ACC buys out IDCOL Cement
Bhubaneswar: The Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment of the Orissa government has approved the sale of the state-owned IDCOL Cement Ltd to Associated Cement Companies Ltd (ACC). It also cleared the sale of the Nayagarh Cooperative Sugar Mill to ECP Industries. According to officials, ACC will buy 86.79 per cent of the government's holding in IDCOL Cement for Rs 176.41 crore. It will also pay Rs 5.61 crore for the unsecured loans of IDCOL Cement, and take over loan and current liabilities of Rs 90 crore and contingent liabilities of about Rs 20 crore.

The department of public enterprises, which is the nodal department for the ongoing disinvestment programme in the state, had advertised the sale of the government shareholding in IDCOL Cement in November 2002. Although seven companies had shown preliminary interest in IDCOL Cement, only ACC, Lafarge and OCL India Ltd finally bid for it.
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P&G to promote diaper business
Mumbai: Procter & Gamble is giving away with its Ariel detergent bars. Instead, Pampers diapers, one of P&G's top brands globally, will be given more thrust in India. Shantanu Khosla, managing director, Procter & Gamble India, said: "We are not focusing on Ariel detergent bar any more. Diapers is a focus area for the company and has huge potential."

Procter & Gamble had taken back the distribution rights of Ariel detergent bar and Pampers from Marico Industries, snapping its three-year-old alliance with the oil major. Its other brands like Old Spice men's toiletries and Camay soap, which were also distributed by Marico, had been licensed to other FMCG companies.
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Kalyani on a recast mode
Mumbai: Kalyani Steels Ltd, a steelmaker of the Pune-based Kalyani group, is restructuring its business by merging Kalyani Ferrous Industries Ltd with itself and also paying off some of its debt. As part of the exercise, the company is planning to sell a part of its investment portfolio, which includes sizeable holdings in Bharat Forge and Hikal Pharma, a market source said.

According to him, the company would sell a large chunk of its holding in Hikal and the money would be used to retire some debt. The restructuring has attracted buyers to the Kalyani Steel counter. Active buying by them on Tuesday lifted the stock to Rs 64.10, or 3.14 per cent, higher than its previous close on the BSE. About 6.5 lakh shares changed hands on the exchange.
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SISL may bag Rs 250-crore order
Mumbai: Siemens Information Systems (SISL), the Rs 300 crore software development arm of Siemens India, is set take off with a mega Rs 250 crore order, expected within a week from an European government. Also, the German conglomerate, having decided to consolidate its global software business into SISL, has placed four directors from parent Siemens AG on SISL board.

SISL has also picked up a 49-per cent stake in a Siemens group BPO outfit - Siemens Shared Services Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the US-based Siemens Shared Services, for Rs 3 crore. The acquisition is aimed enhancing SISL's presence in the upcoming BPO space. The company is also scouting for inorganic growth opportunities and is open to acquiring banking and finance services sector units. Anil Laud, managing director of SISL, said, "We have been growing at steady rate of 17 per cent. Now with our new plan of action in place, our growth rate from the current year onwards would easily be in the range of 30-50 per cent. We are in talks with software companies specialising in banking and finance for acquisition."
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Honda Siel November sales up 59%
New Delhi: Honda Siel Cars India Ltd has registered a 59 per cent spurt in sales during the month of November 2003. On the back of the new Honda City's excellent performance in its first month of launch, the company sold a total of 1,827 units in November, up from 1,152 units sold during the same month last year.

Honda Accord and Honda CR-V, launched by the company earlier this year, continue to show brilliant performance in their respective segments, said a company release. The recently launched new Honda City attracted instant success and registered a sale of 1,431 units in November 2003, an increase of 36 per cent on 1,051 units sold in corresponding period last year. The company's cumulative sales for the period April-Nov 2003 rose to 10,280 units, a jump of 19.2 per cent over the corresponding period last year (8,621 units).
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IOC may set up chemical park at Haldia
Kolkata: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is weighing the option of setting up a chemical park in the port town of Haldia in West Bengal. M S Ramachandran, chairman of IOC, said the state government has made a proposal to IOC to look into the feasibility of a chemical park and a chemical handling jetty at Haldia. "We will very favourably look into this project. If it is found to be attractive, IOC will team up with the state government which will provide the land for the project," Ramachandran said here in Kolkata.

IOC chairman met the state industry and commerce minister Nirupam Sen on Tuesday where the minister mooted the proposal. Ramachandran, however, did not specify the investment saying it was too early to comment. Haldia is a base for a clutch of chemical units including IOC refinery, Haldia Petrochemical, Mitsubishi PTA and South Asia Petrochem. Moreover, a number of small downstream units of these plants have also come up there.
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Bharat Forge to spend Rs 350 crore for expansion
Mumbai: Bharat Forge has informed Bombay Stock Exchange it is considering a proposal to raise up to Rs 350 crore by the issue of appropriate securities to finance the company's capacity expansion plan. Bharat Forge's board will meet December 10 to consider the proposal. Baba Kalyani, chairman and managing director, was not available for comment. An official at Bharat Forge declined to comment on the issue till the board had met.

Last month, the company was catapulted to the number two position among the global forging companies after it acquired one of the largest forging companies in Germany, Carl Dan Peddinghaus (CDP) GmbH for an undisclosed amount. In an asset purchase deal, Bharat Forge will be acquiring 100 per cent of the fixed assets, inventory, and business of CDP from the Peddinghaus family, the promoters of CDP, through a suitable special purpose vehicle.
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Subex ventures into China
Bangalore: Subex Systems, which manufactures telecom products, has announced that it is entering China with a sales and support office in Beijing. The company for this foray has tied-up with BOCO Inter-Telecom, one of the big system integrators in China. Subex expects to add $8 million to its topline over the next two years from China. Subex will be banking on its revenue maximisation — RevMax — suite of products, which will enable telecom operators to tackle frauds in their networks.

Subex president and CEO Subash Menon said: "The Chinese telecom market is $40 billion and the loss owing to various frauds is around $6 billion. We are looking at 15 per cent of this market share and enable operators to reduce their losses due to frauds."
The company also announced that it plans to touch revenues of Rs 80 crore for the current fiscal from Rs 70 crore during 2002-03. Profit is expected to grow to Rs 18 crore for 2003-04 from Rs 10 crore during 2002-03.
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