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Is GACL planning to go on the acquisitions route?
Mumbai-- Gujarat Ambuja Cements is planning to raise an estimated Rs 300 crore through
a preferential allotment of equity to "persons other than promoter."
This is but a few months after having mopped
up close to Rs 700 crore through the issue of foreign currency convertible bonds as well
as debentures in the domestic market.
The company's board will meet on May 18.
Market sources say that the company may be intending to hike its holding in ACC but
company officials maintain that the preferential allotment has got nothing to do with
hiking its stake in ACC, where it has a 14.4 per cent holding. "The money, if raised,
would be utilised for our existing and new capex plans," they said.
Senior company officials, while declining to reveal the identity of the non-promoter
group, said the allotment of new shares would not result in a major dilution of equity.
Gujarat Ambuja Cements has major expansion plans which include a 2-million tonne
greenfield unit at Chandrapur (Maharashtra) for Rs 550 crore, to be completed around
December.
Apart from a 0.5-million tonne-grinding unit at Bhatinda in Punjab, the company plans to
set up another 2-million unit in Andhra Pradesh. The unit is currently awaiting a go-ahead
from the state government for building a captive power facility.
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Another parent
makes open offer for complete buyout
Mumbai-- The United Technologies Group, US has come out with an open to acquire shares
in its subsidiary, Otis Elevator Company India. This comes after Carrier Aircon US,
another subsidiary of United Technologies made a bid to acquire 100 percent equity in its
Indian subsidiary Carrier Aircon India.
United Technologies has announced raising its stake from 68.9 per cent to 100 per cent by
acquiring all the outstanding non-promoter shares at Rs 280 per share for a total of Rs
109 crore.
The offer price is about 24 per cent premium to Tuesday’s close price of Rs 225.
The Otis stock thus flared up by the
maximum permissible limit of 8 per cent to Rs 242.95 on the BSE on Wednesday.
Otis Elevator’s equity capital is Rs
12.54 crore.
The open offer is being made jointly by Otis Elevator USA, Otis Mauritius, Otis Hong Kong
and Otis Singapore.
The $27-billion United Technologies group is
engaged in businesses of elevators and escalators in Otis, air-conditioner and chillers in
Carrier and aircraft engines in Pratt & Whitney.
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BSNL, VSNL &
MTNL to be allowed to bid again says Sikdar
Mumbai-- Following the rejection of the applications of the three government-owned
operators -- Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam and Videsh Sanchar Nigam
–by the Department of Telecom on grounds that the government is the majority stake
holder in these companies, the government has said that it will make necessary amendments
to the licensing condition that caused the cancellation of applications by the three
public sector telecom companies for operating fixed services.
According to the licence conditions for basic services, the same promoter cannot have a
stake in more than one company operating in the same circle.
The government holds more than 50 per cent stake in MTNL and VSNL and a100 per cent stake
in BSNL.
The minister of state for telecom Tapan Sikdar said, "We will amend the clause that
has prevented the three companies from getting the license,"
VSNL had applied for the entire category 'A' circles like Delhi, Maharashtra,Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Since its monopoly in international telephony is
set to go next year, thecompany has been demanding that it be permitted to enter the
domestic long distance and basic services.
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Wipro enters
Germany
Mumbai-- Indian infotech giant, Wipro, launched operations in Germany on Wednesday.
Azim Premji, chairman Wipro said that Wipro’s entry into the German market represents
a big step forward in its vision to be a truly global company. Wipro can look forward to
working with leading German corporations and helping them to derive the benefits of
information technology.
Wipro’s portfolio of service offerings in the German market will address the IT
requirements of the enterprise for business applications as well as R&D outsourcing
requirements of technology companies.
With a resource-base of 9,000 software professionals, world-class quality processes and
methodologies, Wipro will provide the German market with high-quality IT services
delivered with reliability and speed.
Wipro has about 100 consultants working for German clients, both in Germany as well as
from Wipro’s software development centers in India.
Wipro has been operating in the European market for the last 6 years, a fast growing
market for Wipro.
Europe contributed 29 per cent to Wipro's
total software services revenues of $380 million for the fiscal year 2000-01.
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DuPont to bring
in new generations chemicals
New Delhi-- DuPont, the largest chemical company in the world, is planning to
introduce new generation chemical products in India to give a complete solution to its
customer’s problems especially to the growing needs for environmentally superior
products.
Sources in the company said that there were gaps between its offerings and the needs of
the Indian customers and in order to provide it’s customers a complete solution to
their problems, DuPont India needed to procure complementary products from Indian
companies and supply these as complete offerings.
With this in mind the company has requested the government to permit it to enter into such
arrangements with third party Indian manufacturers and suppliers of goods related to the
company’s existing line of businesses for being sold as a part of the company’s
solutions package for supply.
DuPont has already been permitted to undertake various activities including the
manufacture of crop protection, engineering products, synthetic monofilament yarn,
engineering and industrial plastic products based on Polytertrafluoroethylene and
marketing of DuPont products.
Du Pont’s produces crop protection products as well as engineering polymers like
Derline, Zytel etc. at Savli, district Baroda in Gujarat
It has a manufacturing facility at Madurai in Tamil Nadu for the manufacture of Tynex and
Bristles and blending Teflon finishes. DuPont also has a R&D station for agricultural
products.
In India DuPont has been consolidating its businesses and is considering an option to buy
out 50 per cent stake of Kurlon in its two year old joint venture for manufacturing and
marketing high-end polyester mattresses.
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Jet Airways
expands ATR fleet
New Delhi—Jet Airways plans to expand its ATR
by inducting three more 62-seater turboprop ATR aircraft to connect additional cities in
its feeder network including Bhopal, Ludhiana, Madurai, Kohlapur and Jodhpur.
This will take the total number of these aircraft in its fleet to eight, Jet sources said
here.
The three ATR 72-500s will be dry-leased from Safair company and would be inducted into
its in August, October and December.
Sources said that the cities Jet is planning to link are Amritsar, Ludhiana, Kohlapur,
Bhopal, Agra and Madurai when these aeroplanes are inducted. It also plans to start a
tourist circuit by linking Mumbai, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Delhi through a hopping flight.
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Lego to unveil
concept toys in Indian market
New Delhi-- Danish toy manufacturing giant
Lego has announced an aggressive marketing strategy, as part of which it will soon
introduce its concept toys in India
The company's Asia Pacific region chief, John
Ungermand, who was recently in India to finalise the launch in collaboration with Mahindra
Intertrade, a trading subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra, said, "Lego is bringing
story or theme driven concept to toys. This season Lego launches life on Mars and
Bionicles."
The company is laying out extensive marketing and plans to tap various ways to tap the
nascent market.
Among these include exploring tie-ups with
schools to introduce its special play material.
The company recently launched its first 'Playroom', an entire system of kindergarten
education, at a school in Mumbai.
Lego has established its presence as 'edutainment' toys and wants to further this image in
the minds of the Indian consumers.
The Indian toy market is estimated to be around Rs 500-crore with over 60 per cent being
in the unorganised sector.
The three major players in the organised sector are Funskool, Mattel India and Lego.
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Andersen
benchmarks Indian cell cos against European ones
New Delhi-- In a benchmarking study, management consultancy firm Arthur
Anderson said that while Indian cellular companies have overtaken their European
counterparts in maturity level related to development, pricing and marketing of products,
they lag behind in terms of management of network infrastructure and billing operations.
Thus while Indian cellular companies have
attained a maturity level of 2.8 reflecting regular communication and involvement for
development and pricing of products (tariffs), European cell firms still hover at 1.7 with
no formal involvement.
As for marketing of products on a scale of one to five, where one stands for initial and
five for optimised maturity level, Indian companies have achieved a level of 2.6, beating
European firms which scored 2.5," said Sanjay Mehta, partner, Arthur Andersen.
The reasons are probably due to the fact that Indian companies operate under limited
companies while there is unlimited competition in Europe.
The benchmarking exercise was carried across
five major Indian cellular companies, which control significant market share.
However in terms of selling products the maturity of Indian companies was a mere 2.5
against 3.1 of European cellular firms. Also for management of network infrastructure,
Indian companies lagged behind their European counterparts scoring 2.6 against 3.7 by the
latter.
In terms of management of customer relations, providing services and rating and billing
European firms were ahead of their Indian counterparts.
In addition, European firms reflected a higher maturity level with regard to managing
receivables, frauds and accounting and reporting, Andersen said.
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ICICI-Prudential
sets high sales target
Kolkata--ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is setting a high sales target of one-lakh
policies, translating into a sum assured of Rs 1,600 crore in the current year of
operations.
The company, which has already 1,200 active agents on its rolls plans to rope in 800 more
agents to market various life insurance products. At present it is awaiting the IRDA
guidelines on corporate agents and brokers as well for alternate channels of distribution
The insurance company, which is a joint venture between ICICI Ltd and Prudential of UK, is
also expected to cross sell its products at the various branches of ICICI Bank.
The company plans to open about 11 offices by the end of the year.
Company sources indicated that it may double its equity base following large scale
operations. The company has an equity base of Rs 150 crore currently and hopes to
break-even within the next five years.
ICICI Prudential Life is the first private life insurance player in India to declare its
performance for the period ended March 31, 2001.
It sold sold 6,387 policies in the first four months of its operations grossing a sum
assured of Rs 100 crore.
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Customs deptt hauls up Essar Oil, Noble Asset over rig sale
Mumbai-- Essar Oil and Noble Asset Company Ltd are in
trouble with the customs department, which has slapped a claim of Rs 167 crore on them for
allegedly violating the licensing provision of Exim Policy 1985-88.
The rig, Noble Jimmy Puckett, has been
seized in Bombay High by the customs and in a case filed by the department, the rig —
earlier known as Essar Explorer —imported in 1987 by Essar Constructions Ltd.
As per the provisions of the Import-Export
policy 1985-88 under which the licence was issued, goods imported were not permitted to be
sold for a period of 10 years from the date of import.
In this case, Essar Oil, earlier known as Essar Construction Ltd, sold the asset to Nobel
Nedrill Asset Company Ltd, presently known as Nobel Asset Company Ltd, in 1996 for a
consideration of $36 million, thereby violating the conditions of the license as well as
the exemptions benefits granted to it.
Official sources further added that Essar Oil
Ltd or Noble Nedrill Asset company Ltd, did not obtain permission or intimated the
licensing authority which was either Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd or Oil India Ltd,
thereby violating Exim Policy 1985-88.
Further, they continued to operate the said rig in India under the cover of a lease
agreement between the buyer and seller without any valid exemption and authorisation.
The customs department however has ordered the provisional release of the rigs following a
payment of bank guarantee worth Rs 15 crore and a undersigned bond for payment of Rs 97
crore by Nobel.
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Two co-op banks are denied overdraft renewal facility by SBI
Mumbai--Two Ahmedabad-based co-operative banks — the
Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank (ADCB) and Nutan Nagrik Sahakari Bank (NNSB)
—have been denied renewal of overdraft facility by the SBI against deposits amounting
to nearly Rs 600 crore.
Amidst hectic parleying between these banks and SBI officials in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat
government has stepped in and is said to be putting pressure on SBI by hinting that it
will withdraw deposits parked with SBI by state-run agencies.
ADCB had deposits of nearly Rs 570 crore, while Nutan Nagrik Sahakari had done so to the
extent of Rs 60 crore with SBI. These two banks could have drawn up to 85 per cent as
overdraft against their deposits.
ADCB and NNSB are now caught in a ‘Catch-22’ situation, as they have to wait for
the deposits to mature or be subjected to the premature withdrawal penalty. The two
Gujarat-based co-operative banks will now be left with an option of withdrawing funds from
SBI and parking their deposits with another state or district co-operative bank.
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UB to relaunch London Pilsner
Mumbai--United Breweries (UB) plans to relaunch London Pilsner soon along with a
new variant — London No 1 strong — within a month.
UB also plans to launch niche brands of beer
— Light Ice and Kingfisher Sport — targeted at the calorie conscious consumer.
London Pilsner was acquired from Associated Breweries last year. The brand has a strong
market in Maharashtra and now will be launched nationally. San Miguel has also been
licensed to UB and the company is are waiting for the crystallization of the license
agreement.
UB’s Kingfisher Premium lager beer is the largest selling beer brand in India with 26
per cent market share. Kingfisher has a 40 per cent market share of the Indian beer market
and in the last calendar year the volume of beer sales of the company increased by 21 per
cent.
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Sterlite starts salary disbursements at Balco
Raipur--Abiding by the May 8 agreement with employees
unions, Balco’s new management, on Wednesday started distributing two months’
salary as advance payment to employees.
A top manager said that, "This is the payment against salaries for March and April
which will be adjusted as per the final decision of the Supreme Court."
Though several of the employees get their
salary through the bank, about 1,100 workers take their salary by cash and about 50 per
cent of them have taken cash as advance, the manager said.
It may be recalled that on May 1, the Supreme
Court, asked the employees to consider joining duty after Sterlite said it was willing to
pay two months salary in advance subject to final decision of the court.
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Mahindra Realty, Gesco to propose new deal
Mumbai-- A new scheme of arrangement is being considered
by Gesco Corporation and Mahindra Realty. It is not yet clear as to what shape the
proposed arrangement would take.
Consequently the board of Gesco
Corporation is meeting on Friday to consider the new with Mahindra Realty &
Infrastructure Developers according to a notice issued by Gesco Corporation to the BSE.
Gesco said its board would consider the
appointment of merchant bankers, valuers and legal advisors as a first step in the
proposed arrangement.
Mahindra Realty, the wholly-owned subsidiary
of auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra, is now the largest shareholder in Gesco with a 39
per cent stake, after it walked into the company as a white knight following a hostile
corporate raid by the Abhishek Dalmiya group, late last year.
According to an agreement between Sheth and
Mahindras Realty, the former had agreed to give up control over the board of Gesco and the
two were to have representation in a 60:40 ratio, with the Mahindras dominating the
company’s board.
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Gujarat Gas to buy out KK Chem
New Delhi- Gujarat Gas Company Ltd, the subsidiary of
British Gas of UK has decided to acquire the entire share capital comprising 3,250 equity
shares of Rs 100 each in KK Chemicals & Dyes, besides making a fresh equity investment
of Rs 3.93 crore in the company.
KK Chemicals & Dyes will thus act as
a licensed dealer for distribution and supply of gas to commercial and domestic consumers.
The deal has already been approved by the
board of the two companies and is awaiting regulatory approvals.
The acquired company will carry out the
business of transmission, distribution and supply of natural gas in Gujarat, the sources
added.
British Gas Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd,
Singapore, (a wholly owned subsidiary of BG Plc, UK), set up a subsidiary in India by
acquiring majority 65.13 per cent shareholding (641,250 shares) of Mafatlal Industries Ltd
(also the Indian partner) in Gujarat Gas Company Ltd.
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Mahindras; cost-saving efforts
Mumbai-- Acting on the restructuring proposals made by
the management consultant group, McKinsey Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has undertaken
a cost cutting drive in order to "reduce break-even volumes" at its core
businesses -- automotive and farm equipment divisions.
The revamp includes redesigning of
businesses, process and engineering methods at all M&M plants. This will end in
savings of between 20-30 per cent on business redesign, which includes sharing of
resources to prevent duplication of capital expenditure, in addition to a 10-15 per cent
savings on process redesign and a 5-10 per cent savings on engineering redesign.
According to officials, the company is also
looking at increased synergies in sourcing components for the farm equipment and
automotive sectors, which will result in high single-digit savings on an annual basis.
Among its other moves, the company has
started outsourcing non-core manufacturing activities while choosing to produce the
critical components by its own, sourcing most components of a particular model from the
same vendor, and an increased volume of business transactions with fewer suppliers.
M&M had appointed McKinsey to offer
restructuring proposals about four years ago.
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M&M plans to augment capacity at Nashik plant
Mumbai--Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is planning
capacity expansions at its Nashik plant, which include increasing production capacity at
its automotive plant in the city to 1.05 lakh units from 70,000 units.
This is being seen as a preparatory move
to cater to a probable high demand from the soon to-be-launched vehicles on the Scorpio
platform.
The company is also planning to set up a new
paint shop at Nashik with an annual capacity of 80,000 vehicles.
The company is planning to introduce the
high-end and mid-end models based on the Scorpio project in the latter part of this
calendar year, although the launch of the low-end model might be postponed to prevent a
cannibalization of the existing models.
The company's recent offering, Bolero, the
Armada Grand and other hard top vehicles are currently being manufactured at the company's
Nashik plant.
The company is also looking forward to
increase its sales to the Indian Army and showcased the Bolero and other models of utility
vehicles to the army.
M&M sold 2,550 units of the MM 550 to the
army during fiscal 2000-01 in an order worth over Rs 100 crore.
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Birla’s Texmaco looks at tie-ups
Kolkata--K K Birla's heavy engineering company, Texmaco is looking at alliances with
leading engineering goods manufacturers around the world.
Some of its plans include manufacture of
modern and specialised freight cars for petroleum products and chemicals, powdery and
granular products in bulk, as well as automobiles and steel coils.
Its fortunes in immediate future will,
however, continue to be linked with the wagon orders' quantum and pricing, which are
totally under the control of the Railway Board, a company statement said.
Texmaco's turnover for the year ended March
31, 2001, stood at Rs 150.10 crore, while profit after tax (but before extraordinary
items) was at Rs 4.07 crore.
The corresponding figures for the previous
year were Rs 140.52 crore and Rs 2.73 crore, registering a growth of 7 per cent and 49 per
cent, respectively.
The company's paid-up capital is Rs 5.16
crore and free reserves Rs 64.88 crore. The earnings per share works out to be Rs 5.55
against Rs 2.77 last year.
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OM Kotak to launch unit-linked plan
Mumbai--Om Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Ltd has
announced that it will launch its unit-linked insurance product in the next quarter, tied
to debt instruments.
OM Kotak commences operations tomorrow
with three products -- single premium bond, money back plan and endowment plan.
The launch coincides with the 156th
birthday of its foreign partner, Old Mutual Financial Services.
OM Kotak expects to sell 100 policies in the
first day with its 100 tied agents.
The joint venture is banking on the various
new products that have been introduced in the South African market by its foreign partner,
Old Mutual.
Om Kotak proposes to introduce these products
in the near future and has set the ground under the personal accumulation account.
This is a unique feature as expenses and risk
cover charges are deducted from the premiums deposited in one’s personal accumulation
account. The balance is then invested in various financial instruments in accordance with
the regulations.
Another unique feature is its automatic
non-forfeiture closure, wherein should a policyholder fail to pay premiums in a particular
year and the balance in his accumulation account is greater than the mortality expenses,
the policy will be kept alive.
After taking on Mumbai, OM Kotak will start
its operations in Delhi next month, followed by Bangalore, Calcutta and Pune.
The group will also focus on the state of
Gujarat as the Kotak Mahindra group has a strong brand image there.
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