Carnival Films, Cinepolis to buy SRS cinemas

Mexican Film exhibitor Cinepolis and Kochi based Carnival Films Pvt. Ltd are in separate talks to buy SRS Ltd to buy its Cinema exhibition business. This gives the signal of further consolidation in the movie exhibition industry. Process was initiated sometime back and the valuation discovery process is on now.

The transaction, if concluded, will add to a rush of acquisitions seen in the multiplex business. In 2014, four such deals valued at over Rs. 1,410cr have been closed. Both Cinepolis and Carnival have bought assets in India this year. A fortnight ago, Carnival Cinemas, backed by Kochi-based commodity trader Advantage Overseas Pvt Ltd, acquired Big Cinemas, the multiplex business of Anil Ambani Reliance MediaWorks Ltd for close to Rs. 700cr. In July, Carnival Cinemas acquired Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd exhibition business, Broadway Cinemas, for an undisclosed amount.

Carnival now has 300 screens. In December, Cinepolis has acquired Zee group owned Fun Cinemas for Rs. 470cr. Cinepolis has seventeen properties spread across Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Jaipur, Bhopal, Surat, Mangalore, Hubli, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Ludhiana, Patna, Vadodara, Vijaywada, and Pune. The deal with SRS cinemas will help both contenders increase their presence in smaller cities in Northern India.

SRS has 17 properties with 48 screens spread across 11 cities that include Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Shimla, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Faridabad, Bhiwadi, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bareli, and Agra. Apart from the cinemas business, SRS has exposure in the retail food and Beverages, jewellery, real estate, and healthcare segments. PVR Ltd is the largest exhibitor with 454 screens spread across 102 properties. PVR is in talks to acquire Chennai based SPI Cinemas. The second position has been held by Inox Ltd, which shows movies with its 358 screens. It added 50 screens after acquiring Satyam Cineplexes. 

Mahindra Group to buy BabyOye

Mahindra Partners, the emerging business arm of the diversified conglomerate Mahindra Group is in talks to acquire online portal BabyOye. The acquisition is likely to be made through Mahindra Retail. Mahindra already runs a chain of baby-care stores i.e. Mom & Me.

BabyOye is a four-year-old portal founded by Nadkarni and his wife and is backed by Accel Partners, Helion Venture Partners, and Tiger Global Management. The three investors have infused Rs 90 Crore into the venture. The portal selling diapers, kid’s apparel, toys, and maternity care products had clocked a GMV of Rs 5 Crore last month and expect to hit annual revenues of Rs 250 Crore by 2015.

In terms of hybrid presence, another player FirstCry leads BabyOye; it has tied up with 500 brands and is currently offering over 70,000 products. It has 50 branded franchise stores across 45 cities and expects to grow this network to 100 stores. This year it raised $15 Million in series C round funding. First cry’s investors include Vertex Venture Management, IDG Ventures India, and Saif Partners.

The recent deals in this space were, online baby products store Hopscotch had acquired school supplier e-tailer SkoolShop. Kids wear manufacturer Indian clothing league had raised Rs 50 crore in first round of funding from ASK Pravi PE Opportunities Fund. FirstCry, an online portal for baby products was raising $15 Million from Singaporean sovereign fund Vertex venture holding.

The domestic baby and children care products market, which includes apparel, footwear, toys, and baby cosmetics, is growing in sync with the retail industry growth, and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of around 17% during 2012-2017% to $26.2 Billion from $11.8 Billion in 2012. Market size for baby, kids, and maternity products is estimated at INR 40,000 Crore annually growing at 15-20% a year.

Snapdeal to buy Unicommerce

Unicommerce eSolutions Pvt. Ltd is an e-commerce management software and fulfillment solution provider is in talks to buy with Snapdeal for a potential acquisition. New Delhi based Unicommerce, which currently provides its software to companies such as Myntra, Snapdeal, Jabong, Groupon, and Healthkart, has received investment from Nexus Venture Partners and Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

Three Indian Institute of Technology founded Unicommerce in 2012, Delhi graduates Ankit Pruthi, Karun Singla, and Vibhu Garg. The company offers a pay per use Web Based solution that helps small merchants and e-commerce companies manage orders from the time they are placed until products are delivered. The company flagship product, Uniware, updates and automates every aspect of online commerce beginning from when a customer places an order until the purchase is received.

It also helps companies manage everything from vendors to inventory, and from warehouse to shipments and returns. Unicommerce was also in talks with Tiger Global for a potential investment. After the deal, Unicommerce is expected to operate as a separate company. As per experts, companies would be apprehensive about sharing their data with Unicommerce if it becomes a part of Snapdeal.

For Snapdeal, 2014 has been active year with respect to acquisitions. The company this month announced acquisition of gifting recommendation technology platform Wishpicker.com for an undisclosed amount. The company has so far acquired five companies including Doozton, a social product discovery technology platform; Grabbon.com, eSportsBuy.com, and Shopo.in. However, if Snapdeal inks the deal, it will be its largest acquisition until date.

Zomato Acquires Italy Cibando

Restaurant Search Portal Zomato, which raised $60 Million in November and got start up of the year award, has acquired Cibando, one of the Italy’s largest restaurant search services. The company is rapidly expanding its presence outside India. Gurgaon based Zomato Media Pvt Ltd said it will invest $6 Million in Italy over the next two years to grow the team and the business in the country.

Cibando, founded by Guk Kim in 2010, is an online and mobile restaurant search service based in Italy that offers about 7,000 professionally generated reviews and 150,000 photographs taken by food photographers. About 82,000 restaurants are listed on Cibando. The new combined entity will grow to 30-40 people in the next three months and over time the Italy operation is expected to grow to 150-200 people across the top six cities.

With the acquisition of Cibando, Zomato fifth buy this year, the company has a presence in 20 countries. It acquired MenuMania in New Zealand, Lunchtime in Czech Republic, Obedovat in Slovakia, and Gastronauci in Poland this year. It further aims to widen its international presence by entering 15 more countries in 2015. The company has so far steered clear of the US, a market dominated by larger competitors such as Yelp, GrubHub, and Open Table.

Zomato competes with Yelp in markets such as the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Chile. In 2015, it can enter into US too. The company is currently valued at $660 Million. It currently employs over 900 people n around 100 cities across 20 countries. The company gets about 35 Million visits per month across its website and mobile applications. It gets more than half of its traffic from its mobile application. Zomato provides detailed restaurant information such as menus, contact details, pictures, geo-coded maps and user reviews on over 310,000 restaurants.

Philips acquired Volcano Corp

Volcano Corporation is the global leader in Intravascular imaging for coronary and peripheral applications, and physiology. The company has also offers a suite of peripheral therapeutics devices. The company broad range of technologies makes imaging and therapy simpler, more informative, and less invasive and offers physicians and their patients around the world with industry-leading tools that aid diagnosis and guide and provide therapy.

Dutch diversified company Philips has acquired Volcano Corp. for $1.2 Billion including debt, which is its largest healthcare acquisition in seven years and a bid to cash in on an aging population’s need for more complex treatments. Volcano makes equipment that allows doctors treating heart disease too see inside patient’s views and measure blood flows. This would lead to synergies in research and development and in sales. The deal is expected to add to Philip’s earnings per share by 2017.

Philips, until recently a diversified conglomerate that made everything from televisions to light bulbs to X ray machines, is spinning off its historic lighting division to focus on its higher margin healthcare business. Philips expects to see growth in the portion of healthcare spending allocated to technology, now only 5 percent of budgets, far behind staff and pharmaceutical costs.

Volcano makes catheters that can slide into veins to make ultrasound scans of the interiors of blood vessels, allowing doctors to treat without putting patients under the knife. Philips is a leading maker of the X-ray machines that map patient’s bodies as surgeons insert the catheters. The deal is Philips largest since the $5.1 Billion acquisition of sleep arena treatment company Respironics in 2007.

Big Cinemas sold to Carnival

Big cinemas is a division of Reliance MediaWorks Ltd and a member of Reliance ADA Group is a theatre chain with over 515 screens in India, US, Malaysia, and the Netherlands. As of July 2014, the company has 280 screens in India. The company accounts for 10% t0 15% of box office contributions of large movies.

On Monday, December 15, 2014, Anil Ambani led Reliance Group has sold its multiplex business to South India based Carnival Group in the largest ever deal in this space. The transaction will reduce Reliance Capital overall debt by Rs 700cr and is part of Reliance Capital’s strategy to exit minority investments. The deal will make Carnival the third largest multiplex operator with nationwide presence and over 300 screens.

The firms did not disclose the exact value of the deal. The deal stuck between Carnival Cinemas and Reliance MediaWorks, will exclude IMAX Wadala and some other properties worth Rs 200cr. Reliance capital is the parent firm of Reliance MediaWorks, which operates one of the largest cinema chains, under the brand ‘BIG CINEMAS’ with over 250 screens in India.

Carnival group is targeting to achieve 1000 screens by the year 2017. The transaction between the two will be completed within the current financial year. Reliance capital will retain an option to acquire a stake in pre-IPO stage at an appropriate discount whenever carnival goes a listing. Reliance capital had recently announced its plans to focus on core business and is in the process of encashing its minority investments. The company is in talks with 2-3 international investors to sell its 16 percent stake in leading travel portal Yatra.com for an estimated 500cr. 

Snapdeal acquires Wishpicker.com

After raising USD 627 Million from Japan Softbank online marketplace Snapdeal.com, owned by Jasper InfoTech Pvt. Ltd. has acquired gifting recommendation technology platform Wishpicker.com for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition of Wishpicker comes seven months after Snapdeal acquired Doozton, a social product discovery technology platform. Wishpicker is Snapdeal fifth acquisition. The company had earlier acquired Grabbon.com, esportsbuy.com, and shopo.in.

Wishpicker offers gifting options based on different parameters like relationship with recipient, their age, and personality. The current acquisition enables Snapdeal to enter into the personalized gift segment. Wishpicker brings with it an edge to the premier market place. Snapdeal, an intelligent recommendation user experience is helping users to discover the unique gift ideas from across the internet. Users can also find gift suggestions based on a person’s social media activities like Facebook “likes” and other interests listed on social media.

With over 30 million members and more than 50,000 sellers, Snapdeal.com delivers products to 5,000 cities and towns in India. Snapdeal has received funding from several global marquee investors like Softbank, Blackrock, Temasek, eBay, Premji Invest, Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Ratan Tata, Nexus Venture Partners, and Kalaari Capital.

Snapdeal currently claims to offer more than five million products across 500 plus categories on its platform. The firm aims to expand its merchant base to one million in the next three years. Online retail is valued at $3.1 Billion and is estimated to grow to $22 Billion in five years. Snapdeal has now become one of the fastest growing and among the top three online marketplaces in India.  

Companies Social Media Strategies

With increase in use of Social Media Platforms, Companies are shifting their focus towards Social Media and engaging with their customers and employees. In PepsiCo, the company launched a responsiveness survey through which all teams are related on responsiveness every two months and the feedback is related to organization verbatim. Under this, the CEO shares his observations experiences, thoughts with employees in a weekly letter.

To get real time opinions from the ground, Vodafone has its own People Survey Engagement Index and Management Index. Through ‘My Voice’, the company collects feedback from new joiners on recruitment, compensation, performance management, training, and engagement. “Employees make suggestions to the cross-functional senior management team in the forum captioned ‘Voice of Customer’. The company also runs the website Idea Space to encourage employees to share suggestions and ideas. A survey tool called ‘Qualtrix’ helps in gathering internal employee voices for short-term initiatives.

Over the past one year, through gaining feedback with employees from a mix of informal coffee corner sessions and frequent leadership meets, Philips has revamped some of its policies, like launching their own internal retail portal of discounted Philips products for staff. The company has also tried to engage employees in groups through discussions on important business plans before notifying them on emails.

An internal radio channel called InfyRadio serves a twin purpose of keeping employees informed about activities within the organization and ensures they are motivated. Tools like ‘My Voice’ provide executives with a simple online platform to log enquiries or grievances within built tracking and escalation for monitoring and follow up. ‘YES Connect’ provides YES bankers a platform to bond with colleagues and share best practices. Organizations who listen to their employees and are transparent, create trustworthy relationships that breed loyalty.

Google smart spoon Liftware

Google is always known for technology and innovation. After Smart lens, glasses, Google is throwing its money, brainpower, and technology at the humble spoon. However, these spoons are a bit more than basic utensil. Using hundreds of algorithms, they allow people with essential tremors and Parkinson disease to eat without spilling. The technology senses how a hand is shaking and makes instant adjustments to stay balanced. In clinical trials, the Liftware spoons reduced shaking of the spoon bowl by an average of 76%.

There are other adaptive devices, which have been developed to help people with tremors. These are rocker knives, weighted utensils, and pen grips. This device is helpful for patients who couldn’t eat independently and now they can. It does not cure the disease but it is a very positive change. Google got into the no-shake utensils business in September, acquiring a small, National of Institutes of Health Funded startup called Lift Labs for an undisclosed sum.

The company is also developing a smart contact lens that measures glucose levels in tears for diabetics and is researching how nanoparticles in blood might help detect diseases. They can also add sensors to the spoons to help medical researchers and providers better understand, measure, and alleviate tremors.

The Liftware spoons come with a rechargeable battery so it is always ready for meal times. Compact and portable, it is also to take along, making it possible for people with essential tremors of Parkinson to eat out in restaurants. Now, only Liftware is available but Lift Labs has said that other attachments will be coming soon to facilitate eating even more. So far 140 Liftware devices have been shared with people with economic hardships through various foundations. To make this project possible, Lift Labs has teamed up with the Tremor Action Network, the National Parkinson Foundation, and the International Essential Tremor Foundation. The device costs $295 each.

Hero Moto to set up plants in Brazil and Argentina

Hero MotoCorp ltd. formerly Hero Honda, is an Indian Motorcycle and scooter manufacturing based in New Delhi, India. The company is the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world. It has a market share of 46% in India. Recently, the company plans to set up manufacturing units in Brazil and Argentina. It is also opening its plant in Colombia to help widen its reach in the region.

Plant in Colombia will be a good hub for supply to other markets in Central and Latin America. Company will manufacture in Brazil. Argentina wants Hero MotoCorp to manufacture within the country. Company will enter Brazil market along with the Rio Olympics 2016. Hero MotoCorp launched six of its best selling bikes here as part of its target to clock 1.2 Billion unit sales from global business by 2020.

The two wheelers rolled out include the 100 cc bikes- Splendor iSmart, Eco Deluxe and Passion Pro, the 125 cc Glamour, the 150 cc Hunk, and the 225 cc Karizma ZMR. The bikes will be sold in 120 outlets spread across the country. This year, the company formed a wholly-owned subsidiary in Colombia and commenced construction of a state of the art manufacturing plant in the country.

In the first phase, the company is planning to manufacture 75,000 to 80,000 units and in the next phase, the company is planning to manufacture 150,000 units. The Delhi headquartered Hero MotoCorp will be the first Indian two-wheeler company to have a manufacturing plant in Latin America. The plant in Colombia is expected to go on stream by middle of 2015. By 2020, the company aims to be in over 50 countries with 20 plus assembly facilities globally. 

IBM launches new Email service Verse

Last week IBM launched its new e-mail application for business that integrates social media and analytics to help organizations and employees increase productivity. The new email ‘IBM Verse’, which is a part of company’s strategy to shift from hardware services to cloud computing and data analytics, is the first application to come out from company‘s USD 100 Million investment in design innovation.

It is the first messaging system to feature ‘faceted search’. Adding this will enable users to pinpoint and retrieve specific information they are seeking across all the various types of content within their email. Verse uses built-in analytics to provide an ‘at a glance’ view that intelligently surfaces an individual’s most critical actions for the day. Over time, it can provide instant context about a given project as well as the people and teams collaborating on it.

IBM verse gives enterprise customers, small businesses, and individuals a scalable, cloud based social collaboration environment optimized for mobile and web environments. The company has currently launched the beta version, while a freemium version – a model where basic version is free while features that are more elaborate need to be purchased will be available from the first quarter of next year.

IBM presently has 30,000 active support customers globally for its enterprise mail service named Notes. IT industry analysts estimate that 108 Billion work emails are sent daily, requiring employees to check their inboxes an average of 36 times an hour. It is also estimated that only 14% of those emails are of critical importance. Email will remain the single most widely used collaboration tool, with worldwide revenue for enterprise email expected to reach USD 4.7 Billion in 2017.

Future Group acquires Nilgiris

Nilgiris is a supermarket chain in South India. It is also one of the oldest supermarket chains in India with origins dating back to 1905 and hence its products are sold under the brand name of ‘Nilgiris 1905’. Unlike all other supermarkets and grocery shops in India, Nilgiris sells its own products among other brands. Kishore Biyani Future Group acquires the iconic brand. Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd., the food and FMCG arm of the Future Group, paid around Rs.300 crore for the acquisition.

Nilgiris operates a franchisee operated convenience store chain with 140 stores in key metros across the four states. Private equity firm Actis had bought 67 percent stake in Nilgiris in 2006. Apart from a wide assortment of products sold through its convenience store chain, Nilgiris also owns a portfolio brands in dairy, bakery, chocolates, and staples along with their manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru.

Bangalore based Nilgiris is an iconic brand that enjoys wide household recall in the southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. This acquisition is synergistic as it enables strengthening and expanding of convenience stores through franchise model is an asset light model. It brings in new manufacturing capabilities and brands within the company as well.

Existing portfolio of brands of FCEL including Sunkist, Tasty Treat, Golden Harvest, Premium Harvest, Sach Ektaa, CleanMate, and CareMate, will be channelized through Nilgiris store network. It operates 8 distribution centres along with a fleet of vehicles, including refrigerated vehicles that cater to the supply of its own dairy, bakery, and chocolates brands to its network of stores. FCEL is a part of Future group that operates modern retail network in 102 cities and 40 rural locations through retail brands like Big Bazaar, Central, Foodhall, Brand Factory, among others as well as various consumer goods, logistics networks and infrastructure for the consumption sector in India. 

Tech Mahindra buys Lightbridge Communications Corporation

Tech Mahindra is an Indian Multinational provider of Information Technology, networking technology solutions, and Business Support Services to the telecommunications Industry. It is a part of Mahindra Group. In recent news, the company acquires US based network solutions company Lightbridge Communications corporations for $240 Million.

This is the biggest deal of company outside India, will significantly strengthen its presence in the US, and is expected to add 20-30 more clients in the list. The deal will be finalized by the end of this fiscal and is funding the acquisition via internal accruals. Mahindra group looks to reach its stretch target of $5 Billion in revenue by 2015.

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, LCC is one of the world’s largest independent global providers of network engineering services to the telecommunications industry, with more than 5000 employees in over 50 countries. With annual revenue of more than $400 Million, LCC has built 350 networks and designed more than 350,000 cell sites for over 400 customers worldwide. The acquisition positions Tech Mahindra as an important partner for network services globally.

This is the largest acquisition so far in this year in the IT services space. In July, India’s third largest software services firm WIPRO had acquired the IT services division of Canadian company Atco for US $195 Million. In September this year, Cognizant said it will acquire US based Trizetto Corporation for US $2.7 Billion in an all cash deal.

Rajendra Singh started LCC in 1983. With its acquisition, Tech Mahindra will become the only Indian IT services provider in the networking services management space, which is dominated by the like of Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson. In April 2013, Tech Mahindra had acquired the lab assets and operations of the Type Approval Lab, which was part of Sony Mobile Communication’s internal test function. 

Berkshire Hathaway Buys Duracell

Berkshire Hathaway is an American Multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in United States. Company overseas and manages a number of subsidiary companies. The company is known for its control by investor Warren Buffet. In recent news, Berkshire Hathaway is buying the Duracell battery business from Procter and Gamble Co. in a deal valued at approximately $3 Billion.

P&G, the world’s largest consumer products maker, had announced last month that it wanted to make Duracell a standalone company. P&G, which acquired Duracell in 2005, said at the time that it preferred a spinoff of Duracell, but it was the considering a sale or other options. P&G will receive shares of its own stock that are currently held by Berkshire Hathaway. Those shares are currently valued at $4.7 Billion. Offsetting part of that price, P&G will contribute about $1.7 Billion to the Duracell business before the deal closes.

P&G whose products include Tide detergent and Pampers diapers, has been trimming its product lineup to focus on its top performers. After it finishes jettisoning more than half of its brands around the globe over the next year or two, P&G has said that it will be left with about 70 to 80 brands. Berkshire has a significant P&G shareholder since the consumer products firm acquired Gillette in 2005, but the Duracell acquisition will use nearly all of Berkshire 52.48 Million shares.

Duracell, whose batteries are known for their copper-colored tops, gives Buffet a familiar name to add to Berkshire’s stable of more than 80 businesses, including Benjamin Moore paint, the Diary Queen ice cream chain, and Heinz ketchup. While Duracell has more than one-fourth of the global market for batteries, demand has slackened amid the growth in smartphones and other devices that rely on rechargeable power sources. 

IBM to support online startups

The International Business Machine is an American multinational consulting and technology corporation. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure, hosting, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to technology. It was founded 103 years ago in New York. IBM now joined the bandwagon by announcing a similar programme to give startups and entrepreneurs around the world up to $1, 20,000 worth of credits to use its cloud computing technology and take advantage of its global network of enterprise clients, consultants, and innovation centres.

IBM has launched BlueMix in India. It is a free platform for startups to develop and host mobile applications within minutes. Google, MS, and Amazon are rapidly growing online startup community in India and across the globe by offering free software credits, mentorship, marketing support, investor introduction, and even funding.

IBM BlueMix will add to the already growing ecosystem of the platforms like Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine, Citrix Xen App Environment, Sales Force Heroku, and Amazon Elastic Bean Stalk all of which are being pushed by corporations through their startup accelerators and entrepreneurship program to Indian Developers. Entrepreneurs will get access to IBM cloud infrastructure from SoftLayer, one of its subsidiaries, and its cloud platform called BlueMix for app development.

As part of programme called 10,000 startups launched by software lobby Nasscom in March 2013, Google offers up to $20,000 total credits for its Google cloud platform. Startups can use Google apps for six months. Microsoft offers Azure Credits, and BizSpark subscribers are eligible to a $150 monthly amount of cloud computing resources through Microsoft developer network subscription benefits, free from the Windows Azure Platform. While these announcements are good for startups, they caution the use of cloud to the technology solutions or platforms of the companies that offer them.

Amazon acquired Rooftop Media

Rooftop Media records and licenses the digital rights for comedians’ sets at comedy clubs across the USA. The company currently has partnerships with Apple and Yahoo and works with streaming services including Sirius XM, Pandora, and Spotify. Recently, Amazon had struck a deal to acquire Rooftop Media, as online comedic content service that it believes will help it enter new categories, as it competes against fast-rising competition from streaming media such as Netflix Inc.

San Francisco based Rooftop Media produces video and audio content related to stand up comedy, funny short films, and sketch comedy shows, which are then licensed to media and marketing companies to be put online for live broadcast, or made available on demand. Audible is an online audio book service acquired by Amazon in 2008 for almost $300 Million. All of Rooftop content will now be transferred to Audible, which already has more than 170,000 titles available online.

Amazon vision is to make the company a tech and media behemoth. Amazon is competing with competitors head to head in all countries. This year Amazon acquired Twitch, on online gaming platform. Over the past few years, Amazon has stepped out of its conventional retail business and created its very own smartphones, tablets, and set top TV boxes to boost digital content sales. Amazon also launched a new device known as the Fire TV Stick. It is claimed to be powerful streaming media stick in the market. It will compete with Google new Chromecast device.

In India, Amazon is in talk to acquire Fashion Portal Jabong to compete with Flipkart, who acquired Myntra this year. Amazon is also in talks to buy a minority stake in gift card technology and retail firm QwikCilver Solutions. It provides backend technology for the gift card business of several retailers including Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, and Croma.  

American Burger Chain Carl Jr to enter India

Carl Jr is an American Based Fast food restaurant chain, operates in Western and Southwestern states. As of 2013, it started expanding in Canada, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Rico, Malaysia, Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, UK, and China. Carl Karcher is the founder of this chain and started operation in 1941. It is in the top ten fast food chains in the United States after Subway, McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Wendy, Taco Bell, Popeyes, and Church Chicken.

In April 2015, Indians will have choice to taste charbroiled burgers by Carl Jr. This brand has been endorsed by the like of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, and Padma Lakshmi. The American fast food chain has already signed a franchise agreement with city based Cybiz BrightStar Restaurants Pvt Ltd, owned by CybizCorp. Over the next five years, there would be at least 100 Carl Jr outlets in India. The chain targets to open about 1,000 outlets across India over 10-15 years.

Carl Jr joins the race with the world’s largest burger chain Burger King, which had formed a joint venture with private equity fund Everstone Capital last year to develop its presence in India and plans to open the first outlet in India on 9 November 2014. The chain would spend $25 Million in the first five years in developing a presence in India. CKE Restaurant Holdings, the parent company of Carl Jr had already invested $1.5 Million in India in Consumer Research, product development and tasting trials during the past three years.

In a recent report, it is noted that Indian Food service market will soar to $92 Billion by 2020 from $48 Billion. Of this, the $3 Billion chained restaurant segment is expected to see the fastest growth rate of 15 percent, with the size pegged to touch $8 Billion by 2020. 

Microsoft team up with Dropbox

Dropbox provide services in storing data on the cloud and Microsoft also provide cloud-computing services. Although, both are competitors of each other but they collaborated to provide services. This will allow users to access Dropbox directly from Office apps and edit office files from the Dropbox app. Dropbox is home to over 35 Billion office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

The deal has four main parts: Quickly editing Office docs from the Dropbox mobile app, accessing Dropbox docs from Office apps, sharing Dropbox links of Office apps, and the creation of first party Dropbox apps for Microsoft’s mobile offerings. The capabilities will first roll out on Dropbox and Office apps for iOS and Android Tablets and will be available on the web next year. Dropbox will also make its application available on the windows Phone and Windows tablets in coming months.

The joint venture brings Dropbox the credibility in the enterprise that it has been fighting for in recent months, while smoothing the sharp edges on Microsoft’s public image, proving that the Redmond based firm can play nicely with others. In early 2015, the integration will also extend to the two services web apps, and to the newly announced Dropbox for Windows Phone app. Dropbox has 300 Million users, out of which 70% are international, and a ton of them use Dropbox to get work done.

For Dropbox, the deal fits with its goal of attracting customers that are more corporate. The online storage power updated its business services in April and has sought to allay any security concerns by companies that block Dropbox from their networks for fear of any sensitive documents or information leaking out. In September, Dropbox announced another partnership, this time with Google itself, aiming to make security tech easier to use. The two firms created simply secure, which has the mandate to improve adoption rates of security tools such as two-factor authentication in the wake of the Snowden Revelations.

Binatone acquire Gecko Maker Connovate

Binatone communications Group is a Hong Kong based consumer electronics and Personal Care Products Company. Connovate Technologies is a Bangalore based startup company and the maker of Gecko device. Gecko is a Bluetooth device. Recently, Binatone has acquired Connovate Technology for an undisclosed amount.

After this deal, Connovate will merge with Binatone subsidiary Hubble connected and will get access to the 1500 stores in United States and 1000 in Europe that Binatone has a presence in. Gecko will be bundled with home, pet, and baby monitoring solutions that Binatone sells under Motorola brand. Connovate becomes the first Indian Startup to have an exit in the inter of things domain, a technology that represents a truly connected world where all devices talk to one another.

Last year, in November Connovate had raised $135,410 through the crowd-funding platform Indiegogo. At the time, it had also received pre-orders for 7500 devices, mostly from US, UK, and Germany, including 500 from India. Gecko allows people to control and spot various objects around them using a smartphone. Besides tracking, the device can also be used to trigger a camera, change music using gestures, motion detection, and smart leash.

Connovate other product is Weight Smart, which is quite similar to FItbit Aria except that it uses Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi. The device comes with its own custom app using which a person can log weight and even connected to Run Keeper to create some actionable information from it. Gecko is a coin-size, square shaped device that connects with the smartphone via Bluetooth and allows users to control multiple things such as household items and electronic appliances through the smartphone.

Foreign companies are looking for acquiring startups in India to grow their business. Yahoo had acquired Bookpad a US based startup with operation in Bangalore. Facebook acquired Little Eye Labs Pvt. Ltd. in January. Google acquired Impermium, and Naspers Ltd. acquired online bus ticketing company RedBus in 2013.

Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google

In January this year, Lenovo announced it was going to buy Motorola Mobility business this year from Google. Now this deal is signed, Lenovo acquired Motorola from Google in $2.91 Billion. While Motorola is now a Lenovo Company, the brand will remain a subsidiary based out of Chicago. Google bought Motorola in 2012 for $12.5 Billion, at the time stating that it was interested in its patent portfolio. Now, Google maintains most of the patents and passes on the handset business to Lenovo.

Motorola Mobility, a Google company, creates mobile devices and wireless accessories that simplify, connect and enrich people lives. The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovate product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones. This deal made Lenovo the world’s third bestselling smartphone maker after Apple and Samsung.

Lenovo is the world’s bestselling PC maker, a position it attained after the takeover of IBM’s personal computer business in 2005. Its smartphones are already selling in Asia and the Middle East, but they have not been sold in North America and Western Europe. Lenovo and Motorola together form the third largest smartphone player worldwide, pushing rival Xiaomi from the No 3 position to No 4, according to date from IDC.

IDC worldwide smartphone data showed Samsung leading with 23.8%, followed by Apple with 12%, Xiaomi with 5.3%, and Lenovo following closely with 5.2%, and LG with 5.1%. Lenovo has a very good business in India through the offline channel and Motorola is present only on line. Since its resurrection early this year, Motorola has sold more than two million smartphones, including the Moto G, Moto X, and Moto E. The Motorola-Lenovo combine intends to sell about 100 Million smartphones and tablets globally by the end of march next year, while Lenovo aims to bring Motorola back to profitability within four to six quarters.

Motorola will operate their Motorola solutions as a separate business and is not a part of acquisitions. Motorola business formally split in 2011.

New Call Telecom acquired chat app Nimbuzz

New call Telecom is a young, dynamic telecommunication provider in UK. It was started in 2010. Recently, New Call Telecom acquired 70% stake in Mobile Instant Messaging and VoIP Company Nimbuzz for about $175 Million. Nimbuzz will now act as a unit of New Call Telecom. Nimbuzz had previously raised funding from Naspers and Mangrove Capital.

Founded in Netherlands by Evert Jaap Lugt in 2006, Nimbuzz shifted its corporate headquarters to Gurgaon in India a couple of years ago. It claims to have 201 Million subscribers in over 200 countries. In a month, the platform processes more than a billion voice-over-internet call minutes and in excess of 100 Billion besides operating one of the largest mobile advertising platforms in South Asia, Middle East, and North Africa regions.

The messenger claims it is the only multi-lingual solution provider, offering its service in more than 25 regional languages. It provides a single tool for making voice and peer-to-peer video calls, sending instant messages and sharing data via all major communications platforms. The company had earlier collaborated with Internet service provider Spectranet Hello IP to launch International-calling platforms for Indian users to make calls abroad for 1 paisa per second through this platform.

Last year Nimbuzz had entered a partnership with Cleartrip to enable travel bookings on its platform. Called the Cleartrip buddy, users can explore travel options as well as make bookings through it. On the app, users can do the preliminary search by adding basic information for their travel plans and for the actual transaction, they are led to a co-branded WAP page. New call will integrate the capabilities of the Nimbuzz platform along with a plethora of new apps with its Wi-Fi and home broadband service in India, and eventually in other parts of the world. Nimbuzz will also become an incubator for apps for New Call.

New Call is planning for more acquisitions in the Indian market in the fields of fixed line broadband, Wi-Fi, and e-commerce. This year, Facebook bought Whatsapp in Multi-billion dollar cash and stock deal while Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten bought messaging service Viber. Whatsapp dominates the Indian Messaging and chat app market and some of the other prominent players are Line, Tencent’s WeChat, and Bharti Softbank’s Hike. 

Times Internet acquires Moneysights

Moneysights founded in 2009, by ex employees of InMobi, Mukesh Kalra, and Santosh Nalvani, was a digital platform where one could buy and manage investments products. In 2012, however, the platform had to close its operations due to lack of funding. Moneysights had earlier raised funds in June 2011 and Times Internet now buys it.

Times Internet is a unit of Bennett and Coleman and Co Ltd. was established in 1999 and operates a portfolio of web and mobile properties that engage millions of users globally. It is currently not clear whether Times Internet plans to revive Moneysights as a separate service or integrate the service to its existing properties like The Economic Times. It is not clear that whether Times Internet plans to keep Moneysights branding.

Moneysights will compete with Aditya Birla group MyUniverse that has a tie up with Network 18 financial information portal Money Control. Online insurance policy aggregator Policybazaar had also launched a financial advisory services platform called Paisabazaar in August this year. The platform sells loans, credit cards, and mutual funds among others.

In previous acquisitions, Times Internet had acquired a majority stake in coupon marketplace CouponDunia in May this year and had merged its deals site with TimesDeal with the company. It had also acquired restaurant-booking service DineOut in April this year. This was after TimesCity had tied-up with DineOut last year to offer table-booking service. it had also acquired Musicfellas.com an online market place for independent artists to sell their songs in February this year.

Times Internet had also invested in shorts, a mobile app for short top stories. It had also funded GradeStack, an online course for students. It also backed Skift.com, a New York based travel intelligence and information portal. Times Internet is a part of The Times of India Group.

Future Group and Amazon Partnership

From being dismissive about the potential of e-commerce in India to joining hands with the sector, leading ‘brick and mortar’ retailing entities seem to have had a chance of thinking on the former. A week after Future group Kishore Biyani alleged that online retailers were indulging in predatory pricing, the company announced a partnership with Amazon India.

The two companies will jointly sell goods over the internet amid growing friction between online and offline retailers over heavy discounting. Future group will sell more than 45 own labels of apparel, followed by in-house brands in the home, electronics and food categories, while the US headquartered company will handle order fulfillment and customer service for the merchandise on its portal. Both firms will also develop a new line of products across categories to be exclusively sold at Amazon and Future Group’s retail stores.

In its home market, Amazon had similar alliances with retailers such as Target Corp and Toys R US in the past decade though both sourced over time once the online seller gained scale and attracted other large brands. Following the India deal, Future Group’s four dozen own brands such as Lee Cooper, John Miller and Indigo nation will be taken off from online marketplaces where they are currently being sold.

It is also reported that Amazon is planning to open its first brick and mortar store in New York. The company main rivals in India are Flipkart, Snapdeal and other online stores. In the offline market, just three companies – Aditya Birla Madura Garments, Arvind Brands and Future Group either own or sell more than two dozen brands each, thus becoming the preferred options for any online player looking to partner retailers.

Industry insiders also said the Indian retailers move reflects a bid to expand into new distribution channels such as e-commerce in the search of growth. Last month, Snapdeal agreed to create Croma Flagship store on its e-commerce portal to sell electronics items including mobiles, tablets, and laptops. 

HTC to launch Desire eye with 13 MP cameras

HTC formerly High-Tech Computer Corporation is Taiwanese manufacturer of Tablets and Smartphones headquartered in Taiwan. HTC has launched its new suite of imaging products at its event in New York. The new range consists of HTC Desire Eye Smartphone with two 13 MP cameras, HTC RE hand-held cameras, HTC eye Experience enhanced imaging software, and Zoe collaborative video editing community.

The Desire Eye smartphone sports a 13 MP camera on the front as well as on the backside armed with BSI sensors and comes with intelligent dual- LED Flash on both cameras. It has a 5.2-inch full HD screen, a 2.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, a 2 GB RAM, and Android Kit-Kat operating System. It features a dual-color, waterproof unibody design with a dedicated two-step camera key for focus.

HTC EYE experience takes mobile imaging software into a new league with unique features. The HTC Eye experience helps in video-conferencing, enables face tracking for up to four people in the same room, and allows each face to face to be cropped and positioned on the screen for maximum clarity. It also gives the option of screen sharing bringing desktop functionality to smartphone based video chat along with Split capture function. It combines photos and videos taken from front and back cameras into one split-screen image or video.

RE is a small handheld camera. RE features a built-in grip sensor that instantly activates the camera on pick up, eliminating the need of a power button. There is a single shutter button, which allows one tap to capture photos and a longer press for recording video. The app will also back everything up to phone or cloud automatically. In addition, RE will offer real-time video streaming to YouTube. The RE app will be available on both Android and iOS.

HTC also introduced its new Zoe collaborative video editing app, which allows users to mix photos and videos into stylish highlight reels, themes, and soundtracks that can be shared. Zoe is available free of charge on Android now and coming on iOS later this year. However, price for HTC Desire Eye are not disclosed but it is the first phone in mobile industry with 13 MP front and rear cameras.

L & T Technology to acquire Dell engineering services

Larsen and Toubro Limited is an Indian Multinational Conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company has business interest in engineering, construction, manufacturing goods, information technology, and financial services. It was recognized as the company of the year in Economic Times 2010 Awards.

Dell is an American privately owned Multinational computer technology based in Texas, United States. It sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, cameras, printers, and electronics built by other manufacturers. Company is well known for its innovation in Supply chain Management and E-commerce business.

L & T Technology services is going to buy Engineering services division of US based Dell Inc. The deal has got the nod of Competition Commission of India (CCI) and is waiting for approvals from US regulatory. This acquisition will help L & T establish itself as a premier engineering services provider by adding local delivery centres in North America. This strategic acquisition will strengthen L & T technology services global position in the $4 Billion transportation engineering research & development market.

Dell engineering services has delivery centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore, India. According to a comment mentioned by L & T chief executive Keshab Panda has said that the company will not spend more than $50 Million on any acquisition. In June this year, L & T Technology services acquired 74 percent stake in Thales Software India Pvt. Ltd. to grow its avionics Business. Recently, L & T said that it is planning to start its IPO process for both its technology subsidiaries i.e. L&T InfoTech and L&T Technology services by 2016.

This is the first acquisition this year in technical industry by an Indian company acquiring US Company. Other than this, Indian Internet firms are expanding their business internationally and one of them is Zomato. Jabong has already entered into UK market with a small office in London. Rocket Internet Printvenue is also entering into Australian and Singapore market. 

Wealth destroyed Mergers and acquisitions

To achieve scales, companies have to step outside and expand. These days a lot of Indian and global companies acquired and merged with other firms to expand their business. However, doing so may not necessarily add to shareholder wealth. India Inc has hardly been able to create value for its shareholders through its inorganic expansion abroad. Most of India’s big-ticket overseas acquisitions in the past five to seven years have corroded wealth. The reason for this range from high leverage taken to acquire a company, adverse changes in business cycle or failure to turn around a loss making unit. Here are some of the mergers and acquisitions that have destroyed wealth.

Tata Steel acquired Corus 4 times its size for $12.04 Billion in 2006. The valuation was more than one and a half times its initial offer and was paid monthly through debt. This European business for Tata was loss making until FY13 and has not shown strong signs of a turn around. Hindalco acquired Canadian company Novelis for $6 Billion in 2007 but the slowdown in Aluminum demand have led to the company stock stagnation at the same level. United Spirits had acquired UK based White & Mackay, in 2007 for close to 540 Million pounds. Diageo, in turn acquired USL, in 2012, which had to sell White & Mackay in 2014. Since then Stocks has fallen 18 percent.

In the past five years, India’s largest hospitality company Indian hotels consolidated operations have been impacted due to loss making international operations. For instance, Taj Boston losses have grown to Rs 523 crore from Rs 122 crore in past five years ending FY14. Tata chemicals $1 Billion acquisition of General Chemicals in 2008 has not really brought much cheer to its shareholders. Company market capitalization has not changed much since 2008. Suzlon, the world’s fifth largest wind turbine maker, continued to face challenging times after the debt funded acquisition of Senvion in 2007. Its debt serving ability hit a wall after global demand environment collapsed due to financial crisis.

Between 2010 and 2013, Fortis healthcare expanded inorganically, venturing into regions like Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, and Canada. The acquisitions strained its finances and increased interest cost on the debt pile. Shifting focus from international market to the domestic market has helped the company return to black. These are some of the Indian companies whose wealth was destroyed after the acquisitions. However, in Software Industry, much of the wealth is not destroyed after the acquisition.

Google Project "LOON"

With the aim to connect the world by internet by 2020, global companies such as Google and Facebook have started their projects. Facebook is working on their solar powered aircraft projects, which will provide internet services across the globe where accessibility of internet is not there. In the same way, Google is working and testing on project “LOON” which aims to beams internet access from satellites back to earth.

Google’s plan to network together high altitude balloons to provide Internet access to the world by the end of this year in some parts of the world. The Loon balloons have been successfully tested in New Zealand, U.S., and Brazil. The balloons stay at 60,000 feet for around 100 days, powered by solar panels and use the same LTE data systems that smartphone use. The idea may sound bit crazy but there is a solid science behind it. You can know more about this project on Google Project Loon website. (http://www.google.co.in/loon/)

The balloons are moving by adjusting their altitude to float to a wind layer after identifying the wind layer with the desired speed and direction using wind data from the NOAA. Users of the service connect to the balloon network using a special internet antenna attached to their building. The signal travels through the balloon network from balloon to balloon, then to a ground based station connected to an Internet Service provider then onto the global internet.

The system aims to bring internet access to remote and rural areas poorly served by existing provisions, and to improve communication during natural disasters to affected regions. The project was begun in 2011 under incubation in Google X and was officially announced in June 2013. With these projects by Google and Facebook, it will increase number of internet users across the globe. This will affect online-based businesses and people can search for more information. E-commerce businesses will also get affected with increase in number of internet users. Indian Government plan of Digital India also seems to be possible if this project is successful across the globe. 

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is the ability of a digital computer or computer controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. The term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristics of humans. It has been demonstrated that computers could be programmed to carry out very complex tasks.

Computers carry out difficult tasks very easily. Starting from software industry to the automobile industry artificial intelligence has created a major impact. Robots are used in making and assembling cars parts. Although, artificial intelligence has created a simple way of completing work and tasks but it has taken place of humans in industry, which had made a large impact on employment. Human made machines replaced many skilled labors. What lacks in Artificial Intelligence is the emotional quotient. Many movies had been directed on Artificial Intelligence such as “Robot” in Bollywood and “Artificial Intelligence” in Hollywood.

There are a number of different forms of learning as applied to artificial intelligence. The simplest is learning by trial and error. Believe or not, we live in an era where we are surrounded by artificial intelligence at each step. Problem solving particularly in artificial intelligence, may be characterized as a systematic search through a range of possible actions in order to reach some predefined goal or solution. Problem solving methods may divide into special purpose and general purpose.

A special purpose method is tailor made for a particular problem and often exploits very specific features of the situation in which the problem is embedded. General purpose techniques used in AI is means end analysis. A step-by-step, incremental, reduction of the difference between the current state and the final goal. Recently In Japan, they created a robot which can play and talk like humans and can complete all tasks that a human body does. Android restaurants in China where robots are used to serve and cook food. In this way, Artificial Intelligence is one thing that people might see in open in India. However, it is there in some metros cities in India but still it will take time to spread on a large scale.