UB in hostile bid for Shaw Wallace brands
Bangalore: Vijay Mallya's McDowell & Co has made an open offer for three well known liquor brands of the beleaguered Shaw Wallace & Co -- Royal Challenge, Director's Special and Haywards -- before the Calcutta High Court. Shaw Wallace is part of the Manu Chhabria group.

The United Breweries group company has made the hostile offer even as a special leave petition by Shaw Wallace for a fresh meeting with its creditors to consider a repayment scheme was rejected by the Calcutta High Court since it did not have majority support of creditors. Shaw Wallace owes its creditors some Rs 175 crore, with an interest component of Rs 83 crore.

Shaw Wallace has branded Mr Mallya's bid as proof of a nexus between the competition and a section of its creditors to scuttle its revival plan. The company's lawyers pleaded before the Calcutta High Court that the court must help it work out a compromise scheme. They said McDowell has no right to bid for its brands.

Mr Mallya has clarified that he is seeking the brands and not the company. If UB does manage to grab the three brands, they will beef up its portfolio in the premium whisky beer segments.
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CA, PwC in tie-up
Calcutta: Computer Associates India, a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of US software company Computer Associates, has entered into a strategic alliance with PricewaterhouseCoopers to implement its global enterprise management software product, Unicenter TNG solutions, in India.

The software has some 10,000 users worldwide. This will be Computer Associates India's second alliance. Earlier, it had tied up with NIIT to provide certified Unicenter engineer courses in India.
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BG offers equity to NTPC in Pipavav project
New Delhi: International power company BG plans to make the National Thermal Power Corporation an equity partner in the Pipavav LNG project.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between BG and NTPC for the equity stake. The quantum of equity to be allotted to NTPC will be decided later to conform to the ceiling of 48 per cent intended to be given to Indian partners. In addition to the equity, NTPC has also been offered long term supply of natural gas for its various power projects in the Gujarat region.

The Pipavav project is one of BG's biggest commitments in India.
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Ceat Financial gets RPG help
Calcutta: RPG group financial services company Ceat Financial Services has decided to extend its accounting year by six months to September 1999. And the parent company, Ceat, has given it about Rs 45 crore in loans to help it overcome a financial crisis.

The company has already decided to bring down its deposit base from Rs 240 crore to Rs 100 crore in phases to manage the crisis.
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Dr Reddy's to acquire US research unit
Mumbai: Dr Reddy's Laboratories is understood to be acquiring a research boutique in the US at a cost of $1.5 million. The unit is owned by a US-based Indian woman scientist and has a bank of new molecules under research.

A research boutique is a place where scientists undertake the initial stages of basic research and identify new molecules. The acquisition is in keeping with Dr Reddy's thrust on basic research.
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Tata International recognised
Mumbai: Tata International has been named as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the directorate general of foreign trade. The company has maintained its Super Star Trading House status for three consecutive terms, which has resulted in the Golden Super Star status. The DGFT awards Super Star Trading House status in terms of the provisions of the Exim Policy 1997-2002 for export performance.

Tata International, formerly Tata Exports, exports products, including automobiles, steel, tea, leather and other commodities to over 100 countries.
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Indian Hotels transfers Oriental stake
Mumbai: The Indian Hotels Company has transferred the equity held by Taj Investment and Finance Company in Oriental Hotels to itself.

The decision to transfer the holding is part of a restructuring exercise by the Tata group hotel major to streamline the holdings and reduce the number of subsidiaries.
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Reliance acquires majority stake in Innomedia
Bangalore: Reliance Industries has acquired a majority stake in Innomedia Technologies of Bangalore. Reliance will bring in Rs 8 crore to take 55 per cent stake in Innomedia's equity. The rest will be with the promoters.

Innomedia provides cable TV-based interactive services in select locations in Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai.
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Reliance figures in UN investment report
Mumbai: Reliance Industries has been listed in the top 50 companies category in the World Investment Report of the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development on developing countries. Click here for details.

Reliance Industries is the only company in the chemical sector from the Asia-Pacific region to figure in the list. It i salso the only Indian company to be included in the list.
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FIs responsive to Essar proposal
Mumbai: Financial institutions are responsive to Essar Steel's suggestion to share the charge on assets with the holders of the floating rate notes. Heads of financial institutions are meeting to take a stand on the issue.

Essar Steel has suggested three options -- a 12-year rollover with secured charge on assets, a five-year rollover without any changes in collateral, and an exit option at an agreed price.
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Intel, Citicorp acquire stake in SAS
Bangalore: Intel and Citicorp have acquired minority stakes in Silicon Automation Systems of Bangalore, a company engaged in communication technology products.

Silicon Automation is the sixth company in which Intel has picked up an equity stake in India.
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Samsung introduces new GSM handsets
New Delhi: Samsung Electronics has launched a new range of global satellite mobile phones -- SGH 600. The sets are being imported as CKD units and the company ruled out any immediate possibility of manufacturing them in India.

The company has tied up with Mobiphone India of Delhi for marketing the handsets. The SGH 600 is priced between Rs 12,000 and Rs 14,000.
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Cadbury Schweppes bottlers agitated
Mumbai: Cadbury Schweppes Bottlers Association, representing some 10 bottlers of Cadbury Schweppes' products in India, has alleged that Coca-Cola is not pushing well known Cadbury Schweppes brands -- Canada Dry and Crush -- and this has resulted in the bottling units lying idle.

The association has cited that in the soft drink war between Pepsi and Coca-Cola, Cadbury Schweppes has been relegated to the sidelines and its once popular brands like Crush, Canada Dry, Bitter Lemon and Tonic have almost disappeared from the markets.
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Bilt exits Maersk India
Mumbai: Ballarpur Industries of the L.M. Thapar group has given up its 20 per cent stake in shipping company Maersk India in favour of the Danish parent group AP Moller. The divestment decision is in keeping with the Thapar group's plan to exit non-core areas and concentrate on paper, pulp, foods and chemicals.

AP Moller originally held 40 per cent stake in Maersk India, and it will be buying another 40 per cent in the company held by overseas corporate bodies, in addition to the stake now being acquired from the Thapar group. The company will then be a wholly-owned subsidiary of AP Moller.
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Indo-US JV for housing in Maharashtra
New York: An Indian construction company, KBL Ltd, has signed an agreement with US-based Environmental Construction Products International, formerly known as Ginsite Materials, for constructing low cost homes in Maharashtra state under the Jalgaon project.

The $20 million joint venture envisages construction of 12,000 houses with "affordable" technology.
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MCI WorldCom acquires Sprint
New York: MCI WorldCom, the second largest US long distance company, says it has finalised a deal to buy No 3 carrier Sprint Corporation for $129 billion. This will be the biggest ever corporate takeover.

The unified company, to be called WorldCom, will have 30 per cent of the $90 billion US long distance market, in competition with market leader AT&T, which controls 60 per cent of the market.

MCI WorldCom beat BellSouth Corporation, another prospective suitor for Sprint. The company will pay $76 in stock for each Sprint share. Sprint's wireless unit Sprint PCS's shares will be swapped for one new WorldCom PCS tracking stock and 0.1547 share of MCI WorldCom common stock.
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Telekom to sell stake in Sprint
Frankfurt: Deutsche Telekom is not planning any counter offer for Sprint Corporation and will sell its 10 per cent stake in the US company for $9.2 billion.

The company proposes to use the funds for global acquisitions and partnerships.
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TV Guide, Gemstar in merger deal
Los Angeles: Gemstar International Group, makers of electronic guides for television programmes, and publisher of the TV Guide, are involved in a $9.2 billion merger deal, ending six years of legal battle over technology patents for programme guides.

The two companies offer daily schedules, commercials and highlights of specials or pay-per-view movies on cable and satellite TV.

The deal will create TV Guide International, which will have the support of each company's principal stockholders, including cable company Liberty Media and News Corp of Rupert Murdoch, which own 44 per cent of TV Guide.
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Clear Channel buying AMFM
New York: Clear Channel Communications says it is buying larger rival AMFM in a $16.6 billion stock deal. This will create one of the largest unified radio station owners in the US, operating 830 radio stations, and owning more than 425,000 billboards and other outdoor displays. .

Clear Channel distributes the radio talk shows of advice guru Laura Schlessinger and political commentator Rush Limbaugh. AMFM has 4654 radio stations in 105 markets.
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Novartis, Rhone in marketing deal
Pennsylvania: Novartis has agreed to acquire exclusive marketing rights of two products of Rhone Poulenc Rorer in Europe and other world markets. Rhone Poulenc Rorer, a subsidiary of Rhone Poulenc of France, named the products as Estalis and Menorest for treatment of menopausal symptoms and prevention of osteoporosis.
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Glaxo cutting jobs
London: Glaxo Wellcome is cutting 3,400 jobs from its 55,000-strong global workforce to spruce up its manufacturing and supply operations. Half of the job cuts will be in Britain. The company said the restructuring will generate annual savings of around 370 million by 2003. It will cost the company 520 million spread over four years.

Glaxo has major operations spread over the US, Brazil, Singapore, France and India.
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Apple to launch new iMacs
San Francisco: Apple Computer is expected to launch a new series of its iMacs. The company's interim chief executive Steve Jobs is meeting pressmen to make the announcement.

Apple's iMac, launched in August 1988, has become a great seller and has caught the attention of PC users across the world. Apple, however, has declined to comment on the speculation
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3Com launches handheld organiser
Palo Alto: 3Com said it is rolling out its Palm VII handheld electronic organiser with internet access all over the US. Its price will be cut by $100.

The product was launched in the New York metropolitan area in May 1999. The price reduction will make the product available at $499. The Palm handheld organiser is the No 1 device in the field. The company has sold more than 5 million units since its launch.
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Monsanto not to develop terminator
Chicago: Monsanto has said it will not commercialise its controversial "terminator" gene technology, which renders crops grown from its seeds incapable of being used as seeds for future crops. The company has communicated this to the Rockefeller Foundation, from which it had earlier sought comment on the technology.
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Paul Allen hikes stake in RCN
New York: Vulcan Ventures, owned by media celebrity and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has invested $1.65 billion in telecom company RCN Corporation. The investment will increase Mr Allen's stake in the company to 27.4 per cent. This will be his biggest ever investment as he expands his holdings in broadband, new media, entertainment and technology companies.
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AMD plans chip to compete with Intel
New York: Advance Micro Devices will unveil a new microprocessor that will compete with Intel's new chip announced on 4 October.

The 64-bit SledgeHammer is designed to compete with Intel's Itanium. SledgeHammer will not be a copy of Itanium, but will also not be compatible with software written for chips made by Intel. Itanium will be in the market in the second half of 2000, while SledgeHammer will be available in 2001.
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Ford, Peugeot in engine pact
London: Ford Motors is understood to be finalising an engine cooperation deal with PSA Peugeot Citroen, the French car and van maker.

Sources said the agreement will be a global one for manufacturing and production of new products split between the two companies. Ford and Peugeot have already joined hands to develop a small direct injection diesel engine due in the market in 2001.
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