Exercise roll-over option, Essar Steel told
Mumbai: Financial institutions have told Essar Steel clearly that it should seek a roll-over of its $250 million floating rate note issue. The FRN is coming up for redemption on 20 July.

In clarifying their stand, the financial institutions have reiterated that there cannot be any refinance or extension of a bridge loan to help Essar Steel to repay the outstanding FRNs. This will mean that Essar Steel will be the first Indian company to default on an international commitment.

The financial institutions took their decision at a board meeting of the Industrial Development Bank of India. Essar Steel has confirmed that the financial institutions have sent a communique on their "final word" and said the company is convening an emergency board meeting on 16 July to consider the roll-over option.
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AV Birla grouforming holding company
Mumbai: The AV Birla group is forming a holding company and brining all group companies under it as part of a plan to give the group a unified structure. The Business Standard, in a report, quoted group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla as saying the company is working on the structure of the holding company.

The group is understood to be planning to transfer the cross-holdings in its companies to this single entity. The cross-holdings are pronounced in all the leading companies of the group -- Grasim, Indian Rayon, Hindalco, Indo-Gulf Fertilisers and Birla Global Finance.
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Godrej Soaps may sell brands, form JVs
Mumbai: Godrej Soaps, the Rs 919-crore Godrej group flagship, is planning a restructuring exercise and as part of it may sell off some of its brands or enter into joint ventures with some soap and personal care companies.

The Economic Times reported company officials as saying the company is open to all possible growth opportunities. They confirmed that the company has appointed investment bankers Lazard Credit Capital and Kotak Mahindra to assist it in the restructuring exercise.

Companies like Kao of Japan and Henkel Spic are believed to be in the race for Godrej Soaps and detergents brands, while L'Oreal is understood to be eyeing the hair dye business.
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Oil companies not to sign Petronet contract
Chennai: Public sector oil companies are refusing to sign the "take or pay" contract for pipeline projects of Petronet, and this is resulting in delays.

Major users of the pipelines, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are arguing that since the Oil Coordination Committee is handling petroleum products under the administered pricing mechanism, it is not right for them to sign the contract and add risk on their books.

The product offtake contract between the pipeline company and the users of the pipeline is called the "take or pay" contract, which guarantees the use of the pipeline to a specified extent, failing which the users will have to pay a penalty. In the  absence of the contract, fund providers are refusing to extend loans for the projects.
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JCT plans JV for polyester division
New Delhi: The Thapar group's  JCT Ltd is in talks with Mitsui and Mitsubishi Chemicals of Japan for a joint venture. The company is hiving off its polyester fibre division into a separate company.

The new venture requires a capital infusion of Rs 300 - 400 crore into the division. Since JCT does not have these funds,  a joint venture partner is desirable, JCT joint managing director Samir Thapar has said.

The details of the joint venture will be finalised after the  financial institutions complete a restructuring package for JCT.
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Sun Life to invest more funds in JV with Birlas
Mumbai: Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada is likely to invest C$50 million in its financial services joint venture with the AV Birla group. The company has already invested C$50 million in three companies -- Birla Sun Life Broking, Birla Sun Life Distribution and Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company.

The joint ventures  were officially launched on 15 July and Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of AV Birla group, said the group intends to become a dominant player in financial services over a period of time.
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Bilt in tie-up with Korean firm
New Delhi: The Thapar group's Ballarpur Industries Ltd (Bilt) will have a strategic alliance with Korean paper company Hansol Paper to market the latter's line of products in India. The company also announced a tie-up with the Japanese company, Daiei Papers, for indenting light weight coated paper for actual users in India. Daiei Papers represents Hansol in India.

Bilt proposes to have a 20 to 25 per cent market share in the imported art paper market, Rajeev Vederah, Bilt's chief operating officer, said.
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UTI, others to disinvest Modi Xerox shares
Mumbai: The Unit Trust of India, Life Insurance Corporation  of India, General Insurance Corporation, National Insurance Corporation and Capital International and Emerging Markets have decided to offload their entire holdings in Modi Xerox under the buyback proposal of Xerox Corporation. This accounts for nearly 8 per cent of the company's shareholding.

It is also reported that Morgan Stanley, which holds about 13.25 lakh shares in the company, is close to selling its stake back to the company.

Modi Xerox has announced the buy-back scheme in a bid to delist the company and offer the management to Xerox Corporation  The promoters, the Modis and Xerox Corporation, hold about 76 per cent stake in the company.
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Tisco Q1 net down
Mumbai: The Tata Iron and Steel Company reported a drop in net profit to Rs 25 crore in the first quarter ended 30 June 1999 from Rs 27 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The drop in profits has been attributed  to lower price realisation for the company's hot-rolled coils. The company has, however, reported growth in operating profits.
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Asian Paints profit up
Mumbai: Asian Paints has reported an 11.39 per cent increase in profit after tax for the first quarter ended 30 June 1999. The net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 15.65 crore, compared to Rs 14.05 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company has posted  income from lease rent from dealers for the installation of machinery for "Colour World, the retailing shop of the future" and other initiatives, which have contributed to the increase in profits.
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Cadbury's India profit up by 50%
Mumbai: Cadbury's India has posted a net profit of Rs 15.24 crore for the six months ended 30 June 1999, against Rs 10 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Industry analysts, however, said the increase in profits did not keep pace with that of the sales of the company.
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NIIT Q3 net goes up by 34%
New Delhi: Infotech major NIIT has posted a net profit of Rs 60.98 crore, which was up 34.4 per cent in the third quarter ended 30 June 1999. The company's third quarter turnover was up by 25.46 per cent at Rs 213.82 crore. For the nine-month period ended 30 June, NIIT has posted a net profit of Rs 89.49 crore, reflecting an increase of 44.4 per cent..
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Pentafour Software profit up by 62.9%
Chennai: Pentafour Software and Exports has recorded a net profit of Rs 34.4 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year against Rs 21.11 crore in the corresponding period of 1998-99.

This represents a growth of 62.9 per cent. The company's turnover has also registered a growth of 50.16 per cent to Rs 143.8 crore in the first quarter.
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Study recommends closure of 300 state PSUs
New Delhi: A study undertaken for the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has recommended the closure of 300 state public sector units, including closure of 128 PSUs on a priority basis.

The study covered 776 state PSUs across the country working in areas like electricity, manufacturing, trading, services and transportation. The study was done by the Indian Institute of Cost and Management Studies and Research.
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Ruias offer stake in Essar Oil to Oman Oil
New Delhi: Essar Oil is negotiating with Oman Oil Company for a stake in its 10.5 million tonne per annum refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat. The company feels the deal will help improve its funds position.

The company intends to a offer 20-25 per cent stake to Oman Oil at about Rs 500 crore. Besides, the company will have an assured customer in Oman Oil. Essar Oil has plans to start production in the next financial year.
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Dr Reddy's in pact with Omron of Japan
Mumbai:The Rs 426-crore Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories has tied up with Omron of Japan to market its healthcare range of products in India.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories will begin with marketing of these products in south India. Initially the agreement will cover digital blood pressure monitors, nebulisers and digital thermometers.

Omron is a global conglomerate with healthcare as its key division.
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Wilco acquires part of  DE Shaw operations
Hyderabad: Wilco International, 100 per cent subsidiary of Automatic Data Processing  Inc, has acquired a portion of the offshore software development operations of DE Shaw Indian Software, a wholly-owned arm of DE Shaw.

The acquisition involves Wilco taking around 100 of the 170 employees of DE Shaw India Software. Wilco International has created the Gloss trading and settlement system that is operational in several world stock exchanges.

DE Shaw, a Wall Street investment house, is considered a notable force in the US markets for its professionals monitoring of the world's financial  markets.
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iMac propels Apple's Q3 profit
San Francisco: Apple Computer Inc posted a higher than expected profit for the third financial quarter attributing the increase to strong sales of its iMac computers.

The company plans to buy back $500 million worth of its common stock. The company said that excluding a one-time gain, it earned $114 million in its fiscal third quarter ended 30 June, against $101 million a year ago.
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BP Amoco cuts costs for mergers
London: BP Amoco has said that it has initiated $10 billion worth of disposals so that it can advance its target for $2 billion annual cost cuts by a further two months.

The cost cuts are part of its merger strategy. BP completed a $55 billion acquisition of Amoco at the end of 1998 to make it Britain's biggest company.
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Intel forms new business unit
San Francisco: Intel Corporation has formed a new business unit for communications products and has rejigged other units. This is part of the IT major's strategy to diversify beyond its core chip business.

The world's largest chip maker said it has formed a new communications product group that will combine communications and networking hardware, software and support products in one unit. The unit will be headed by John Miner, formerly  general manager of Intel's Enterprise Server group
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