UTI Bank prepares to raise equity base by 33 percent
Ahmedabad--UTI Bank is preparing to raise an additional 33 per cent equity capital within the next two months, in order to raise its capital adequacy ratio to 14 per cent.
UTI Bank chairman and managing director P J Nayak said: "We are talking with half a dozen private equity funds for a preferential allotment of our equity shares, and we will augment our equity base within two months."
At present, UTI Bank paid up capital is Rs 131.90 crore. Following the private placement of equity shares, the capital base will go up to over Rs 170 crore.
The bank’s CAR has declined to 9 per cent from the 11.4 per cent at the end of financial year 1999-2000, on account of growth in assets.
The fresh issuance of equity will also bring down the parent Unit Trust of India stake in the bank to 40 per cent from 60 per cent.
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5.08 percent equity shares of Sify picked up by Singapore govt
New Delhi—The government of Singapore picked up 5.08 per cent of equity shares of Satyam Infoway totaling about 1.17 million shares on June 18.
On June 28, Satyam Infoway Ltd informed the Securities and Exchange Commission of US about the acquisition, by filing Form 13G.
The shares in Sify are held by a group of Singapore entities, under the umbrella of Government of Singapore Investment Corp in which the minister of finance, Singapore, holds around 4.16 per cent of the shares, a total of about 9 lakh shares, the Monetary Authority of Singapore holds around 1.4 lakh shares totaling about 0.60 per cent of equity shares and the Board of Currency, Singapore, holds around 75,175 shares, which is around 0.32 per cent of 0.32 per cent of Sify’s equity shares.
The Singapore government is one of the largest FIIs in India. Besides Sify, it also has a sizeable stake in another Indian IT giant, Infosys. The FII’s holding in the Infosys stock is the largest for any fund.
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FII investment estimated at Rs 485 cr in previous week
Mumbai--Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) investments as on June 28, 2001 reached Rs 11,737.2 crore. FIIs were also net purchasers during the week and pumped in Rs 485 crore for the week ended June 28, 2001 as against Rs 464.5 crore for the week ended June 21, 2001.
FIIs made net investments of Rs 314 crore in the equity market during the week against inflows of Rs 196.3 crore in the week before. Their inflows in debt were lower at Rs 170.90 crore for the week as against Rs 268.2 crore on June 21.
FII inflows for the month ending June 28, 2001 reached Rs 1,179.70 crore.
Mutual funds (MFs) pumped in Rs 378.58 crore during the week ended June 28, 2001 as against Rs 317.17 crore during the week ended June 21, 2001. FII outflow in equity in week ending June 28 was Rs 13.25 crore against Rs 1.62 crore last week.
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Sebi nod for scrip-wise price bands from today
Mumbai--The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has made it compulsory to impose individual scrip-wise price bands of 20 per cent either way for all stocks coming under the compulsory rolling settlement (CRS) from July 2, 2001, after taking the due approval of the board.
However, those stocks for which derivative products are available or those that form part of the indices on which derivative products are available, were exempted from the price scripwise price bands, it said in a notification.
For stocks that are not in CRS, the existing guidelines on rice bands would continue to apply, it added.
Two board member positions have fallen vacant in Sebi. Full-time member Prof JR Varma has quit Sebi, while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) representative on the board, Mr SP Talwar attained superannuation on June 30 and the apex bank has to nominate another officer in his position.
When contacted, a Sebi official said: "The board approval on the issue of price bands on individual stocks was taken by circulating the sub-group recommendation among the board members, instead of convening a separate board meeting."
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PepsiCo to go public in two years
New Delhi--PepsiCo India may go public in the next two years as it expects to make profits in this period.
Senior sources in Pepsi said the company could go public even earlier if the government relaxed the existing regulations under which a new company has to divest a minimum of 25 per cent shareholding if it goes for an initial public offer (IPO). As the entire investment in India is in the form of equity, the company is not sure whether the Indian public can absorb a 25 per cent offloading of its equity capital immediately.
PepsiCo plans to invest between Rs 75 crore to Rs 100 crore every year in the next three-to-five years in order to expand operations.
The soft drinks manufacturers have not made profits till date because of high investments and comparatively low penetration in the market. Both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have been asking the government for tax incentives so that they can break the price barrier and thereby be able to cater to a larger market.

Arch rival Coca-Cola is also expected to float an initial public offer (IPO) to offload 49 per cent stake to resident shareholders including the public in 2002.
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16 Unit Trust MIPs rule below par
Mumbai—Apart from Unit Scheme 1964 as many as 16 out of 18 Unit Trust of India’s assured return monthly income plans are ruling below par, due to the negative reserves recorded by the schemes.
With a corpus close to Rs 15,000 crore the schemes have been affected by the depreciation in the market value of their equity portfolio. MIPs have on an average a 25 per cent equity allocation. A UTI source said that the only way UTI’s problems can be solved are if the Sensex rises to 4,200 levels.
There are only two MIPs ruling above par, the MIP 2000 (II)— cumulative option--and MIP 2000 (III)— annual option with an NAV of Rs 10.19. On the other hand, 24 cumulative and annual income options of the schemes are ruling below par.
Said a top UTI source that we will pay investors the par value of units under the scheme even though capital protection at maturity is not guaranteed by the Development Reserve Fund of the trusts. This is in keeping with our track record of redeeming MIPs at least at par," said UTI executive director Brij Gopal Daga.
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VC Westbridge plans investment of $15-20 million
Mumbai--Westbridge Capital Partners is planning to invest an additional $15-20 million in India in the current year. The company has already invested over $20 million in four ventures and has an investment corpus of $140 million.
According to the director of the VC firm, Raj Dugar, Westbridge has a mandate for investing in Indian technology companies interested in global operations. He said but that there was no urgency for new projects and instead, the firm would like to work with its existing portfolio. Last week, Westbridge had announced a $6 million investment in First Ring, a Banglore-based call centre company.
He said though the number of proposals had decreased in recent times, the quality had improved. Fewer software services companies were now coming up as compared to wireless and networking companies. He said the dominant trend is of companies in enterprise software which are basically systems and processes that allow companies to reduce costs.
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