Gujarat Ambuja buys 7% holding in ACC
Mumbai: Gujarat Ambuja Cement, in a quick move after its deal to acquire the Delhi-based DLF Cements, has picked up a strategic 7.2 per cent equity holding in market leader Associated Cement Companies of the Tata group. The Tatas have sold their holding in an all-cash transaction for Rs 455 crore, at a price of Rs 370 per share – reflecting a 54 per cent premium over the prevailing market price of the share. Analysts were quick to react, saying the divestment indicated the Tata group’s intention to exit the cement business, which does not form part of its core activity. The group will now have a 7.2 per cent equity in the company.

With this, Gujarat Ambuja Cement has once again beat multinational Lafarge at its game of acquisitions in India. Lafarge is understood to have sent feelers to all the cement majors in the country for possible acuisition.

ACC will now co-opt Gujarat Ambuja Cement managing director Narotam Sekhsaria and whole-time director A.L. Kapur on its board, which is meeting on 27 December 1999. Mr Sekhsaria said his company will have ACC as a strategic partner, and the alignment will create the largest Indian cement entity.
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Lafarge eyeing Andhra Cement
New Delhi: Pipped to the post twice by Gujarat Ambuja Cement, first with DLF Cements, and then with ACC, French multinational cement major Lafarge is now eyeing Andhra Cement of the Duncan Goenka group for a possible acquisition. The two companies are understood to be negotiating a deal. Lafarge is also considering options to acquire smaller cement units in order to be in a position of strength in the Indian cement business.
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Global Telesystems sell holding in group co
Mumbai: Global Telesystems is selling five per cent of its equity in group company Global Electronic Commerce to a consortium of investors. Concurrently, the company is also in an advanced stage of talks to sell an additional equity holding in Global E-Commerce to US-based telecom major MCI Worldcom. Company sources, however, declined to identify the buyer, saying the company is in talks with several players. The company is expected to receive nearly Rs 180 crore from the investor consortium, which will be used to acquire companies in the software and e-commerce segments. The consortium is also expected to bring in e-commmerce business to Global Telesystems.

After the divestment, Global Telesystems will have a nine per cent holding in Global E-Commerce’s Rs 160-crore equity capital.
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Cabinet clears Cogentrix guarantee
New Delhi: The cabinet has cleared the counter-guarantee for Cogentrix Energy of the US, which is building the Mangalore Power  Proejct. One of the terms under which the guarantee will be offered is that the company will have to agree to an amendment of the original power purchase agreement with the government of Karnataka. The company had earlier rejected this condition.

Under the original agreement, the Centre’s guarantee covered the entire foreign debt component, which is much higher than the foreign equity size. Under the amendment proposed, the guarantee for the debt is limited to the amount of foreign equity.
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Atlas Copco allowed to hike stake in Indian unit
New Delhi: The government has approved the proposal of Swedish company Atlas Copco to increase its equity holding in its Indian unit to 51 per cent from the present 39 per cent. The parent company has for a considerable period of time been sourcing its requirements through the Indian company as the operating costs in India are lower than elsewhere.
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Feedback Ventures plans urban fund
New Delhi: Feedback Ventures Group, a company engaged in infrastructure funding, is setting up a private sector urban infrastructure fund, the first of its kind in India. A Rs 100-crore 10-year close-ended fund will come into existence in April 2000. The fund is expected to catalyse urban infrastructure projects worth Rs 2,000 crore. The group also plans to set up more such funds in subsequent years and invovle as  a project development company.
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Rajarathinam takes over Chemox group cos
Mumbai: Ailing Chemox group companies, Chemox Laboratories and Chemox Chemicals, have been taken over by P. Rajarathinam and Associates through an acquisition of 14.5 per cent holding in each company from the promoters, S.N. Agarwal and his associates. Mr Agarwal and two directors representing the group are stepping down from the boards of these company and Mr Rajarathinam’s nominees are being inducted.

Chemox Laboratories and Chemox Chemicals were referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction in 1998. Chemox Chemicals used to make anti-infective bulk drug sulphamethoxazole and Chemox Laboratories made bulk drug analgin and intermediate acetanillide at plants located at Panoli in Gujarat.
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Crompton Greaves sells stake in SkyCell
New Delhi: Crompton Greaves has confirmed that it is selling its 40.5 per cent holding in SkyCell Communications, the cellular phone service operator in Chennai to Bharti Enterprises for around Rs 100 crore. The two companies have signed an agreement to this effect. Bharti Enterprises will be the largest shareholder in the company. The other partners  are DSS Enterprises and Millicom International.
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Morgan Stanley acquires stake in Strides
Mumbai: Morgan Stanley Asset Management has taken a nine per cent holding in an unlisted Bangalore company Strides Arcolab, paying Rs 35 crore at Rs 300 per share. The company exports branded generic pharmaceuticals. UK-based venture capital firm Schroder Capital Partner (Asia) holds 37 per cent of the company's equity.

Strides Arcolab has recently acquired a listed company Plama Labs.
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Approval for Max group companies' merger
New Delhi: Max Corporation will now formally merge with flagship company Max India. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has given approval for the amalgamation. The merger will see transfer of Rs 350 crore from Max Corporation to Max India, which will take the latter’s reserves to Rs 550 crore.

Max Corporation was formed in 1998 after a Max subsidiary, company Max Telecom Ventures, sold 40 per cent of its holding in Hutchison Max Telecom for Rs 550 crore.
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Windows 2000 in Hindi, Tamil
New Delhi: Microsoft's Windows 2000 platform, is set for launch in early 2000, will be able to undertake programming applications in Hindi and Tamil and later in all Indian languages, according to Microsoft India. The software, company officials say, will be completely Hindi- and Tamil-enabled. Though it may not match all the features offered in Japanese and Chinese versions of Windows 2000, it will offer applications programming interfaces, helping end-users. The software will have Devnagari as a language script in the basic operating system.
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Govt to sell stake in Lagan Jute Machinery
New Delhi: The cabinet has cleared the strategic sale of public sector company Lagan Jute Machinery Company, a subsidiary of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam. Under the proposal, the government will sell 74 per cent of the company's equity to a private company, Muralidhar Rattanlal Exports of Calcutta.

Lagan June Machinery will sell 6,330 shares to Muralidhar Rattanlal Exports at Rs 4,000 per share. The company, which manufactures jute machinery and spares, has an authorised capital of Rs 5 crore and a paid-up capital of just over Rs 1 crore.
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Hicks Muse buys seed company
Mumbai: A US-based private equity fund, Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, has acquired a 75 per cent holding in an Aurangabad-based unlisted company, Mahindra Seeds. The 40-billion US fund will pay Rs 75 crore for the stake. This will be the Dallas-based company's first investment in India. Mahindra Seeds is a private company promoted by first generation technocrat R. Mundhada, and specialises in cotton and vegetable seeds.
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Tata Technologies, Compaq in tie-up
Mumbai: Tata Technologies India, a subsidiary of Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company, is joining hands with Compaq to become an applications systems provider. This will enable the company to offer outsourcing services to IT companies.

Tata Technologies India has its focus on manufacturing and engineering sectors. It has recently launched a web-based value chain management product.
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Madura Coats to focus on textiles
Bangalore: Madura Coats, which has sold its garments division to Indian Rayon, will now focus on the textiles and threads business. The company said in a news release that the sale will help it focus on fulfilling the potential of the remaining businesses, including apparel fabrics, industrial fabrics, yarn and threads.
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Videocon arm to assemble Sansui, other brands
Calcutta: Videocon’s wholly-owned subsidiary Kitchen Appliances India will assemble Sansui, Akai, Toshiba and Kenstar brands at the group's Salt Lake plant. The company is also setting up a separate unit to assemble audio products, and home and kitchen appliances of these brands.

The company will start making TV sets at its Salt Lake unit early in 2000. Semi-knocked down kits of colour TVs, audio systems and home and kitchen appliances will be imported from the parent companies and assembled under the Videocon brand. Kitchen Appliances will invest Rs 100 crore in the Salt Lake factory and Rs 150 crore in the new plant to be set up.
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IDFC picks up 20% in Indraprastha Gas
Mumbai: The Industrial Development Finance Corporation of India has taken a 20 per cent equity holding in Indraprastha Gas, a company promoted by Bharat Petroleum Corporation and the Gas Authority of India Ltd. IDFC will pay Rs 29 crore for the stake, which is being acquired at par value. Already, American Instance Group has acquired a 20 per cent holding in the company for the same price.

Bharat Petroleum and Gail each hold 22.5 per cent in the company. The state government of Delhi has a five per cent holding and the State Bank of India 10 per cent.
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General Motors to build Hummer
Pontiac, Michigan: General Motors has announced that it is planning to make certain versions of the tank-like Hummer. The automaker has finalised an agreement with AM General, the maker of Hummer. Under a memorandum of understanding signed recently, General Motors has acquired worldwide marketing rights for the Hummer. The two firms will also jointly pursue product, marketing and distribution opportunities.

General Motors is likely to unveil a smaller version of the Hummer at the North American International Auto Show in January 2000.
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Micro Warehouse being sold
New York: Micro Warehouse is being acquired by a private investor group led by a former IBM executive, Jerome York, for $725 million. Micro Warehouse deals in computer products. The company’s shareholders will receive $19 in cash for each share, a 44 per cent premium over the stock’s slumping price. In addition to Mr York, the group comprises Gary Wilson, chairman of Northwest Airlines Corporation, and investment firm Freeman Spogli. Mr York will replace Micro Warehouse co-founder Peter Godfrey as chairman and chief executive.
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H-P plans consultancy
Palo Alto: Hewlett-Packard has formed a new consulting division to focus on helping businesses integrate different technologies as they prepare to go online. The division will be known as enterprise application and process integration, or EAI, which basically means getting different computer systems to communicate.

The division already has a number of potential customers, including Unilever and Cargill, Hewlett-Packard said.
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