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Centurion Bank takes 26 pc in tea portal

- 11/8/2000
Centurion Bank Ltd has acquired a 26 per cent stake in teauction.com, a B2B portal, for a consideration of Rs. 11 crores. The portal is aimed at catering to needs of the domestic as well as international tea markets. The company currently manages sales of between 90,000 to 1.2 lakh kg of tea per week. The company is also in negotiations with venture capitalists of the US with the aim of undertaking a wide range of new programmes catering to industry segments. The company is also in negotiations with venture capitalists of the US with the aim of undertaking a wide range of new programmes catering to industry segments. Centurion Bank intends to finance and fund transactions on the site, to the tune of Rs. 200 crores. It also plans to provide an exclusive payment gateway to the auctioneers as well as the buyers. "This move reinforces the bank's commitment to enhance convenience and spur productivity and efficiency. The tea market is growing exponentially and with out association with teauction.com, we are convinced that the industry will see more of such tie-ups," said Mr. M. J. Suibbaiah, Managing Director of the bank.

Centurion Bank stake 

- 11/8/2000
Centurion Bank Ltd has acquired 26 per cent stake in teauction.com, a business to business (B2B) portal catering to the tea industry, for Rs.11 crore. The bank has earmarked Rs. 200 crore towards financing and funding the transactions on the site by various tea companies, brokerage firms and sellers and buyers.

Centurion Bank acquires 26% stake in Teauction.com 

- 11/8/200 
Centurion Bank Ltd today announced that it has acquired a 26 per cent stake in a B2B portal - Teauction.com - for Rs 11 crores. The bank ahs also earmarked Rs 200 crores towards financing and funding the transactions on the teacution.com portal, which is the first digital tea exchange to enhance market access and liquidity in the market. The other shareholders of the site includes B. M. Haitian (10 per cent), Apeejay group (10 per cent) and Hanuman Tea / Dhunseri Tea (54 per cent). The bank also plans to provide an exclusive payment gateway to the auctioneers as well as the buyers. M. J. Subbaiah, managing director of the bank, said, "The tea market is growing exponentially, and with our association with tea auction, we are convinced that the industry will see more of such tie-ups." Teauction.com brings together the entire community of buyers, sellers, registered brokers, suppliers, and associations and substitutes their physical presence at the auctions. Through this portal, tea is available online.

Centurion Bank buys 26 pc equity stake in teauction.com 

- 11/8/2000
Centurion Bank and its associates have acquired a 26 per cent stake in teauction.com for Rs 11 crore. Teauction.com is business-to-business (B2B) portal, which caters to the tea industry. Says Centurion Bank's director VS Srinivasan, "The bank has signed an exclusive tie-up with the site and will benefit from the actual transaction flows through the system. Also there will be a benefit in terms of float and credit extended to the parties." "The bank also gets a processing fee for the various services involved which will also help to improve the bank's fee based income," added the director of the bank. The bank has a 15 per cent stake in the site and has earmarked Rs 200 crore towards financing and funding the transactions on the site. Says Srinivasan, "A throughput of Rs 700 crore is estimated by the year 2003." On the exit option for the bank he added, "The bank will be able to exit the company at the time of its initial public offering (IPO)." The site is promoted by Hanuman Tea, which holds a 54 per cent stake in the site. The other major investors in the portal are Williamson Major and the Apeejay Group, each holding 10 per cent stake in the venture. Says teauction's chief executive officer, Rakesh Bhutoria, "The site brings together buyers, sellers, registered brokers, suppliers and associations. It will help to reduce the transaction and cycle time by 50 per cent. The present transaction cost works to around Rs 6 per kg, which would will go down to Rs 2.65 per kg. Also the collection cycle will reduce from eight weeks to four weeks." The tea auction volumes in the country are at $1.5 billion and 200 buyers constitute over around 80 per cent of the site. The site has also received the status of a deemed auction site from the Union Commerce Ministry. "With the launch of payment gateway by the bank on October 10 and with the tie-up with the site the transaction volumes in our payment gateway will increase," Srinivasan said. "A joint credit committee comprising the bank, the site and a credit rating agency are planned. This will help in checking out the credit worthiness of the parties," Srinivasan added.

Centurion Bank acquires 26% stake in teauction.com 

- 11/8/2000 
Centurion Bank Ltd has acquired a significant 26% stake in one of the leading B2B portal, teauction.com. Bank has also earmarked Rs 200 crores towards financing and funding the transaction on the site, bank's managing director M J. Subbaiah announced here today. Speaking at the press conference here today, Subbaiah said that the bank has set up joint credit committee for credit appraisal with members from Centurion Bank, teauction.com, and representative of a prominent rating agency. The banks 26% stake amounted to Rs 11 cr. and it has further plans to expand its investment in the portal, which is aimed at setting up a on-line teauction exchange for the Rs 5000 cr. annual teauction market, he said. Ayush Bagla, managing director of teauction.com also stated that with the online tea auctioning system the portal does away with the delays the defects of the traditional auction system while putting together faster and efficient features. According to him, teauction.com brings together the entire community of buyers, sellers, registered brokers suppliers, and associations and substitutes their physical presence at the auctions. Through this portal, tea is available online, and added that the site caters to the requirements of the domestic as well as international tea markets. 

Centurion Bank acquires stake in Teauction.com 

- 12/8/2000
Centurion Bank Ltd has acquired a significant 26 per cent stake in one of the leading B2B portal, Teauction.com. Bank has also earmarked Rs 200 crores towards financing and funding the transaction on the site, bank's Managing Director M J Subbaiah announced here on Thursday. Speaking at the press conference Subbaiah said that the bank has set up joint credit committee for credit appraisal with members from Centurion Bank, Teauction.com, and representative of a prominent rating agency. The bank's 26 per cent stake amounted to Rs 11 crore and it has further plans to expand its investment in the portal, which is aimed at setting up a online tea auction exchange for the Rs 5000 crore annual tea auction market, Subbaiah said. GM Ayush Bagla, Managing Director of Teauction.com also stated that with the online tea auctioning system the portal does away with the delays and defects of the traditional auction system while putting together faster and efficient features. According to him, Teauction.com brings together the entire community of buyers, sellers, registered brokers suppliers, and associations and substitutes their physical presence at the auctions. Through this portal, tea is available - online; he said and added that the site caters to the requirements of the domestic as well as international tea markets. He further said that apart from having tied up its first round of funding the Teauction.com is also in discussion with venture capitalists in the US with the specific aim of undertaking a wide range of new programme catering to specific industry segments.

Centurion picks up 26% in teauction.com for Rs 11 cr. 

- 11/8/2000
Centurion Bank has taken a 26 per cent stake in teauction.com for a consideration of Rs 11 crore, which has pegged the valuation of the portal at Rs 42.3 crore. Along with the acquisition, the bank has earmarked Rs 200 crore towards financing and funding transactions on the site. Centurion Bank also plans to provide an exclusive payment gateway to auctioneers as well as buyers. "The tea market is growing exponentially and with our association with teauction.com, we are convinced that the industry will see more of such tie-ups. As far as Centurion Bank is concerned, this is just a small part of our endeavor to aid the growth of the new age economy as a whole," said M J Subbaiah, managing director, Centurion Bank. Teauction.com aims to bring together the entire community of buyers, sellers, registered brokers, suppliers, and associations and substitute their physical presence at the auctions. The portal will cater to the requirements of domestic as well as international tea markets. Teauction.com is also in talks with venture capital firms in the US with the specific aim of undertaking a range of new programmes catering to specific industry segments. Teauction.com currently manages sales of between 90,000 to 1.2 lakh kilograms of tea per week, which translates into trades worth Rs 100 crore per year. The portal expects to reduce transaction time and costs by over 50 per cent. It has roped in Blue Dart as its logistics partner. "The system of auctioning tea through the portal does away with the delays and defects of the traditional auction system while putting together faster and more efficient Ayush Bagla, managing director, teauction.com. By trading over the portal, the total cost of selling tea is expected to be reduced from Rs 6 per kg to Rs 2.35 per kg.

Centurion Bank acquires 26 pc stake in teauction.com 

- 11/8/2000
Centurion Bank Ltd has acquired 26 per cent stake in teauction.com, a business to business (B2B) portal catering to the tea industry, for Rs 11 crore. Announcing this, Mr. V S Srinivasan, director, said here on Thursday that this acquisition was the first step towards the bank's e-commerce initiative. Centurion Bank also plans to provide an exclusive payment gateway to the auctioneers as well as the buyers. Teauction.com currently manages sales of between 90,000 to 1.2 lakh kilograms of tea per week amounting to about Rs 2 crore. Centurion Bank has earmarked Rs 200 crore towards financing and funding the transactions on the site by various tea companies, brokerage firms and sellers and buyers, he said. A joint committee constituting members from the portal, Centurion Bank and a rating agency has been set up to conduct appraisals of the credit applications, he said. Mr. Srinivasan said the committee has already approved around Rs 15 crore of credit, whose disbursements would commences soon.

Centurion Bank picks 26% in tea portal 

- 11/8/2000
Centurion Bank yesterday announced the acquisition of a 26 per cent stake in teauction.com for Rs 11 crore marking thru entry as co-promoters of the B2B commerce site. The bank will also be actively involved in financing transactions on the site by extending credit. Centurion Bank has earmarked Rs 200 crore towards financing and funding transactions on this site. Centurion Bank director V S Srinivasan said that teauction.com is the bank's launch pad for its e-com foray. The bank is keen to go in for a second round of funding for the portal and to execute its IPO as a co-promoter. Srinivasan said the annual tea market auctions reached roughly Rs 5,000 crore. The bank has offered a credit line of Rs 200 crore set up for various tea companies, brokers buyers, and sellers. He explained that the bank was not just an equity investor but also partners in business growth through large trade financing lines for exchange participants, availability of payment gateways and on-line banking. A joint committee for credit appraisal comprising members from the bank, teauction.com, and a leading credit rating agency has been formed, he said. The credit offered would help speed up tea transactions from about 8 weeks to 4 weeks and reduce the volatility bin the prices of tea. Besides, the payment gateway would increase the float for the bank since all payments would be done with the bank as the acting intermediary. The bank would also have cross selling opportunities and fee-based earnings. The throughput is expected at Rs 700 crore from 2003. Teauctioh.com was launched in March 2000 with a capital of Rs 2 crore. The current value of the portal is estimated at Rs 210 crore, Srinivasan said. The company is promoted by the B M Khaitan group, the Apeejay group both holding 10 per cent each, the Hanuman tea /Dhunseri Tea companies owning 54 per cent and Centurion bank which has taken a 26 per cent stake. The portal aims to bring the community of buyers, sellers, suppliers, brokers, associations and substitutes of tea 'on-line'. The tea markets in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are expected to be on-line within a month and Indonesia, Kenya, and Vietnam will be rolling out in the next 4 months, company officials said.