Indian firms moving to Britain to raise expansion funds

London, Dec 17 (IANS) Apart from stalking British business with takeover bids, Indian companies are now flocking to London to raise billions of pounds to drive their domestic and global expansion plans.
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Some Indian companies have taken over British firms. Many more, including Tata Steel, are in the process of acquiring companies such as Corus. Figures say that India has emerged among the largest foreign investors in Britain.
In 2007, over 20 Indian companies are expected to join London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in order to raise at least 2.5 billion pounds, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
The newspaper is among several British news media that regularly reports on India's growing economic importance and the opportunities it presented to British business.
The daily reported that Indian property major Unitech had raised 360 million pounds through a new fund that will begin trading on AIM this week.
The Hiranandani Group, the biggest property developer in Mumbai, is also planning to raise a 200 million pounds fund on AIM. It has hired Bear Stearns and HSBC as advisers.
Other Indian companies considering listing on AIM include Ansals (construction group), Nicholas Piramal (pharmaceutical and biotech group), Runwal group (miniature conglomerate) and Lok Housing (residential property developer).
Elra Capital, an investment bank, is also planning to list a 200 million pound India-focused fund that would target investments in property, retail and media, Sunday Telegraph said, adding that the rush of Indian companies follows a total of 11 Indian listings on AIM in 2006, which raised more than 1 billion pounds.
Ibukun Adebayo, the London Stock Exchange's head of business development in India, told the newspaper: "Indian corporates are increasingly favouring the AIM bourse for listing. It is an entry point for new players to the main market. AIM is a nursery for the London Stock Exchange. We hope another 20 or more Indian companies will be listing on AIM in 2007."

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