd, changed its name twice, first in 1998 and in 2007. It got its Bombay and National Stock exchange memberships in 2007. Similarly, Unicon Fincap was also first incorporated in 1994 as Gratis Finance and investments, and in 2006 assumed its latest name. It received Category B NBFC licence (non-deposit taking) from Reserve Bank of India in 2006. These two companies could have been acquisitions made by Unicon. The Sequoia transaction is subject to government approval. Post-Sequoia investment, the foreign holding in Unicon will be 33.28 per cent. Hundred per cent FDI is allowed in all businesses except that there is a need for clarity on insurance sector. There is only 26 per cent FDI allowed in insurance business, but what the government will have to take a call on is if corporate insurance agents fall in that category. If the transaction is approved, Unicon Insurance Advisors will apply for broking licence from IRDA. This is the third second financial services investment of Sequoia Capital India, which manages about $1.25 billion in total assets under management. It had earlier picked up a small stake (probably less than 3 per cent) in Edelweiss Capital, a Mumbai based institutional broking and investment banking firm. Last month, it also invested Rs 35 crore in Kerala based Manappuram Group, a non-banking finance company which accepts deposits from public.

Civil engineering and construction company MSK Projects India plans to get into setting up hydel power projects in the next financial year that will start April, a top company official said today. “We are seriously looking at hydel power construction, and we will bid for projects starting next financial year (2008-09),” Managing Director Ashok Khurana said. Of the country´s total installed power capacity of over 135,000 mw, hydel power accounts for 25 per cent. The government plans to raise hydel power´s share to 40 per cent in view of its environment friendliness and cost effectiveness. According to the Central Electricity Authority, the country has been able to tap merely 21 per cent of the total 148,701 mw identified hydel power capacity. Shares of MSK on Thursday hit the upper circuit after the company earlier this week said it will offer up to 4.5 million shares to Subhkam Holding on a preferential basis. This will raise Subhkam´s stake in MSK to 24.26 per cent. Subhkam will acquire an additional 20 per cent stake through an open offer to shareholders. The offer, at Rs 84 a share, will be open December 14-January 2. MSK will raise about Rs 37 crore from the preferential allotment. Khurana said the company will use the money to execute its build-operate-transfer contracts. We will have enough funds after the preferential issue. The rest of the expenditure will be made from the toll collected from various BOT projects, he said. Khurana said MSK is currently executing turnkey projects worth Rs 1050 crore, of which about Rs 650 crore projects are on a build-operate-transfer basis. The largest among these orders-147 km Bhopal-Dewas road project costing Rs 550 crore is being executed in joint venture with two other private companies, Khurana said. MSK will have 51 per cent equity stake in the joint venture. Projecting the financial performance of the company, Khurana said the company´s revenues for the current financial year are likely to grow 81 per cent year-on-year to Rs 290 crore, while net profit is seen growing over 140 per cent to Rs 25 crore.

MUMBAI: Private equity player Subhkam Ventures on Monday said that it has consolidated its stake in MSK Projects ( India ) by acquiring 40 lakh shares for Rs 33.6 crore. The company has acquired the shares through its investment entity Subhkam Holding Pvt Ltd (SHPL) increasing its stake in MSK Projects to 24.26 per cent, up from the existing 8.8 per cent, Subhkam Ventures said in release issued here. SHPL will make an open offer to acquire another 20 per cent share of the target company pursuant to the provisions of the SEBI takeover code, the release said. Subhkam Ventures´ Chairman Rakesh S Kathotia said when it came to investments, it focused on industries which had the potential to grow and become a size to reckon with in the near future. "We also consider investing in companies that have a strong mana gement team, a long-term vision and business ethics which are closely aligned with our own vision and a strong talent pool, among other characteristics,´´ Mr Kathotia added. "To that extent, MSK Projects is a good fit and we are confident the company will benefit from our investment and reach new heights in future,´´ he said. - PTI

MSK Projects (India) Ltd., a leading infrastructure company, has announced that Subhkam Ventures, through its investment entity Subhkam Holding Private Limited (SHPL) has invested Rs. 33.6 crore in the company by subscribing to 40 lakh shares at Rs. 84 per share. The company has raised a total of 37.4 crores by way placement of 44.5 lakh shares on preferential basis with Subhkam Holdings and others. With this investment Subhkam´s holding is at 24.26 percent of the equity capital in the company, and SHPL shall now make an open offer to acquire 20% of equity capital of the company pursuant to the provisions of SEBI Takeover guidelines. "Over the years we have consolidated our business and have gained a reputation as BOT experts in the industry. This additional investment by Subhkam Ventures will allow us to expand our business further and undertake more projects under BOT," said Mr. Ashok Khurana, Managing Director, MSK Projects (India) Ltd. He adds, "our primary focus lies in taking projects on BOT basis in the public utilities space like water distribution, bus terminals etc., apart from undertaking road projects, where we have a unique advantage of having plenty of experience." This additional infusion of capital will further strengthen the company to take on larger projects and consolidate its position in the industry.

MUMBAI: Private equity firm Subhkam Ventures said on Monday it had acquired 4 million shares in construction firm, MSK Projects India Ltd, at Rs 84 each. Subhkam has raised its stake to 24.26 per cent from 8.8 per cent in the company and would now make an open offer for another 20 per cent, it said in a statement.

KOLKATA: With pharma biggies like Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy´s Lab announcing plans to tap the regulated biotech drug market, mid-sized players in the segment are harbouring such ambitions. Hyderabad-based mid-sized biotech firm Bharat Biotech International is finalising plans to roll out drugs in Europe and US. For starters, the company will initiate European trials on three products which will be soon filed to the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for regulatory approval. It is also in talks with a couple of US pharma companies to enter into a technology and marketing partnership. Elaborating, Bharat Biotech International chairman and managing director Krishna M. Ella said the company intends to carve out a niche in the wound care segment for Europe and US. “We will commence regulatory filings over the next six months,” he said. The company has plans to launch its blockbuster product ‘Regen-D´ in Europe. The drug is India´s first recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) which is used for treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, burns and skin grafts. However, the company declined to give the name of the other two drugs shortlisted for Europe. “The Phase III and post-marketing surveillance data for Regen-D has been recently published in noted journal ‘Wounds´. We will also develop a fresh set of Phase III trial data for drugs in Europe. This will facilitate the regulatory process,” said Mr Ella. As far as US plans go, Bharat Biotech will enter into a tie-up with a US bio-pharma company for joint drug development and marketing. “This will be mainly developing newer drug applications. As part of the negotiations, we will get a percentage of the sales. The deal should be finalised by this fiscal,” Mr Ella said. Bharat Biotech exports its products to Kenya, Zambia, Peru, Bolivia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Kenya, Vietnam, Malaysia and Columbia. This apart, it has seven products in Phase II trials in areas like Japanese encephalitis, malaria vaccine, rotavirus vaccine and anti-infective. Future projects are in areas like combination vaccines, bio-antibiotics, combination probiotics and chikungunya vaccine.

Subhkam Group of Mumbai, promoted by Mr Rakesh S. Kathotia, is all set to acquire controlling stake in Nagarjuna Agri Tech Ltd (NATL), part of the Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna Group with diversified interests in fertilisers, pesticides, agri-products, power and oil. According to sources, Subhkam Group is planning to initially acquire 24.71 per cent holding in NATL through the preferential offer route. As a part of this, the Rakesh Kathotia entity would acquire two lakh shares and 2-lakh share warrants convertible into equity shares. Since acquisition of more than 15 per cent holding attracts the SEBI Takeover Code, the group would go in for an open offer to acquire another 20 per cent holding, taking its total holding in the Nagarjuna Group company to 44.71 per cent. Subsequently, the conversion of share warrants into equity shares enables the Subhkam Group to further consolidate its stake in NATL to 55.66 per cent on the expanded equity of Rs 10.09 crore from the current equity of Rs 6.09 crore. Funds crunch:- Sources told Business Line that NATL had faced continuous financial and business difficulties that resulted in substantial accumulated losses. Though the market conditions have started improving, the company is currently not in a position to take advantage of the opportunities owing to serious funds crunch. Keeping this in view, the company has decided to forfeit 26,58,700 shares at a board meeting held during the first week of March. The company has also approached certain financial investors, who have showed interest in investing in the company´s equity. Following the preferential offer of equity shares, the holding of NATL promoters would come down from the existing 47.32 per cent to 35.62 per cent initially. The conversion of share warrants into equity shares later would further bring down their holding in the company to 28.57 per cent on the expanded equity, sources added.