Tata Steel completes acquisition of NatSteel
Mumbai: Tata Steel, has informed the BSE that it has completed the transaction of its acquisition of NatSteel of Singapore, minus one facility in China.

The facility, one of three for NatSteel in China, is expected to be aboard before April-end. An amount of $60 million has therefore been deducted from the initial payment, which amounted to $364.8 million. "The balance payment is subject to adjustment for net working capital and other adjustments as will be determined by the closing audit," Tata Steel's statement said.

The board of NatSteel Asia Pte Ltd has been reconstituted to induct B. Muthuraman, Managing Director Tata Steel, as its Chairman and Oo Soon Hee as its Managing Director. Other Tata Steel officials inducted into the board are Dr T. Mukherjee, Deputy Managing Director (Steel), and Koushik Chatterjee, Vice President (Finance).

The transfer of the Changzhou Wujin NatSteel Company Ltd to NatSteel Asia Pte Ltd is delayed, as the regulatory approval for the former is pending with Chinese authorities. In August, Tata Steel had said that the entire steel business of NatSteel would be spun off into a wholly owned subsidiary called NatSteel Asia Pte Ltd. Tata Steel has now subscribed to 100 per cent of NatSteel Asia Pte Ltd's equity.

Consequently, all steel assets of NatSteel Ltd in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia and China (except Changzhou Wujin NatSteel) have been transferred to NatSteel Asia Pte Ltd. These include regulatory approvals received for the transfer of Southern NatSteel (Xiamen) Company Ltd and Wuxi Jingyang Metal Products Company Ltd, both in China.

About 40 per cent of NatSteel's capacity is in Singapore.
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Coromandel Fert. picks up stake in Foskor for $6m
Chennai: Coromandel Fertilisers of the Murugappa group has acquired a 2.5 per cent stake in Foskor Ltd of South Africa for a consideration of $6 million (Rs27 crore). Foskor Ltd is one of the largest producers of phosphoric acid in the world. It has a 5 per cent stake in Godavari Fertilisers, another Murugappa group company.

But the highlight of the Foskor-deal is that Coromandel could raise its stake to 16.5 per cent, without having to pay anything more. That is because of a `business assistance agreement', under which Coromandel will help Foskor's efficiency. A share of the savings will be given to Coromandel in the form of additional equity in the company.

Coromandel Fertilisers will buy the Foskor shares from the latter's holding company, Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa.

Foskor's assets include phosphate rock mines in Phalaborwa and a 7,50,000-tonne-per-annum phosphoric acid plant at Richards Bay, South Africa. It also produces sulphuric acid.

According to the Murugappa group, it would need to import some 4,50,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid next year. This would be sourced equally from South Africa and a company in Tunisia. In addition, the group has facilities to produce another 2,00,000 tonnes of the acid a year.
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Hyundai Motor ramp up capacity with second plant
Chennai: Hyundai Motor Company has said that it will build a second car plant in India. The plant will come up at Irungattukottai, near Chennai, where the company's wholly owned subsidiary's plant is located.

With this plant, Hyundai Motor India's capacity will go up to 4,00,000 units a year from the present 2,50,000 units. In an announcement in Korea, Hyundai Motor Company has said that the second plant will go on stream in 2007.

It is expected that the new plant will be funded by the parent and through internal accruals from the Indian subsidiary. The announcement coincides with the visit of Chung Mong Koo, Hyundai Motor Company's Chairman, to Hyundai Motor India's plant on Wednesday. The company wants to tap the growing Indian market.

The Korean company had announced its decision to make the Indian plant the hub for making small cars, including cars for the export market. Hyundai Motor India exports the Santro (badged as the Atos) to Europe and Mexico, apart from other markets.

Hyundai Motor India had expanded its capacity from 1,50,000 units to 2,50,000 in the second half of 2004 at an investment of about $250 million. For the calendar year 2004, it sold 2,15,630 cars, which is a 43 per cent jump over the previous year's sales.
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Ashok Leyland eyes vehicle exports to W. Asia and Africa
Abu Dhabi: Ashok Leyland has signed an agreement this week for initial supply of 100 trucks and 100 buses to Sudan and is executing an order for supply of 3,322 trucks to Iraq - the largest order so far for commercial vehicles from India.

The company is planning to aggressively target West Asian and North African markets including Iraq and the GCC States for its advanced defence vehicles, a senior company official said at the venue of IDEX 2005 here on Tuesday.

The Indian major signed the agreement with Sudan government's assembly plant, GIAD, for a $5-million deal for supply of 100 trucks. The plant supplies vehicles to the Sudan Ministry of Defence. The 100 Falcon buses will be used for civilian purposes, the company has said. The vehicles will be transported in knocked-down kits and assembled in Sudan. The trial order could pave the way for a later requirement of around 500 trucks and 500 buses a year.

The company has, in the past one year, been executing a major order of over 3,000 vehicles from Iraq and plans to enter the fray for defence vehicles there, in the post-election scenario. It is also hoping to tap the GCC States for its defence vehicles, while initial trials for defence trucks are under way in Kenya and Ghana.
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Tecumseh India bags Rs20 crore export order
New Delhi: Tecumseh Products India has bagged an order worth Rs20 crore from South African firm, Defy Appliances, for its THK compressors.

The first consignment would be shipped by February-end and the entire supplies would be delivered during the current calendar year, a company release said.

The order marks the company's first successful effort to go overseas with the THK compressors, it has said. With the order, Tecumseh becomes the first Indian compressor manufacturing company to enter the booming South African white goods market, the release added.
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IVRCL bags Rs311 crore orders
Hyderabad: IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd has stated that the company has bagged orders valued at Rs311 crore from last week of January till now.

The new orders pertain to Rs160.47-crore worth works relating to construction of buildings and Rs100.65 crore worth water transmission works from Government of Gujarat. These apart, road works account for Rs50 crore.
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IA to lease twelve more planes for international flights
New Delhi: Indian Airlines has decided to dry-lease twelve wide-bodied aircraft between October 2005 and March 2006 in order to launch services on new international routes.

The IA Board approved a proposal to increase the number of planes to be dry-leased by three, airline officials said. The board had decided last September to lease six wide-bodied planes for the purpose along with three more to replace three existing A-300 B4 aircraft.

With the twelve additional aircraft, the IA's fleet strength would go up to 77.
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GAIL plans gas cracker venture for Kerala
Kayamkulam: Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) is exploring the feasibility of setting up an Rs7000 crore gas-cracker complex in Kerala. The gas major is planning this venture jointly with the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC).

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for the stage-two of NTPC's Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Project, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the proposed global scale plant would produce six lakh tons of ethylene and 1.50 lakh tons of propylene a year.

Besides boosting the socio-economic development of Kerala, the complex would provide direct employment to 500 people and generate thousands of jobs in small-scale ancillary industries based on polymers and plastics.
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ITC to build three new hotels at a cost of Rs.1,000 crore
Mumbai: As part of its major expansion plans, ITC will build three new super deluxe luxury hotels in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad at a cost of Rs1,000 crore.

The hotels would be functional in the next two to three years, the Chairman ITC Ltd Y C Deveshwar told reporters.

ITC presently runs 66 hotels across 50 countries.
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Nagarjuna Fert. gets five star safety rating
Hyderabad: The British Safety Council of UK has awarded 5-Star rating to Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (NFCL) after conducting a detailed Health and Safety Management System Audit last month.

The audit covered eight areas of NFCL's management systems, which included safety organisation, management control systems, fire control systems, workplace implementation and continuous improvement, according to a company press release here on Wednesday.
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Dynamatic Aerospace expands facilities
Bangalore: Dynamatic Aerospace, which hopes to emerge as a major vendor to the aviation industry, has embarked on an expansion programme.

The company recently opened a facility at Peenya near the city to manufacture airframe structures and precision aerospace components for the prestigious Sukhoi-30MKI. The Su-30MKI is the latest acquisition in the multi-role fighter class of jets for induction into the Indian Air Force.

Dynamatic Aerospace, a group company of the Rs250-crore Dynamatic Technologies, will be a key vendor for Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which will manufacture the Su-30MKI.

Dynamatic Aerospace plans to double its production facility to 54,000 sq. ft., as part of its expansion programme in the next one year. The company has spent Rs12 crore in the last one year for the Su-30MKI and other future projects.
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Delhi and Karachi IT companies to bid jointly for Sindh Govt. project
Bangalore: In a first-ever instance of its kind in the IT sector, the Karachi-based Arwen Tech and Delhi-based Evolve Services have jointly bid for a BPO training project of the Sind Government in Pakistan. "The size and numbers of such projects will only grow,'' said Atiq Rehman, CEO, Arwen, and a part of a Pakistani delegation from Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA).

The collaboration to bid for training 1,000 people in call centre skills is the start of a promising relationship between businesses in both countries, said Ms Jehan Ara, President, PASHA.

"Pakistan is looking to collaborate with the Indian IT industry in accessing markets in West Asia, North America, Europe and Australia," said Ms Ara, adding that Pakistan's experience and established presence in Saudi Arabia for instance had met with interest by several Indian companies looking to expand their markets there.

The PASHA delegation visited campuses of Infosys, MphasiS, MindTree Consulting and vMoksha Technologies and received considerable interest from Indian companies that could translate into business in the next six-eight months, Ms Ara said.
The $500-million Pakistani IT industry has over 400 software firms and about 70 BPOs.
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Tetra Pak signs on Tabu as brand ambassador
New Delhi: Bollywood actress Tabu has been appointed as the new brand ambassador for Tetra Pak India. She will be featuring in the latest Tetra Pak commercials created by Leo Burnett, promoting freshness and purity of Ultra Heat Treatment (UHT) Milk.

Tetra Pak said in a statement that the new ad campaign, comprising both TVCs and print commercials, will be unveiled this week.

UHT milk is aseptically processed to make it free from any contamination and retains its nutritional value. The aseptic packing makes it consumable even after six months of packing.

Tetra Pak began operations in India as a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tetra Pak International, a Tetra Laval Company, in 1997. It provides processing and packaging solutions to companies including Nestle India, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Amul), Glaxo SmithKline, Andhra Pradesh Diary Development Co-operative Federation, Mother Diary, Parle Agro, Tropicana Beverages, Coca Cola India and Dabur Foods.
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