Sops for bringing in patented technology
New Delhi: The government has decided to
allow multinational companies bringing in patented proprietary
technologies to set up 100 per cent subsidiaries in the
country. The primary objective in doing so was
to bring in high technology and, at the same time, protect
the interests of the foreign players.
The Economic Times, in a report, said
a proposal from Cigarette Components Ltd, a subsidiary
of Bunzl plc, has been approved by the Foreign Investments
Promotion Board recently under the new norms. The proposed
Indian company will manufacture and sell tear tapes for
use in packaging in tobacco, confectionery, pharmaceutical
and audio-visual product industries.
The government had earlier
rejected an application from E.I. Du Pont and had asked
the company to divest 26 per cent of its equity in favour
of an Indian company. On a representation being made by
Du Pont that it is using its patented technology and bringing
in other shareholders into the company would adversely
affect the proprietary rights of the company, the
FIPB permitted Du Pont to hold on to its equity.
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HMT
rejects M&M offer for tractor unit
Bangalore: HMT has rejected the price
offered by Mahindra & Mahindra for its profitable
tractor division. The public sector machine tool company
was in negotiations with Mahindra & Mahindra to sell
a 51 per cent stake in the Rs 454-crore tractor division
of the company.
Sources said Mahindra &
Mahindra had valued the entire unit at Rs 270 crore and
HMT would have got Rs 138 crore for the 51 per cent stake
it would divest. However, the deal fell through after
Mahindra & Mahindra reduced the offer amount following
a due diligence study on the ground that the business
value of the division was lower than Rs 138 crore due
to some liabilities.
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Hyundai
drops HDFC Bank
New Delhi: Hyundai Motors India is dropping
HDFC Bank from its car finance scheme and is bringing
in Citibank.
Hyundai has three preferred
financiers -- ICICI and Kotak Mahindra besides HDFC Bank.
Citibank is one of the leading financiers for Hyundai's
Santro, although it is not a preferred financier. Once
Citibank becomes a preferred financier, it will
be financing Hyundai's new car, Accent too.
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HAL
plans restructuring
Bangalore: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
is undertaking a major restructuring programme to make
it an international aeronautical player. The public sector
unit is understood to have valued its stocks and has gone
in for a credit rating.
The company wants to shift
its focus from profits to quality products in order to
be a global player. It is also planning to implement a
cost reduction programme.
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L&T
Komatsu to market Komatsu products
Bangalore: L&T Komatsu, a joint venture
between Larsen & Toubro and Singapore's Komatsu Asia
& Pacific, is all set to launch a slew of products
made by Komatsu of Japan. One of the items is excavators.
The Indian joint venture
will also offer its products to Komatsu's global clients.
L&T Komatsu is a 50:50
venture set up in 1998 after Larsen & Toubro sold
its excavator manufacturing facilities to the new company.
Komatsu Asia & Pacific is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Komatsu of Japan, a major global player in the hydraulic
excavator market.
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Government
may sell Gujarat Torrent stake to PowerGen
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government is
likely to offer its 10 per cent stake in the 650-mega
watt Gujarat Torrent Electricity Company to PowerGen of
the UK.The government expects Rs 228 crore for the stake.
The government had invested
Rs 88 crore in the company through Gujarat Power Corporation.
The shares of the company are now being traded around
Rs 32 per share.
Gujarat Torrent Electricity
Company has recently been taken over by PowerGen in what
is claimed as one of the biggest takeovers in India's
corporate history.
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Reliance
may get Gujarat power project
Ahmedabad: Reliance Industries may get
the 375-mega watt Ghogha power project in Gujarat. The
nodal agency for power projects in the state, the Gujarat
Power Corporation, is understood to have recommended Reliance
as the preferred bidder for the project.
The Rs 1,500-crore project
will have three units of 125 MW each. The Larsen &
Toubro-Marubeni consortium has been the other bidder.
The project was actually conceived in 1992 and has been
delayed due to various reasons.
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Elbee
to have a travel subsidiary
Mumbai: Courier company Elbee Services
will hive off its travel division into a wholly-owned
subsidiary, Elbee Travellers Services. Company sources
say there will be an investment not exceeding Rs six crore
in the new subsidiary.
Besides the travel business,
Elbee Services is also setting up five subsidiaries to
enter into intra-city courier service.
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Analog,
BPL Telecom develop telephony kit
Bangalore: Analog Devices of the US and
BPL Telecom have partnered to develop a digital telephony
kit for design engineers and product developers. The kit,
DT100H, has been released in international markets and
some companies have already started using it in their
digital telephony product offerings.
The DT100H enables research
and development engineers to quickly turn around feature-rich
telecom terminals using digital signal processor technology.
It has several features, each of which can be developed
to be sold as a separate product.
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Samsung
to offer gifts
Calcutta: Samsung India Electronics has
earmarked a hefty Rs 20 crore for a campaign offering
freebies to consumers in a two-month period. Every buyer
of a Samsung product will get goods worth Rs 800 to Rs
3,500 free.
The company claims that
this will be the biggest give-away campaign in the Indian
electronics industry. The campaign is part of two-phase
marketing push by the company, where the first phase saw
Kapil Dev promoting Samsung products.
The company said it
has commissioned an electronic data interchange system
to link its suppliers with its global logistics network
system.
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Essar
Shipping gets loan
Mumbai: Essar Shipping has tied up a
12-year Rs 100 crore loan from the Boeing Corporation
and GE Capital Structured Finance Group of the US. The
loan will be used to repay the company's high-cost Rs
200-crore debt to State Bank of India and ICICI, Essar
group sources said.
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Bilt
appoints consultant for corporate governance
New Delhi: Ballarpur Industries has appointed
a Switzerland-based consultant, Fred Neubauer of IMD at
Lausane, to frame a corporate governance package. The
proposal will be ready by 2000, says Ballarpur Industries'
managing director Gautam Thapar.
Ballarpur Industries is
about to complete its restructuring programme started
about two years ago, under which the company has hived
off its chemicals division into a separate company.
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Record
profit for ONGC
New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
has recorded its highest-ever profit of Rs 2,754 crore
in 1998-99. Its gross revenue (excluding interest income)
for the year is Rs 15,101 crore. The company has declared
a dividend of 55 per cent.
ONGC chairman B.C. Bora
said after the company's annual general meeting that it
is planning to restructure the Bombay High offshore wells
for a better yield of gas reserves. ONGC had produced
26.385 million metric tonnes of oil and 18.414 billion
cubic metre of natural gas during 1999-98 out of which
Bombay High alone contributed 10.5 million tonnes of oil,
he said.
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Zee
may offer equity to foreign partner
Mumbai: Zee Telefilms plans to offer
up to 10 per cent of its equity to a foreign strategic
partner and will look for equity investment opportunities
in related media businesses. The matter is listed for
discussion at the 27 September board meeting of the company.
The US media company Viacom
is seen as a potential partner for Zee.
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DSQ
Software plans profile shift
Calcutta: DSQ Software is refocusing
its business profile. It will give preference to end-customers
rather than intermediaries, Dinesh Dalmia, managing director
of the company, said.
The company has been servicing
clients through channel partners with whom it had non-competition
agreements. But, this is a difficult business proposition
since it is not possible to establish direct contact with
foreign clients, Mr Dalmia said.
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Yahoo
planning Indian site
New Delhi: Yahoo! is planning an Indian
internet site. The site will have customised content,
Yahoo's director, sales, Asia, David Mickler, said at
the India Internet World seminar here.
Yahoo is about to launch
a site for China, where a Chinese user will be able to
log on to Yahoo.com.ch.
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Pentel
pen plant to start operations
Mumbai: Japanese pen company Pentel is
commissioning its dedicated Indian factory at Daman on
23 September. A joint venture company, Indo Japan Pen
Manufacturing Company, has been set up to carry out the
manufacturing activities. The partners in the joint venture
are Vikram Kothari of Rotomac and K.J. Rathod of Flair
Pens. They together have invested Rs six crore in the
plant.
The company will manufacture
Clic-ball, a ball-point pen with a unique side click system
priced at Rs 17, HyperbG, a ball point pen with an ergonomic
design priced at Rs 15, Technica, a roller-ball point
pen priced at Rs 110 and Tradio, a plastic fountain pen
priced at Rs 120.
The $720 million Pentel
has been distributing its products in India. The company
now feels it is time to set up manufacturing facilities
in the country.
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Celsius
to merge submarine unit with HDW
Stockholm: Celsius AB of Sweden has announced
the merger of its submarine unit Kockums Naval Systems
with German shipyard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft to create
the world's leading submarine builder.
A new company, HDW Group,
will be created out of the merger, to be located at Kiel
in Germany and the Germans will have a majority holding.
The German engineering company Babcock Borsig and tourism
and industrial group Preussag jointly owns HDW.
No financial details of
the merger have been publicised.
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Airtours-First
Choice merger bid blocked
Brussels: As anticipated, the European
Commission blocked the plan by Airtours of Britain to
acquire rival First Choice. The commission said the merger
would leave just three powerful players dominating the
British market.
European Commission's new
European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said the
commission has found that the merger would create a dominant
position in the UK market for short-haul foreign package
holidays. The dominating players will be the merged Airtours/First
Choice, Thomson Travel and Thomas Cook.
Airtours launched a $1.39
billion hostile bid for First Choice in April 1999.
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Global
Crossing-Frontier merger okayed
Washington: The Federal Communications
Commission approved Global Crossing's $9 billion acquisition
of Frontier Corporation. The combination of undersea cable
building Global Crossing and Frontier will increase competition
in both domestic and foreign markets, the commission said.
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Phelps
Dodge raises bid price for Asarco, Cyprus
New York: Copper company Phelps Dodge
says it has raised its hostile bids for Asarco and Cyprus
Amax Minerals to $2.77 billion in cash and stock. The
new bids are up from a previous all-stock offer of $2.66
billion.
Shareholders of Cyprus and
Asarco are to vote on a planned $1.4 billion union that
was announced in July 1999. Phelps Dodge is persuading
the shareholders to reject the deal in favour of its own
offer.
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