INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - March 1^st - March 15^th - 2008

PROMETHEAN PICKS UP MINOR STAKE IN EIH

PROMETHEAN India, AIM-listed investment firm, is learnt to have picked a minority stake in the Oberoi Group's listed hospitality arm EIH Ltd. According to sources, Promethean, which had picked less than 5% stake through the secondary market route, is looking to buy additional shares in the firm. EIH is the second most valued hospitality firm in India by market capitalisation after the Tatas' Indian Hotels. EIH Ltd has a market capitalisation of Rs 6,000 crore.

Promethean has invested in three other companies out of its $115-million fund raised last year. These include 8.5% stake in public-listed Nitco Tiles, which was again through open market purchases. While promoters did not dilute their stake, one of the co-founders of Promethean India Gaurav Burman was inducted in the board of the building material manufacturing company.

According to sources in the merchant banking industry, Promethean had picked a small stake in EIH through the open market. This could be between 1% and 5% and the firm is now considering to hike it further. However, it is not known how much stake Promethean would finally hold in EIH.

The media spokesperson of the Oberoi Group did not comment on the transaction. Gaurav Burman, one of the co-founders of Promethean said, "We have not yet disclosed the name of the hospitality company and would not be able to comment on any transaction related to it besides what we have already disclosed." Last month Promethean disclosed that it had picked a minority stake in a hospitality project in India with an investment of £7.4 million or about Rs 60 crore. The AIM-listed firm has not picked any additional stake since August'07. If the market value of EIH at that point of time is taken as the benchmark, then Promethean would have picked about 1.5% stake, though it could be higher, depending on when exactly it mopped up. EIH's scrip has moved up by about 50% since August '07. Apart from EIH and Nitco Tiles, Promethean has investments in Mahindras' auto component company Mahindra Forgings and Obopay, a US-based mobile payment solution firm that recently entered India.