FMS holds Investment Bankers Conclave

The highlight of conclave were two panel discussions on the issues of Capital raising in the 21st century and Cross Border Merger and Acquisitions (M&As).

During the first panel discussion on Capital raising in the 21st century, eminent speakers included Mr. Subir Gokarn, Executive Director and Chief Economist, CRISIL; Mr. Kanwaljit Singh MD, Helion Ventures; Mr. Akhil Awasthi Senior Partner, Baring Private Equity Partners; Mr Satish Mandhana, Managing Director, Investments IDFC Private Equityand Mr Tashwinder Singh Head Assets, Commercial Banking CitiBank. The panelists talked about the paradigm shift in raising capital in the globalized world.

While setting the ground for discussion Mr Subir Gokarn highlighted the shift, There is complete change in economy which is seeing more service oriented businesses booming. These businesses dont have the traditional collaterals like plant or factory but thrive on intellectual capital. This is the new challenge. Old businesses too are becoming obsolete fast which offers fresh challenges of valuations.

Panelists highlighted that while capital is no longer a scarce commodity, getting the finance in right structure and at right price remains an investment bankers challenge. Said Mr Mandhana, Today growth capital is abundantly available for good ideas which are backed by passionate team.

M&As are used as instruments of crucial growth and are progressively becoming important tool of business strategy. Noticing this trend the second panel discussion focused on Cross border M&A attempted to analyze the issue of making M&A work. Speaking on the issue Mr. Omkar Goswami, Founder & Chairman, CERG Advisory said, There is a massive surge in number of cross-border M&A deals. But research conclusively shows that only 20 per cent of M&A deals add long-term value to the companies. Making M&A work is a big corporate challenge.

While sharing his view, Mr Frank Hancock, Managing Director, Corporate Finance ABN Amro Bank, said, The real objective behind these mergers and acquisitions should be capturing new market, new technology or acquiring intellectual property as in brands or patents. The session also saw the eminent speakers including Mr. Ajay Arora Partner, Ernst & Young; Mr. T. Sivashankar, Director, Special Situations Group, Citigroup and Mr. Raj Chatterjea, Director, M&A, Motilal Oswal Investment Advisory.

Earlier in the day, the conclave also saw workshop on Structuring and Financing of Overseas M&As by ICICI Securities and Citi Bourses Award. Team including Abhinav Bhatia, Dhruv Gada and Poja Kapoor won the first prize for the competition of making Maximum Deal while team included Gaurav Sehgal, Viral Nagar and Sidhant Khosla were the winner of Maximum profit and loss competition.
Indias leading management portal MBAUniverse.com was the media partner of the FMS,Investment BankersConclave.