Ambanis hike stake in Reliance Industries
Mumbai: The Ambanis have consolidated their holding in the Reliance group's flagship company Reliance Industries by acquiring nearly two per cent of the company's equity from the secondary market at a cost of Rs 350 to 400 crore.

The Economic Times, in a report, said the shares have been bought in line with the Securities and Exchange Board of India's guidelines on 'creeping acquisition' of shares. Under these guidelines, promoters can buy up to five per cent of a company's equity in any given 12-month period without triggering an open offer to shareholders.

Reliance Industries has an equity base of Rs 933.7 crore.

Anil Ambani, managing director of the company, said the promoters will enhance their shareholding on a continuous basis in the future through the creeping route.
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Time-Warner, Viacom seek stake in Zee
New Delhi: Time-Warner and Viacom are among the top contenders to become Zee Telefilms' strategic partners.

Vijay Jindal, managing director of Zee Telefilms, said talks have been held for offering up to 10 per cent equity to high net worth foreign investors. It could be more than one investor, Mr Jindal told the Business Standard.

The Zee group has a tie-up with Viacom for Nickelodeon, a channel for children.
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Rajus divesting part of stake in refinery
Mumbai: The Rajus of the Nagarjuna group are offloading 26 per cent equity in their refinery project and offering it to an international oil major. They are also offering 11 per cent of their stake to other "potential investors".

The refinery is being set up at Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. The Nagarjuna group had acquired the project from Pennar Refineries in 1997. After this disinvestment, the Rajus will have a 51 per cent stake in the project through Nagarjuna Fertilisers.
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Ex-GE Cap chief eyes India IT units
Mumbai: Gary Wendt, former head of GE Capital, is floating  a global equity fund, and has allocated $125 million for infotech ventures in India. He has tied up with Ambit Corporate Finance Pvt Ltd, a financial consultancy headed by Ashok Wadhwa.

A special purpose vehicle will be floated to act as investment advisors to the India fund, Mr Wadhwa said. Ambit will have a 74 per cent stake in the special purpose vehicle, while Mr Wendt will bring in the remaining 26 per cent.
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Tata Petrodyne sells stake in oil block
Mumbai: Tata Petrodyne, the Tata group petroleum venture, will sell 30 per cent of its equity stake in the Cambay basin oil exploration block off the Gujarat coast to Britain's Cairn Energy. This is the second such recent sale by Tata Petrodyne. It has sold another field in the Cambay basin to Enron Oil and Gas of the US.

Tata Petrodyne had an original holding of 45 per cent in the field. With the acquisiton of 30 per cent,  Cairn Energy's stake  will rise to 75 per cent. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation holds 10 per cent stake in the field.
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BSES Telecom to launch internet service
Mumbai: BSES Telecom is launching its internet service in Mumbai by the first week of November 1999. The company will offer competitive rates and extra net services for all BSES consumers. BSES Telecom is a subsidiary of BSES.

The company is setting up the necessary infrastructure, including an optical fibre network. It has acquired a licence from the department of telecommunications in February 1999.
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AI, other airlines oppose BA's reduced fares
Bangalore: Leading international carriers, including Lufthansa, Air France, Air-India and Austrian Airlines, have decided to seek the intervention of the director general of civil aviation to prevent British Airways from reducing air fares on routes from India to London and a string of other destinations in Europe, Canada and US as part of its festival promotion offer. The proposed fares will be comparable with the reduced fares introduced by some Gulf-based airlines.

Other airlines say British Airways' move violates the understanding on yield improvement for the West-bound flights reached between major carriers in April 1999. The agreement has been approved by the DGCA.
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Himachal Futuristic plans exit from Fascel
New Delhi: Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd has decided to sell a 10 per cent stake in Fascel, the private telecom services provider. Earlier HFCL held 43 per cent of the company, and had sold 30 per cent.

Hindujas, Kotak Mahindra, Shinwatra and Bezeq are the other shareholders of the company, which operates cellular services in the Gujarat circle.
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NetAcross plans US units
New Delhi: NetAcross, an intranet solutions provider, will set up units in the US, and has engaged Ernst & Young to prepare a business plan. It is also planning to dilute up to 45 per cent of its shareholding by offering equity to foreign investors. AquaVit, a US-based venture capitalist, has already picked up a 26 per cent stake in the company.
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DGIR objects to non-compete clauses
New Delhi: The director general of investigations and registrations has filed an application with the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission against an Indian company and its foreign joint venture partner on the ground that the non-competing clauses in their shareholders' agreement amount to restrictive trade practices.

The Confederation of Indian Industry has opposed this move. The application has raised a controversy as a majority of Indian joint ventures are governed by non-competing clauses. Industry sources contend that removal of these clauses will put the domestic partners at a severe disadvantage as it will allow the foreign partner to export products in competition with the joint venture and enable the foreign company to open competing channels in the country.
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C&W may cut stake in Hong Kong unit
London: Cable & Wireless is understood to be planning to sell a part of its 54 per cent stake in C&W HKT, its Hong Kong Telecom subsidiary, for $14.78 billion. The Sunday Business said the company is reviewing the future of HKT, which still accounts for a large share of the group's profits.

C&W HKT has launched a 50:50 joint venture with Cable & Wireless recently to invest in internet businesses in Asia.
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Monsanto changes strategy
London: Monsanto Company is considering a new strategy on its genetically modified food in Britain. The company, a major player in the genetically-modified food industry, had offered to use its database to help plant breeders create new varieties of crops using traditional cross-breeding rather than controversial genetic modification.

The British government has been criticised by activists opposing genetically-modified food after it had agreed to limited test trials of crops to determine whether the technology is safe.
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German, UK legal firms to merge
Frankfurt: German law firm Boesebeck Droste is merging with British firm Lovell White Durrant to form Europe's fourth biggest international firm of lawyers. Boesebeck Droste said the new firm with, 1,000 lawyers and 23 offices in Europe, Asia and the US, aims to expand its corporate legal business in Western and Central Europe.

The firm will do business under the name Lovell Boesebeck Droste in Germany and other countries where the German firm alone has offices. In other countries, it will be called Lovell.
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