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What
do entrepreneurs who've been there, done that do when they sell
their ventures? Why, help others become entrepreneurs. That's
precisely what Avnish Bajaj, who sold his baazee.com to
eBay, and Sanjeev Aggarwal, who sold his BPO Daksh eServices
to IBM, plan to do. Last fortnight, both Bajaj, 35, and Aggarwal,
45, announced they were turning VCs with the launch of, respectively,
Matrix Partners India and Helion. Bajaj has partnered with ex-Sequoia
Capital India honcho Rishi Navani and Matrix Partners of the US
for a $150-million (Rs 705 crore), multistage, multi-sector fund,
while Aggarwal has joined Ashish Gupta's (of Junglee fame and
partner at California-based Woodside Fund) new Helion Venture
Partners. "For those seeking only money and nothing else, we are
not the right fund," declares Bajaj of Matrix. As for Aggarwal,
Helion "expects to close its first few deals in a few weeks".
Quick work.
 No
Lemon, This
Patu
Keswani of lemon tree just can't
stop grinning. His Gurgaon-based two-hotel chain has received
Rs 210 crore from private equity giant Warburg Pincus for a 27
per cent stake in it, valuing his four-year-old outfit at Rs 778
crore. That's not all, though. Keswani, 46, a former Indian Hotels
executive, has also sold 27 per cent in his low-budget chain,
Red Fox Hotels, to Warburg for Rs 70 crore. "Think of the car
market two decades ago and how it opened up, the hotel business
in India is poised for similar growth," says Keswani. What's he
going to do with the money? Invest it right back in Lemon Tree
equity.
A
Brand New Itinerary
 As
it turns out, Ashwini Kakkar didn't have to stay away from
the travel business for too long. Six months after he quit Thomas
Cook India as Managing Director, Kakkar, 52, has bought a 75 per
cent stake in East India Hotel's (read: Oberoi) Mercury Travels.
"I expect Mercury to become a premier travel company, with a brand
identity separate from that of Oberoi Hotels," he says. To start
with, Kakkar, who's also the Chairman of World Travel & Tourism
Council, has planned a four-fold growth strategy for Mercury.
Next year alone, he hopes to achieve a 50 per cent jump in the
60-year-old firm's transactions by using customer-friendly technologies
such as the internet. By 2010, he wants to make it the #3 travel
firm. That's one notch to climb every year for the next four.
 Still
On the Prowl
Ever
since Rana Talwar, 58, turned entrepreneur after quitting
Standard Chartered as its global CEO, he's been on an acquisition
spree. His Sabre Capital bought Centurion Bank from Dev Ahuja
and followed it up with a merger with Bank of Punjab. Now, Talwar,
who is also part owner and Chairman of Lotus India AMC, a joint
venture of Temasek's Fullerton Fund and Sabre, is said to be eyeing
the asset management space. Talwar wasn't available for comment,
but Standard Chartered AMC (a mutual fund) is said to be on Lotus'
radar. (StanChart denies the reports.) In an industry already
packed with 30 players, Lotus may have to pay a premium to realise
its goal of Rs 25,000 crore in assets over the next three-to-five
years.
Jason Ader Checks In
 Jason
who? Former top bear sterns gaming analyst, and now founder and
head of New York-based hedge fund, Hayground Cove. ADER's India
Hospitality Corp. recently raised $100 million on the London Stock
Exchange to buy hotels in India. In the past, Ader has indirectly
invested in India, but for this task he has roped in Hero Group's
Pawan Munjal and Tourism Ministry's Rajeev Talwar as IHC board
members. "We are looking at small companies that want to use our
LSE platform to be public and access up to $600 million in equity
and debt capital to build out their business models," says Ader.
Hoteliers, wait for a call.
 Switching
Sides
It's
the other side of the deal table, but Ashish Guha is excited
just the same. "It's not rocket science, it's about management,"
says the 49-year-old investment banker on moving from Ambit Corporate
Finance, where he was a partner, to HeidelbergCement as the India
CEO. In his new role, Guha, who's also done a stint with Lazard
India, will oversee the German major's business interests in India,
including its operations through JVs and acquisitions. HeidelbergCement
recently picked up a 51 per cent stake in Mysore Cement for about
$100 million (Rs 470 crore). "First, we will focus on doing business
with profits and then aim at grabbing market share," says Guha.
Looks like Guha's already got his priorities right.
-Contributed by Shaleen Agrawal,
Aman Malik, Pallavi Srivastava, Mahesh Nayak,
Amit Mukherjee and R. Sridharan
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