RIL, RPL boards approve merger
Mumbai: The boards of Reliance Industries Ltd and Reliance Petroleum Ltd have unanimously approved the merger of RPL with RIL subject to necessary approvals.

The board, which met on 3 March, also recommended an exchange ratio of 1:11 (one share of RIL for every 11 shares of RPL).

The merger would be effective from 1 April 2001.

The merger is the biggest in the private sector with a combined sales of Rs Rs 60,000 crore, and turns the Reliance group into an energy, textile and petrochemicals giant.

With this merger, RIL could now find itself amongst the Fortune 500 companies and will be second only to the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd in terms of revenues in the country.

For the financial year 2001-2002 RIL's sales were at Rs 28,008 crore and net profit at Rs 2,646 crore while RPL's net sales were Rs 30,963 crore and net profit at Rs 1,464 crore.

The shareholding in RIL is promoters at 43.29 per cent, Banks, FIs and Mutual Funds 14.03 per cent, FIIs, GDRs and NRIs/OCBs at 25.33 per cent and others at 17.35 per cent while in RPL, promoters have 65.25 per cent, Banks, FIs and MFs have 10.39 per cent and FIIs, GDRs and OCBs have 4.75 per cent and others hold 19.61 per cent.
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RIL open to divest up to 12 %
Mumbai: Reliance could divest up to 12 per cent equity in the joint entity created by merging Reliance Petroleum with Reliance Industries, even as Managing Director Anil Ambani stated that the group could easily mobilise Rs 11,000 crore for new acquisition mainly in energy sector.

Claiming that RIL had emerged as India's first fortune 500 company in the private sector, Ambani indicated that discussions were on with some players for strategic sale of equity but declined to divulge details.
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Reliance Petroleum announce interim dividend
Mumbai: The board of Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) has announced an interim dividend of five per cent entailing an outgo of Rs 287 crore coinciding with the decision to merger the petroleum major with the parent Reliance Industries.

The promoters, including the Ambanis, will get over Rs 180 crore of the interim dividend as they have a 65.25 per cent in the company, which is being merged with RIL with a swap ratio of 1:11.

The board of RIL also simultanoeusly recommended an interim dividend of 47.5 per cent for 2001-02 resulting in dividend outgo of Rs 551 crore of which the promoters would get over Rs 220 crore by virtue of their 43.29 per cent stake in the company.

The RPL board at its meeting has recommended an interim dividend of five per cent (Rs 0.50 per equity share) for the financial year 2001-02, RPL said in a statement here.
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US firm buys out Indus Software
Bangalore: The US-based IT consulting company, R Systems has acquired Pune-based IT services firm, Indus Software.

Indus Software provides services and software solutions primarily for the banking and finance industry while R Systems offers solutions to independent software vendors, governments, finance and banking, healthcare and manufacturing.

The new subsidiary will now have instant access to R Systems' large and diverse customer base of over 400 companies and its worldwide sales and marketing infrastructure.
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RIL rejects BG's proposal on Panna-Mukta fields
Mumbai: Reliance has rejected British Gas's proposal to operate solo the joint venture Panna, Mukta and Tapti oil fields.

"The issue will be discussed at the operating committee on 5 March," RIL managing director Anil Ambani told reporters after announcing merger of Reliance with group's flagship company.

BG Chief Executive Chapman had come last week to India as part of efforts to secure operatorship and had sought government intervention apart from holding discussions with ONGC chief Subir Raha.
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Madras Fertilizers plans VRS
Chennai: Madras Fertilizers Ltd is looking at enhancing efficiency and reducing costs to survive against the backdrop of proposed reform measures that envisage reduction in subsidy support.

It will soon announce a voluntary retirement scheme as a part of cost-cutting measures.

The company was faced with accumulated losses of more than Rs 200 crore as of now. Further, during the current financial year, sales had dropped due to irregular monsoons, and the production was affected due to water shortage.

The voluntary retirement scheme was likely to be approved within the next ten days. The employees will have two options based on the Gujarat model and that of the department of heavy industries.

Under the first option the employees can take 35-days salary for every year of service completed or 25-days salary for every remaining year of service, and under the second they could receive 45-days salary for every completed year of service or the balance salary whichever is less.
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Shareholders approve Sify software unit sale
Chennai: Satyam Infoway Ltd (Sify) shareholders have approved the sale of the company's software services division to its parent company, Satyam Computer Services Ltd.

The approval was given at the company's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held here recently.

The approval enables Sify to complete the sale of this division to its parent company for a cash purchase price of around $6.9 million. The objective of the divestment, effective as of January 1, 2002, is to allow Sify to concentrate on Internet services.
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Kerala Drugs signs software MoU
Kochi: The state-owned Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KSDP) has signed an MoU with the Thiruvananthapuram-based ER&DC and Keltron Controls, Aroor, for implementing a total plant-cum-production computerisation.

The project, estimated to cost Rs 221 lakh, would increase the production of KSDP and improve the quality of its life-saving medicines. This is the first time such an IT project is going to be implemented in the State.

The government is also planning to implement similar advanced knowledge-based IT projects in other industries for higher productivity and to improve the product quality to international standards.
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Hero Honda may pay 250% special dividend
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors may pay its second special interim dividend of about 250 per cent for this fiscal to its shareholders.

The dividend payout of 200-250 per cent totalling Rs 88-110 crore will be taken up at the board meeting on 8 March to flush out the extra money and improve shareholders' value.

Hero Honda had paid a special dividend of 250 per cent (Rs 5 per equity share of Rs 2 each) in October last year.

Hero Honda had posted a whopping 90 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 133.22 crore for October-December quarter. Its revenues had also witnessed a jump of over 46 per cent in turnover at Rs 1,245.18 crore for the third quarter ended December 2001.

Hero Honda has total cash surplus of Rs 400-500 crore, which has been invested in various mutual funds at 9-11.5 per cent interest rates.
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Gulf Oil to merge with IDL
Mumbai: Gulf Oil India will merge with the Hyderabad-based Hinduja company IDL Chemicals. The merged entity will have a turnover of about Rs 400 crore and is expected to consolidate the Hinduja Groups presence in the chemical sector.

Gulf Oil is a Mumbai-based lubricant company with a 5 per cent market share and a manufacturing facility at Silvassa.

IDL has large property holdings in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata.
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Freelook to expand
New Delhi: Freelook, the premium menswear & childwear brand, has chalked out a plan to treble the number of its exclusive stores in a year-and-a-half, and is also going to unveil its Summer Collection 2002 in a couple of days.

Started in 1983 with a meagre investment of Rs 1 lakh, Freelook today is a premium brand with a retail market share of Rs 35 crore, and besides its exclusive stores, is available across the country at more than 250 premium shopping malls.
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