Mangalore Refineries plans to induct a partner
Mumbai: Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals
Ltd, the A V Birla-Hindustan Petroleum Corporation joint
venture, is planning to induct a multinational partner with
up to 26 per cent equity participation. The two promoters
are holding discussions with various companies and are expected
to finalise a deal by November 1999, the Business Standard
reported.
The A.V. Birla group and the HPC each owns
37 per cent of MRPL's equity, and financial institutions
have a 4 per cent stake. The balance is held by the public.
The promoters had brought in an additional equity of Rs
726 crore recently to fund expansion of the refinery's
capacity.
The company
had talked to Mobil Corporation before it was taken over
by Exxon. It has tie-ups with Chevron and Texaco for supply
of a part of the crude requirement.
Back
to News Review index page
Indian
Rayon to buy back shares
Mumbai: A V Birla group company Indian
Rayon has decided to buy back its shares through a reverse
bookbuilding process. The company's board has decided
on a reverse bookbuilding offer of Rs 75 to Rs 85 per
share for the buyback. The offer is for 25 per cent of
the company's floating stock.
The buyback
is expected to cost between Rs 127 crore and Rs 144 crore.
The final price will be determined on the basis of bids
from shareholders, company sources said.
Back
to News Review index page
ICICI
to pick up stake in Elbee
Mumbai: ICICI is all set to pick up a
stake in Elbee Services, a leading courier company. The
stake will be acquired through a preference share conversion.
Elbee will issue 20.83 shares of Rs 10 face value at Rs
24 per share. The promoters of Elbee, members of the Shah
family, own 55 per cent of the company. After the
conversion, their stake will reduce to 42 per cent.
ICICI has
agreed to convert $2.64 million outstanding from the company
in foreign currency loans into a rupee loan of Rs 11.43
crore.
Back
to News Review index page
2
TVS group companies merge
Chennai: TVS-Suzuki has secured its shareholders'
approval for an amalgamation scheme to merge the company
with a small firm, Sundaram Auto Engineers, and a subsequent
change in the name of the merged entity to TSL.
The company
clarified that the merger is being done for sentimental
reasons as Sundaram Auto Engineers has no operations.
Sundaram Auto Engineers has a paid-up capital of only
Rs 700 held by seven individuals. As per the scheme, all
assets, liabilities, duties, rights and obligations of
TSL will be vested with Sundaram Auto Engineers from 22
April 1999.
Back
to News Review index page
Glenmark
promoters to dilute stake
Mumbai: The promoters of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals,
the Saldanha family members, will dilute their stake in
the company from around 85 per cent to 60 per cent through
the sale of equity to a strategic investor and an initial
public offer or placement with a private equity fund.
The move
is aimed at raising Rs 50 crore to fund a research and
development centre and a formulation facility. Glenmark
has an equity capital of Rs 7.42 crore and is known for
its anti-fungal preparations.
Back
to News Review index page
Acer
announces Indian arm
Bangalore: Taiwan's Acer Computer International
has announced the setting up of its wholly-owned Indian
subsidiary, Acer India (Pvt) Ltd, headquartered in Bangalore.
The company will be engaged in manufacturing, marketing
and selling the Acer brand of PC products -- personal
computers, notebooks, servers and home PCs.
"With
a current installed base of over 1.25 lakh Acer computers
in the country today, India, to Acer, offers an accessible,
potential market. We will strive to make Acer a leading
PC brand in India," says Arun Sinha, managing director,
Acer India (Pvt) Ltd.
Acer is
the world's third-largest PC manufacturer, offering a
broad selection of industry-leading high-end servers,
multimedia PCs, notebooks, computer peripherals, components
and semiconductors. It has operations in 37 countries
and its revenue in 1998 was $6.7 billion.
The Indian
venture comes after Acer parted ways with Wipro. However,
Wipro will continue to market Acer products. In addition,
the company has tied up with Thakral Computers and Unison
Technologies, who will also be distribution partners.
Back
to News Review index page
Winding
up petition against Pure Drinks unit
New Delhi: The Chandigarh High Court
has accepted an application from DCM Financial Services
seeking winding up of Pure Drinks (New Delhi) for the
company's failure to pay its dues. The court directed
that acceptance of the winding-up petition be advertised
in the official gazette of Punjab as well as in newspapers
in the state.
DCM Financial Services claimed
that Pure Drinks (New Delhi) owes the company Rs 1.61
crore. Pure Drinks (New Delhi) is a Patiala-registered
company of the Pure Drinks group, which controls soft
drink brands of Campa Cola, Campa Orange and Tripp as
well as the Le Meridien Hotel in New Delhi.
Back
to News Review index page
FIs
okay loan for Essar Minerals
Mumbai: Financial institutions have decided
to sanction Rs 892 crore in loans to Essar Minerals, which
has been renamed HyGrade Pellets and is now 51-per cent
owned by Stemcor of the UK. As a first step of a comprehensive
package for the minerals company, the Industrial Development
Bank of India has cleared Rs 300 crore as its share.
Of the Rs 892 crore, Rs
520 crore will go towards repaying Essar Steel's non-equity
investments in the company. Essar Steel will use these
funds to retire institutional loans. The financial institutions
will advance another Rs 372 crore to the company to complete
its iron ore beneficiation project at Bailadila, set up
a captive power plant at Visakhapatnam and an iron ore
slurry pipeline from Bailadila to Visakhapatnam.
Stemcor had recently bought
51 per cent of Essar Steel's 100 per cent stake in the
mineral unit. Essar Steel continues to hold the balance
49 per cent stake.
Back
to News Review index page
5
shortlisted to advise on HCIL divestment
Bangalore: Five international firms have
been shortlisted to act as advisors to oversee the disinvestment
of Air-India's shareholding in its wholly-owned subsidiary
Hotel Corporation of India. The five firms shortlisted
are: Jones Lang LaSalle/ANZ Investments Bank, Goldman
Sachs/Kotak Mahindra, HSBC Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley,
and Jardine Matherson.
The Hotel Corporation of
India, which has a paid-up capital of Rs 4.60 crore, runs
hotels and flight kitchens.
Back
to News Review index page
Bharat
Forge eyes acquisitions abroad
Pune: Bharat Forge is preparing itself
for acquisitions in the US and Europe. The Rs 600-crore
Kalyani group automobile components company is also exploring
the possibilities of acquiring auto components firms abroad.
The group's chairman Baba
N. Kalyani said the acquisitions are needed as exports
of auto parts from India are an expensive affair.
Back
to News Review index page
L&T
to take stake in power project JV
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro is taking
a 26 per cent stake in a 500 megawatt power project that
Indian Oil Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan
are building in Gujarat.
Indianoil and Mitsubishi
have a 26 per cent equity holding each in the project.
Besides Larsen & Toubro, the public sector Engineers
India Ltd is also taking a minority stake in the venture.
The project is based on residue fuel petcoke, which is
sourced from an Indianoil refinery.
Back
to News Review index page
Microland
in new web venture
Bangalore: Microland, a leading web service
provider, is set to launch its technology portal, ITspace.com.
The venture will be a division of the company for the
time being but will be converted into a separate company
with ICICI Venture and Indocean Chase Capital Advisors
taking stakes.
The portal will have a range
of news, user-generated content, discussion forum and
peer networking opportunities tailored to specific needs.
Microland said the portal is structured to give up-to-the
minute domestic and international news and analysis to
help professionals stay abreast of developments in the
industry and get updated in cutting edge technology, IT
policy and market happenings including live IT stock feeds.
Back
to News Review index page
Indal
to hike aluminium production
New Delhi: The Indian Aluminium Company
has outlined a Rs 800-crore plan to increase alumina production
capacity and set up a captive power plant. The company
will increase alumina capacity from 3.18 lakh tonne per
annum to 5.1 lakh tonne per annum at a cost of Rs 400
crore at its Belgaum, Karnataka plant and set up a captive
power plant at Hirakud, Orissa, its managing director
N.K. Choudhry said.
He added that the company
will also increase capacity of alumina at its plant at
Muri in Bihar, and that of the rolling mill for manufacturing
value-added aluminium products.
Back
to News Review index page
Iridium
India joins others for parent's revamp
Mumbai: Iridium India, the Indian subsidiary
of Iridium, the global mobile satellite phone company
that has filed a bankruptcy petition in New York, has
joined hands with 11 other Iridium subsidiaries in other
countries to implement a restructuring exercise of their
parent company. Iridium has filed the bankruptcy petition
after defaulting on two large loans totalling $1.5 billion.
In a recent meeting in Washington
DC, the subsidiaries, which are gateway providers operating
earth stations to catch and transmit messages to orbiting
satellites of the Iridium project, have appointed common
legal representatives and financial advisors to represent
their case.
Iridium India is sponsored
by leading domestic financial institutions and has invested
nearly Rs 150 crore for setting up the gateway access.
The company has a $72 million equity stake in Iridium.
Back
to News Review index page
Proton
offers to revamp Ambassador
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian car company Proton
has offered to upgrade Hindustan Motors' Ambassador cars.
The company has also proposed marketing of the vehicle
abroad.
Proton officials said the
company can use its technology to change the model of
the car and add value to it so that it becomes attractive
in the Indian and international markets. Proton and Hindustan
Motors signed a memorandum of understanding recently for
assembling Proton models at Chennai.
Back
to News Review index page
Endesa
plans to sell unit's non-core business
Madrid: Spanish power company Endesa
will sell its non-core businesses owned by Enersis, its
Chilean subsidiary. The move forms part of the group's
plan to increase profitability.
The plan includes measures
to streamline management, systems and operating practices
at Enersis, whose costs per kilowatt of electricity are
calculated at double those of Endesa.
Back
to News Review index page
Rolls
Royce moves to acquire Vickers
London: Rolls Royce has launched a $933-million
cash offer for Vickers in a move, which the company said
is aimed at making it a global leader in marine power
systems. Analysts, however, see the 53 per cent premium
Rolls Royce has offered for Vickers's share as on a higher
side.
The move has also surprised
many as Vickers' defence business, including battle tanks
and armoured vehicles, will be a surplus to Rolls Royce's
requirement.
Back
to News Review index page
|