Honda plans Rs 150-cr expansion
New Delhi: The Indian subsidiary of Japan's Honda Motor is investing Rs150 crore in expanding plant capacity to meet growing demand for its high-selling New City model.

Hajime Yamada, chief executive, Honda Siel Cars India told the press the company planned to raise annual capacity to 50,000 units by the end of 2005 from 30,000 to cut the waiting list for its City sedan.

Honda Siel Cars, which began selling cars in India in December 1997, has invested Rs600 crore in the country since then.
Back to News Review index page  

Flextronics to buy out Emuzed Inc
Bangalore: Flextronics, the electronics manufacturing services (ESM) company, is acquiring multimedia technology and solutions provider Emuzed Inc, in a conjectured multi-million dollar deal.

Chairman of US-based Emuzed, Tushar Dave, said the company had entered into an agreement in this regard with the $14.5 billion Flextronics.

The deal was slated to be completed in four to six weeks.
Emuzed was founded in 2001 by a team of industry veterans, serial entrepreneurs and technology experts from the multimedia technology industry, according to a company statement.

Emuzed has R&D centres in Bangalore and Chennai and is headquartered in Fremont, Silicon Valley, California. It has a total of around 200 employees.
Back to News Review index page  

Deccan Chronicle IPO in Rs 162-194 range
Mumbai: The Hyderabad based Deccan Chronicle Holdings is pricing its initial public offer (IPO) in range of Rs162 to Rs194 per share.

The issue will be open from November 25 to December 2. At the top end of the offer, the IPO would raise Rs1.79 billion ($40 million), by selling 22.3 per cent of its expanded capital, including the basic offer of 8.01 million shares plus a greenshoe option of 1.2 million.

The company would be valued at Rs8.02 at the upper end of the price band.

Deccan ChronicleHoldings publishes the English daily, the Deccan Chronicle, and a Telugu language newspaper, Andhra Bhoomi.
Back to News Review index page  
Henkel SPIC board consents to merger with Henkel India
Chennai: The board of Henkel SPIC India has approved the reverse merger with Henkel India Ltd (formerly, Calcutta Chemicals Ltd). The stock swap ratio has been set at 1:1.

The merger will result in the deferred revenue expenditure of Rs250 crore and the accumulated losses of Rs55 crore in the books of Henkel SPIC being wiped-off as these amounts will get set-off against the Rs178-crore in the `share premium account'.

To compensate for the higher write-off on the asset side, `fixed assets' and `goodwill' have been upvalued.

Calcutta Chemicals and Detergents India,were acquired from Shaw Wallace a few years ago and have been put to use for the restructure. Calcutta Chemicals was renamed as Henkel India and used for merging Henkel SPIC into.

Detergents India was renamed as Henkel Marketing India and will market all products that Henkel SPIC manufactures and also those imported from the German promoter, Henkel KGaA, Germany.

Under the proposed arrangement, Henkel SPIC will sell its products to Henkel Marketing India with all the marketing and brand promotion expenses to be borne by Henkel Marketing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Henkel SPIC.

The German parent will support Henkel Marketing.
Back to News Review index page  
Aptech wins $19.7-mn training order
New Delhi: Aptech, the leading computer education trainer has said it has won a four-year order worth Rs 88.73 crore ($19.7 million) from the Delhi government.

Aptech will provide software training to 696 schools in the national capital region, a company statement said.
Back to News Review index page  

KCP Biotech setting up colour extraction plant with IICT help
Hyderabad: KCP Biotech, part of the Chennai-based KCP group, is putting up a natural colour extraction plant at the Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park at Shamirpet, on the outskirts of the Deccan city.

The plant, which has a capacity to process one-tonne-per-day, would produce natural colours from turmeric, chilli powder and annatto seeds for food processing, cosmetics and the pharma industries.

The KCP plant is based on the process know-how of the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, and will be established on the engineering consultancy provided by the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT).

The three streams, turmeric, chilli and annatto, are processed separately.
Back to News Review index page  
Tata Power considers setting up plant at Dholpur
Jaipur: Senior officials from Tata Power met Rajasthan chief minister Vasudhara Raje and made a detailed presentation of the company regarding setting up a power plant in the state.

Energy department sources said considering the energy demands of the state, the government is eager to accommodate Tata Power. Sources said the use of gas as fuel is being seriously considered for the plant though its feasibility is still to be confirmed.

The RPG group was at an advanced stage when it called off its gas-based project after nearly seven years of protracted negotiations between the centre and the state government.
Back to News Review index page   Jumbo authorizes McKinsey to seek bids for SWC liquor biz
Bangalore: The Jumbo Group, the late Manu Chhabria's company, has mandated McKinsey Singapore to seek bids from interested parties to pick up a major stake in Shaw Wallace & Co's (SWC) liquor business.

The industry remains a trifle sceptical as to whether the Jumbo Group would actually proceed with the sale. The mandate from Jumbo to McKinsey is said to clearly state that no bids from archrival UB Group or its Chairman, Vijay Mallya, will be entertained.

Shaw Wallace Distilleries, the liquor arm of SWC, is the second largest domestic spirits company with annual sales of nearly 15 million cases, but remains far behind the leading player, UB spirits division, which had sales of 35 million cases in 2003-04.

Likely bidders for SWC's liquor business would include Groupe Pernod Ricard, owner of Seagram in India, and Radico Khaitan, the third largest domestic spirits company.
Back to News Review index page  
Mahindra forays into Chinese tractor market
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is entering into a joint venture with the Chinese auto company Jiangling Motor Co Group. M&M will hold an 80 per cent equity stake in the venture.
The joint venture will acquire tractor-manufacturing assets from JMCG's subsidiary, Jiangling Tractor Company (JTC), producing the 18-33 HP range of tractors.

M&M's spokesperson said that JTC has capacity to produce 12,000 units annually. The transaction value is pegged at $10 million and M&M will invest $8 million.

Last month senior M&M officials said that the company was targeting a 12-15 per cent share of the Chinese market for 30-80 HP tractors.

They said the size of the relevant Chinese market at 70,000 units per annum, growing at 6-8 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  
HLL in aggressive push to Surf Excel
Hyderabad: Hindustan Lever (HLL) has launched Surf Excel `win with stains' promotional campaign. The promo gives consumers chances to win prices and a scholarship.

According to a press release from the company, a consumer who purchases a large pack of Surf Excel Quickwash or Surf Excel Blue during the campaign will also get a stained cloth. On washing the cloth, he will get a chance to win Rs 5-lakh scholarship or a Zenith personal computer or 1 to 6 'runs'.

On collecting 12 runs, he will be entitled to receive an Oxford Dictionary. The campaign, will last up to January 15, 2005.
Back to News Review index page