Wockhardt bids for 40 per cent of Rhone Poulenc
Mumbai: Wockhardt Ltd., domestic pharma major is believed to keen on acquiring close to 40 per cent stake in Rhone Poulenc India (RPI). Market sources say the Wockhardt has offered higher price than the other bidders—Pharmacia & Upjohn and Zydus Cadila—who had quoted lower figures.

Rhone Poulenc has an equity base of Rs 4.5 crore. To acquire a 40 per cent stake in the company, Wockhardt will have shell out between Rs 180 crore and Rs 216 crore.

Other bids are believed to be in the range of the current market price of Rs 800-900 a share, while the enterprise value of Rhone Poulenc has been put at around Rs 400 crore.

The Rhone Poulenc stock price, which opened at Rs 821 on the BSE, touched an intra-day high of Rs 835.40 before closing at Rs 820 on Thursday.

About a year ago, RPI its well-known cough syrup brand, Phensedyl, for sale, valuing it at around Rs 60 crore. The company's other well known brands include Tixylix, another cough syrup brand, Flagyl, an anti-amoebic drug, Stemetil, an anti-emetic, and Gradenal, an anti-epileptic.
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BPL to staking for 49 per cent control in RPG Cellular
Mumbai: The BPL group is inching closer to acquiring 49 per cent stake in RPG Cellular, the mobile service provider in Chennai circle, for a consideration of about $75-100 million. Other firms in the fray include Hutchinson Whampoa and the Birla-AT&T-Tata combine. A formal announcement is however expected within the next fortnight.

To part-fund the expansion and acquisition plans, BPL Communications, the holding company of BPL Mobile and BPL Cellular, is in the process of raising funds through an American depository receipt (ADR) issue.

The RPG group, which holds 68 per cent in RPG Cellular, is offloading 17 per cent, while CellNet and Air Touch Vodafone are putting their 11 per cent and 20 per cent stakes, respectively, on the block. RPG claims a subscriber-base of about 51,000 in Chennai.

Chennai circle is one of the places where the BPL group wants to have a major presence, since it is expecting an enormous number of ISD calls between Chennai and Singapore. BPL Cellular currently operates in Tamil Nadu (excluding Chennai) circle and if the company clinches RPG deal, it will be able to control the entire state as in the case of BPL Mobile, which operates in Mumbai and BPL Cellular in Maharashtra.
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Yamaha to invest Rs 350 crore in its Indian arm
Calcutta: Yamaha Motors Ltd. (YML) will pump in Rs 350 crore into Yamaha Motors Escorts Ltd. (YMEL), its Indian joint venture. The proposed investment is part of its Yamaha’s corporate strategy of increased thrust on its Indian operations, where the market is growing at the rate of 30 per cent per year.

Fresh funds would be infused in the form of preferential capital in equal proportions from both promoters. The Japanese major had increased its stake in the Indian operations to 74 per cent last June. The present capital base of the company is Rs 355.20 crore, of which Rs 21 crore is in the form of equity capital and Rs 307.20 crore in the form of preferential capital. With the infusion of the funds, the current capital base will rise to Rs 755.20 crore.

Yamaha's Indian operations recorded Rs 900-crore turnover last fiscal and the company has targeted Rs 11,00-crore turnover this fiscal. With production levels expected to rise to five lakh units in three years, the company expects to double its turnover to Rs 2,200 crore in the next three years. It plans to introduce one four-stroke vehicle every six months and investments will go into augmenting its manufacturing base to suit market demand.
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Tata Chemicals to divest its cement unit
Mumbai: Tata Chemicals in a major recast exercise is reported to have finalised its plans for divestment of its cement business. The company’s board, which is meeting on December 22, will discuss the plan of demerging the cement business in the form of a possible joint venture alliance.

Market sources say ACC could be a possible contender for partnering the company’s cement business. Many of Tata Chemicals products are still marketed by ACC, under the Tata Chemicals-ACC brand name, even after Tatas sold its final 3 per cent stake in ACC to Gujarat Ambuja. Though ACC is strapped for cash, the deal could become a reality given the small capacity of Tata chemicals’ cement unit.

The company’s cement unit at Mithapur in Gujarat has a capacity of only 4.5 lakh tonnes. Total sales for the cement division was 3.16 lakh tonnes for the year ended March 31, 2000.
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Tata Power acquires Tata Petrodyne
Mumbai: Tata Power Company, the country’s largest private power utility has announced its acquisition of oil and gas exploration company Tata Petrodyne Ltd, for Rs 145 crore.

Tata Power has identified domestic energy sector as a high growth area. The acquisition of Tata Petrodyne represents a firm step to significantly strengthen Tata Power’s position as a leading player in this sector, Mr Adi J engineer, managing director, Tata Power has said. Tata Petrodyne Ltd., the 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Industries Ltd. is engaged in the business of oil and gas exploration and production.

Tata Petrodyne is in the consortium with global majors Cairn Energy, Enron, Hardy Oil & Gas and leading Indian Oil, ONGC and Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (HOEC) for its gas and oil exploration and development projects in three offshore blocks.
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Wipro Buys 45 per cent in ISP
Mumbai: Wipro Ltd. has announced that it is acquiring a 45 per cent stake in the internet service provider (ISP) Wipro Net, from its joint venture partner - KPN Telecom, the Dutch telecommunications operator for Rs. 108.8 crore ($23.25 million).

Wipro Net Ltd.was formed to address the emerging Internet services market and business requirements of Indian companies. Under the brand name- Net Kracker, it focussed on the retail customers. Wipro Net will now be spun off as a separate entity, under the name Net Kracker Ltd. to facilitate funding its ongoing growing plans. The restructured Wipro Net will now focus its service offerings in the corporate B2B space.

Wipro has also entered into an agreement with ICICI Venture Fund Management Company Ltd. for an investment of Rs 30 crore or 51 per cent equity interest in Net Kracker Ltd. It will hold the balance 49 per cent, along with a convertible preference share of Rs 5.4 crore in Net Kracker Ltd. The enterprise value, based on the investment by ICICI Venture is Rs 150 crore.
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