Biocon IPO open from March 11-18
Bangalore: Biocon Ltd., the first domestic biotechnology company to go public, will open its IPO process on March 11 and keep the books open for a week till March 18. Biocon will be listed on the BSE and NSE. The company will be offering 10 million fresh shares of face value Rs 5 each and the price, to be determined by 100 per cent book-building, would be in the range of Rs 270-315 per share. The offer would form 10 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue paid-up capital, which would be Rs 100 crore. Currently, 68 per cent of the shares are held by the promoters including Ms Shaw and Mr John Shaw; 15 per cent has been given as ESOPs; 12 per cent is with private equity investors GW Caps and AIG and five per cent is with other investors.
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Elgitread goes for stock split
Coimbatore: AN extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the shareholders of the Coimbatore-based Elgitread (India) Ltd has approved a proposal to split the face value of the share to Re 1 from Rs 10. In a communication to the NSE today, the company has said that March 12 would be the record date for the purpose of sub-division of the face value of the shares. Elgitread is the second company from the Elgi stable to opt for stock split.
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ICRA's best MF's for 2003
Kolkata: ICRA Online has flagged off its maiden rankings of mutual funds with its selection of the best performing schemes for 2003 in 12 broad categories. On the debt side, the toppers are IL&FS Gilt Fund (Category: Gilt - Long Term), Birla Gilt Plus Liquid Plan (Gilt - Short Term), HSBC Income Fund Investment Plan Regular (Debt - Long Term) and Reliance Short Term Dent Fund (Debt - Short Term). LIC MF Liquid Fund is the best performer among liquid products, according to a press note issued by the rating agency.

On the diversified equity side, Alliance Basic Industries Fund (among `aggressive' schemes) and HSBC Equity Fund (among `defensive' schemes) are the two best names. The Birla India Opportunities Fund has been selected as the best amongst the tech funds. Birla Equity Plan has been chosen in the ELSS category.
HDFC Prudence Fund, Alliance Monthly Income and UTI Nifty Index Fund have topped the balanced, MIP, and index categories.
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ONGC: IOC, GAIL equity locked in for six months
New Delhi: The Government, GAIL India and IOC will not be able to sell their equity in ONGC for six months after the proposed public offer for sale of 10 per cent Government equity in ONGC which is slated to open on March 5. GAIL and IOC together hold 12 per cent equity in ONGC. The Government currently holds 84.11 per cent stake in ONGC, which will be reduced to 74.11 per cent after the public offer.
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SEBI on 'high alert'
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has stepped up efforts to detect price manipulation on the stock market, especially in shares of PSUs that are being divested.
Mr G.N. Bajpai, Chairman, SEBI, today said that the stock market regulator was on "high alert" and will take `strict' action against those found guilty of manipulating the markets. Mr. Bajpai refused to comment on the Disinvestment Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, statement that the Government has identified market players depressing the stock prices.
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Sensex: Still going south
Mumbai: The BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 51.03 points (0.91 per cent), at 5567.12. The NSE S&P CNX Nifty Index also shed 21 points (1.18 per cent) to end at 1765.80, off the day's high of 1818.60.
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Derivative contract norms to be altered
Mumbai: The Securities and Exchange Board of India has specified that a derivative contract should have a minimum value of Rs 2 lakh at the time of its introduction to the market. According to a SEBI circular, for stock based derivative contracts the lot size would be in multiples of 100. For derivative contracts that have a contract value of Rs 4 lakh and above, the lot size would be reduced to half the value of the existing lot size. Similarly, for derivative contracts that have a contract size of Rs 8 lakh and above, the lot size would be reduced to one-fourth of the existing size.

The stock exchanges have been asked to give a notice of at least two weeks to the market before effecting these changes. Further, for the purpose of revising the contract size, the value would be determined on the basis of the closing prices of the underlying on the day prior to the beginning of the notice period.
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IPO
Mumbai: The public offer of IBP received strong response from the investing community on Thursday with the issue being subscribed almost 75 per cent of the offer size.

The issue of Dredging Corporation also received good response from the investors on the first day as the issue received bids for over 32 per cent of the offer size. The issue of GAIL opens for subscription on Friday.

International long distance operator Data Access India Ltd has received the mandatory clearance from SEBI for its forthcoming initial public offering of equity shares to be sold through the book-building route. According to the company it has also received basic clearance from the stock exchanges and is likely to go public in the next couple of weeks, with a view to mop up around Rs 120 crore from the market.

The company hopes to utilise the net proceeds of the IPO for expanding and upgrading its international long distance telephony network, meeting long-term working capital needs and repaying external commercial borrowings
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