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Siemens not to sell holding in
subsidiary
New Delhi: Siemens has postponed its plan to divest part of its equity in
software unit Siemens Communications to German parent Siemens AG. The software company has
made a turnaround, and Siemens sees no reason to sell it off now.
The company had taken a decision three years ago to sell the
holding through a put and call option in order to safeguard shareholder value as both the
Indian parent and the subsidiary were incurring heavy losses. The two companies have been
able to post impressive financial results, and Siemens has now decided to postpone the
divestment till January 2002.
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Dabur Foods searches for
an ally
New Delhi: Dabur Foods, the 100 per cent subsidiary of Dabur India, may
rope in a foreign strategic partner, who will be given an equity participation in the
company. This will help the company introduce new products and technology.
Dabur believes that its foods business is growing at a
significant pace and it now requires new technology and new product range to sustain the
growth. The group’s consultants have identified foods as a thrust area. The group has
denied reports that it is planning to sell off its food brands, including Real. On the
contrary, it is considering acquiring other brands, a senior functionary of the company is
reported to have told The Economic Times.
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L&T to consider
management firm’s report
Mumbai: According to a report in the The Economic Times, the
board of directors of Larsen & Toubro is meeting on 6 January to consider some drastic
restructuring proposed by Boston Consulting Group, the management consulting firm. One of
the recommendations is that L&T sell nine of its non-core businesses, and consolidate
its core areas.
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Approval for AB
Electrolux to buy Voltas stake
New Delhi: AB Electrolux has been given permission by the government to
buy out Voltas's 26 per cent holding in the joint venture Electrolux Voltas. The proposal
involves an investment of Rs 145 crore. This is among 41 approvals finalised by commerce
and industry minister Murasoli Maran. Among these are: ABN-Amro Asia Corporate
Finance’s application for setting up a wholly-owned fee-based corporate finance
advisory services subsidiary bringing in Rs 2.15 crore, General Electric
International’s for acting as a holding company for General Electric’s
information technology and support services, that of Legris SA of France for a 100 per
cent subsidiary to make and distribute industrial fittings, Samsung India
Electronics’ application to make washing machines, air-conditioners, refrigerators
and microwave ovens, and Whirlpool India’s to make refrigerators.
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Aptech plans training
portal
Mumbai: Software training company Aptech has joined Lotus-IBM and Wipro
to launch an Internet-based education and training portal meant for corporate employees.
The portal will be launched simultaneously in India and the US before March 2000,
Aptech’s managing director Ganesh Natarajan said. The portal will offer general
courses related to computer education and other training materials and customised
education and training programmes.
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MTNL’s arm to
have Rs 50 crore capital.
New Delhi: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.’s proposed wholly-owned
subsidiary to provide Internet and other value-added businesses, Millennium Telecom, will
be incorporated with an initial paid-up capital of Rs 50 crore. MTNL’s chairman and
managing director S. Rajagopalan said the subsidiary will allow the company to focus on
the high growth potential business of the Internet. The company plans to expand its
Internet business across the country. It has already tied up with Sun TV in Chennai to
offer Internet services through cable TV.
Mr Rajagopalan said MTNL intends to get its listing done
on the New York Stock Exchange sometime in February 2000.
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Eagle USA acquires
Canadian transport cos
Toronto: Two of Canada’s largest and fastest growing domestic and
international air and sea freight forwarders, both owned by an Indian, Ajay Virmani, are
being acquired by Texas-based Eagle USA Airfreight for $40 million. The two companies are
Fastair Cargo Systems and Commercial Transport International (Canada).
The $595-million Eagle will pay $2.4 million in cash for
Commercial Transport International (Canada) and $19 million in cash and $4.9 million in
three equal instalments for Fastair. Mr Virmani will also receive $12.7 million in
additional cash. He and his senior colleagues will continue to manage the acquired
companies as well as Eagle’s Canadian operations.
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Renault in talks with
Samsung
Paris: French carmaker Renault is in talks to buy all or part of the
assets of South Korea’s Samsung Motors. Renault said in a statement confirming the
talks that a deal with Samsung would build upon its Asian alliance with Japan’s
Nissan Motor Company and allow it to acquire privileged access to the Korean market.
Samsung is burdened by debt, and its car business has been
described as "cash-draining". Created in 1995, Samsung Motors has produced only
one model – the SM5 – based on Nissan technology. The company has closed down
its factory in Pusan.
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Ford team in Korea for
talks on Daewoo deal
Seoul: A team of officials from Ford Motor is in Korea to talk to Daewoo
Motors for a possible deal to acquire the ailing South Korean company. The team is
expected to meet officials of Korea Development Bank, the main creditor of Daewoo, which
is overseeing the group's restructuring.
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Morgan Stanley raises
$3.2 bn for buy-outs
London: Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity, the venture capital
arm of the international investment bank, has raised $3.2 billion for financing buy-outs.
The company has also raised a $550-million fund to focus on traditional venture capital
start-ups and has a $330 million emerging markets fund for deals in the Far East and Latin
America.
Since its private equity arm was launched in 1985, Morgan
Stanley has invested $5 billion in a number of funds.
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Compaq plans new PC
range
Houston: Compaq Computer Corporation is introducing a new range of
personal computers, wireless links and digital cameras that the company says are a break
from its focus on traditional PCs. The new Presario EZ2000 PC range, with prices starting
at $999, will come with easy-to-use features and one-touch Internet access. This will be
the latest in a new class of computers to take advantage of smaller mother boards from
Intel and simpler connector technology known as Universal Serial Bus.
The new PC takes up one-third the desktop space of a
normal-sized PC. Unlike competitor Dell’s new product in this range, Presario EZ2000
offers a floppy drive. It will also have features that enable users to set alarms for
wake-up and for checking incoming e-mail. The models are expected to be available in the
second week of January.
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New Celeron chip from
Intel
San Francisco: Intel Corporation has said it is introducing the fastest
version of its Celeron chip, a 533-megahertz processor. The chip is priced at $167.
Earlier, the fastest Celeron processor was the 500-megahertz version.
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Vodafone move on
Airtel fails
London: Vodafone AirTouch has conceded that its efforts to gain control
of Spain’s Airtel have failed. Newspaper reports said there are a number of
agreements that prevented members of a shareholders consortium from disposing of equity in
Airtel without first offering the shares on an equitable basis to other partners.
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AOL, Liquid Audio in
alliance
Los Angeles: America Online is teaming up with Liquid Audio Corporation
to offer the latter’s catalogue of digital music online. Users of America
Online’s Winamp software will be able to download and play songs in the Liquid
format.
The two companies said the alliance is a step towards the
convergence of competing digital audio formats and the software used to play them.
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