| | | Question of the Week Before Laxman Narasimhan came to head Starbucks in April 2023, he was CEO of Reckitt Benckiser. Who was his predecessor at the UK-based hygiene, health and nutrition products company? | | |  | | Good Morning | | The News in Summary Bharti Televentures UK Ltd, part of the Bharti group, has picked up a 24.5% stake in BT (erstwhile British Telecom) Group, UK’s largest mobile and broadband services provider, for an estimated $4 billion. Meanwhile, Akihiro Fukutome, global CEO of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), is visiting India for discussions on buying a majority stake in Yes Bank. Elsewhere, Kumar Mangalam Birla's children, Ananya Birla and Aryaman Vikram Birla, have been inducted to the board of the group’s flagship company, the $26 billion Hindalco Industries. Finally, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has stayed the corporate insolvency resolution proceedings against Coffee Day Enterprises, just days after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had ordered the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings, while Byju’s efforts to reach a settlement with BCCI were stymied by the Supreme Court. | | | In a Reversal of History, Bharti Acquires 24.5% Stake in BT Group  Bharti Televentures UK Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises’s international investment arm Bharti Global, is buying a 24.5% stake in British Telecom Group Plc , from Altice UK. Bharti will pick up the stake in two tranches, 9.99% immediately, and the remaining 14.51% after receiving regulatory clearances. While the companies haven’t revealed the exact value of the deal, Altice’s 24.5% stake in BT was worth about £3.2 billion based on the last closing price on the London Stock Exchange. At that price, Bharti will presumably put down nearly $4 billion for the stake. For Bharti, the deal marks a sharp reversal since BT, the UK's largest mobile and broadband services provider, owned a 21% stake in India’s second largest telco between 1997 and 2001. The company’s chairman Sunil Mittal has clarified that the Bharti group will not buy any additional stake beyond 24.5% since it had no intention of managing the British telecom company which reported profit before tax of £1.2 billion on £20.8 billion revenue, and is carrying net debt of £19.5 billion for the full year to 31 March 2024. | | | | This Bloomberg video looks at the implications of Bharti buying Altice’s stake in BT, offering some relief to its billionaire owner Patrick Drahi’s troubled telecommunications empire while giving the British carrier more investor stability: | | | | Sumitomo Boss Heads to India for Talks to Buy Stake in Yes Bank  Akihiro Fukutome, global chief executive officer of SMBC, one of Japan’s largest banks, is meeting officials of the Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of India (SBI) for discussions on buying a stake in Yes Bank which was turned around by a government-engineered plan after its near collapse in 2020. SMBC is looking at a valuation of about $5 billion for a 51% stake in Yes Bank, which has a market capitalization of ₹76,531 crore, or about $9.1 billion. The discussions with SBI are crucial since it owns a 23.99% stake in Yes Bank and has been looking to pare its holding in the private lender ever since the three-year lock-in period barring investors from selling shares expired last year. A sale to SMBC will also give an exit path to other banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Axis Bank as well as Life Insurance Corporation of India, and CA Basque Investments and Verventa Holdings, all of whom have small stakes in Yes Bank. | | |  | | | | | | | | Birla Scion Inducted on Board of Group Flagship Hindalco  A year after their appointment to key positions within the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla's children, Ananya Birla and Aryaman Vikram Birla, have been inducted to the board of directors of the all-important Hindalco Industries, the $26 billion metals flagship of the conglomerate. Last year, the two were given board roles at Grasim Industries and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. Ananya Birla founded Svatantra Microfin Pvt Ltd at 17 and turned it into the second-largest microfinance institution in India while Aryaman Vikram Birla has had experience of venture capital investing, and professional sports. The move is part of an ongoing succession plan at the $65 billion conglomerate. Last year, they were appointed as directors on the board of Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt Ltd, the apex body responsible for providing strategic direction to the Aditya Birla Group's businesses. Their insights will come in handy at a time when the group is focusing on building out its consumer business to $25 billion over the next five years with big bets on new segments such as paints and jewelry. | | | | Relief for Malvika Hegde as Tribunal Stays CCD’s Insolvency Proceedings The Chennai bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has stayed the corporate insolvency resolution proceedings against Coffee Day Enterprises, the parent company of Coffee Day Group, just days after the NCLT had ordered the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings. The NCLAT’s interim stay was granted following an appeal filed by Malvika Hegde, a shareholder and director of Coffee Day Enterprises, challenging the earlier order which permitted the insolvency proceeding against the company by IDBI Trusteeship for an alleged default of Rs 228 crore. This was the second insolvency application filed against the coffee chain set up by the late VG Siddhartha, after the one by IndusInd Bank in September 2023. However, IndusInd later withdrew the application following a settlement with the firm which has been facing financial stress over the last few years and has been selling off assets to reduce debt. | | |  | | | | Byju’s Settlement with BCCI Faces SC Hurdle  Byju’s rollercoaster ride continued with the Supreme Court staying an order by the NCLAT that allowed its settlement with the BCCI. The top court asked the debt-laden edtech firm to deposit the settlement amount of ₹158 crore, which was raised by Riju Raveendran, younger brother of the edtech's founder Byju Raveendran, in a separate escrow account until the pendency of an appeal by Glas Trust Inc. The US-based lender has opposed Byju’s settlement with the Indian cricket board on grounds that the firm owes it more than ₹8,000 crore and, as a financial creditor, it should get priority in repayments. Glas Trust’s counsel had argued before the court that the Raveendran brothers were involved in round-tripping the money involved in the settlement and therefore, should not be allowed to proceed with the BCCI payoff. While the SC stay has halted the settlement with BCCI which had dragged Byju's to the bankruptcy court, legal experts weren’t sure if the order would lead to the revival of the insolvency proceedings that the appellate tribunal had halted. | | | | Last Word  The controversy around Sebi chief Madhavi Buch’s alleged conflict of interest in the investigations into the Adani Group refuses to die down. Public documents reveal that she continued to earn revenue from two consulting firms - Singapore-based Agora Partners and India-based Agora Advisory in which she has a 99% stake - during her seven-year tenure at the market regulator, potentially breaching rules for regulatory officials. Buch joined SEBI in 2017 and was appointed to the top position in March 2022. In this period, Agora Advisory earned a revenue of ₹37.1 million ($442,025), in potential violation of a 2008 SEBI policy prohibiting officials from holding an office of profit, receiving salary or professional fees from other professional activities. Buch had earlier clarified that the consultancy firms had been disclosed to Sebi and that it was her husband who used them for his consulting business post 2019. With company records for the financial year ending March 2024 showing that she still holds shares in the firm, Buch might have some explaining to do. | | | | Answer to the Question Indian business executive Rakesh Kapoor was the CEO of Reckitt Benkiser from 2011 to 2019, when he retired to be replaced by Laxman Narasimhan. | | | Do you have any questions? Send in your queries to sundeepkkhanna@gmail.com Were you forwarded this email? Did you stumble upon it online? Sign up here. | | Written by Sundeep Khanna. Edited by James Mathew. Produced by Shad Hasnain. 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