Crest to go for GDR issue
Mumbai: Crest Communication Ltd has decided to offer and place up to 75,000 global depositary receipts at a price of $7.75 per GDR, aggregating $5,812,500. Each GDR will represent 10 underlying equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each.

Subject to the approval from Luxembourg Stock Exchange, the issue would open on January 14.
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MRPL prepays Rs 2,380-crore debt
Mumbai: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) has prepaid Rs 2,380 crore to its rupee term lenders under the debt restructuring package. The company has also announced that it will prepay loans of Rs 275 crore on January 19. The ONGC subsidiary had an option under the debt restructuring package allowing it to prepay the lenders without having to pay a prepayment premium.

ONGC, the parent, has granted MRPL a long-term loan of up to Rs 2,600 crore at 6 per cent bank rate in lieu of the prepaid debt. The refinancing of the loans will result in MRPL saving about Rs 82 crore each year as the company was paying lenders interest at 9.15 per year, a news release said.
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Ajanta India to expand FMCG product range
Hyderabad: Ajanta India Ltd, the world's largest manufacturer and exporter of clock and wristwatches, has announced here on Thursday its expansion plans in the recently diversified field of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector with a gamut of consumer care products.

Addressing newspersons, the Ajanta India General Manager (Marketing), Mr D.K. Rachhe, said having test marketed the FMCG segment with a silent entry last year, the company has now raised its manufacturing and marketing activities with a range comprising toothpaste, toothbrush, hair oil, soap, shampoo, talcum powder and shaving cream.
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Aurobindo Pharma gathers European suitability certificate
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma Ltdhas announced that it has received its first Certificate of Suitability (CoS) approval from the European Directorate for Quality Medicines (EDQM) for its product in the therapeutic segment of gastroenterology.

The company filed two more drug master files (DMFs) with the United States Food and Drug Administration, making the total number of filings to three. Of this, two were in category of central nervous system (CNS) and one in diabetology. The latest DMF was for Citalopram, an antidepressant, the company informed stock exchanges on Wednesday. By virtue of CoS, the company expects to gain entry into the European Union (EU) pharmaceutical market. The company said it expects to receive such approvals on a routine basis here after.
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ICRA reaffirms A1 for Vardhman Polytex CP
New Delhi: ICRA has reaffirmed the `A1' rating assigned to the Rs 10-crore CP programme of Vardhman Polytex Ltd (VPL), indicating the highest safety in the short-term.

The reaffirmation factors in low gearing level, comfortable liquidity position and the expected improvement in the performance of the company during 2003-04 due to the recent increase in yarn realisations. The rating is however, constrained by the volatile operating margins of VPL due to the commodity price cycle risks associated with the company's products and the company's substantial capital expenditure plans for setting up expansion projects in the next two years, which are likely to be partly financed through debt.
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IOC, HPCL pay Rs 582-crore interim
Mumbai: Public sector unit oil companies, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), have together paid Rs 582.84 crore as interim dividend for the financial year 2003-04 to the Union Government.

IOC handed over a cheque of Rs 479 crore (at Rs 5 per share) to the Union Government, which holds 82 per cent stake in the company. The amount is much higher than the last year's figure of Rs 319 crore. HPCL paid Rs 103.84 crore (Rs 6 per equity share) against Rs 34.61 crore (Rs 3 per share).
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Hero Honda likely to consider interim
New Delhi: Hero Honda Motors Ltd on Thursday said it may consider an interim dividend. The company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) that January 23 has been fixed as the `record date' for ascertaining the entitlement of shareholders for the payment of special interim dividend, if it is announced in its board meeting on January 14.
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