Major Lenders To Future Group Reject Deal With RIL

Top of the Morning

In this episode, find out about MuSigma Dhiraj Rajaram’s plans to raise debt to buy out Sequioa, also find out why Indian markets are likely to remain weak on global cues.

Business Term of the Day: Net interest margins (NIM)

A clutch of lenders accounting for most of the loans to debt-laden Future Group on Thursday rejected a proposal to sell its retail, wholesale and logistics assets to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd after the Reliance Industries Ltd unit cut the deal value in a surprise move, two people aware of the development said. Reliance not only lowered the offer from the ₹24,713 crore agreed in 2020, but it also attached several conditions that need to be met for the deal to happen even at the new value.

Dhiraj Rajaram, the founder of artificial intelligence and data analytics business MuSigma, is set to raise about $220 million in offshore debt at an interest rate of about 4% to buy out investors Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic and over 14 angel investors, two people familiar with the development said.

This will raise Rajaram’s stake to about 85% from 51.6% in 2016. The rest of the shares are held by angels and employees.

After a year of offering only directional guidance, HCL Technologies Ltd on Thursday said it expects revenue for this fiscal year to grow between 12-14% in constant currency on the back of a buoyant market environment and strong growth momentum in the last three quarters, especially in the services business. It also forecast earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) margin in the range of 18-20% for FY23. Noida-based HCL posted a net profit of ₹3,593 crore for the March quarter, up 24% from a year earlier, excluding the impact of a one-time bonus paid to employees and tax expenses in the same period last year.

The Union government on Thursday said it would soon notify “quality-centric guidelines” for electric vehicles, even as a leading manufacturer recalled 2,000 two-wheelers to inspect batteries. Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari tweeted that the government will severely penalize EV makers found negligent in their processes once an expert committee investigating multiple incidents of EV fires in the last two months files its report. Several of these incidents have also proved to be fatal —five lives have been lost to EV fires so far.

Barbeque Nation: Investment firm Menu Pvt Ltd divested 1.30 per cent stake in casual dining chain Barbeque Nation for about ₹59 crore through an open market transaction. Those who picked up the shares of the Bengaluru-based casual dining chain were ace investor Ashish Ramesh Kacholia and Everest Finance and Investment Company.

 

Moving  onto markets

Domestic markets are eyeing a weak start on Friday as global mood turned sour overnight.

The Dow Jones slipped 1.1 per cent, the S&P 500 shed 1.5 per cent and Nasdaq tumbled 2.1 per cent on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve chief, Jerome Powell, suggested that the central bank would move aggressively to curb inflation and a 50 basis points rate hike was seen on the table in May 2022.

 

Major markets in Asia on Friday morning were seen tracking the US losses. Japan’s Nikkei plunged over 2 per cent. Kospi and Taiwan, too, were down a per cent each, while Straits Times declined 0.6 per cent.

 

SGx Nifty Futures, too, were down nearly 200 points at 17,199 at 7:55 AM,

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures advanced 1.4 per cent to $108.33 a barre

 

Business Term of the day

net interest margin is a measure of the difference between interest paid and interest received, adjusted for the total amount of interest-generating assets held by the bank. It is one indicator of a bank’s profitability and growth. It reveals how much the bank is earning in interest on its loans compared to how much it is paying out in interest on deposits.