Mahindra-Sheth buy Dalmia stake in Gesco
Mumbai: The battle for takeover of Gesco Corporation has ended with the Mahindra-Sheth combine reaching an amicable settlement with Abhishek Dalmia for buying out his 10.5 per cent stake in the real estate firm at Rs 54 per share on a spot delivery basis. The shares are being bought by Mahindra Realty and Infrastructure Developers Limited.

The stake of the Sheth-Mahindra consortium is now works out close to 30 per cent (Mahindra Realty holds 17 per cent and the Sheths 13 per cent). After the successful completion of the open offer, the consortium is expected to have close to 65 per cent of the paid-up equity of Gesco Corporation.

Consequent to the deal, the price payable to Gesco shareholders under the open offer to buy back shares automatically goes up to Rs 54 per share. The open offer closes on January 24.
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Telco plans to get Peugeot as their partners
Mumbai: Tata Engineering (Telco) has signed up with the French auto major- PSA Peugeot Citreon to conduct a feasibility study to see if both the companies could work on developing a mid-sized car. The study is to be completed in the next six months.

In a joint press statement released on Monday, the two companies said they had agreed to examine the feasibility of jointly developing a car on the PSA Peugeot Citroen platform. The vehicle would be manufactured in India. For PSA Peugeot Citroen, the alliance with Telco will give it another opportunity to make inroads into India.
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Lafarge gains an edge after Blue Circle acquisition
New Delhi: With the proposed takeover of the British cement major Blue Circle, Lafarge, the French cement major has effectively co-opted a strong and likely global competitor in the Indian cement business. Though the UK-based Blue Circle had so far not made successful forays in India, it was a strong contender for taking over several of the domestic cement companies. Notably, Blue Circle had bid for the B K Birla group’s cement business and Raymond’s cement division. It was also believed to be in the race for becoming a strategic partner for L&T’s cement venture.

With its global acquisition of Blue Circle, Lafarge has gained an upper hand in leveraging its merger and acquisition activities in India, say industry analysts. Lafarge made its entry into India by taking over the cement business of Tisco and has subsequently acquired the Raymond’s cement division. It is now believed to be in the race for few more cement units..

Post-merger Lafarge, which has emerged to be the world’s largest cement producer has disclosed that it was offering 3.8 billion Euro ($3.62 billion) for the 77.4 per cent in Britain’s Blue Circle Industries. The acquisition will boost Lafarge’s annual cement production capacity by around 40 per cent to 150 million tonnnes and strengthen its presence in emerging markets.
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Infosys reports 136.19 % income jump in third quarter
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies has reported a 136.19 per cent jump in total income and 125.40 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2000. While total income stood at Rs 551.54 crore, net profit was at Rs 166.33. The corresponding figures for Q3 of 1999 were Rs 233.52 crore and Rs 73.79 crore, respectively.

For the nine-month period ended December 31, 2000, the company posted a total income posted of Rs 1,387.86 crore against Rs 635.46 crore in the corresponding period of 1999.
Profit-before-tax for the quarter stood at Rs 185.83, while the figure for the 9-month period ended December 31, 2000, was Rs 447.14 crore, an increase of 123.5 per cent. A dividend of Rs 2.50 on each share has been declared.

Infosys said it had provided Rs 13.08 crore to write off its $3-million investment in US-based e-commerce start-up EC Cubed, which filed for liquidation in the last quarter.
Infosys' impressive third-quarter results follow a 109 per cent jump in Q1 net profit and 134 per cent surge in Q2 earnings from the year-ago levels.
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Satyam net profit goes up by 142% in Q3
Hyderabad: Satyam Computer Services has posted an increase of 87.08 per cent in total revenues during the third quarter ended December 31 at Rs 332.78 crore compared to the Rs 177.88 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. The net profit after tax for the period stood at Rs 87.51 crore, up 141.82 per cent from Rs 36.19 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

The earnings per share on an annualised basis works out to Rs 12.44 (on par value of Rs 2 per share. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the total revenues have increased 17.21 per cent for the three months ended December 31, 2000 when compared to the three previous months.

The net profit has increased by 30.72 per cent from 66.94 crore for Q2 of the current year to Rs. 87.51 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2000. The company posted a revenue of Rs 857.43 crore for the first nine months of the current financial year, representing an increase of 81.58 per cent over the figure of Rs 472.21 crore during the same period last year.
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