GM takes over Daewoo Motor
New Delhi: General Motors, the worlds largest car company, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Friday to take over the debt-ridden and insolvent South Korean car manufacturer, Daewoo Motor.

GM and its alliance partners will acquire a 67 per cent stake in Daewoo, while creditors will take the remaining 33 per cent. The troubled Daewoo owes $17.2 billion to its creditors, which include Korea Development Bank. GM is expected to pump in $400m and creditors will inject $197m as working capital to revive the ailing car company which has 12 overseas plants including one in India.

According to the MoU, the US car giant will control Daewoos two car plants (Changwon and Kunsan) in South Korea but not its main plant (Pupyong) in South Korea. Most of the overseas plants - barring those in Egypt and Vietnam - are also not part of the deal.

Daewoo Motor India Ltd (DMIL) is also not part of the deal, which is contrary to the speculation that GM would acquire a controlling stake in it as part of its takeover of the parent company.

GM has ambitions to double its market share in Asia to 10 per cent. Countries like India, China, South Korea and Thailand and four other developing countries are the ones in which 60 per cent of global vehicle industry growth is expected to occur.

To penetrate other Asian markets including India, GM has taken a 20.1 per cent stake in Suzuki Motor Corporation. The Japanese leader in small cars has a 50 per cent stake in Maruti Udyog, which is a dominant player in India.
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Apple Comp merges with Apple ASEAN
Mumbai: Apple Computer India has been merged with Apple ASEAN that encompasses Apples operations in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

Apple (India & SAARC countries) managing director Naren S Ayyar had resigned from the company last week. Apple South Asia managing director Darke Sani will now overlook the operations of the merged entity.
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SC restraints Enron from encashing Rs 136-cr LoC
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the encashment of the Rs 136-crore Letter of Credit (LoC) given by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) to the US power major Enron-promoted Dabhol Power Company (DPC).

DPC had invoked the LoC from Canara Bank accusing the MSEB for non-payment of April dues, but it was restrained from encashing the same as the partner MSEB stopped the payment by obtaining an injunction from the Mumbai High Court.

Agrani satellite to induct 74 per cent foreign equity
New Delhi: The cabinet committee on economic affairs today approved the proposal of Agrani Satellite Services Ltd for induction of 74 per cent foreign equity into the company.

Agrani is procuring a satellite system from Alcatel Space Industries at Rs 1,197 crore. Agrani plans to market and lease satellite transponder capacity and bundled solutions to meet the fast-growing telecommunications, television, internet and other multi-media requirements in the region.
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UTI Bank to offload to 26 p.c stock
Mumbai: The UTI Bank today decided to offer 26 per cent of its share capital to Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) Capital Partners in a deal involving an investment of Rs 157.59 crore.

The 46.35 million (4.365 crore) shares will be offered to CDC at Rs 34 per share through a preferential allotment.

The allotment would be made in favour of two of the funds managed by CDC viz, South Asia Regional Fund (SARF) and CDC Financial Services (Maritius) Ltd, the Bank said.

This is the first successful deal of the Bank to find a viable partner, after its proposed merger deal with the Secunderabad-based Global Trust Bank (GTB) had to be scrapped in the wake of alleged manipulation in the share prices before deciding on the swap ratio about a few months back.

The deal will bring down the share of UTI from 60.65 per cent to 44.88 per cent and that of LIC, GIC and GIC from 12,59 per cent to 9.31 per cent.
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Fiat rolls out Palio
Mumbai: Fiat has launched the mid-sized Palio in the Indian market. The model comes in two versions -1.2 and 1.6 litres.

There will be three variants of the 1.2 version. The 1.2 litre EL (base version) is priced at Rs 3.49 lakh and the 1.2 litre with air-conditioning and power steering at Rs 3.73 lakh.

The top of the line 1.2 litre ELX version is priced at Rs 3.99 lakh. The 1.6 litre GTX is priced at rs 4.99 lakh. All prices are ex-showroom Delhi.

Palio takes on Santro, Indica and Maruti.

Ranbaxy, Zydus Cadila to co-mkt Ofloxacin

Ahmedabad: Ranbaxy Laboratories has entered into a strategic alliance with the Rs 510-crore Zydus Cadila Healthcare to co-market its novel drug delivery system ofloxacin, an antibacterial drug in once-a-day (OD) version.

Ranbaxy was awaiting a formal approval of the Drug Controller General of India for the product, sources said. Now that the DCGI has given its go-ahead, the drug is expected to be launched in the first week of October.

The current market for ofloxacin is to the tune of Rs 100 crore. It is manufactured by around 20 pharma companies, including Zydus Cadila, Cipla, Hoechst and Intas.
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ITC approves merger of subsidiary
Kolkata:The ITC board today approved the merger of its subsidiary, ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboard, into the parent company. As per the merger plan, 16 shares of ITC Bhadrachalam will be converted into one ITC share.

The Rs 9,000-crore tobacco major had announced its plans for merging ITC Bhadrachalam into the parent company earlier this month and the matter was awaiting the board's approval.

Sharp to market Rs 6 lakh LCD TV
New Delhi: Sharp is importing the most expensive television set to be priced in India at Rs 6 lakh.

This 28-inch LCD TV will have silver-coloured Bose speakers. Sharp is also bringing in a 13-inch LCD TV priced at around Rs 75,000.

The company plans to make a major foray in the Indian IT market with its range of LCD monitors, aiming to become the market leader. Sharp displayed its wide range of LCD-based products including the worlds thinnest and lightest notebook PC Muramasa at a recent exhibition here.

LCD monitors have considerable benefits vis--vis the conventional CRT monitor, in terms of its compact size, lesser weight, low reflection and high resolution.
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Microland plans Rs 25-cr rights issue
Bangalore: Microland Ltd plans to infuse Rs 25 crore to shore up its capital through a rights issue of shares to existing investors.

According to company chairman Pradeep Kar, the immediate possibility of capital injection was being evaluated and the size would be in the range of plus or minus Rs 25 crore.

The new capital would fund the company's current restructuring process and future growth, Mr Kar said.

Microland had postponed its IPO since three years, blaming unfavourable market conditions.

The company expected to report a revenue of $12 million in the current financial year.

Microland is focusing on the two growing areas of network servicing including infrastructure management and software services.

The company restructured its business recently by exiting the dotcom business by selling a majority stake in its horizontal portal, Indya.com, for an undisclosed sum to News Corp.

It has also transformed its technology portal, ITSpace.com, into a technology event management company.

Besides, another group company, Planetasia, has moved into the enterprise applications services business from attempting to be an e-transformation company.
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Jindal plans sponge iron project in Orissa
New Delhi: Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) plans to set up a one million tonne sponge iron plant in Orissa at an estimated cost of Rs 1,300 crore.

The plant will be put up adjacent to the iron ore mines owned by JSPL. JSPL will apply for taking coal mines on lease once the plans are firmed up.

JSPL had recently put up a 55 mw power plant at Raigarh at a cost of Rs 220 crore. It is setting up another 55 mw capacity at the same site at a cost of Rs 190 crore.

Apart from sponge iron and power, the company produces value-added products such as alloy steel rounds and HT grade slabs.

It is putting up a rolling mill with a capacity of 750,000 tonne to make rails, beams and structurals at a cost of Rs 400 crore. The mill is expected to be operational by June next year.
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Marico extends Sil brand
Mumbai: Marico Industries has extended its Sil brand across various processed food categories.

The Sil brand, which was present only in jams, has been extended to sauces, soups and mayonnaise.

In sauces, the company has opted to cater to niche sectors such as chilli (red and green) and tamarind sauces.

Sil has a 15 per cent market share in the Rs 50-60 crore jam segment where the total volume is 600-700 tonne per month.

Hindustan Lever Ltd's (HLL) Kissan leads in the category and commands a market share of over 60 per cent.

Sil contributes around 3 per cent to Marico's Rs 670 crore turnover and expects to exceed this mark in the current fiscal.

Marico has a marketing and distribution tie-up with Indo-Nissan for selling the latter's Top Ramen noodles brand. Top Ramen has around an 18 per cent market share in this segment.
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Timex to launch global brands
Mumbai: The Indian unit of Timex Watches BV is planning to launch its international brands like Guess, Nautica, Timberland and Opex in the domestic market.

Guess and Nautica will be priced in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000, while Timberland will be available between Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000.

Timex Watches BV will consider further increasing its equity to 100 per cent in the Indian venture.

In 2000-01, Timex Watches had incurred a total loss of Rs 47 crore, while the operating loss was at Rs 27 crore.

The company expects to achieve a domestic turnover of Rs 90 crore during 2001-02 as against Rs 65 crore in the previous fiscal.

The company is hiking the capacity utilisation of its Noida plant to 65 per cent from the current 48 per cent. At present, the plant has an annual manufacturing capacity of 2.5 million watches.
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Pentamedia to focus on projects and services
Chennai: Entertainment graphics major Pentamedia Graphics has decided to shift focus away from developing its own products towards projects and services. The company is also preparing to launch ten new products by the year-end -- four movie and home videos, and two television episodes.

Last year, the company had acquired 100 per cent stake in Media Dreams, Mayajaal Entertainment and Krish Srikkanth Sports Entertainment for 8.8 per cent Pentamedia equity, through a stock-swap method for Rs 176 crore.

Revenues from animation, which contributes around 56 per cent of the total revenue, was likely to remain flat during this fiscal, even after changing focus towards projects and services.

Animation, special effects and web entertainment have contributed 56 per cent, 21 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, to the turnover for the quarter ended June 2001.
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