Millennium India Acquisition Company Announces Proposed Transaction Equity Stake in SMC Group by Bennett Coleman & Co.
March 24 2008 - 5:24PM
PR Newswire (US)
NEW YORK, March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Millennium India
Acquisition Company, Inc. (AMEX:MQC)("MIAC") today announced that
the leading New Delhi based financial media and investment firm,
Bennett Coleman & Co. has proposed to take a 2.098% equity
stake in SMC Group, at an enterprise value of Rs. 3,500 crore
(approximately $875 million). The proposed transaction is expected
to close by May 2008, after all necessary Board, Shareholder and
Regulator approvals have been successfully obtained. Subhash Chand
Aggarwal, Chairman of SMC Group, said, "Bennett Coleman is a
respected financial media and investment company in India. This
transaction allows SMC Group to benefit from the extensive media
and distribution capabilities of Bennett Coleman, and strengthen
the value of our brand and awareness of our products and services
throughout India." F. Jacob Cherian, Chairman & CEO of MIAC
added, "SMC Group continues to be one of the fastest growing retail
financial services companies in India, and we are pleased to have
Bennett Coleman participate in further accelerating the growth of
SMC. Given their similar investments in marquee companies in India
such as Pantaloon and India Infoline, to name just a few, their
interest in SMC Group ratifies our belief in the fundamental
strength of the company and its management team." Based in New
Delhi, SMC Group is a full service financial services firm. Its
products and services include institutional and retail brokerage,
equity and commodity research, equity, commodity and derivative
trading, on-line trading services, merchant banking, investment
banking, custodial services, clearing services, and insurance
brokerage. For the year ended March 31, 2007, it was one of the
most active trading firms in India, averaging over 130,000 trades
per day and handled over $100 billion in customer transactions. SMC
Group continues to grow, and has one of the largest retail investor
networks in India today, serving the needs of a total of 400,000
investors presently, having added 150,000 customers to-date in
FY08. The retail distribution footprint in India has expanded as
well, adding 372 locations, taking the total to 1,175 locations.
Currently, the SMC Group has approximately 1,800 employees and a
rapidly expanding retail distribution network of more than 7,500
independent financial advisors, in over 300 cities across the
India. More information regarding the SMC Group can be found at
http://www.smcindiaonline.com/. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. is
the largest media group in India, owned by the Sahu Jain family,
also known as The Times Group. It is best known as the publisher of
English daily, The Times of India. This company, along with its
other group companies, are more popularly known as The Times Group,
which also publish The Economic Times (a leading financial
broadsheet), Mumbai Mirror, the Navbharat Times (a Hindi daily
broadsheet), Sandhya Times, and the Maharashtra Times (a Marathi
daily broadsheet). The Times Group has very recently added TIMES
NOW a 24-hour English news channel to its chain of news
organisations. TIMES NOW is a collaboration between Times Group and
Reuters. It also owns Radio Mirchi, a popular FM Radio brand in
India and Indiatimes, a popular Indian portal. Bennett Coleman is
also an investor in leading Indian companies, and has an investment
portfolio of over 650 investments currently. MIAC MIAC is a
closed-end mutual fund registered under the Investment Company Act
of 1940, as amended. MIAC's principal asset is its ownership of a
14.75% equity interest, before any proposed acquisition by Bennett
Coleman, in each of SMC Global Securities Limited ("SMC") and SAM
Global Securities Limited ("SAM"). SMC and SAM are referred to
herein as the SMC Group. These interests were acquired on January
21, 2008 for the aggregate fixed sum of INR 1,638,996,077, or
approximately $41,514,592 (at an exchange rate of $1.00=INR 39.48
as of December 18, 2007). The remainder of MIAC's assets are
invested in cash and cash equivalents. This press release contains
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about MIAC and SMC Group.
Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical
facts. Such forward-looking statements, based upon the current
beliefs and expectations of MIAC's and SMC Group's management, are
subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results
to differ from the forward- looking statements. Actual results to
differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements due
to a number of factors, including but not limited to a material
variation in the assumptions upon which any projections or
forward-looking statements are based, as well as other relevant
risks and uncertainties discussed in MIAC's annual report on Form
N-CSR for the year ended December 31, 2007. The information set
forth herein should be read in light of such risks. Additionally,
any information of SMC Group and Bennett Coleman is provided by SMC
Group and financial information of SMC Group is prepared by SMC
Group and derived from financial statements prepared in accordance
with Indian generally accepted accounting principles. Such
financial information does not conform to SEC Regulation S-X.
Statements included in this press release are based upon
information known to MIAC as of the date that this press release,
and MIAC assumes no obligation to update or alter our
forward-looking statements made in this press release, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as
otherwise required by applicable federal securities laws.
DATASOURCE: Millennium India Acquisition Company, Inc. CONTACT: F.
Jacob Cherian, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium India
Acquisition Company, Inc., +1-516-327-6079 Web site:
http://www.smcindiaonline.com/
Copyright
Bank of America Corp. Market Linked Step UP Notes Linked TO The S&P 500 Index (AMEX:MQC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Bank of America Corp. Market Linked Step UP Notes Linked TO The S&P 500 Index (AMEX:MQC)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024