11 companies may be restructured or put on block
Mumbai: Eleven companies with a gross principal exposure of Rs 4,000 crore to Indian banks and financial institutions will be either recast or sold by 30 September 2004. They are Core Healthcare, Rajendra Steel, Sri Rama Multitech, Uniworth, Biral VXL, Kalyanpur Cement, Goldstar Alloys & Steel, GSL, Asian Peroxide, Modern Denim and Percision Fastner.
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Electrolux eyes contract jobs
Kolkata: Home appliance company Electrolux Kelvinator Ltd (EKL) is likely to offer a part of its excess capacity for contract manufacturing to other refrigerator players. The company has the largest installed capacity of 750,000 pieces in India but it remains under-utilised to a great extent. Rajeev Karwal, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director, said: "Few players in the industry have approached us whether we can manufacture for them by using EKL's spare capacity. We are negotiating with them. The talks are preliminary."

The Rs 2,800-crore refrigerator industry in India is suffering from huge over-capacity. While the installed capacity is around 6 million pieces, annual sales are around 3.2 million pieces.
The industry expected the figure to go up to 3.5 million in 2003. On the other hand, installed capacity will go up by another 0.7 million pieces after LG commissions its plant in 2004.
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Tatas may increase stake in Barista Coffee
New Delhi: The Tatas, through Tata Coffee, is looking at the option of increasing their existing 34.29-per cent stake in Barista Coffee Company Ltd, the specialty coffee retailer. A proposal is already being considered at the board level, in which the Tatas are contemplating a stake hike in Barista Coffee. Tatas hold the stake through Tata Coffee in Barista and the balance stake is held by the Amit Judge-promoted Turner Morrison group.

The Tatas are now also keen to de-risk the existing business model by growing through the franchise model and adding a whole lot of non-coffee beverages, say reports. Till now, all the 130 coffee stores set up so far were set-up by the company on its own and this will be the first time that Barista will expand through the franchise route. "The discussions at the Tatas are going on at the board level, which are not sitting back and watching the developments. The Tatas are definitely in an active investment mode and investments, significant to this type of business, will be coming in from time to time depending on the business requirement," Yogesh Samat, chief operating officer, Barista Coffee Company was quoted as saying.
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Hindustan Motors lines up new Amby versions
Mumbai: Hindustan Motors Ltd (HML) has lined up three-four launches for the current fiscal, and the new Grand version of the Ambassador is one of the them. S Burman, vice-president (marketing), HML, said the others include a multi-utility vehicle, a vehicle for the goods carrier segment and possibly the `retro' version of the Ambassador.

The company hopes to sell 2,000 units of the Ambassador Grand during the remaining part of current year. The model is targeted at institutional buyers and personalised ownership, the latter a new market segment for HML.
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Asian Paints acquires Taubmans Fiji
Mumbai: Asian Paints India has acquired the entire stake holding of Taubmans Paints (Fiji) through its subsidiary in Fiji, Asian Paints (South Pacific) Ltd (APSP) for a total cost of $1.42 million. The company said its Fiji acquisition will help it to consolidate its leadership position in that country.

APSP will buy the entire stake from both the companies — Akzo Nobel (65 per cent stake) and Fijian Holdings (35 per cent), which were holding stakes in Taubmans Paints. The entire cost of the acquisition will be funded by APSP, as the company has surplus cash and is currently a zero debt company. The acquisition will also include Taubmans' paint business in the neighbouring Samoa Islands. Taubmans is the fourth largest paint company in Fiji and its brands are popular in the premium decorative segment. ``It is a dominant player in the project sales segment, where Asian Paints has a limited presence,'' Asian Paints said in a news release. It operates under the name Samoa Paints.
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Russell Credit increases stake in VST
Hyderabad: VST Industries Ltd, the city-based tobacco company, has informed the stock exchanges that it has received intimation from Russell Credit Ltd that the latter has acquired 7,23,499 equity shares of the company aggregating to 4.69 per cent of the paid capital of the company.

Following this acquisition, the equity holding of Russell Credit Ltd in VST stood at 22,02,529 equity shares aggregating to 14.27 per cent of the paid-up capital of the company. VST said Russell Credit acquired its shares on 4 September. The mode of acquisition was through bidding for the acquisition of shares from the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
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Adani Wilmar plans 1,200-tpd refinery
Mumbai: Adani Wilmar Ltd is looking for a 40-per cent growth in its turnover for the current fiscal at around Rs 1,750 crore, primarily from expanding its branded edible oils business. Having touched 100 per cent capacity utilisation with its existing edible oil refining capacity, Adani Wilmar is planning to set up another plant with a daily capacity of 1,200 tonnes at a cost of Rs 95 crore. This facility will also include a 4 MW captive power plant.

The second facility is primarily aimed at the export market having established itself in the domestic edible oil market. The joint venture company had, earlier, invested Rs 85 crore in a 600 tonnes per day capacity plant at Mundhra, 10 km away from the Mundhra port. The company has also invested in a bottle blowing facility, which has also helped in bringing down costs.
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Ranbaxy signs pact with AP govt for research facility
Hyderabad: Ranbaxy Laboratories has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh state government for setting up a research facility in the state. The state government has indicated its willingness to provide 10 acres of land to facilitate the drug major to set up its unit here, according to senior officials in the industry department. The MoU was signed during the middle of August.

Details as to whether it should be located in the Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park Phase-II or at an independent location and the proposals of Ranbaxy are being fine-tuned. For the phase-2 of SP Biotech Park, the state government has already allocated 164 acres of land.
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Dhoots to invest Rs 50 crore in multiplex centres
Mumbai: The Dhoot brothers-promoted Dhoot Entertainment Network is planning to set up entertainment complexes very soon in Nasik, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Coimbatore and cities in the eastern region. As part of its strategy, the company is planning to invest Rs 50 crore to set up shooting archery, sports bar, shopping complex, art gallery, food centres, gymnasium, oxygen bar and multiplex theatres.

The target-audience for these complexes will be middle and lower-middle income groups who are not able to visit metro cities and do not have much entertainment facility, Anirudh Dhoot, CEO, Dhoot Entertainment Network, was quoted as saying. Dhoot said: "The cities we are targeting particularly are Aurangabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Coimbatore and Nagpur where there are no multiplexes or five-star food centres. So, there is no question of competition."
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