MC Insider: Wedding season, cement’s telecom moment, deal murmurs, G-Sec launch, and more

Two state-run maharatnas announced their financial results for the fourth quarter of 2021-22 and decided to address the media in the financial capital of the country last week. A small catch - both press meetings were only 30 minutes away in two different suburbs of the city. Journalists asked both companies to change the time; the same set of reporters had to attend both. After much back and forth, Maharatna 1 changed the time. But the two conferences started only one and a half hours apart; not enough time if you also factor in the traffic. In a “mission” worthy of a thriller, officials from Maharatna 2 came with cars to the press conference of Maharatna 1, mingled with the journalists and told them the exit plan. As soon as the first press conference ended, they whisked away the journalists in their cars to the second location. A minute by minute update of the movement of the cars with journalist was given to senior officials of Maharatna 2, and the entourage made it almost in time. “This is a first,” a veteran journalist sighed. Safe to say this set of journalists will never question them on planning and execution!

Now here’s one swell way to beat the heat in Mumbai and Delhi. Many corporate honchos and market veterans have made a beeline to Cannes (some left over the weekend) to attend the big fat wedding in the family of a diversified business group. We hear another fancy wedding in the PE fraternity is also slated for this month at Lake Cuomo. Our best wishes to both couples.

The healthcare sector is buzzing with M&A action with several sale processes and secondary exits in the works. We hear a meaty block deal is being weighed (not anytime soon though) by a leading private equity player in its portfolio firm which had acquired a south based target late last year. Any guesses?

Two recent seismic events in the cement industry -- Adani’s $10 bn buyout of Holcim’s India assets and market leader UltraTech’s aggressive Rs 12,000 crore capex announcement -- have left investors wondering if this is the segment’s ‘telecom moment’ which will lead to fast, inevitable consolidation. But an analyst differed and was not ready to buy the theme, saying that the cement sector was a low-fixed cost and low–capex sector and was broadly in a ‘strong position’. What do you think?

A clutch of IPOs in the startup space have been deferred owing to the choppy markets and a dip in tech valuations. A little birdie tells us one such player decided to play the waiting game not so much due to market forces but more due to a delayed internal rejig. What was the rejig about? Well the firm wants to fall in the IOCC ( Indian owned and controlled company) category and only then proceed further. Aatma Nirbharta factor at play? We aint sure!

The hefty fees charged by a top lawyer who is appearing for a private bank against a group of former directors in a case related to a board seat battle has raised the eyebrows of shareholders. Alleging this legal battle has spiked the expenses of the bank, the shareholders have written to the board seeking an explanation. This has forced the bank to call a shareholders' meeting. The bank had to get the top lawyer after the counterparties managed to get a top politician-lawyer to appear for them. Interestingly, the shareholders questioning the bank's decision to hire the top lawyer also includes a powerful shareholder who too is keen for a board berth.

It was at the behest of the Union health ministry that ‘SUTRA’, a mathematical model for predicting COVID-19 waves in the country, was created under the aegis of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. However, after several of its predictions proved to be incorrect, the ministry has now asked the academicians managing the model not to release it publicly without prior approval of the government. This, said insiders in the ministry, was after people started trolling the ministry on social media as a number of predictions turned out to be far from reality. "All mathematical models have their own limitations but we were becoming a butt of all jokes," said an official.

One of the largest mutual funds in the country is looking to launch a G-sec based TMF( target maturity fund) with 29 year maturity. According to sources, the fund could get launched after the NFO ban gets lifted (new fund launches expected to be allowed from July). Debt fund managers say such products are attractive for debt investors looking at long-term alternatives to Bank FDs. "Bank FD rates will not necessarily go up in-line with rising interest rates," said a debt CIO. Most banks offer FDs with maximum tenure of up to 10 years. Financial planners say prevailing high yields offer a good entry point in TMFs.