Son Sterling

Looking For Son Sterling ? We"ve Done the Hard Work For You!

Find More Son Sterling Below. Scroll Down Now!

IVA OFFSHOOT PICKS 49% IN AAMBY VALLEY

 

Majority Control Stays with Sahara Group

 

An Investment arm of C Sivasankaran, the non-resident Indian businessman better known as Siva in India Inc circles, has emerged as a significant shareholder in Aamby Valley—the company floated by Sahara Group to develop Aamby Valley City—a famous up market township project in Maharashtra.

  

According to documents available with ET, Siva Ventures (SVL)—a whollyowned subsidiary and the principal investment offshoot of Sterling Infotech Group promoted by Mr Sivasankaran—owns a 49% equity stake in Aamby Valley.

 

In a recently-prepared information memorandum, Siva Ventures said it “has a significant presence in infrastructure and township building business by way of 49% ownership in the equity share capital of Aamby Valley, owners of Aamby Valley City”.

  

The information memorandum was prepared last month when Siva Ventures raised Rs 435 crore through private placement of non-convertible debentures. ET has a copy of the memorandum.

  

The majority control in Aamby Valley remains with Sahara Group, which owns a 51% equity stake.

  

The story was first reported on ET NOW, this daily’s business channel.

  

A senior official said Sterling Infotech Group was a “private equity investor” in Aamby Valley”.

  

“The deal is between two private parties, viz., Sahara Group and Sterling Infotech Group. Whatever is required to be disclosed to the statutory authorities by Sterling Infotech Group is alone permitted to be disclosed and the same, as you are aware, is available for the asking. The two parties have entered into this deal after signing appropriate non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements. I am afraid the details, except for statutory and regulatory purposes, cannot be revealed by either party,” said K Sethuraman, vicepresident (legal), Sterling Infotech Group.

  

Mr Sethuraman was responding to questions from ET on the holding structure of Aamby Valley.

  

The Sahara spokesperson did not respond to a set of emailed questions. The spokesperson said he was not in a position to comment at this point in time.

  

In a detailed email response to ET late on Wednesday evening, Mr Sivasankaran, the chairman of Siva Ventures, appeared to deny that any transaction had taken place, describing the information available with this paper as “untrue” and “unreliable”.

 

Flurry of deals in recent times

 

“I would like to bring to your notice that the information is absolutely untrue, without any basis and if there is anything, it is a separate matter which is private. It has no relevance to be published,” Mr Sivasankaran said.

  

The origin of the transaction, valuation of the deal and the exact timing are not known. A number of sources familiar with the matter said Sahara had borrowed a substantial amount from Mr Sivasankaran’s group by pledging shares of Aamby Valley, though this could not be ascertained from the Group. Subsequently, SVL became a shareholder in the company, though the precise sequence of events by which this occurred could not be ascertained. The sources familiar with the deal referred to earlier said it could have happened as long ago as 2007—the same year Sahara had sold its airline business to Jet Airways.

  

Aamby Valley City is Sahara’s flagship realty project. It is planned over 10,000 acres and has been positioned as an upmarket hill township with ambitions of figuring among the top five destinations in the world. Celebrities like Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova, actor Amitabh Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai own villas in this township.

  

Siva Ventures has taken 171 timber chalets in Aamby Valley on lease for 997 years, according to the memorandum. These are valued at around Rs 15 crore each.

  

Mr Sivasankaran has aggressively entered the Indian realty market this year. In May, he bought a 66% stake in a realty project in Mumbai from DLF for Rs 310 crore. The reality project is on land occupied by the nowclosed Hindoostan Mill in Central Mumbai.

  

Besides the realty sector, he has also entered the telecom space by buying a 51% stake in S Tel, a Chennai-based telecom company that has licences to operate in several northern and eastern states. Mr Sivasankaran bought the stake from two private equity firms—Skycity Foundations and Telecom Investments. Post the transaction, S Saravana, his 22-year-old son and V Srinivasan, Group CEO, Siva Ventures, have also joined S Tel’s board of directors.

 

Courtesy:- ET dt:- 09-07-09

 

About the Author

Raja Kaushar

Tagged as: education, games, kids, lighting, s kirk and son sterling, s kirk son sterling, work