IPO - 'I' 'P'rior to 'O'thers !!!

During my childhood days there was this game which I played called Hungry Hippos where my objective was to gobble as much of balls in the Hippos large mouth as possible. Well in the current scenario 'Company' has replaced me and 'Hippo' by IPO.

An IPO (Initial Public Offering for all) has become an instrument of gluttony. Gluttony of funds from the public.

My love story with IPOs started when as part of a subject we as a group were studying the ins & outs or rather the sins & touts of the IPO !! Now every brown paper I see, I look for the IPO related news.

In the past few days, there is a plethora of happenings in the world of IPOs.

Our very own Mahesh uncle came with one. Mahesh uncle who is the proprietor of Mahesh Tutorials aka MT Educare has the offering of shares going on with the purpose being expansion of branches. But who thought that a guy running couple of batches in Sion (atleast I know about just this) will come up with a listed empire of his own.

But the last year has not been very kind to the IPOs with almost half of the 30 odd ones which have featured have fallen by 50%. L&T Finance could not cash in on its promoter's name while Taksheel as the name sounds became a site of battle ruins. Indo-Thai got one between the thighs but some like One Life Capital thanked their stars. And finally there was MCX which showed the way with a whopping 54 times over subscription. But even with this Goliaths among Davids still the Merchant Bankers are getting a beating as to why they did not offer a higher price band. As they sacrificed on price band now their life becomes a elastic rubber band .. Boinngg !!!

So with the markets a bit favourable and every Alter-Cheney-Baweja coming out with an IPO of their own, I have decided to get one of my own too. Ta Daa !!!

Since the disclosures are way too many, I wont bore you with all the facts and frankly blogger wont allow me too.

So here is a 'Time period of Trivedi after Budget' sneak peek of what my IPO will offer:

Revenue generated through the offer will directly go to my account and the utilization of those funds are upto my discretion. The utilization though will be done in a variety of social ways possible  like helping poor by using their products thereby uplifting them out of their debts. Mr. Mallya hope you are listening.

I have 'Dad' bank as my Merchant bankers who are over the years kind enough to sort out my financial difficulties. Underwriters are 'College Peers co. Ltd' who are brilliant when it comes to writing under pressure.

Well I dont believe that sharing is caring, as a result I am the only Top Shareholder in disclosure.

Finally, any IPO will not be complete without this ... Investing in my IPO is subject to market (read every) risk, please read (Its ok if you procrastinate) the offer document carefully before (OMG you are *faints*) investing !!!

There are Mergers & there are 'Just' Associations !!!

This week the brown papers were hit by one of the biggest merger in recent years. This merger was on the cards for some time now but finally the scam ravaged bride 'Satyam' and the fit and stable groom 'Tech Mahindra' had their financial knot tied in the M&A court with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley & KPMG as the three witnesses.

With this new association, this new entity will have a market cap of $ 3.1 billion with more than 350 odd clients and more than 75 grand employees.This new entity will be the 6th largest India based ITservices firm so we can truly say that Mahindras have definitely hit a 'Six' with this one. Especially with their association with Renault failing, the Ssanyong deal which will let them expand their wings in the South East of Asia & now with this, it seems that the top bosses will be seeing more days at Club Mahindras !!!

By the looks of it, this Merger seems to be profitable as even the markets are giving a thumbs up for them but waiting for the more intricate details, only time will tell ..

But there are associations as well, some work in favour while some dont. 

Lets have a look at some.

Take the case of Telenor, the Norwegian giants came to the country in hope of earning some quick bucks. Theytried to quickly established their foothold with Unitech bt now find them like a Norwegian parents having to give their 'child' to be raised by Indian family. Sounds familiar !! Irony indeed !!

On the other hand, ADAG got their movies venture in the US of A with Spielberg Studios and its Mr. Dreamworks .. well dont bother about the names .. wherever Mr. Spielberg is there Dreams are going to work. This association or JV to be precise is reaping huge benefits and in its small way acting as a wooden 2x4 which hits Mr. Ambani back to life from his 'Power' shocks.

So getting my Merger & Acquisitions glasses on and hoping that I setup a merger with all the people in my life in which they strive and get me my 'Vedanta' !!!

A Budget to Remember !!!

Mr. George W. Bush once said that 'Clearly it is a budget, it has got a lot of numbers in it'. Well the one presented by Pranabda on March 16, 2012 definitely had a lot of them. But whether they were in favour or not is the question to be asked.

Lets take each case one by one ...

First getting the tax slabs as close to DTC can be regarded as a step well taken but the loss which government will bear (in crores) will be recovered from where or rather whom?

Government feels that non tax revenue will come through mainly two ways ... Disinvestment in state owned companies but with the ONGC fiasco on back of their minds, will LIC or any other such entities come forward to hold Goverment's hand and bail them out ?

Other way is to get money from Auction of 2G & 4G spectrum. However with such problems surfacing with Telenor and other telecom bigwigs are they sure that the auction will be successful ?

Also Vodafone's case with the double taxation agreement trouble has already raised its hood and can severely hurt the auction as well. Will it or wont it ?

There is an increase in service tax which now means that life is going to be more taxed. We are now used to more services than goods so now expect higher bills for anything and everything. Right from advertising agencies charges to telephone bills or maybe AtoZ courier services. So when is the GST coming ?

Custom duty on cars is increased. Hi Nano ... Sonata Ta Ta !!

Also custom duty on gold is increased. Ohh thats why the Punjabi n Tamil wedding markets observed a mourning.

Cigarettes will cost more ... So expect more of Sunil Chetri than John Terry on ur cigarette packs.

Luxury cars as the name suggests will be a luxury.

Branded apparel will be dearer .. so no more shopping for the 'dears'.

Imported bicycles .. eh ... who imports bicycles anyways ... Okk Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander remake on a standstill.

Airline tickets (subject to Plane taking off) will be higher too.

Household appliances will cost higher ... all the henpecked husbands rejoice.

Mobile bills to increase ... how much can it rise anyways ? Challenge Accepted !!

Eating out will be a luxury ... right time to enforce my diet plans.

Pranabda promised that average inflation in the coming year will be 6.4% if crude holds up to $115 a barrel. So my request to all the Arab uncles (uncle Sam too), I did not demand anything till now, first n the last time please help Pranabda in his mission.

Finally, Pranabda also promised that the fiscal deficit will be reduced to 5.1% of GDP this coming year. I hope the promise holds good otherwise India will be on a 'fisal' ... oops fiscal slide.

So with this eventful day I would leave you with this very important letter by our Finance Minister. The letter reads ...

Dear Sachin,

Thanks !!!

Sincerely, Pranabda :)

Budget Curiosity

Nowadays wherever I go the word Budget follows. Whether it is the Finance classroom discussion or the Finance brown papers or even my maid .. yeah even the maid is estatic about what the budget holds for her. Finance papers have to print about budget otherwise they who will do that anyways. As for the classrooms especially the Taxation subject, the professor finds mixing budget and his subject contents a source for our presentations.

These three aspects gave me food for thought or rather finance for thought (Err .. Bad Humour).

In the first case, reading a brown paper has become a ritual for me. Page 3 bombshells have been replaced by bombs at the Dalal Street. So be it ... atleast I am learning something new. A 36-24-36 would remain same but a scrip from 36 to 24 and back to 36 at EOD changes the entire perspective of a company. Coming back to the topic, Budget expectations are being chewed and almost spit ... ruminated again almost spit .. naah again ruminated and finally spit !! One of the main items which caught my eye is whether the excise duties for certain consumer commodities will change or not. Afterall now I am a student, buying even a shirt from my static-never increasing savings gives me goosebumps. In such a scenario if the government helps nothing like it.

Secondly, my maid might not know the big catastrophes faced by the country but she definitely knows that the cat steals food in her house. She is waiting for the prices to go down. How she doesn't know but yeah she wants it to go down otherwise Pranab Mukherjee is the biggest villain in her eyes. Even bigger than Shakti Kapoor or Gulshan Grover. But yes, will the price of food grains or oil go down, the margins of middlemen reduced and will farmers gain ... wait and watch people.

Finally, as a part of Taxation subject presentation, we have to see the general budget details but I m more interested in studying the Budget effect and DTC ( Direct Tax Code). With DTC evident one fine day will the FM make any amendments to the current tax slabs and get it in sync with the one to be offered.

There is so much reading and explaining to my selves, my professors and even my maid (That mom will do though) so thats it for now. Reading about the Budget 2012 starts now ...