Zee buys Star stake in 3 JVs
Mumbai: The Zee-Star TV tangle is finally over. Zee Telefilms has bought over Star TV's entire stake in three joint ventures -- Hong Kong-based Asia Today Ltd, Siticable and Patco -- for a total consideration of $296.51 million, or about Rs 1,300 crore.

The deal is the culmination of negotiations between the Subhash Chandra-promoted Zee group and Rupert Murdoch's Star TV that lasted three months. Zee Telefilms will pay half the amount in cash, and the balance will be in the form of Zee Tele shares -- estimated at about 5 per cent.

The agreement enables Zee Telefilms to control the entire Rs 400-crore advertisement revenue of Asia Today against its earlier entitlement of 50 per cent. Asia Today owns three channels -- Zee TV, Zee News and Zee Cinema.

The agreement also ends litigation between the two groups in London and other centres.
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Reliance stake in RPL to go up
Mumbai: The Reliance group is increasing its stake in Reliance Petroleum to over 60 per cent, chairman Dhirubhai Ambani told Reliance Petroleum shareholders at Jamnagar in Gujarat. He was addressing the company's annual general meeting. The additional stake is a result of conversion of debentures maturing in the next few months.

Mr Ambani said the company's refinery will be fully commissioned in the next few weeks and will start its full-scale operations six months ahead of schedule. He also told the shareholders that both Reliance Petroleum and Reliance Industries will be among the top five companies in India on all major parameters.

The annual output at the Jamnagar refinery will be worth Rs 28,000 crore, almost four per cent of the total turnover of the Indian corporate sector. Mr Ambani told the shareholders that Reliance will have a 50:50 joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation for marketing and distribution of the controlled products.
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Booz, Allen & Hamilton to advise Godrej Soaps
Mumbai: Management consulting firm Booz Allen & Hamilton will prepare a project viability report for Godrej Soaps, Adi B. Godrej, managing director, told the company's shareholders at its annual general meeting. He said Andersen Consulting is advising the company in improve operating efficiencies, reduce costs, access better technology, improve productivity and generate savings.

Bifurcation of the company's businesses into two divisions -- consumer products and chemicals -- is one of the steps in this direction, Mr Godrej said. The company has also sold a part of its stake in Godrej Sara Lee to holding company Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co.

The company will introduce several new products in the near future. In the first five months of the current year, its soap brands grew 19 per cent and toiletries 21 per cent, he said.
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ITC plans Rs 1,500 cr investment in hotels
New Delhi: The ITC group will invest Rs 1,500 crore in its hotels business in the next five years. The company's chairman Y.C. Deveshwar told its shareholders that the group is committed to add 1,500 more rooms in the next five years in the deluxe category.

The Maurya Sheraton expansion plans will be completed by next year. The company has also entered into a joint venture with Ansal Hotels to build a second hotel in Delhi.
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Nescafe prices to be cut
New Delhi: Nestle India will slash the prices of its Nescafe coffee by about 15 per cent. The company has also decided to introduce special low priced packs of the coffee brand.

While the company says the price cut is aimed at expanding coffee consumption in India, industry watchers are saying the multinational has been forced to reduce prices as its exports to Russia have dropped drastically. Nestle had increased the prices of Nescafe recently aand seen sales declining.
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Andersen advises Philips Carbon on cost cutting
Calcutta: Andersen Consulting, the management consulting firm, ehich is advising the RPG group's Phillips Carbon Black, has suggested as many as 550 possible areas of cost reduction. The company has already implemented some 20 suggestions.

The company is also considering a voluntary retirement plan. Andersen Consulting has reworked the company's distribution network, offered suggestions for plant level re-engineering to reduce feedstock consumption, altered procurement procedures, and suggested ways to minimise spillage.

Phillips Carbon Black is the largest player in the domestic carbon black segment.
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Dr Reddy's looking at M&A
Hyderabad: Dr Reddy's Laboratories is looking at mergers and acquisitions for growth. Company chairman K. Anji Reddy disclosed this strategy at the company's annual general meeting.

The company has launched six of its acquired brands in 1998-99, and Mr Reddy said the outlook for the company is bright as a result of the thrust given to research and development.
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Hyundai to sell 50,000 Santros by October
Chennai: Hyundai Motor India will have sold 50,000 Santros by the first week of October 1999, B.V.R. Subbu, director (marketing), of the company, says. "No other automobile manufacturer, including Maruti Udyog, was able to achieve this magic figure in so less a time," he said. The company has completed one year of Santro production on 24 September.

Hyundai Motor India hopes to achieve a sales turnover of Rs 1,500 crore in 1999-2000, Mr Subbu said. The company is now all set to introduce Hyundai Accent, an Euro II-compliant 1,500 cc, 12-valve, 4-cylinder Alpha engine car in October 1999.
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Volkswagen plans Indian unit
New Delhi: Volkswagen is looking at the possibility of setting up a manufacturing unit in India to make its Golf, Bora and Passat cars.

Volkswagen had earlier negotiated with Eicher Motors for a possible entry into the Indian market, but the talks had failed. It had then abandoned its India plans.
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FIs to sell stake in Modi Rubber
New Delhi: Financial institutions Unit Trust of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India, General Insurance Corporation of India, Industrial Finance Corporation of India and Industrial Development Bank of India, which together own 44 per cent of the equity in Modi Rubber, have decided to divest their holdings to a strategic buyer. This will change the ownership pattern of the Modi group company.

The institutions have sent a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange, and have said they have appointed SBI Capital Markets to find a suitable investor. Sources said German tyre company Continental is keen on picking up the stake, possibly at Rs 125 per share.
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Christian Dior watches, writing instruments in India
Mumbai: French designer house Christian Dior announced the launch of its premium range of watches, writing instruments and cuff links in India. These items will be marketed exclusively by Finex Distribution.

A new Dior range called Trendy will be launched in Mumbai. In future, Dior models launched elsewhere in the world will also be available immediately in India. The watches are priced between Rs 23,000 and Rs 70,000 and writing instruments between Rs 5,000 and Rs 12,000.
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Thapar group breaks up with El Passo
New Delhi: The L.M. Thapar group has ended its alliance with US power company El Passo. The two groups had formed a joint venture to bid for the 600MW Bawana phase 2 power project in Delhi.

Ballarpur Industries held a 35 per cent stake and El Passo 65 per cent in the venture, which had emerged as the lowest bidder for the project. Differences over the equity stakes are said to be the reason for the break-off.
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Indian Oil to invest in Petronas project
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation will pick up a 10 per cent stake in the $540-million Petronas petrochemical project in Malaysia. The company's board has recently cleared the investment.

The Indianoil stake in the aromatic complex at Kertih will entail an investment of about Rs 35 to Rs 40 crore. The remaining 90 per cent of the equity is held by the multinational company.
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Gulf Oil to export lubes to Bangladesh
Mumbai: Gulf Oil International signed a memorandum of understanding with Oil Bangladesh to supply Gulf brand lube products in Bangladesh. A joint venture will be created at a later date to set up a lube blending plant in that country.

Gulf Oil International is a global company with operations in over 40 countries. Gulf Oil India will export the lube products from its blending plant in Calcutta.
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Association to oppose Pfizer proposal
New Delhi: The Pfizer India Minority Shareholders Association has been formed with a view to step up pressure on the government not to grant approval to the multinational's proposal to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India. On 27 September the association will hold a meeting in Mumbai of small shareholders, institutional investors, government agencies and the media.

The association plans to start a nationwide campaign to ensure that the Indian investors are not "short-changed". Minority shareholders and institutional investors own around 55 per cent of Pfizer India's equity.
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Wipro Net plans expansion
New Delhi: Wipro Net, the internet service company of the Wipro group, has outlined a Rs 150-crore expansion plan in the next three years. The plan envisages a sharper focus on the retail and domestic market. The company is in talks with cable operators to provide internet services.

Wipro Net also plans to increase its presence in 20 cities in the next 15 months. It is at present operating in Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and Calcutta.
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Microsoft plans to put Office on web
Seattle: Microsoft is all prepared for another internet war with Sun Microsystems putting its Star Office free on the web for access by potential users.

Microsoft's Office suite is estimated to have been installed on 100 million PCs, and the software accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the company's total revenue. It cannot let Sun's move go unchallenged. Its response is a new internet-based -- or "web-hosted" -- Office version. Microsoft says this is not a response to Star Office, but "our customers are looking for it". George Meng, product manager of Microsoft Office, says there are no big technological obstacles to create the product, although it may involve partnering with other companies.

Steve Ballmer, president of Microsoft, has said on several occasions "we will have a web-hosted Office". However, the new product will not be free like Star Office, but there will be different pricing models, Microsoft sources said.
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EarthLink, MindSpring merge
New York: EarthLink Network and MindSpring Enterprises, two internet service providers, agreed to a $1.6 billion merger that will create the No 2 internet access provider in the US. The stock swap deal forms the new company that will have a market capitalisation of $3 billion, annualised revenues of nearly $650 million and a combined cash balance of more than $500 million.

The new company will retain the EarthLink name and stock symbol, and will be domiciled at MindSpring's Atlanta headquarters. It will rank second to America Online and will have some three million subscribers -- against AOL's 17 million and another CompuServe's two million.
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NEC, Mitsubishi form monitor JV
Tokyo: NEC Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will form a joint venture for their display monitor operations. Capitalised at two billion yen, the equally-owned joint venture will take over monitor development, production and marketing operations, the two companies announced.

The products of the joint venture will include cathode display tube display monitors, liquid crystal display monitors and related products. The joint venture aims to be among the world's top three monitor makers.
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Ripplewood may get Japanese bank
Tokyo: The Japanese government is understood to have selected Ripplewood, the US private equity firm, as the candidate to purchase the ailing Long Term Credit Bank. An announcement is expected shortly.

Ripplewood Investment will pay $1.3 billion, making it one of the biggest foreign investments in the Japanese financial sector. Ripplewood is being backed by a number of blue chip US and European institutions such as Citigroup, Mellon and ABN Amro. Japanese Mitsui and Chuo Trust banks have been bidding for the Long Term Credit Bank.
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AOL, Musicmaker in pact
New York: America Online and Musicmaker, an internet music site, have signed a three-year agreement to offer Musicmaker's products over AOL's sites and services.

Visitors to AOL's branded sites like Netcenter, Spinner and Winamp will have access to Musicmaker's digital library of songs from labels as EMI Records and Zomba.
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