Dunlop may start disbursing PF soon
Kolkata: The management of Dunlop India (DIL) may soon start disbursing provident fund to its erstwhile employees or their families with the head office union of the company allowing it to release some statutory records from Dunlop House, the former registered and head office of DIL. The registered office of the company has since been shifted to Kings Court, at 46B, Chowringhee Road. Highlighting this at the 76th annual general meeting of the company here on Monday, Pramod Balakrishnan, executive director, DIL, who chaired the AGM, said the company's mainstay for revival continued to be the rehabilitation scheme of the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstrurciton (BIFR).

Unless the scheme was made available, it will not be possible to resume operations from the company's two units at Ambattur in Tamil Nadu and at Sahagunj in West Bengal. In fact, in view of the current delay in securing the clearance of the rehabilitation scheme, the management had applied to the Appellate Authority of Industrial & Finance Reconstruction to expedite the approval of the detailed rehabilitation scheme (DRS) and sought its approval to re-allocate a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the company's property through the Assets Sales Committee (ACS) for the commencement operation at Ambattur.
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NTPC pays a dividend of Rs 708 crore
New Delhi: National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has paid a dividend of Rs 708 crore to the central government.

A cheque of a final dividend of Rs 308 crore was presented to Power Minister Anant G Geete by NTPC chairman and managing director C P Jain, according to a company press release. NTPC had already paid an interim dividend of Rs 400 crore in March this year.
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Tanishq eyes Rs 800-crore business in three years
New Delhi: Tanishq is targeting to double its turnover in the next three years to Rs 800 crore. After three continuous years of posting losses, the company has turned around during last fiscal. Planning to cash in on the approaching festive season, Tanishq is in the process of launching several new collections and has also upped its advertising expenditure for the year. "We have increased our advertising budget to 4-5 per cent of our business revenues from the earlier 3.5 per cent," Harish Bhat, chief operating officer, Tanishq, was quoted as saying.

The company has also launched a new campaign on the electronic medium after a gap of three years. "More than 35 per cent of all jewellery sales happen in the festive season. We have not taken the TV route for quite some time now, however we have launched a national-level TV campaign for the festive season in English, Hindi, and the vernacular languages. The TV campaign, which has been designed by Lowe India, showcases the various emotions that are associated with Tanishq jewellery. For instance, when a woman buys jewellery, she feels joyful or when one views jewellery in a showroom, there is an element of wonder. Tanishq, through the campaign, seeks to develop an emotional connect with the consumer," said Bhat.
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ONGC to purchase Cairn stake in two oil, gas blocks
New Delhi: ONGC is all set to acquire Scottish exploration company Cairn Energy Plc's stake in two oil and gas blocks in Bay of Bengal and Gujarat offshore for around $100 million. As part of the deal, Cairn will get a 15-per cent stake in ONGC's Ganga Valley block GV-ONN-2000/1 and Cambay basin block CB-ONN-2001/1.

At present, ONGC holds 85-per cent stake in the Ganga Valley block, with the rest held by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). In the case of the Cambay block, it holds 100 per cent. "We have reached an understanding with Cairn Energy for buying their stake in the two blocks," ONGC chairman and managing director, Subir Raha, told at a news conference. The two blocks are the deepwater block KG-DWN-98/2 (90 per cent stake) in the Krishna-Godavari basin and the shallow water block CB-OS/2 off the Gujarat coast (15 per cent).
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ONGC, BPCL join hands
New Delhi: ONGC has entered into a cooperation pact with BPCL, whereby BPCL will be offered oil equity in future exploration ventures while ONGC can take equity in the latter's refineries. This symbiotic relation works both ways — BPCL will be procuring crude oil for its refineries at cost and not market prices.

In return, ONGC can procure products at cost price from the refinery and not the global market prices. In this context, ONGC may acquire a stake in BPCL's upcoming six million tonne Bina refinery. In the upstream business, ONGC will be teaming up with BPCL for future exploration block bids.
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Devaki Hospital makes an open offer
Chennai: The nephrology team at Devaki Hospital has made an open offer for 40 per cent of the equity to gain management control. The offer is at a price of Rs 11 for each share. The team controls 10.21 per cent of Devaki's equity at present. Madras Medical Care & Health Centre, the company that represents Devaki's nephrology team, acquired the stake in May 2003 at an average price of Rs 5 per share, say reports.

The open offer comes on the heels of a battle for management control between nephrology team and Chitra Chokalingam, the current chairperson and managing director of Devaki Hospital. A consequence of the battle is that the nephrology team's work is "almost at a standstill," hospital sources were quoted as saying.
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Glenmark board approves promoter stake dilution
Mumbai: The board of directors of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has approved the conversion of debentures issued to CDC Financial Services (Mauritius) and South Asia Regional Fund into equity shares at a price of Rs 305.42 per share. This has resulted in an allotment of 818,557 equity shares to each of these entities. While this move will dilute the promoter's stake to 54.59 per cent from 63 per cent, CDC and South Asia Regional Fund will now own 14.36 per cent of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

The firm is a research-based pharmaceutical company specialising in segments such as dermatology, internal medicine, ENT and diabetes. During June 2002, Glenmark had taken the option to exercise conversion of debentures into equity shares for a Rs 270- Rs 325 band based on the financial results of 2002-03. "At that period the share price was in the Rs 200 range. If compared to that the price might seem lower, however it must be understood at the sector has been re-rated since and what has been offered gives a 50 per cent increase in premium," a company spokesperson said.
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