Hotline quitting Konka JV
New Delhi: Just as the Chinese consumer electronics major Konka Electronics revealed its grandiose plans for India, its Indian joint venture partner Hotline has decided to walk out.

Hotline sources revealed that differences between the two groups exist, especially on management control. However, Konka has denied the split.

Hotline has a 25 per cent stake in the joint venture, which is expected to manufacture a range of consumer electronic products in India. Wittis group of Hong Kong holds 24 per cent, and Konka has 51 per cent.
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Nandas not for 51% stake in Escorts
New Delhi: The Nandas of Escorts are not going to pursue their plan to increase their stake in the company to 51 per cent.

The promoters have, however, increased their holding from 42 per cent to a little over 46 per cent during the last 12 to 14 months through the creeping acquisition method.
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Sesa Seat Information to be Indiacom Directories
Pune: Sesa Seat Information Systems, leading publisher of telephone directories and yellow pages, plans to issue five lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each at par on a preferential basis to its chairman Natalino Duo. The company has also proposed to change its name to Indiacom Directories and the principal shareholder, Seat Spa, which has a 40 per cent holding in the company, has decided to exit the venture. It is divesting its stake of six lakh shares in favour of the core group of managers running the company.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India has exempted the managers and employees of the company from making a public offer under the Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeover Regulations 1997.
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IOC, Elf join to market additives
Mumbai: Indian Oil Corporation and Elf Aquitaine are tying up for marketing fuel additives in the India.

Additives, which are mixed with petrol or diesel, are a popular product in international markets to ensure fuel economy and reduce emission levels from engines. Diesel additives contain anti-oxidants to minimise environmental pollution.

IOC and Elf will start the venture by introducing co-branded diesel additives, to be imported from France. IOC also announced that a formal joint venture with Elf is being worked out.
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Modi Olivetti renamed MOL India
Mumbai: ModiCorp has formally announced that Modi Olivetti will be renamed as MOL India following the exit of Italian information technology company Olivetti from the joint venture.

ModiCorp has acquired the 26.8 per cent equity held by Olivetti in the joint venture.
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Crowne Plaza insignia for Taj hotel in London
Mumbai: The St James Court hotel of the Taj group in London will soon use the Crowne Plaza insignia following the 10-year franchise and marketing agreement between the Taj group and Bass Hotels and Resorts.

The hotel, situated in a strategic place near Buckingham Palace, will be completely refurbished. The agreement provides for Taj International Hotels, the Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Indian Hotels Company, to continue to manage the hotel.
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Peugeot licence to PAL for engine use
Mumbai: Automobile Peugeot of France, which has just announced its decision to transfer its stake in the joint venture PAL-Peugeot to Premier Automobiles for free, has given its ex-partner the licence to use its 1,537cc TUD-5 diesel engine for five years. The usage can be extended by mutual agreement.

The engine currently produced by Peugeot in Europe and used in small cars conforms to existing Euro-II standards. The Peugeot 309GLD, which the joint venture has been manufacturing in India, uses this engine.

The concession given by Peugeot is expected to give Premier Automobiles an advantage in its bid to make its cars Euro-compliant.
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LC of Hyundai under pilot production
New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India has started pilot production of its mid-size car code-named "LC". The car is slated for launch on 14 September at the Frankfurt show.

The model is to be introduced in India and in other countries later this year.
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RCF in JV to set up plant in Rajasthan
Mumbai: Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers will form a joint venture with Hindustan Zinc and Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals for setting up a diammonium phosphate plant in Rajasthan. RCF will hold a 50 per cent stake in the venture, while the other partners will hold 25 per cent each.

The cost of the plant is estimated at Rs 300 crore.
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Videocon ready for third-party audit
Mumbai: Videocon International has told ORG GKF Marketing Services that it is ready for a third party audit by any reputed firm of its market share figures. Videocon and ORG are in a bitter tussle over the market research agency's market share figures for Videocon.

ORG had made the suggestion of a third party study.
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TACO plans 5 business groups
Mumbai: The Tata group is restructuring its auto ancillary venture Tata AutoComp Systems into five strategic business groups, mainly with a view to having a global presence.

The company is also looking for acquisitions abroad, its managing director D.S. Gupta has said.

A Business Standard report said the company will focus on manufacturing, engineering, supply chain management, after-market operations and international operations as part of the restructuring. It has offers from auto component companies in the UK, Thailand and Korea for takeovers, Mr Gupta told the newspaper.
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MRPL plans securitisation
Mumbai: Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd is planning to securitise its future receivables to the tune of Rs 300 crore. The company is understood to have approached ICICI and SBI Caps for the purpose. ICICI is expected to securitise receivables of around Rs 150 crore. The rest will be taken up by SBI Caps.

Earlier the Reliance group had securitised receivables worth Rs 1,100 crore from oil and natural gas products with ICICI.
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Andersen Consulting revenue to cross $10 bn
Mumbai: Andersen Consulting says it expects to cross the $10 billion mark in revenues when accounts close in August.

In 1998, the consulting firm had record revenues of $8.3 billion, some 25 per cent more than in 1997. The US component of this figure was $4.6 billion, and Europe, Middle East and Africa and India contributed $3.05 billion.

The firm said its Indian operations are growing at a rate of 40 per cent.
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Bharti sets up new company for phones
New Delhi: Bharti Telecom will spin off its telephone equipment manufacturing business into a new company, Bharti Teletech, which was floated recently.

Bharti group managing director Sunil Mittal said with the separation of manufacturing, Bharti Telecom will become the group's holding company for telecom service ventures. Its subsidiary Goa Telecom will be merged with the new company.

The group has two factories located at Ludhiana and Gurgaon to manufacture telephones.
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HFCL to get Botswana phone order
New Delhi: Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd is aiming to bag a Rs 34-crore order from Botswana Telecommunications Corporation for supply of wireless in local loop equipment.

HFCL is understood to have emerged as the lowest bidder in a global tender floated by Botswana Telecom. Mitsui, Alcatel, Siemens and Lucent had responded to the tender.

HFCL's WLL system is based on the CorDECT technology developed by the IIT, Chennai.
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Ericsson to convert Indian unit into 100% co
New Delhi: TLM Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications major is converting its manufacturing joint venture company in India, Ericsson Telecommunications, into a wholly-owned company. At present Ericsson owns a 51 per cent stake in the company, while the balance is held by non-resident and resident Indian shareholders.

Once the acquisition of the 49 per cent shares is over, TLM Ericsson will have two subsidiaries in India, Ericsson Telecommunications and Ericsson Communications.
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HCL Technologies plans IPO
New Delhi: HCL Technologies, a Bahama-registered company of the Shiv Nadar group, is coming out with an initial public offer in India to be followed by one in the US.

The company is in the process of completing the required formalities with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for the Indian IPO.

The company is engaged in information technology services offering software services all over the world.
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Aluminium giant APA is born
Zurich: In a fast-paced development, Alcan, Pechiney and Algroup announced their trans-Atlantic merger worth $9.6 billion to create the world's biggest aluminium company.

In the merger deal, Alcan will lead the group with a stake of 44 per cent, and its chief executive Jacques Bougie will become the chief executive of the new group to be named APA.

With 1998 combined sales of more than 420 billion, the new group will certainly pose a challenge to the market leader Alcoa, which had sales of $15.5 billion in 1998.

Meanwhile, in a swift move not to be left behind, Alcoa made a hostile bid to buy Reynolds Metal Company for $5.6 billion in cash and stock.
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IBM joins group in Linux project
San Jose: IBM has joined a group of companies in developing a version of the Linux operating system to run on Intel's next generation chips.

IBM is the latest to join the project, Trillian. The other participants include Hewlett-Packard, SGI and VA Linux Systems. The companies will be working with Intel to enable Linux software work on Intel's proposed IA-64 chip.
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Chevron-Shell pact
Cotonou: Chevron Corporation said it has signed an agreement with Royal Dutch/Shell and state gas firms of four West African countries to build a pipeline to transport Nigerian gas. The pipeline is expected to cost nearly $400 million.
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Sony takes stake in Yupi.com
Miami: Sony Corporation took an equity stake in Yupi.com, belonging to a Spanish language web publishing company that is aiming for a leading spot in the electronic commerce area of Latin American countries.

Yupi.com operates an internet search engine, chat rooms and other web services, and has sold its equity shares to a Miami venture capital group and IFX Corporation for $13 million.
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SGI to cut workforce, focus on internet
San Francisco: Computer group SGI said as part of a major reorganisation it is reducing its workforce by about 10 per cent and selling its Cray super computer division.

The company, previously known as Silicon Graphics, will now focus more on internet services, especially in areas like Origin servers, graphics workstation products and a new range of server appliances.
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Daewoo not opposed to brokerage unit sale
Seoul: Daewoo group announced it will not oppose the proposal to sell its brokerage unit in its bid to keep itself in the afloat.

The creditors of the group are expected to announce part of the restructuring plan. The group of 69 banks and other financial institutions have rescued the sinking group by providing fresh loans and extending maturities. Daewoo Securities is the only group company which fared well.

General Motors meanwhile said a deal with Daewoo is still some way off.
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