Annual Finance Seminar 'Arthanomics' Held at IIM Kozhikode

Annual Finance Seminar 'Arthanomics' Held at IIM Kozhikode

Arthanomics, the Annual Finance Seminar of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode was held on the 6th and 7th of September 2008 at the institute's scenic campus in Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala. The theme of this year's seminar was "Mergers & Acquisitions: India Inc. on the Prowl".

As has been the case with earlier editions of the seminar, Arthanomics '08 too had an impressive line up of distinguished personalities which included the likes of Mr. Kamlesh Gandhi, Ex-Country Head of the Investment Banking Division of Religare, Mr. Manoj Gupta, Vice President at Nexus Capital Advisors, Mr. Shiraz Bugwadia, Director of O3 Capital, and Mr. Sadashiv Rao, Senior Director at IDFC.

Mr. Kamlesh Gandhi, Ex-Country Head of the Investment Banking Division of Religare, delivered an enthralling inaugural address covering a range of topics including the NSG deal and the Singur deadlock. He observed that compared to the global IB scenario, the deal sizes in India are much smaller, and hence, felt there was a lot of growth potential in the industry. Referring to the TATA-Corus and the TATA-Jaguar deals as a matter of pride for the Indian industry, Kamlesh insisted that the flow would be both ways citing the Ranbaxy-Daiichi deal.

Mr. Manoj Gupta, Vice President, Nexus Capital Advisors, spoke about the parameters on which prospective ventures for funding are evaluated. Describing the entire investment process as "... long, tiring, often frustrating, but ultimately a hugely rewarding process", Mr. Gupta offered a list of practical tips that should be followed when pitching to venture capitalists was presented. Mr. Ravi Mani, Assosciate Director, Equirius Capital, explained the nitty-gritties of Investment Banking as he elaborated on what takes place behind the scenes during the M&A deals explaining the entire process. Mr. Sadashiv Rao, Senior Director at IDFC, talked about the essence of infrastructure financing while elaborating on market analysis and different types of risk on which a project can be evaluated.

Mr. Hemendra Aran, Founder and CEO of Aranca, addressed the students on why developing economies like India are attracting an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions. He touched upon the patterns of cross-border M&A activities that have emerged over the years. He also stressed on the importance of focusing on cultural issues which have been a major reason behind the failure of acquisitions across the globe. Mr. Som Krishna from ICICI Investment Banking Group spoke about the contrast in the deals happening internationally and in India. He maintained that several positive aspects like successful integration of earlier acquisitions, profits in line with expectations and liberalization will drive M&As in India. However, challenges like tight liquidity conditions, economic slowdown and high cost of borrowing in debt market might impede the rate of M&As.

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Contributed by -
Nishith Sharma,
Media Cell,
IIM Kozhikode.

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