S&P to pick up majority stake in CRISIL
Mumbai: Global rating agency Standard & Poor's has announced that it intends to become a majority shareholder in CRISIL Ltd by making a voluntary conditional open offer of Rs680 per share. S&P, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, plans to acquire up to 3,534,488 fully paid up equity shares of CRISIL.

This is subject to a minimum acceptance level of 2,643,983 shares at Rs680 per share, the agency said in a release here.

The conditional offer, if accepted to the minimum level of 2,643,983 shares, together with the existing S&P stake of 600,000 shares would result in S&P owning a little over 51 per cent of CRISIL's shares. The move will also make it a majority shareholder in the rating agency.

If S&P's offer is accepted in full, subject to receipt of requisite regulatory approvals, the agency would own a little over 65 per cent of CRISIL's shares.
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Burren to pick up twenty per cent of HOECL
New Delhi: Burren Energy of UK has acquired US energy major Unocal Corp's entire 26.01 per cent stake in Hindustan Oil Exploration Co Ltd for 26.01 million dollars.It has also made an open offer for a further 20 per cent stake.

Burren Energy acquired Unocal's 1,52,81,633 equity shares in HOEC at Rs74.30 per share, aggregating to Rs113.71 crore ($26,010,000), company sources have indicated. Further, Burren Energy has made an open offer to acquire 20 per cent shares (1,17,48,990 equity shares) at Rs92.41 per share.

The average weekly high and low of the closing price of the shares of HOEC for the 26-week period ended February 11, 2005 is Rs82.87 on BSE and Rs82.97 on NSE.
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Malaysia Airlines to add more destinations in India
Kuala Lumpur: Flag carrier Malaysia Airlines is planning to add eighteen new destinations in India within the next five years. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) already flies to major state capitals and will now focus on secondary airports such as Amritsar, Trichi and Trivandrum.

The airline has said that smaller airports in India were experiencing tremendous traffic growth due to the government's liberalised aviation polices and the country's rapidly expanding economy.

MAS flies 26 weekly flight to India, servicing routes to New Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedaad and Calcutta. The last two cities were added recently.
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GAIL and Infosys tie up for technology solutions
Bangalore: GAIL (India) Ltd and Infosys Technologies have announced that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop technology solutions for the retail gas business.

The MoU aims at the development and commercialisation of software to manage the retail natural gas business across all categories of customers worldwide, said an Infosys press release.

The initiative will include development of solutions for system safety management, system integrity management and customer services.

The two companies will also jointly impart training to clients for the use of software and other services.
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Reliance Info clarifies on share allotment to Deora
Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm has clarified that no discrimination in the share allotments by Reliance Communications Infrastructure Ltd (RCIL) and Reliance Infocomm has been made. In a press release, the telecom company said that no Reliance Info shares have been alloted to Ashish Deora, a relative of Kantibhai Gowani as has been recently alleged.

Ashish Deora's services were retained by RIC as part of its fibre optic broadband project in Greater Mumbai. RIC agreed to compensate Deora by a nominal compensation and the remaining via appreciation of equity shares of RIC.

But Ashish Deora later had returned his shares to a trust that was formed to benefit Reliance employees.

Currently, Ashish Deora and his three companies do not hold any shares of RIC.
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GSK Pharma FY04 net up 93.3 per cent
Mumbai: GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd has reported a 93.3 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs333.09 crore for the fiscal ended December 31, 2004. This is up from Rs172.23 crore posted in the corresponding period last fiscal.

The board has recommended a dividend of Rs13 per equity share and a special additional one-time dividend of Rs11 per equity share.

Total income during the reporting fiscal grew to Rs1,426.78 crore as against Rs1,155.95 crore in FY03.

Net profit for the fourth quarter stood at Rs23.63 crore as against Rs14.64 crore in the same period of earlier fiscal while the total income rose to Rs294.23 crore.
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IA launches 'Super Saver' scheme
New Delhi: The Indian Airlines has announced the launch of its 'Bumper Super Saver' scheme providing sixteen flight coupons to anywhere on the domestic sector for Rs65,000.

The scheme, which does not require advance purchase or any other booking condition, would be launched tomorrow and the tickets would be valid for one year from the date of issue. The coupons, printed in limited numbers, would be sold from IA offices all over the country.

A coupon, which would cost on an average a little over Rs4,000, can be used for any domestic destination, barring travel on four sectors where two coupons would be required for a single flight.
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Caparo to invest Rs400 crore in India
New Delhi: Lord Swraj Paul-led Caparo group is planning to invest Rs300-400 crore for setting up six automotive components manufacturing plants in India.

The company said that it plans to invest Rs300-400 crore towards the servicing of its clients in the automotive market, and may increase the number when they sense more potential. The $750 million Caparo group, chaired by the London-based NRI industrialist, is setting up the new plants at Chipanki (Rajasthan), Bawal (Haryana), Greater Noida (UP) and at Indore where it already has a similar manufacturing unit.

The Bawal plant is a joint venture with India's leading carmaker Maruti like the existing manufacturing unit at Gurgaon.
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Iveco and Hinduja group to enlarge co-operation
Chennai: Iveco, the commercial vehicle company of Fiat of Italy, and the Hinduja group have concluded a new agreement which speaks of "significantly enlarging the cooperation" between the two entities.

Together the two groups hold majority stakes of 51 per cent in Ashok Leyland Ltd and 59 per cent in Ennore Foundries Ltd.

Specifically, the agreement speaks of co-operation in three areas. As per the agreement, Ashok Leyland will have the right to demand access to any technology of IVECO. The company will have a preferred option for accessing world-class IVECO technology including light, medium and heavy-duty trucks as well as buses, special vehicles and power train technologies.

Ashok Leyland and IVECO will also jointly explore export opportunities. Finally, the agreement paves the way for IVECO to buy components from Ashok Leyland and its associate company, Ennore Foundries. A task force has been set up to look into the possibilities. Ennore Foundries is putting up a new 50,000 tonne-per-annum foundry.
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Wartsila and PTC in power sale pact
Mumbai: Wartsila India Ltd, a subsidiary of Wartsila Corporation, and PTC India Ltd (formerly Power Trading Corporation of India) have announced the signing of a MoU for the sale of surplus power. This agreement facilitates the utilisation of excess power generated by Wartsila's customers through PTC.

With a turnover of Rs300 crore, Wartsila India has some 190 customers. The company has delivered 560 DG sets that generate around 2,750 MW of power. Many of these customers have surplus generation capacity in their plants. Wartsila says, that it plans to develop the concept of helping its customers as a facilitator, through an innovative structure with PTC, to enable the offtake of their surplus power for export to other utilities/undertakings/units by PTC.
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SriLankan Airlines cuts fares on outbound journeys
New Delhi/Hyderabad: SriLankan Airlines has announced a 50 per cent tariff cut to major global destinations, and has launched a two-week promotional campaign.

While bookings would close on February 28, outbound journey could take place up to March 31.

Announcing this, SriLankan Airlines said a return ticket to London would cost just Rs14,190. The tariff for Tokyo was put at Rs18,820, Colombo (Rs5,870), Male (Rs8,000), Singapore (Rs9,880), Kuala Lumpur (Rs9,880), Bangkok (Rs8,540) and Hong Kong (Rs11,560).

The rider, however, is that tickets are valid for one month from the date of purchase.
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