L&T acquires fifty percent stake in Valdel Engg
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has signed an agreement to acquire a 50 per cent stake in the upstream oil and gas exploration and production business of the Bangalore-based Valdel Engineers and Constructors Pvt Ltd. The deal has been realised for an undisclosed amount.

The new joint venture will be named L&T Valdel Engineering Pvt Ltd.
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IOC-IBP merger swap ratio fixed at 125:100
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has approved a share swap ratio for merging its subsidiary IBP Company Ltd with itself. The board of directors has approved a swap ratio of 125:100, that is 125 equity shares of IOC would be offered for every 100 equity shares of IBP, the company has said.

The amalgamation will increase IOC's share in the domestic market to 61 per cent and help save the company around Rs45 crore per annum in overhead expenses, according to company officials.

The merger will now require the formal approval of the Government, the majority owner in IOC. The entire process is likely to be completed by March 2005, according to company officials. Post merger, Government shareholding in IOC will fall by 1.91 per cent to 80.12 per cent and IOC will retain the IBP brand.

Officials said that IBP will continue to function as a division of IOC. IBP petrol pumps network will continue to be expanded along with the IOC network.

IOC bought Government's 33.58 per cent equity in IBP in 2002. It further acquired another 20 per cent through an open offer to make the stand-alone marketing company its subsidiary.
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Appollo Alchobev to invest Rs100 crore towards expansion
Bangalore: Spirits major, Appollo Alchobev, has said that it plans to invest over Rs100 crore to expand its operations in the country.

The company expects to post a turnover of over Rs300 crore in another five years. Around Rs100 crore will be invested over a period of five years for acquiring breweries and distilleries in the country and for brand-building activities. The company, a part of the Chennai-based Empee Group, plans to launch new brands in the whisky, white spirit, rum and brandy segments. Appollo also plans to launch a lower-priced Scotch brand in the country sometime next year.

Old Secret, a rum brand, is expected to become a one million brand soon in southern markets. It will be launched nationally by the end of 2005. In the South, the brand has 11 per cent market share.

Appollo also markets Club Royal, Club Polo Dry Gin, Napolean, Power and Mazdoor brands. The company currently owns units in Karnataka and has strategic alliances for bottling in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal for its IMFL brands. It is also setting up a winery and distillery in Goa at a cost of Rs3.5 crore. By 2005, it expects to sell 3 million units and by 2010, around 10 million.
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Caparo group to set up auto ancillary plant in Rajasthan
New Delhi: Lord Swaraj Paul's Caparo group plans to set up a Rs200-crore automobile parts manufacturing plant at Bhiwadi industrial area in Alwar district of Rajasthan.

The plant will be used to manufacture fasteners for automotive and general industries.
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Avesthagen and Cipla to develop cancer drugs
Bangalore: Avestha Gengraine Technologies and pharma major Cipla have said they have expanded the scope of their collaboration to develop new generation biotech drugs for cancer and cardiovascular problems.

This follows the joint programme they started in May this year to develop biotherapeutics, especially for auto-immune diseases such as diabetes.

Avesthagen and Cipla said their tie-up covers development of new technology platforms for expression of recombinant or genetically-engineered proteins. They would share the intellectual property emerging from new technologies. Under their tie-up, Avestha would focus on research, development of bio-generic drugs and clinical trials over the first three years while Cipla would sponsor R&D and take up commercial production, marketing and distribution in the domestic and international markets.

The rapidly growing domestic biopharmaceutical business is estimated at $200 million (Rs 900 crore-Rs 1,000 crore) and is expected to grow to $3.3 billion (Rs 16,500 crore) by 2007-08.
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Reliance Info launches fixed wireless telephony in Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore: Reliance Infocomm Ltd has unveiled its fixed wire-free phone (FWP) for subscribers in Tamil Nadu circle, which the company officials hope, will push further its current market share up by another 5 per cent to 25 per cent.

The new cordless telephony service from Reliance carrying advanced features such as Internet connectivity (at a speed of 150 kbps), short messaging service, CLIP, phone book, missed calls and voice-mail etc is offered under both post-paid and pre-paid variants with the entry cost of the cordless new instrument (LG's LSI 110) fixed at Rs4,300.

The post and pre-paid variants come with two plans - monthly rental of Rs700/Rs435 and 30-day validity recharge voucher modes of Rs770 /Rs480. Depending upon the plans, the bundled usage would also offer unlimited free calls to Reliance numbers across the country/Reliance numbers in Chennai-TN circles.

The pulse rate for calls made to other network under both plans would be Rs1.10 (for local) and Rs2.20 per 30 seconds (for STD).
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Satyam sets up grid computing facility in Chennai
Chennai: Satyam Computer Services Ltd has set up a dedicated grid computing practice and a grid computing facility in Chennai. The Hyderabad-based software firm has also formed an alliance with the US-based United Devices, a leader in grid solution, and is discussing partnerships with other leaders in the field, he told newspersons.

Grid computing is applying the resources of many computers in a network to solve a single problem at the same time. This could be a scientific or a technical problem that requires a great number of computer processing cycles or access to large amounts of data, he said.

Grid computing offers enormous opportunity for Satyam, which plans to recruit employees "in hundreds" for the practice in the next year. The company recently executed a grid project for Dr Reddy's Laboratories, and will target clients in India and abroad for grid computing implementations. Satyam will offer clients consulting, design and implementation, conversion and maintenance in grid computing, he told newspersons.

The key application areas for grid include life sciences, Government, financial services, geo-sciences and manufacturing sectors. In 2001, Forbes predicted the global grid to be a $20 trillion industry by 2020, and IDC, a research firm, estimates the grid market to exceed $12 billion by 2007.
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Bell Labs opens R&D unit at Bangalore
Bangalore: Bell Labs, the research and development outfit of Lucent Technologies, has opened its research centre in Bangalore. It expects to hire some 25 people over the next 18 months, said the company.

Bell Labs Research India will focus on creating innovative software systems for deploying and managing next-generation networks. The Bangalore centre will partner closely with Lucent's customers as they deploy new technologies, such as cellular data, and devise innovative solutions to their most challenging problems, he said.

The Bangalore centre will conduct fundamental research in scientific fields related to computing and communications software and to create the underlying technology innovations that will enable telecom service providers to deploy and manage high-speed, highly reliable networks. It will also focus extensively on computer algorithms, networking, network management and data management.
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Four Soft enters China through JV
Hyderabad: Four Soft Ltd has established a joint venture company - Four Soft Logistics Software Company Ltd - with a local partner at Shanghai to market its products and services in mainland China. Four Soft plans to expand operations in the Far East further using China as a base.

Four Soft, which has a development centre in Hyderabad, had earlier acquired Cargo Mate, a Dutch logistics solutions provider.
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