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Zee
acquires majority stake in Padmalaya
New
Delhi: Zee Telefilm has acquired a majority stake in Padmalaya
Telefilms. This is expected to help the group strengthen its
regional language channels. The Zee group had earlier taken the
controlling stake in ETC Networks.
The Hyderabad-based Padmalaya Telefilms is into making content for
television, animation series and into production and distribution
of films. Padmalaya also has over 300 film titles in its library
including several Telugu and Tamil blockbusters.
The acquisition would help Zee group to create one of the largest
animation studios in Asia.
The net outgo for Zee for the Padmalaya deal is pegged at around
Rs 59 crore.
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Zee
to hold talks with AOL
Mumbai:
Zee Tefilms (ZIL) will hold talks with top officials of AOL Time
Warner here on 13 March for expanding its business alliance.
Zee which has already inked a pact for distribution joint venture
with Turner International of AOL Warner, is scouting for a
strategic investor in ZTL.
ZTL and Turner would hold 74 per cent and 26 per cent stake in the
proposed joint venture for distribution and trade marketing for a
bouquet of channels of the two companies and third party channels
in India and South Asia.
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Dr
Reddy's plans overseas buy
New
Delhi: Dr Reddys Laboratories has signed an agreement to
acquire the UK-based BMS Laboratories and Meridian Healthcare Ltd,
a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMS Labs.
DRL will shell out around Rs 63 crore to clinch this all cash
deal. This is DRLs first overseas acquisition and the money
will be paid through internal accruals.
The BMS group is into manufacturing and marketing of generic
pharmaceutical products in the UK. In fiscal 2001, the group
clocked a turnover of around Rs 55 crore and a net profit of
around Rs 11 crore.
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Thomson
targets Delhi
New
Delhi: The Chennai-based Thomson Multimedia India is planning
to enter the north Indian market in a big way.
Besides opening a Thomson Shoppe in New Delhi, an exclusive outlet
that will stock high-end products, the company has introduced many
firsts in the market.
Thomson Multimedia India clocked a Rs 300 crore turnover last year
and hopes to break even in the next 18 months.
The company is planning to invest Rs 25 crore to expand operations
this year, with a focus on distribution and product innovation.
The company has also hiked its ad budget by 25 per cent to Rs 20
crore in 2002.
Thomson has introduced the Indian market to Web phones, a three
picture-in-picture (PIP) flat television and a 5-in-1 audio/video
product.
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No
IPO plans for Reliance Infocom
New
Delhi: Reliance Industries managing director Anil Ambani has
ruled out immediate plans to go public for funding the Rs 25,000
crore infocom project.
The group has envisaged Rs 25,000 crore investment in Reliance
Infocom over the next five years. This would entail promoter
contribution of about Rs 8,000 crore as equity in the five-year
period.
Reliance Infocom is the umbrella company for telecom ventures of
the group. Reliance has invested about Rs 2,600 crore in this
venture till date.
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Skoda
to introduce Superb
New
Delhi: Skoda Auto AS will introduce in the Indian market its
super luxury saloon Superb by the last quarter of 2002. The car
will sport a tag of around Rs 17-18 lakh.
Skoda plans to introduce its entire range cars within this
calender year. The company has decided to first move into the
top-end of the market with the Superb and immediately follow it up
with the sedan model Fabia before the year-end.
The Czech parent is also planning to carve out an exports division
within Skoda Auto India to cater to the demand in the entire south
Asian region.
Skoda Auto, part of the Volkswagen group of Germany, will roll out
the entire range of Octavia models by the year-end.
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Tisco
to make mobile launch pad for Isro
Jamshedpur:
The Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (Tisco) has bagged an
order to manufacture and supply mobile launch pad for Indian Space
Research Organisation (Isro).
Tisco is the first Indian company to manufacture MLP, a moving
vehicle, which will hold and transport the rocket at SHAR centre,
Sriharikota during the launching operation.
Tata Steel Growth Shop has developed the detail manufacturing
drawings and manufactured the MLP while the basic design structure
was done by MECON.
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OpenTide
to set up shop in India
Bangalore:
OpenTide Asia Pte Ltd, a Samsung SDS Co group company, is setting
up IT operations in India.
Samsung SDS is the largest global IT solutions provider in Korea
with an integrated network.
OpenTide Asia is into enterprise resource management (ERM), which
is a combination of ERP and CRM services and provides solutions to
companies in energy, entertainment, financial, manufacturing and
retailing sectors.
OpenTide Asia is tying up
with Protocol Telecom Solutions (India) to set up a concept centre
in Bangalore.
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Wipro
plans to hive off fluid power business
New
Delhi: Wipro Ltd plans to spin off its fluid power business
unit into a subsidiary company. Netkracker Ltd is also set to
become its subsidiary.
Wipro has reached an agreement to purchase equity interest in
Netkracker Ltd held by venture capital funds of ICICI group for a
total consideration of Rs 3 crore.
Consequent to the purchase of equity interest, Netkracker would
become a subsidiary of Wipro Ltd.
Netkracker would be renamed as Wipro Fluid Power Ltd, with Azim
Premji as chairman, while M Seethapathy Rao, current president of
the Wipro Fluid Power business unit, would be appointed its MD.
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Tanishq
eyes US market
Bangalore:
Tanishq, Titan Industries jewellery division, is now eying the
US market through a franchised store. Tanishq turned the corner in
fiscal 2000-01, recording a small profit on an income of Rs 203.91
crore.
Tanishq will be the first
big Indian jeweller to have an exclusive store presence overseas.
The company is planning a trial in the US and UK in the next 12
months, with the US probably being first. There has always been
great demand for ethnic Indian jewellery in these countries and
the market potential is seen to be huge, given the large number of
Indians there.
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UTI
announces 5% dividend for its g-secs
Mumbai:
The Unit Trust of India has announced a 5 per cent dividend per
unit (face value Rs 10) for its government securities fund.
The dividend (Rs 0.50 per unit) would be tax free in the hands of
unit holders and given to those who had opted for income
distribution scheme.
The fund had earlier announced Re 1 interim dividend in December
last.
The corpus size and net asset value for income option, as on 8
March was at Rs 368 crore and Rs 10.81 respectively.
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Gulf
Oil, IDL merger at 2:1 ratio
Mumbai:
The board of Gulf Oil and IDL Industries have approved 2:1 ratio
for the merger of both the companies.
The merger ratio approved by the companies' respective boards
involves issue of one equity share of IDL for every two shares of
Gulf Oil, the comapanies informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in two
separate notices.
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Aptech
2001 net down 98%
Mumbai:
Aptech net profit for the financial year ended December 2001 has
nosedived by 98.02 per cent at Rs 1.67 crore as against Rs 81.53
crore in the previous year.
The 11 September attack on the US had a significant negative
impact on company's growth plan for 2002, especially in the onsite
consulting business, Aptech said in a release here.
Accordingly, the company's revenues and billing rates had come
down with clients preferring to defer from major software
initiatives, it said.
Aptech's total income decreased from Rs 475.41 crore last year to
Rs 117.23 crore in the year under review, it added.
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GTB
recalls Rs 185 crore loans from HFCL
New Delhi: Global
Trust Bank has recalled all short-term loans amounting to Rs 185
crore from Himachal Futuristic Communications Limited (HFCL) after
the company failed to produce documentary proof for end use of
funds.
Ernst & Young had
been appointed by the board of GTB to examine and review the
adherence to norms in respect of loans granted to HFCL group of
companies.
The internal staff
accountability committee has also completed its study on the
advances made to the HFCL group of companies. Both the reports are
being considered by the accountability and legal compliance
committee of the bank, which will soon submit an action taken
report to the joint parliamentary committee.
On a review of the
transactions in the account of HFCL, it was observed by the bank
that Rs 312 crore was transferred from various Ketan Parekh group
accounts to HFCL accounts.
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Reliance
to roll out NLD, WLL services by June
Kolkata: Reliance
Infocom Ltd is all set to launch its national long distance,
limited mobility (wireless in local loop or WLL) and fixed line
services by June this year.
Reliance will unveil the
basket of its telecom services in 15 cities with a gradual rolling
out of services in the next 100 cities by February 2003.
Reliance will initially
target the corporate sector with its voice, data and value added
services to be carried over its optical fibre network, while
domestic services will come later.
Reliance Infocom has
basic licenses for 18 circles.
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Lee
Cooper to double outlets
New Delhi: Indus
Clothing Ltd, licensee of the UK-based denim brand Lee Cooper in
India, is aiming to double its retail network to 80 outlets in the
southern market by August 2002.
Indus Clothing is
expecting a 20 per cent turnover growth in fiscal 2002-03,
following its recent capacity expansion by 30 per cent. The
company would, however, continue to outsource around a quarter of
its sales from a dedicated vendor base.
Indus Clothing is also
looking at setting up a couple of flagship Lee Cooper stores by
the year-end. The companys distribution network comprises 14
distributors and 350 outlets.
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Tulip
pays up for Juhu Centaur
New Delhi:
Tulip Hospitality Services, promoted by Ajit Kerkar, paid the bid
price of Rs 153 crore into an escrow account for acquiring the
Juhu Centaur property of Hotel Corporation of India (HCI).
The payment was made at a
function held in Mumbai on 11 March. The government will transfer
management control of Juhu Centaur to Tulip only after both the
sides fulfilled certain conditions.
Tulip will be allowed to
appoint six of its officials to oversee the running of Juhu
Centaur as per the agreement.
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Volvo
to launch sleeper buses
Chennai:
Volvo India Pvt Ltd plans to introduce sleeper buses in about six
months.
Volvo India first
launched its buses in October. Its buses, with several superior
features such as better mileage, higher seating capacity, larger
storage space and electrical retarded-aided braking, are sold at
around Rs 40 lakh.
Higher power of engines
(260 hp as against around 120 hp of other buses), crumple zone for
safety and air suspension are some of the superior features of
Volvo buses.
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Alstom
to supply steam turbine gen set to Monnet
Kolkata:
Alstom Power India Ltd has been awarded a contract by the New
Delhi-based Monnet Power Ltd for the supply of 1x25 MW steam
turbine generator set, including all auxiliaries.
The turbine will be
assembled at the company's Vadodara factory. Alstom will source
other equipment from within the country.
According to a company
release, this contract, together with a contract for 2x25 MW STG
sets from Prakash Industries Ltd had firmly established it as an
indigenous manufacturer and supplier of industrial steam turbines.
Over 250 steam turbines
of up to 2 MW had been manufactured by the Vadodara unit and were
operating successfully nationwide, the release said.
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MTNL
mulls stake in Sri Lanka Telecom
New Delhi:
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is considering picking up an
equity stake in Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT).
The MTNL board has
directed the management to undertake a feasibility study before
giving its green signal.
If cleared by the board,
this would be the third overseas country in which MTNL is seeking
to make its presence felt.
It had recently entered
into a joint venture with VSNL and TCIL to provide fixed line
services in Nepal. The company is also in discussions to provide
fixed and cellular line services in Malawi.
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Spice
Telecom plans Rs 50-cr expansion
Bangalore: Spice
Telecom will be investing Rs 50 crore this year to expand its
infrastructure. It also hopes to double its present subscriber
base of 1.5 lakh in the next two years.
The plan comes in the
wake of the intense competition among the four cellular operators.
Besides, Bharti and Spice, Max and BSNL have joined the fray to
tap the Karnataka market which has witnessed a vibrant growth in
the last three years.
Bharti Mobile which
operates the AirTel service and Spice Telecom together account for
more than four lakh subscribers in the state.
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Mahindra
Holidays expands into North
Chennai:
Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd has added four northern
hill destinations to its network.
The company, which is
primarily into time-share, which has a presence in Goa and Munnar,
has now expanded to the hill stations of Manali, Mussoorie, Binsar
and Kufri in the North.
Club Mahindra's latest
additions included Timber Trail in Manali, Snowview Resorts at
Kufri, Hilltop Resort at Avalon, Mussoorie, and the expansion at
Valley Resort at Binsar in Almora.
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Asianet
earth station by May
Mumbai:
Asianet Communications Ltd's earth station at Thiruvananthapuram
will be ready for uplinking in May 2002.
This move is expected to
result in cost savings for the channel, currently uplinking from
Chennai.
Asianet Communications
Ltd, which owns and operates two channels - Asianet and Asianet
Global - has resorted to cost-saving measures at a time when
growth in advertising revenue has been sluggish. Besides, the
entertainment company has also moved into film production.
Despite the sluggish
growth in overall advertising spend, Asianet is expected to end
the year with higher earnings. Revenue is slated to cross last
year's Rs 48 crore.
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Nestle
to launch Active V
New Delhi: Nestle
India is planning to expand its presence in the fiercely
competitive Rs 1,200-crore organised confectionery market. The new
product from Nestle, to be branded Active V, is a `throat soother'
and is expected to be available on the retail shelves in the near
future.
Nestle is also creating a
new communication strategy for Active V.
Nestle's decision to make
further inroads in this segment is buoyed by the company's
performance in chocolates and confectionery last year. The company
posted a 46 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 173.2 crore in
calendar year 2001 over the previous calendar year. Net sales
increased by 14.5 per cent at Rs 1,921 crore.
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Pantaloon
plans Big Bazaar in Mumbai
Mumbai:
Big Bazaar, a division of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd, is
planning to extend its chain of stores to Mumbai. After Bangalore,
Hyderabad and Kolkata, Big Bazaar will now stretch its brand to
Mumbai by opening three hyper markets in the city.
The Big Bazaar in Mumbai
will have a 50,000 sq. ft area at each of its locations at Lower
Parel, Mulund and the western suburbs. These Big Bazaar stores
will be open to the public in Mumbai by the end of the year.
Big Bazaar launched its
stores in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata last year. Marking an
investment of Rs 10 crore into this new division, Pantaloon is
expecting to record the highest turnover from its Mumbai stores.
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RPL in talks with 3
PSU oil giants
Mumbai:
Reliance Petroleum is close to clinching a deal with the three
public sector oil giants for selling its products for two years.
The three oil companies, who between them control the entire
marketing of petroleum products in the country, may enter into
separate purchase pacts with RPL just before the sector is
decontrolled from 1 April.
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Star, NDTV
to split next year
Mumbai:
Star and NDTV have decided to part ways after the latters
contract ends in March 2003.
Star will do the programming for its news channel in-house after
the departure of NDTV.
Star has decided to drop the Hindi-English programming mix for its
news and current affairs channel and work towards an exclusively
Hindi languge channel that can take on the likes of Aaj Tak and
Zee News.
The news channel will be headquartered in Mumbai after NDTV quits
the scene.
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Compaq beats
IBM in laptops
New
Delhi: Compaq has upstaged IBM to become the No.1 laptop
computer seller in India for 2001.
According to IDC figures for 2001, Compaq grabbed a marketshare of
32.10 per cent in 2001, up 6 per cent from its 2000 marketshare,
to grab the No.1 position in 2001. Compaq sold around 12,519
laptops in 2001.
IBM lost 1 per cent marketshare and the No.1 position it held in
2000 to finish second with 25.6 per cent marketshare in 2001. It
sold around 9,949 notebooks in 2001.
Toshiba marginally lost marketshare of around 0.30 per cent in
2001 over 2000, but retained its No.3 position, with a marketshare
of 19.5 per cent. It sold around 7,589 laptops in 2001.
Dell turned in a strong performance in 2001, grabbing an
additional 5.4 per cent marketshare to finish 2001 with 5,144
laptop sales and a marketshare of 13.2 per cent.
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Birla buys
35% in Utkal
Mumbai:
The Aditya Birla group has paid Norsk Hydro $6m (Rs 29 crore) for
35 per cent stake in the proposed Utkal Alumina International
project in Orissa.
In January, the board of Indal, which is a part of the Aditya
Birla group, approved the purchase of the 35 per cent stake of
Norsk Hydro, thereby raising its equity in UAIL to 55 per cent.
Though the 100 per cent export-oriented UAIL project has been
estimated to cost Rs 4,300 crore, the total equity contribution
till date stands at Rs 73 crore.
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Reebok,
Adidas to expand retail ops
New
Delhi: Reebok and Adidas are all set to expand their retail
operations in India.
Reebok is opening three super stores to showcase all its premium
brands like Reebok, Rockport and Greg Norman under one roof.
Adidas India too plans to open 20 stores out of which six would be
shop-in-shops and the rest would be exclusive.
Both the companies presently boast of 80 exclusive stores and plan
to touch the 100 store mark by the end of the year.
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ITC to launch Kings
Lights
Ahmedabad:
ITC is launching a top-end variant of India Kings brand of
cigarettes. To be called India Kings Lights, the new product would
seek to create a distinct identity for itself.
It would also mark the entry of India Kings into the lights
segment. In fact, all major brands from the ITC stable like
Classic, Wills and Gold Flake have already entered the segment in
a phased manner.
India Kings Lights will currently be available in only select
outlets in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The new is priced at Rs 75
for a pack of 20.
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KPMG, TCS in
strategic tie-up
Bangalore:
KPMG Consulting has entered into a global strategic alliance with
Tata Consultancy Services.
The two have agreed to work across a broad spectrum of services.
The KPMG Consulting-TCS alliance will help the former offer its
clients cost-effective systems development capabilities and extend
its global reach.
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Thomson to
launch Technicolor in India
New Delhi:
Thomson Multimedia India plans to launch Technicolor's
post-production audio and video software duplication and marketing
business in a big way.
Technicolor is the
world's largest duplicator and distributor of video cassettes,
compact discs and digital versatile discs. Technicolor will be
launched in the country in the next half of the year.
The new business will
require buying of music and film rights and development of studio
infrastructure, the decisions regarding which are under review at
present.
Thomson is also exploring
the possibility of outsourcing the studiowork from existing Indian
companies.
Thomson Multimedia had
globally acquired Technicolor, valued at $2.1 billion, from UK's
Carlton Communication last year.
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Tata Waterhouse
values SCI share at Rs 127
Mumbai:
The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) share has been valued at
Rs 127 having a face value of Rs 10 per share, which is double the
currently traded price of Rs 63 per share, by brokerage firm Tata
TD Waterhouse Securities. The scrip had recently hit an all time
high of Rs 68 in the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Going by this valuation,
the government could net as much as Rs 1827.53 crore from
divesting a 51 per cent stake in the corporation.
The valuation is expected
to go up following the governments decision to exempt shipping
companies from the ambit of minimum alternate tax.
Tata TD Waterhouse has
valued the total assets of SCI at Rs 4,860 and long term
liabilities at Rs 1276.1.
It has arrived at a net
asset value of Rs 3583.9 crore and has used this to arrive at the
NAV per share at Rs 127.
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