Sarda group buys out 4% in GIC Housing
Kolkata: The Sarda group has announced the acquisition of over 4 per cent stake in GIC Housing Finance. Jute baron Arun Kumar Bajoria on Tuesday said his holding of 3.5 per cent in Balaji Telefilms. Big-ticket members of Lyons Range are also very active. Shyam Sunder Dalmia picked up over 10 per cent stake in Texmaco, while Chandra Vadan Desai acquired over 5 per cent stake in West Coast Paper Mills and 2 per cent in Graphite India. Desai has also substantial holding in Sirpur Paper and Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills.

In addition, jute industrialist J K Kankaria and Kaushal Kumbhat, who runs a management consultancy firm, had expressed interest to acquire state government's stake in Maharashtra Scooters and Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills, respectively. Ghanshyam Sarda, of the Rs 1,000 crore Sarda group, said the investment in GIC Housing Finance was long-term.
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Tatas seek 74% holding, DVC can only give 51%
Kolkata: Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) and Tata Power Ltd (TPL) have locked horns over respective stakes in Maithon Power Ltd (MPL). DVC had initially offered a 45 per cent stake in MPL to Tata Power, but the Tata group company rejected the offer and instead asked for a 74 per cent stake

This was not accepted by the DVC board. Top DVC officials said it would be comfortable with Tata's holding 51 per cent stake in the company. Tata Power has rejected this proposal as well. Both DVC and TPL have, however, agreed that the Tatas will hold majority stake in the joint venture company. DVC offered a 51 per cent stake to Tata Power taking a cue from the Tala project where the Tata company holds 51 per cent stake.
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GR Cables' halogen-free cable
Hyderabad: GR Cables Ltd, the city-based manufacturer of jelly-filled telecom cables and power cables, has announced that it has developed and manufactured halogen-free cables of international standards at competitive cost.

In a press release the company said this development would help it achieve a complete backward integration and realise higher margins. The company, a pioneer in the manufacture of engineering plastic compounds said they have vast application from automotive component manufacture to niche industrial applications and would be a thrust area.
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Hero Honda Dec sales rise 28%
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors on Thursday said its sales in December grew 28 per cent to 1.60 lakh vehicles. Its cumulative sales in the April-December period grew 15 per cent to 14.77 lakh units, the company said in a statement here.

In 2003, Hero Honda sold 18.73 lakh motorcycles, capturing a market share of 45 per cent. In October-December quarter, the company's sales grew 27 per cent year on year to 5.72 lakh units. "We would continue our focus on strengthening our lead in the entry and executive segment, which together form approximately 88 per cent of the total motorcycle market," said Pawan Munjal, managing director, Hero Honda.
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Wockhardt, Reddy's, Ranbaxy in race for Hayman
Mumbai: Three pharmaceutical majors — Wockhardt, Dr Reddy's and Ranbaxy Laboratories — are understood to have evinced an interest in German generics producer Heumann or Hayman Pharma GmbH owned by multinational Pfizer.

Industry sources said: "The UK, France and Germany are the three major generics markets worldwide. We cannot rule out the fact that these three Indian companies are looking forward to catering to these markets and will certainly look forward to grabbing this opportunity. However, it is at a premature stage and the bids are yet to be invited." Hayman Pharma, based in Nuernberg, is a major player in the generics business with an annual turnover of over $100 million.
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Star News can now uplink for 10 years
New Delhi: Finally, Rupert Murdoch's Star News has got permission to uplink from India for a duration of 10 years. For a good part of 2003, Star News uplinking remained a controversial issue. It all began mid last-year when the channel applied for permission to uplink from India and government detected loopholes in the application.

A new entity, Media Content and Communication Services, was floated for Star News, and government questioned its real ownership. Even as Star was abiding by the rulebook of the country on paper, government felt there was no compliance in spirit. Then followed government queries to Star News, and several weekly and fortnightly extensions to the channel for uplinking from India.
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SAIL breaks sales, production records
New Delhi: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has broken past almost all its earlier production and sales records during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year-ended December 2003. During these nine months, the company has recorded highest ever production of 9.79 million tonnes of hot metal registering a 9 per cent growth over corresponding period last year, crude steel production at 9.07 mt was up by 9 per cent, and saleable steel production increased by 8 per cent to 8.17 mt, according to a company release.

The company has also achieved the highest production of energy-efficient concast steel at 5.34 mt recording a growth of 13 per cent in the review period along with highest ever blast furnace productivity and lowest ever energy consumption. The major units of SAIL are at present operating at more than 103 per cent capacity utilisation level on an average.
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Bajaj Auto sales of two-, three-wheelers up 5%
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) has reported a 5 per cent rise in total sale of 2&3-wheelers to 3,96,694 units for the October-December 2003 period, against the previous corresponding 3,77,840 units.

Within that three-wheeler sales increased by 22.8 per cent to 63,516 units (51,732 units for the year-ago period) while that of two-wheelers gained by 2.2 per cent to 3,33,178 units (3,26,108 units). "Demand for three-wheelers continues to be strong," BAL's official statement said. Motorcycle sales for the period rose by 17.6 per cent to 2,69,978 units (2,29,661 units). Executive and premium segment models accounted for 55.6 per cent (37.6 per cent) of motorcycle sales.
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Indian promoters buy out US partner in Rain Calcining
Hyderabad: The Indian promoters of Rain Calcining Ltd (RCL), the Hyderabad-based Rs 333-crore calcined petroleum coke and power producer, have acquired the entire stake of 24.79 per cent held by the company's foreign promoter, Reliant Energy Rain.

Reliant Energy is a subsidiary of the US-based Houston Industries Energy Rain located at Mauritius. According to market observers, this as one of the major inter-se transfer deals in the Indian corporate world in the recent past. RCL's calciner, which can manufacture three lakh tonnes of calcined petroleum coke, is Asia's largest such facility. The company also has a 50 MW power project.
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K Sera Sera to meet on preferential issue
Mumbai: K Sera Sera Productions Ltd on Thursday informed the BSE that its board of directors will meet on January 6 to discuss the offer and issue of 15,00,000 equity shares to Sahara India Mass Communication Ltd on preferential basis.

Additionally, the board will discuss the offer and issue of 8,50,000 equity shares to NRIs/PIOs under foreign direct investment scheme on preferential basis besides offer and issue of 10,00,000 equity shares to the resident Indians/companies, FIIs, mutual funds on preferential basis. It is proposed to convene an extraordinary general meeting on February 5, for considering these items, the company's statement said.
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