Govt to sell 17% stake in Bhel
New Delhi: Government will sell its 17 per cent equity in Bharat Heavy Electricals to bring down government holding in the company to 51 per cent from 67.7 per cent.

Heavy industries minister Manohar Joshi said that a proposal to this effect has been sent to the disinvestment department for its consideration.

The government will retain management control in Bhel post sell-off. A concrete proposal detailing the percentage to be divested to the public, FIs and employees would be finalised after appointment of global advisors.

Presently, FIIs hold 14.9 per cent, mutual funds 12.6 per cent, insurance companies 3 per cent and the remaining equity is with others and the public.
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Taj renovates leisure properties
Mumbai: Taj Group has begun renovation of its leisure division to add value to the Taj brand.

The division, which contributes 20 per cent of Taj group's total revenues, has so far spent Rs 55 crore on renovating its hotels in Goa, Cochin and Chennai. Renovations were done in Fort Aguada Beach Resort, Taj Exotica (both Goa), Taj Malabar (Cochin), Fisherman's Cove (Chennai) and Lake Palace (Udaipur).

Taj Malabar would see a new concept of a "yacht" that can be used for backwater cruises and business while Taj Village in Goa and Agra have been lined up for renovations next year.
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Markfed to set up 250 outlets
New Delhi: Punjab Markfed plans to set up a Rs 150-crore retail chain of 250 outlets in the next three years and is looking for a strategic partner to have a joint venture for the project.

It also plans to provide its food products for branding by bigger agri-business companies, tie-up with players in other states for distributing Markfed branded products and set up a special purpose company to go into retailing.

To begin with, Markfed will be setting up a dozen odd retail outlets in Punjab each costing Rs 20-30 lakh to sell its basket of agro products like Parmal and Basmati rice, fresh fruits and vegetables, honey and tinned food.
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ALL to supply truck chassis to Bangladesh
New Delhi: Ashok Leyland has signed an agreement with Bangladesh government to supply truck chassis.

According to the agreement, 500 truck chassis, valued at $6 million, would be supplied in completely knocked down form for assembly by Pragoti Industries, a Bangladesh government undertaking.

Ashok Leyland has signed another contract for the supply of 80 double-decker buses to the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation.
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HSBC to expand Indian operations
Mumbai: The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) has decided to increase its branch presence in India, perk up its back-office operations, set up a software development centre and an asset management company (AMC).

HSBC will also foray into insurance in a big way.
Four new branch licences have been secured, which will increase its network to 33. These four new locations are Coimbatore, Noida, Ludhiana and Jaipur.

HSBCs presence in the country now covers all business segments: retail, corporate and treasury. It also has a securities company which holds a primary dealership licence.

HSBC employs 1,100 staffers in its Hyderabad operations on this front, and the banks country-head (India), Zarir J Cama said that by next year, this will read 1,800.
A similar outfit is to be opened in Bangalore employing a fresh lot of 600. In Pune, HSBC will open a software development centre, wherein 300 staffers are to be employed.
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ONGC rejects British Gas offer on Panna Mukta
Mumbai: The $388-million deal for the purchase by British Gas (BG) of Enrons 30 per cent equity stake in the Panna Mukta Tapti oil and gas fields received a set back with ONGC rejecting BGs offer in lieu of which the British company wanted the ONGC to withdraw its claim for operatorship rights of the fields.

BG has put sole operatorship as a precondition for going ahead with the deal for buying Enrons stake in the three-way joint venture, which also has ONGC and Reliance as 40 per cent and 30 per cent stakeholders.

BG had earlier offered ONGC equity in its exploration acreage in Brazil and a settlement in the cash-call dispute in lieu of the operatorship rights.
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Welspun Gujarat bags $97 million export orders
Mumbai: Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd has bagged orders worth $97 million from Egypt, Iran and Iraq. The company has bid for projects worth Rs 2,000 crore internationally in various countries like USA, China, Malaysia, Egypt, Columbia, Turkey and Algeria.
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Tata Steel to make open offer for Tata SSL
Mumbai: Tata Steel will make the mandatory third offer to the shareholders of Tata SSL Ltd (TSSL) following the crossing of the 90 per cent threshold limit for delisting the scrip from the stock exchange.

At the end of the second offer which closed on Tuesday, the company acquired 10 per cent equity, taking Tata Steels holding to 92-93 per cent in TSSL. The second offer at Rs 27 per share had opened on October 29.

TSSL engaged in the manufacturing of steel wires, narrow cold sheets/coils and profiles is a subsidiary of Tata Steel. It will be delisted from the stock exchanges as per the Sebi norms at the end of the mandatory offer.
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Sebi gives clean chit to Pentamedia
Chennai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has given a clean chit to the Pentamedia Graphics on the controversial private placement of equity to Malu Financial Services.

Early this year, Pentamedia had made a preferential allotment of 10 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 490 per share to Malu Financial Securities for Rs 50 crore.

These shares are under lock-in category up to 30 January 2002. The company allotted 1 million shares to Malu and given the credit to their safe custodian Nikko, as per the allottees requirement.

Following a complaint from a broker that these shares had found their way into the market, BSE announced that it would suspend the trading in Pentamedia scrips from October 4. However, the company got a stay from the Madras High Court.
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Thermax exits electronics biz
Pune: Thermax Ltd has exited from its electronics manufacturing and surface coating businesses. The two businesses were carried out through two subsidiaries, Thermax Electronics Ltd and Thermax Surface Coatings Ltd.

The electronics business, which manufactured passive components, has been sold to Thakor Electronics Ltd for an undisclosed amount.

The sale was completed about eight days ago and Thakor Electronics has begun production.
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Snowcem buyback at Rs 75 per share
Mumbai: Snowcem India Ltd has announced a buyback of shares at Rs 75 per share.

In a notification to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the company said that the board of directors passed a resolution for buying back up to 10 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each of the company at a price of not more than Rs 75 per share.

Meanwhile, the company said its technical tie-up with a German firm has been withdrawn. Recently, Snowcem set up a joint venture with Jenson & Nicholson for marketing decorative products of the two companies.
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ACC may sell readymix concrete business
Mumbai: The Associated Cement Companies (ACC) may sell its loss making readymix concrete (RMC) business if it gets a fair price.

The company has already put on hold its plans to increase the RMC network from the current 13 units to 18 as rising input costs have severely strained the business' margins.

ACC's fledgling RMC business turned in revenues of Rs 91 crore in the last financial year, 20 per cent more than that of the previous year, despite volumes dropping 6 per cent to 6.06 lakh cubic meters. But the increased revenues were offset by a 24 per cent jump in input costs.
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Jindal Strips bags Rs 300 crore US order
Mumbai: Jindal Strips Ltd has received a Rs 300 crore export order from the US. This is the single-largest export order bagged by an Indian steel company.

The US-based North American Stainless has placed an order for 55,000 tonnes of stainless steel slabs of AISI 304 grade with 8 per cent nickel and 18 per cent chromium with the company.

The order will be executed by March 2002.

As the entire order is being shipped during the current financial year, it will add Rs 300 crore to the company's annual turnover.
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