As for the rationale for the merger, IDFC FIRST Bank said it would lead to a simplification of the corporate structure of IDFC Financial Holding, IDFC Ltd. and IDFC FIRST Bank by consolidating them into a single entity and will aid regulatory compliance of said entities.

New Delhi: It seems that India is going through two seasons at the moment: one is that of monsoon and the other that of mergers. Following HDFC, IDFC Ltd. and IDFC Financing have now decided to merge. The composite merger plan between the bank, IDFC Financial Holding Company Ltd. and IDFC Ltd. was approved on Monday by the board of directors of publicly traded IDFC FIRST Bank Ltd.

While IDFC Financial Holding is not, IDFC FIRST Bank and IDFC Ltd. listed. Shortly after HDFC and HDFC Bank Ltd. have merged, the new merger has made headlines.

The IDFC group rejig scheme is a two-step process. According to the merger schedule, IDFC Financial Holding will be merged with IDFC Ltd., and then IDFC Ltd. will be merged with IDFC FIRST Bank. Part of the rejig scheme is the reduction of the bank’s securities account.

Exchange ratio for amalgamation

The share exchange ratio for the amalgamation of IDFC Ltd. with IDFC FIRST Bank, 155 shares with a par value of Rs 10 each is fully paid up of IDFC FIRST Bank for every 100 shares with a par value of Rs 10 each fully paid up. up from IDFC Ltd.

Merger for simplification of corporate structure

As for the rationale for the merger, IDFC FIRST Bank said it would lead to a simplification of the corporate structure of IDFC Financial Holding, IDFC Ltd. and IDFC FIRST Bank by consolidating them into a single entity and will aid regulatory compliance of said entities.

The merger will help create an institution with diversified public and institutional shareholders, like other large private sector banks, and no promoter holding company.

RBI’s guidelines for licensing new banks

Under the terms of the RBI’s Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector dated February 22, 2013, the shares of IDFC FIRST Bank must be listed on a recognized stock exchange in India within a period of three years after commencement of banking. company.

The promoter(s), namely IDFC Ltd., must not fall directly under financially regulated activities. Further, it was mandated to hold the equity investment in IDFC FIRST Bank and other regulated financial entities only through IDFC Financial Holding.

Hence, IDFC Ltd. (the bank promoter) only invested in IDFC FIRST Bank through a non-operating financial holding company, IDFC Financial Holding, because of other regulated financial services companies of the group. As a result, the 39.93 percent equity interest in IDFC FIRST Bank is held by IDFC Ltd. through IDFC Financial Holding.

As of the date of approval by IDFC Financial Holding’s Board of Directors of the merger plan, the company has closed, sold or exited all other regulated financial services companies, the IDFC FIRST Bank said in a filing.

The five-year lock-in period

Further, the RBI has clarified that after the expiration of the five-year lock-in period, i.e. after September 30, 2020, IDFC Ltd., the merging company, can leave as promoter of IDFC FIRST Bank, the merged company.

With regard to the proposed use of the securities premium account to offset the accumulated losses under the merger schedule, the book value of the shares, IDFC FIRST Bank’s net worth, equity structure and shareholding pattern remain unchanged.

“This is therefore a balance sheet neutral action and will not result in a reduction of IDFC FIRST Bank’s paid-up share capital. This also enables IDFC FIRST Bank to explore opportunities that benefit shareholders (including dividend payments),” the bank said.

(with IANS inputs)

Now, by merging with the PGA Tour, it has gained a foothold guaranteeing an outsized influence in the future of the game. The governor of the Saudi state entity that funds LIV, the Public Investment Fund, will become chairman of the new golf organization, which was created so quickly it was announced before it even had a name.

The PIF will also have the right of first refusal to new investments in the merged tour, according to the announcement of the merger. “Going forward, PIF will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a pre-emptive right to any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour.” The PGA Tour will appoint a majority of the board, the statement said, and hold a majority interest in the combined entity.

News of the merger was both shocking — the parties had been clashing for months in lawsuits now drawing to a close — and almost inevitable: many in golf believed this was a distinct possibility from when LIV entered the market last year. sports came.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the wealth fund and the PGA Tour said the former rivals would “implement a plan to grow these combined commercial businesses, drive increased fan engagement and accelerate growth initiatives already underway.”

In a statement, Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, said: “Going forward, fans can rest assured that we will collectively deliver on our commitment that we have always made – to promote the competition of the best in professional golf and that we are determined to secure and drive the future of the game.”

Under the terms of the preliminary agreement, the Public Investment Fund will initially be the exclusive investor in the mixed operation, along with established tours, including the DP World Tour and LIV. Monahan is expected to become the CEO of the new group, with Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the wealth fund, as chairman.

In a memorandum to PGA Tour players on Tuesday, Monahan said the wealth fund would take a minority stake in the new for-profit company that will control men’s golf. But al-Rumayyan’s rise to the golf boardrooms promises to concentrate enormous power in Riyadh.

LIV plunged into professional golf last year by luring some of the world’s most prominent players, including Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, with guaranteed contracts sometimes said to be worth $100 million or more and tournament prizes that surpass the richest in golf history. It presented itself as a vibrant improvement on a staid sport – “Play golf louder” was one of its slogans.

Challenging the entrenched PGA by breaking new ground and acquiring rich incomes, it found willing partners in some of the world’s best players.

“If Saudi Arabia wants to use the game of golf as a way to get where they want to be, and they have the resources to accelerate that experience,” one of the LIV’s signatories, former US Open champion Graeme McDowellsaid, “I think we’re proud to help them on that journey.”

The PGA Tour, long the dominant force in professional golf, retaliated by banning all players who had joined the new tour from the events. In sometimes caustic public statements and legal documents, the tour argued that the Saudi-backed competition compromised the sport’s integrity and was little more than a cover for Saudi ambitions to restore the kingdom’s reputation.

Just last fall, Monahan said publicly that even the idea of ​​a merger was out of the question. “It’s Not in the Cards”, he said at the time. “It wasn’t in the cards and it’s not in the cards. I think we’ve been pretty consistent on that front.”

But by Tuesday afternoon, the golf era of high-dollar manship was over, with promises of “due fair and objective process for all players” seeking a return to good standing with the PGA Tour or its European counterpart.

The PGA Tour has made a complete U-turn by merging with rival LIV Golf less than a year after PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters such an arrangement was “off the table.”

In a shocking move unknown to PGA stars and LIV Commissioner Greg Norman until Tuesday morning, the PGA and European Tours have signed an agreement with the Saudi-backed circuit to combine their businesses into a new, yet to be named company. . Most importantly, the merger puts an end to ongoing litigation between the two parties. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

The move represents a major win for LIV Golf, which has been shunned by many golf icons, including Tour legends Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Since its inception in 2021, LIV Golf has managed to buy some of the world’s best players, spending hundreds of millions on the likes of Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, while reportedly offering Woods a $1 billion deal that he eventually declined.

Meanwhile, the upstart tour has also been criticized for its ties to Saudi Arabia’s controversial Public Investment Fund (PIF). Critics have accused the kingdom of ‘tarnishing’ its unflattering human rights record through popular sports, such as golf and football, while defectors have been accused of being greedy.

Donald Trump, whose golf courses have hosted several LIV events, broke the news on his social media network: GREAT NEWS FROM LIV GOLF. A BIG BEAUTIFUL, AND GLAMOR DEAL FOR THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF GOLF. GONGRATS EVERYONE!!!’

Trump has been highly critical of the PGA in recent years after that tour moved the 2022 championship from his New Jersey job amid uproar over the infamous Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally.

The merger comes one year after LIV Golf’s first event and ends the legal battle with the PGA.

While the PGA was accused of violating antitrust laws by banning LIV players from its tour, the premier golf circuit ousted its Saudi-backed rivals, accusing the outfit of interfering in its deals.

Players who defected to LIV Golf were banned from PGA events, but continued to play in the majors. For example, Koepka of LIV Golf won the PGA Championship last month.

The merger between PGA and LIV came as a complete surprise to the golfing world.

It was only a week ago at the Canadian Open that Monahan attacked LIV Golf by rhetorically asking his players, “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

Now Monahan is somehow collaborating with Saudi Arabia.

Even PGA players, who had stood allegiance to the Tour rather than taking the Saudi millions, were caught off guard by the news.

“Shocked and confused,” said an unidentified golfer Bar stool by Dan Rapaport.

“Indignant,” said another. “They didn’t tell us.”

“There’s nothing like finding out through Twitter that we’re merging with a tour we said we never would,” read a tweet from golfer Mackenzie Hughes.

And when asked if Norman was aware of the deal, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan told CNBC, “I called just before that [interview].’

Critics of the PGA-LIV merger wasted little time condemning the deal, which is said to help repair Saudi Arabia’s tarnished reputation around the world.

“While this may have surprised some golf fans and commentators, it is really just more evidence of the rise of Saudi sportswashing,” said Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s Head of Priority Campaigns and Individuals at Risk.

“It has been clear for some time that Saudi Arabia was willing to spend huge amounts of money to push its way into top-flight golf – just part of a wider effort to become a major sporting power and to try to deflect attention. lead from the horrid wave of the land. human rights file.

Beyond the glamor of the golf courses and TV cameras, there has been increasing repression in Saudi Arabia, with the arrests of government critics and human rights activists, a spate of unfair trials and the death penalty being widely used, including as a tool of political repression.’

Saudi Arabia has come under attack for its treatment of women, homosexuals and corporal punishment, among other things. Last year, the kingdom executed nearly 200 people (compared to 18 in the United States).

In addition, Saudi Arabia angered the United States in 2018 with the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi was invited to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he was murdered and dismembered.

“Last year alone, Saudi authorities executed 196 people, the highest number in at least 30 years, and University of Leeds PhD student Salma al-Shehab received a lengthy prison sentence for tweeting her support for Saudi women’s rights activists,” Jakens continued. . .

“The golf world may be on the verge of one of its most high-profile commercial battles, but it is vital that this latest wave of Saudi sportswashing does not obscure Saudi Arabia’s deteriorating human rights record.”

Speaking to the Associated Press, Monahan acknowledged his apparent U-turn.

“I understand the criticism,” Monahan said. “To me, you take the information you have at the time and make decisions in the best interest. Things have changed. This was the right time to have this conversation.’

Saudi Arabia’s PIF was in a spending mood this month.

It was revealed on Monday that the fund will take control of the country’s top four football clubs on top of Newcastle United’s ownership, although a specific fee has not been reported.

One of the clubs, Al-Nassr, recently signed Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo to a two-and-a-half-year contract worth a whopping $315 million per season.

Meanwhile, Argentina’s World Cup winner Lionel Messi, 35, is reportedly set to sign for Al-Hilal this week after being offered a whopping $428 million per season.

Messi has just played his last game for French club Paris Saint-Germain. He has been working as a travel ambassador for Saudi Arabia since last year, earning $31 million a year.

Monday’s announcement said the PIF will own 75 percent of each club.

“Today is a very exciting day for this special game and the people it touches around the world,” Al-Rumayyan said in a statement. “We are proud to partner with the PGA TOUR to leverage PIF’s unparalleled success and track record of unlocking value and bringing innovation and global best practices to companies and industries around the world .

“We are committed to uniting, promoting and growing the game of golf around the world and providing the highest quality products to the many millions of longtime fans worldwide, while cultivating new fans.

The PGA Tour will maintain its tax-exempt status despite the merger, the press release said.

The fate of players who defected from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf remains unclear. Some may have to pay a fine, according to Rapport.

Likewise, the future of LIV’s team format remains undecided. Monahan said in a memo to players that the PGA will conduct a review before deciding how to integrate team golf into its tour.

“They followed their path, we followed ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize that all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “We have a responsibility for our tour and for the game, and we felt the time was right to have that conversation.”

LIV Golf is heavily funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has committed at least $2 billion to the circuit. But while the rebel tour has attracted media attention in the form of news articles, that publicity has yet to translate into major media rights or sponsorship deals.

Currently, LIV Golf events can be seen on the CW and YouTube, though Nielsen’s ratings have been disappointing to say the least. LIV Golf no longer reports viewership data after claiming that Nielsen’s ratings are inaccurate.

There are some top names involved in LIV Golf, including big winners such as Koepka, Johnson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau, who were lured with lucrative signing bonuses reportedly worth as much as $100 million to $200 million. Phil Mickelson was reportedly paid $200 million to defect to LIV Golf.

Critics say LIV Golf is simply “sportwashing” Saudi Arabia’s brutal human rights record.