SAIL to revive Alloy Steel Plant
Mumbai: Steel Authority of India will revive one of its main units, the loss-making Alloy Steel Plant at Durgapur. The public sector steel major intends to manufacture ferro-alloys and rolls at the unit.

SAIL will also close down some of it ferro-alloy production units at Maharashtra Elektrosmelt at Bhadravati and Chandrapur and shift the units to the Alloy Steel Plant.

Senior management staff of SAIL met at Sariska in Rajasthan recently and reviewed the company's poor performance. The decisions come in the wake of these brain-storming sessions, a SAIL official said.
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IOC to sell petrol in Nepal
Calcutta: Indian Oil Corporation has plans to get into retail market in Nepal. If its plans materialise, it will be the first Indian petroleum company to set foot in a retail segment outside India. Indianoil said a memorandum of understanding will be signed with the Nepal police and army authorities shortly.

In the first phase of the programme, Indianoil will install three Z line pumps, besides pump island canopies, concrete driveways, backlit hoarding signals and product display kiosks at police outlets in Kathmandu. The company will invest Rs 26 lakh to upgrade the existing retail outlets of the Nepal Police Welfare Society at Nazal in Kathmandu. In the second phase it will upgrade a retail outlet run by the Nepal Army Welfare Society at Bhadrakali in Kathmandu.
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RPG group may appeal against court order
Mumbai: RPG Transmission and KEC International are likely to appeal to the Bombay High Court against a recent order rejecting a merger of the two companies. A judge of the high court has rejected a petition by KEC International to merge RPG Transmission with it.

An RPG group spokesperson said the group has not received the order.
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Ford Excursion receives good response
Detroit: Ford Motor Company has announced that its new sports model, Excursion, already has orders for 28,000 units just as the company is readying itself to launch the largest sports utility vehicle -- a19-foot-long vehicle, weighing nearly four tonnes with a capacity for nine passengers -- on 30 September.

Ford claims Excursion will be its answer to the yearning of the American for a vehicle that is people-hauling as well as cargo-carrying.
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AOL ropes in allies for instant messaging services
New York: America Online said it had reached agreements with EarthLink Network and MindSpring Enterprises to offer instant messaging services. AOL has been seeking allies in its battle with Microsoft to keep a lead in online messaging.

AOL will develop co-branded versions of AOL Instant Messenger to cater to the 1.3 million internet subscribers of EarthLink and 1.2 million members of MindSpring. AOL itself has about 40 million users of its messaging service.

In competition with AOL are Microsoft and Yahoo, who have launched instant messaging software for free use by surfers.

Daewoo-GM tie-up likely, says Korean bank
Seoul: The Daewoo group is planning to raise $3.5 billion through an alliance with General Motors, the group's lead creditor, Korea First Bank revealed.

Daewoo had earlier announced that it is willing to give up management rights to the US car major in an effort to forge an alliance. The two car companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to hold exploratory talks for an alliance.
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Fidelity, Title agreement on acquisition
Washington: Fidelity National Financial may cancel its offer to acquire Chicago Title Insurance for $1.2 billion if the deal is not completed by 31 March 2000. The two companies may extend the date to 30 June if certain conditions are not met.

But, if Title decides to go in for another offer, it will have to pay $34.1 million to Fidelity in termination fees. The two companies have concluded an agreement to this effect, which is contingent on shareholder approval and customary regulatory clearances.
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Chile to probe Coke-Cadbury deal
Santiago: Chile is investigating Pepsico's complaint that Coca-Cola's deal with candy and soft drinks firm Cadbury Schweppes may cause a monopoly in Chile. A state official said the investigation is on.

Coca-Cola had faced hurdles in implementing its deal with Cadbury Schweppes and it had anti-trust complaints in Europe, raids by European regulators, on its operations in Germany, Denmark, Austria and Britain and a contamination care in Europe. The problem in Chile is the latest.
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