Baskin Robbins revamps India ops
New Delhi: Baskin Robbins India is revamping its business operations with price rationalisation and restructuring of its franchisee set up.

The company claims to have turned its cash registers positive in the last fiscal.

One of the problems faced by Baskin Robbins India is with respect to consumer perception of it being a costly buy. Realising this, the new management is now rationalising its price structure to bring back the consumers.

The operational restructuring involves strategic relocation of franchisee ice parlours and resizing of the stores which would involve a reshuffle or some change in more than 50 per cent of its franchisee network.
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Centaur to be re-branded as Radisson
Mumbai: Centaur Hotel, near the Mumbai domestic airport, will be re-branded as Radisson.

The Delhi-based AL Batra group, which also owns the Radisson hotel in New Delhi, has bought the Centaur Hotel in Mumbai for Rs 83 crore, as against the reserve price of Rs 73 crore.

The hotel will be re-furbished and will be given a completely new look to match the standards of the Radisson brand. The new management plans to spend Rs 15 crore-Rs 20 crore in the immediate future and over the long term the cost of refurbishment could almost double.
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FleetBoston Financial eyes 16% ICICI Bank stake
Mumbai: FleetBoston Financial of the US is negotiating with the ICICI to buy a part of the 16 per cent equity stake held by ICICI in the ICICI Bank.

The 16 per cent equity stake was parked in a trust, set up through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) prior to the merger of the financial institution with its banking subsidiary.

ICICI Banks CEO, K V Kamath, has already said the bank would sell this stake by the end of the year.

FleetBoston Financial is the seventh largest financial holding company in the US.
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Ranbaxy to add OTC, herbal remedies
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories is planning to launch a clutch of over the counter and herbal brands.

The OTC product basket will initially include brands like Revital - a multivitamin revitaliser tablet, Garlic Pearl - a traditional garlic-based cholesterol reducer and Pepfiz and Gesdip soluble powder meant to cure gastric and indigestion problems.

Ranbaxy is slated to launch these products sometime in the third quarter of this fiscal through a newly-created division called Ranbaxy Consumer Healthcare.
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Alliance Cap buys 5.6% in Pantaloon
Mumbai: Alliance Capital has acquired a 5.63 per cent stake in Pantaloon Retail (India). The fund has bought around 750,000 shares of the company through a bulk transaction.

Alliance Capitals stake will drop slightly once a planned preferential issue goes through. Pantaloon Retail will soon issue 40 lakh shares on a preferential basis to the promoters at Rs 31.5 per share resulting in an enhanced equity capital of Rs 17.8 crore.

Post preferential issue, the promoters stake will go up to 54 per cent from the current 43 per cent.

Alliance Capitals holding will come down to 4.3 per cent on the increased equity capital.
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GTB cuts down exposure to KP firms
Mumbai: Global Trust Bank has managed to bring down its exposure to companies related to Ketan Parekh by close to Rs 20 crore.

The private banks total exposure to KP linked firms now stands at Rs 160 crore, against the earlier level of Rs 180 crore.

The dues were recovered by the bank by liquidating fixed deposits, deposited with it by the concerned firms, but were pledged with various stock exchanges by the broking firms as guarantees towards margin obligations. These guarantees lapsed during March-April this year, which enabled the bank to encash them.
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Indusind Bank posts Rs 10-cr net
Mumbai: Indusind Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 10.2 crore during the quarter ended 31 March 2002, against a net loss of Rs 21.9 crore during the corresponding period in the previous year.

The banks board has declared a dividend of 14 per cent for 2001-02, compared to 13 per cent in the previous year. During the year ended 2001-02, the net profit rose by 25.2 per cent to Rs 50.8 crore, against Rs 40.5 crore in the previous year.

The operating profit rose by 46.2 per cent to Rs 252.5 crore, from Rs 172.7 crore. During the fourth quarter, provisioning and contingencies rose to Rs 127.1 crore, from Rs 77.3 crore. During the year, it increased to 174.4 crore, from Rs 117.2 crore. Interest income fell to Rs 710.1 crore, from Rs 728.7 crore. Fee based income rose to Rs 184.4 crore, from Rs 116.6 crore.
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SAIL earns Rs 200 crore by leasing out houses
Kolkata: SAIL has leased out 8,400 quarters in its various steel townships till March 2002 and earned Rs 200 crore.

The company had earned Rs 93 crore by leasing out 3,587 quarters in the township of Bhilai steel plant alone followed by 2,803 in Durgapur steel plant township and 2,112 in the township of Bokaro steel plant which had fetched Rs 47 crore and 50 crore respectively.

SAIL having more than one lakh quarters in various steel plant townships was aiming at leasing out around 25 per cent of them over a period of next three years.
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City Info Services launches IT directory
Bangalore: City Info Services has announced the launch of Karnataka IT Directory 2001/02.

This compilation provides entrepreneurs with addresses and even landmarks of IT companies in Bangalore, whether they are STPI licensees or not, in the form of a compact disc (CD) or book.

The CD has been designed with several search criteria. Companies can be located based on addresses, landmarks and so on. It also lists phone and fax numbers, e-mail ids, websites, area of specialisation and even their size.
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ABN AMRO to launch credit cards
New Delhi: ABN AMRO Bank India said it will launch credit cards in June.

The bank has also lined up aggressive expansion plans for its branches and ATMs in 2002.

Besides, ABN AMRO would also enter the domestic mortgages market within the current year.
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DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi, Hyundai ink car engine pact
Seoul: Hyundai Motor Co has signed an agreement with DaimlerChrysler AG and Mitsubishi Motors Corp to launch a passenger car engine venture in the United States this month.

The three companies will hold equal stakes in the joint venture, to be called Global Engine Alliance, which is scheduled for launch in the United States in early May, Hyundai said in a statement.

The Hyundai joint venture will manufacture 1.8 to 2.4 litre gasoline engines beginning in March 2004, with annual production slated at 1.5 million units, the statement said.
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I-flex IPO likely in 2 weeks
Chennai: The initial public offer of i-flex solutions Ltd (i-flex) is set to hit the market in the next two weeks. The issue will consist of sale of 39.61 lakh shares and the public will hold about 10 per cent of the post-issue paid-up share capital as per the offer document filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The issue will be offered only through the book building route and the floor price will be decided after the road show.

The issue is likely to be priced around Rs 650 per share. At the price, the company will have a market capitalisation of about Rs 2,500 crore. The IPO is likely to raise about Rs 250 crore.
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Leela to hive off Goa Resort
Mumbai: The Mumbai-based Leela group of hotels is planning to hive off the Leela Palace Goa Resort.

The Nairs are understood have already approached ITC Hotels for a possible alliance for its Goa unit.

The board of Hotel Leelaventure recently approved the proposal to hive off the Goa property into Leela Scottish Lace, the holding company of the group.

The Leela group, already has an arrangement with ITC Hotels in a consortium for setting up a convention centre in north Mumbai.
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BPL Mobile ties up with Korea Telecom
Mumbai: BPL Mobile Cellular has tied up with Korea Telecom for roaming CDMA network during the World Cup soccer tournament in June.

The company is the largest roaming service provider in the world with 376 roaming partnerships, followed by UK-based Vodafone (350 partners), and Swiscom (345 partners).

The tie-up with Korea Telecom will enable a BPL Mobile subscriber visiting Korea to access messages and receive calls on his regular CDMA handset number.
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Grasim, L&T set up task force
Mumbai: Grasim Industries and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) have set up a joint task force for logistics, promotion and procurement of raw materials.

The move is in line with the cement majors attempt to synchronise their operations. Grasim had picked up a 10.05 per cent stake in L&T for Rs 766 crore in 2001.

The cement majors are also looking at the possibilities of cross-production by which the cement produced in one companys units can be sold by the other.
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Mount Shivalik to launch premium wine
New Delhi: Mount Shivalik plans to foray into the premium wine segment in the near future. The company has already initiated talks with various international wine majors for a tie-up.

Mount Shivalik and the international wine major would undertake advertising and promotions together.

Mount Shivalik recently launched Thunderbolt 10000, a strong beer brand, in the north eastern markets.

Mount Shivalik Breweries and Mount Shivalik Industries are targeting a combined turnover of Rs 120 crore this year, as against a combined turnover of Rs 100 crore last fiscal.
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