Competition Commission approves Avendus Capital-Mizuho Securities deal

In a release on Tuesday, the Competition Commission of India CCI said it has approved the proposed deal. Separately, CCI has approved the acquisition of stakes in certain entities by MAIF 4 Investments India 2 Pte Ltd, an investment vehicle wholly-owned by the Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 4.

The Competition Commission has cleared the proposed purchase of shares in merchant banker Avendus Capital Pvt Ltd by Mizuho Securities Co Ltd. Avendus Capital, a Sebi-registered merchant banker, is present in India, Singapore, the US and the UK through its subsidiaries. Mizuho Securities is part of Japan's Mizuho Financial Group. In a release on Tuesday, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it has approved the proposed deal. The watchdog has also given its nod for the proposed merger of A1 Agri Global Ltd (Agri), BN Agritech Ltd (BNA) and Salasar Balaji Overseas Pvt Ltd (Salasar) into BN Agrochem Ltd (BNAC). While BNAC is into the procurement and trading of soybean oil and palmolein oil, BNA is involved in the procurement of crude edible oils as well as refining, repackaging and trading. Salasar is into procuring, repackaging and trading of edible oils. Separately, CCI has approved the acquisition of stakes in certain entities by MAIF 4 Investments India 2 Pte Ltd, an investment vehicle wholly-owned by the Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 4. The latter's ultimate controlling entity is Macquarie Group Ltd. MAIF 4 is to buy 42.5 per cent stake in Maple IM, 40 per cent shareholding in Maple PM and up to 37.5 per cent of the units of Maple Trust. Maple IM and Maple PM are the investment manager and the project manager of Maple Trust, respectively. Maple Trust, through its special purpose vehicles, is engaged in the business of owning and operating road assets (through government concessions) in India. Deals beyond a certain threshold require the approval of the CCI.