Bharat Petroleum considering takeover of Essar Oil
Mumbai: The public sector Bharat Petroleum Corporation is considering acquisition of Essar Oil, a part of the troubled Ruia family group of companies. The BPCL board is meeting to discuss the matter and the question of appointment of Engineers India Ltd and SBI Capital Markets to advise the company on the proposal.

While Engineers India will advise BPCL on the technical side, SBI Caps will do an evaluation of the financial side of Essar Oil's Vadinar, Gujarat, based refinery.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is advising Essar Oil on the BPCL proposal.
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Petronet equity recast put off
New Delhi: The cabinet secretariat is understood to have put on hold the petroleum ministry's proposal on restructuring the equity holding pattern of Petronet LNG. It appears that the proposal does not incorporate the views of the finance ministry.

The petroleum ministry's proposal involves two leading oil marketing and refining companies, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation, giving up their claims to Petronet's equity in order to allow the National Thermal Power Corporation to pick up a stake in the company.

According to the new pattern, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the Gas Authority of India Ltd and NTPC will each have a 16.5 per cent of Petronet's equity. The earlier proposal was for ONGC, GAIL, IOC and BPCL each to have 12.5 per cent stake.

The remaining equity will be offered to financial institutions and the public.
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Century engages Andersen for turnaround strategy
Mumbai: Century Textiles, the B.K. Birla group company, has engaged Andersen Consulting to plan a turnaround strategy for its divisions. The company incurred a loss of Rs 93 crore in 1998-99, which is one of the reasons that the consultants have been engaged, a report by the company to its shareholders says.

The consultants will chalk out a strategy for improving strategic performance in the textiles, rayon and Manikgarh cement divisions of the company.
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Tata Korf not under merger proposal
Calcutta: The Tata Iron and Steel Company has decided to keep Tata Korf Engineering Services, the joint venture company with Mannesmann Demag, out of its amalgamation proposal for forming an umbrella engineering company.

Tisco had proposed that five associate companies, TRF, Stewarts & Lloyds, Tata Construction and Projects, Tata Material Handling Company and Tata Korf, would form a unified engineering company. It had floated Tata Technodyne as a holding company for this purpose.

Under the revised scheme, Tata Material Handling will merge with Tata Technodyne while Stewarts & Lloyds and Tata Construction Projects will merge with TRF to form a single engineering company under the TRF banner. 
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PowerGen-Gujarat Torrent deal finalised
Ahmedabad: PowerGen India Pvt Ltd and Torrent Power Ltd have signed what is termed as corporate India's biggest private sector deal. The transaction involves a Rs 1,100-crore transfer of shares in Gujarat Torrent Electricity Company.

PowerGen has now increased its shareholding in Gujarat Torrent Electricity, the 655MW power station at Paguthan in Gujarat, from 27.8 per cent to 74 per cent. The agreement was completed on 26 July.

Gerry Gover White, general manager of PowerGen India, said the board of the company has been restructured, and Nitin Shukla has been appointed managing director in place of Markand Bhatt. Mr Shukla was earlier executive director of Gujarat Torrent Electricity.

PowerGen has also nominated three of its people to the Gujarat Torrent board.
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IOC, ONGC plan merger of Gujarat power plants
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation are considering a proposal to merge their proposed power plants in Gujarat into one mega power project. The two companies had earlier swapped equities and were planning to take up projects in joint ventures.

Among other projects identified by the two companies are deep-sea exploration and overseas upstream ventures.
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Alstom to handle Tri-Shakti project
Chennai: Global electricals group Alstom has been selected as the engineering, procurement, construction contractor for the 525 MW Tri-Shakti Energy thermal power plant coming up at Ennore near here.

An agreement between the two companies is yet to be signed. The US-based PSEG Global holds 63 per cent equity in the project and the rest is held by two Malaysian companies, Pro-Majestic and Pembinam Redzai.
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Rankas of Modern group split
New Delhi: The H.S. Ranka family, owner of the Modern group, has gone in for an amicable split. H.S. Ranka's sons Kamal and Rajesh have decided to opt out of the group's textiles business as they wanted to pursue other businesses not related to the group's core area of activity. Kamal was managing director of Modern Syntex and was looking after Modern Petrofils. Rajesh was also part of Modern Syntex.

H. S. Ranka has taken over the management of the group. His elder son Sachin continues to assist him. 
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HLL profits up, declares interim dividend
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd's net profit has increased Rs 226.9 crore, in the second quarter, up 24.9 per cent from last year's second quarter net of Rs 181.6 crore.

The company's board has declared an interim dividend of Rs 12 per share, 25 per cent over last year's interim of Rs 9.60 per share.
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M & M profit rises in Q1
Mumbai: Automotive group Mahindra & Mahindra has reported a 46 per cent increase in net profit for the first quarter. The net profit was Rs 51.3 crore, against Rs 35 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The company's sales for the quarter were Rs 872.7 crore compared to Rs 808.5 crore last year.
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Kuwait Petroleum may pick up MRPL stake
Singapore: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation is planning to take a stake in Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals. The Rs 2,400-crore Aditya Birla group company is planning to offer a 25 per cent stake to the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum.

The company is trebling its refinery capacity to 9 million tonnes a year, for which an estimated Rs 1,400 crore of equity is required. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and the Aditya Birla group will hold 26 per cent each and the rest will be held by the public.
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Free anti-spam software released
New York: Bright Light Technologies, a San Francisco-based company, has released a free personal version of its software programme to fight spam, the unsolicited e-mail that comes in bulk. The software enables users to filter spam whether or not the internet service provider offers the service.

Bright Light is headed by Sunil Paul, an Indian. Paul said the decision to release the free personal version was based on the business models of McAfee, a programme that scans for computer viruses and Netscape, the internet browser, which are given away free to individual users.
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Compaq maintains lead
San Jose: Compaq Computer has managed to retain its three-year lead as the top personal computer producer in the world during the second quarter of 1999.

International Data Corporation, which did an analysis, said Compaq had problems of executive turmoil and sharp competition and it was also not   prepared for the subsidised free PC marketing blitz that had happened.

Compaq's profits have plunged due to competition in the low-end market while internet service providers are giving away PCs to people who sign up for their services.

The study said worldwide shipments of PCs rose to 25.6 million, a 27 per cent increase over the same period last year. Compaq managed to have 14.6 per cent of the worldwide market, and in the US it could have only a narrow lead of one third of one per cent over Dell Computer Corporation, whose sale in the US increased 55 per cent. IBM is in the No 3 spot in the US sales.
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NTL buys CWC's media unit
London: NTL Inc, backed by France Telecom, clinched a 8.2 billion pounds deal to buy the main unit of British cable television market leader Cable and Wireless Communications.

Under the agreement, CWC will be carved up between NTL and CWC's biggest current shareholder, Cable and Wireless, with C&W buying the rump business services operation to value CWC at 14.7 billion pounds including debt.

C&W is paying around 3 billion pounds for the 47 per cent of the CWC business services operation it does not already own.
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Daewoo gets lifeline, but stocks plummet
Seoul: Creditors brought $3.3 billion in cash into the sagging Daewoo group as share prices tumbled on the fear over the conglomerate's future.

The funds did not, however, prevent market jitters, foreign investors leading a selling spree of the group's stocks. While investment trust firms, banks and other creditors brought in the cash, following Daewoo's request for emergency lifeline, the government is also moving in through an expansion of the group's liquidity.

Four South Korea's leading conglomerates have offered to help the group. The executives of Hyundai, Samsung, LG and SK groups agreed at a meeting to consider measures such as refraining from selling their shares in Daewoo.
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Coty calls off bid for Revlon
New York: Coty, the cosmetics group planning to buy Revlon had decided against making a $3 billion bid for the whole company.

Ron Perelman, the New York financier, who owns 83 per cent of Revlon, may now have to break up the group to help pay down its debts. Mr Perelman had appointed Goldman and Sachs and Lazard Freres some three months ago to review strategic alternatives for the company.

Coty, which has a 30 per cent share in the US market for fragrances and owns brands including Rimmel and Davidoff Cool Water, is believed to be interested in some of Revlon's core business, including the brand.
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Mitsubishi to cut down on models
London: Mitsubishi Motors, the debt-laden Japanese automotive company, plans to reduce its model range by 40 per cent as part of $3.5 billion cost-cutting programme. The car and truck maker, labouring under debts of more than $1.75 billion, said the move would help it reduce debts to $10.7 billion by end of next year.

The group would also halve its platforms to just six by 2004.
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Roberts Pharma to merge with Shire
London: Shire Pharmaceuticals of Britain and Roberts Pharmaceutical Corporation of the US have agreed to merge, creating the fourth largest US drug firm.

Roberts will exchange each of its shares for 1.1374 American Depository Receipts of Shire in a transaction valuing each Roberts share at $30.71 and the whole of the US company at around $1 billion.
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EU approves Goodyear-Sumitomo tie-up
Ohio: The European Commission has approved the proposed global alliance between Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co and Sumitomo Rubber Industries of Japan.

Goodyear's chief executive officer Samir Gibara confirmed the approval.

Under the agreement, Goodyear and Sumitomo, which has rights to the Dunlop tyre brand, are forming joint venture operating companies in North America, Europe and Japan and two global service-focussed support ventures.
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