Anshuman Daga

Ranked by Forbes as India’s richest man with a net worth of $32 billion, Mukesh Ambani is no stranger to taking risks.

The move by conglomerate Reliance Industries, controlled by Ambani, to bid for bankrupt LyondellBasell is a calculated one. Markets seem to think this is a bargain and investors pushed up Reliance’s stock nearly 4 percent on Monday.

If the deal, which sources say may be worth $12 billion,  goes through, it would catapult Reliance into the ranks of top petrochemical makers such as Saudi Arabia’s SABIC, Germany’s BASF and Dow Chemical Co.

The bid comes at a time when asset prices have fallen globally in the wake of the economic crisis but there are still some lingering doubts over whether the worst is over for the global economy.

Reliance hasn’t shied away from making mega investments during downturns.

Last December, Reliance commissioned a 580,000 barrels per day refinery next to its existing 660,00 bpd plant  in the western Indian state of Gujarat, creating the world’s biggest oil refining complex just as global oil demand began to collapse.

Reliance has a cash pile of $4 billion and $8 billion in treasury stock that can be sold, so funding is unlikely to be an issue for the company, Macquarie said in a research note ahead of the bid. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is among the advisers for Reliance, sources said.

In its bid for Luxembourg-based LyondellBasell, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, after being unable to make its debt obligations, Reliance, India’s largest listed firm, with a market value of about $75 billion, might be taking advantage of the lack of any competing bids.

LyondellBasell had sales of close to $51 billion in the 2008/09 financial year, while Reliance, which has interests in petrochemicals, refining, oil and gas exploration, and retail, logged revenue of about $32 billion.

Ranked by Forbes as India's richest man with a net worth of $32 billion, Mukesh Ambani is no stranger to taking risks.

The move by conglomerate Reliance Industries, controlled by Ambani, to bid for bankrupt LyondellBasell is a calculated one. Markets seem to think this is a bargain and investors pushed up Reliance's stock nearly 4 percent on Monday.

If the deal, which sources say may be worth $12 billion,  goes through, it would catapult Reliance into the ranks of top petrochemical makers such as Saudi Arabia's SABIC, Germany's BASF and Dow Chemical Co.

The bid comes at a time when asset prices have fallen globally in the wake of the economic crisis but there are still some lingering doubts over whether the worst is over for the global economy.

Reliance hasn't shied away from making mega investments during downturns.

Last December, Reliance commissioned a 580,000 barrels per day refinery next to its existing 660,00 bpd plant  in the western Indian state of Gujarat, creating the world's biggest oil refining complex just as global oil demand began to collapse.

Reliance has a cash pile of $4 billion and $8 billion in treasury stock that can be sold, so funding is unlikely to be an issue for the company, Macquarie said in a research note ahead of the bid. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is among the advisers for Reliance, sources said.

In its bid for Luxembourg-based LyondellBasell, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, after being unable to make its debt obligations, Reliance, India's largest listed firm, with a market value of about $75 billion, might be taking advantage of the lack of any competing bids.

LyondellBasell had sales of close to $51 billion in the 2008/09 financial year, while Reliance, which has interests in petrochemicals, refining, oil and gas exploration, and retail, logged revenue of about $32 billion.

By Neil Chatterjee

Top private bankers are no different from the rest of us when it comes to looking after their money.

Some, such as Citigroup's head of investments in Asia and ex-Lehman banker Debashish Dutta Gupta sold everything when his former employer went bust. Others held on and took the paper losses, before increasing their fixed income exposure and slowly edging back into equities this year.

Chris Meares, the head of HSBC's private bank, is content with his conservative portfolio. To add some juice to his fixed income portfolio, he bought some Chinese A-shares, which were perhaps overvalued but he's sure he'll be happy in ten years.

His main regret? If only he had followed what he told clients -- to buy a basket of ten banks at the start of the year "If I had, I wouldn't be sitting here, I'd be very rich now. I gave the advice but I didn't do it," he told the Summit in Singapore.

What's your biggest investment regret?

Merger mania is back, at least that's what the numbers seem to show.

A staggering total of about $60 billion worth of corporate deals have been announced or rumoured in global markets since Saturday alone. The takeover feast is impressive, spread as it is across diverse sectors such as foods, semiconductors, financials and telecoms.

Kraft Foods's blockbuster $16.7 billion offer to buy Cadbury has suddenly turned the spotlight back to dealmaking and swept away markets' lingering concerns of patchy economic growth. The rising deal volume is a welcome relief for investment banks, who've gone through a torrid year after Lehman's bankruptcy last September brought M&A to a halt. The dealmaking will help them partly fill their coffers with much-needed advisory fees and a kick up in the league tables.

No doubt with many equity markets rallying to 2009 highs, and lured by prospects of improved valuations, many buyers are chasing deals while prices are seen as cheap. That could have been the thinking behind Abu Dhabi's move to offer $1.8 billion to buy loss-making Nasdaq-listed, Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor in a chip sector emerging from its worst downturn.

Many companies are simply being opportunistic, but with the economic tsunami having left so many companies floundering there the opportunity to reel in cost savings and restructuring bargains through mergers could outweigh any lingering caution about whether the recovery is for real or not.

Exactly one year ago, squabbles over control forced Bharti Airtel and MTN to ditch their hope of forming a global telecoms group, but both emerging markets-focused companies are back on the negotiating table to thrash out a $61 billion merger.

What's changed?

For a start, both firms are now publicly talking about a detailed structure for the combined entity, something that was missing last time.

As part of an initial deal worth more than $23 billion unveiled on Monday, Bharti will pay in cash and shares for 49 percent of MTN, while MTN pays cash and stock for an effective 36 percent stake in the Indian firm. Previous merger talks collapsed when the South African firm proposed a new structure that would have seen Bharti become an MTN unit.

The past year has seen the full impact of a global recession that has spared few industries and MTN, sub-Saharan Africa's biggest mobile operator, and Bharti -- India's top mobile operator -- might be looking to combine to cope better in tough times.

Thanks to scorching growth in emerging markets, the combined entity boasts a user base of 200 million, catapulting it to the top five global industry players, while last year, the combined group would have ranked among the top ten.

MTN and Bharti are locked in exclusive talks for about two months, giving little room for rivals to upset their game plan.

For Indian telecoms tycoon, Sunil Bharti Mittal, this might be his last chance to acquire a global footprint for his firm.

Tech Mahindra, part of Indian business group Mahindra & Mahindra, won the race to acquire Satyam Computer Services on Monday, in a deal that'll help the mid-sized outsourcer gain in size and also lift clarity on Satyam's fate.

In a race that saw only a handful of bidders, Tech Mahindra beat rivals such as engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro and U.S.-listed Cognizant Technologies. Tech Mahindra agreed to buy a 31 percent stake in Satyam at 58 rupees, a 23 percent premium to Satyam’s last closing price.

(Click here to watch a Reuters Insight video)

Tech Mahindra, established more than 20 years ago as a joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and British Telecom, faces the daunting task of reshaping Satyam, a company at the heart of India's biggest corporate scandal.

Ever since Satyam's founder Ramalinga Raju shocked markets by disclosing the $1 billion-plus fraud, there have been numerous reports of Satyam's employees jumping ship and some clients cutting back on orders to Satyam.  The company's accounts are also still being restated and its U.S. liabilities are unclear.

Will the government continue to keep a close eye on Satyam? What's going to be the fate of Satyam's employees and clients? Will the Tech Mahindra-Satyam combination be able to grab market share from leaders Tata Consultancy, Infosys Technologies and Wipro? These are issues for which Tech Mahindra will need some answers pretty soon.

(Photo: Satyam Computer Services Chairman Kiran Karnik (2nd L) and board members Deepak Parekh (2nd R), Tarun Das (L) and T. N. Manoharan attend a news conference held by Satyam board members in Mumbai April 13, 2009. REUTERS/Arko Datta)

Three months after its founder Ramalinga Raju shocked markets by disclosing India’s biggest corporate scandal, Satyam Computer Services is desperately pinning its survival hopes on its auction set for April 13.

But only a handful of bidders are in the race due to lack of clarity over Satyam’s accounts and potential legal liabilities from U.S. lawsuits. Even if the company manages to find a buyer for a 51 percent stake, it’ll take a long time to instill confidence among employees already jumping shipand nervous clients.

What about the role of the government, whose appointed-board is due to choose the buyer the same week the country heads for national elections? Will the government remove its handpicked board or continue to keep a watchful eye on any new strategy chalked out by the new buyer?

Some finance industry players point out the similarity between Satyam’s deal and the deal for top Chinese electronics retailer GOME. The Chinese company is in talks with potential investors, while its founder and ex-chairman is under potential police investigation. There is a lot of uncertainty about both deals and government support, temporary or long-term, is key to shoring up both high-profile firms.

Satyam’s former chairman, former managing director and former chief financial officer are all being held in jail in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

Satyam has not reported earnings since October as the new auditors are still in the process of restating accounts. Local media report the final tally of likely bidders for Satyam is shrinking.

Will the auction be the first step in a much-needed recovery for a company once ranked as India’s fourth-biggest IT services exporter or spell more pain ahead?