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Ispat Ind. to merge Ispat Metallics and restructure capital
New Delhi: Ispat Industries is merging its subsidiary Ispat Metallics India with itself and is restructuring its capital. After the merger, the company would issue 34.49 crore shares to the shareholders of Ispat Metallics at Rs10 each at par.

The company would also issue about 12.21 crore cumulative redeemable preference shares (CRPS) at Rs10 with a coupon rate of 0.01 per cent and another 1.36 crore such instruments at Rs100 each bearing a coupon rate of 12 per cent, Ispat informed the bourses.

Ispat is revamping its capital structure by reducing equity shares by 40 per cent from the existing 69.26 crore shares and issuing fresh equity to promoters and lenders. Ispat will issue 27.70 crore CRPS with a face value of Rs10 with a coupon rate of 0.01 per cent in exchange of the reduction of the equity shares. Promoters will be issued 22.02 crore equity shares at par and another 8.68 crore CRPS at Rs10 each.

Ispat will also offer 24.18 crore-equity shares to the lenders of the company for the loan it took, amounting to Rs241.80 crore.
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L&T issues 6.12 lakh shares upon FCCB conversion
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has issued 6,12,848 equity shares upon conversion of its foreign currency convertible bonds.

The company issued the shares on November 11 upon conversion of FCCBs worth US$1,51,90,000, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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India-Dubai commodity exchange JV begins operations
Dubai: The new global commodities exchange, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange, also the first such marketplace in the Middle East, began trading on November 22.

The exchange is a joint venture between Financial Technologies (India) Limited (FTIL) and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX) and the Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre, (DMCC).

With the opening of DGCX for derivatives trading, Dubai has joined the big league commodities derivatives trading such as Chicago, New York, London and Tokyo.

DGCX will offer an uninterrupted trading window of 13 hours and fill the time gap between Far East and Europe.

The exchange is confident that it will see wide participation from approved members from diverse backgrounds such as commodity traders, banks, brokerages and other financial institutions, who will trade and clear their obligations on T+1 basis.
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MFs await RBI approval for equity investment in Fortune-500 firms
New Delhi: After gaining market regulator SEBI's approval, mutual fund companies are awaiting the Reserve Bank's nod to invest in the equity of Fortune-500 companies.

The matter has been pending for a long time with a high-level committee on capital markets (HLC) comprising heads of RBI, SEBI, IRDA and officials of finance and company affairs ministries, sources said.

The present norms permit Indian mutual funds to invest in equity of MNCs, which have a joint venture in India with at least 10 per cent. There are about 47-48 such companies.

Many of the global corporations such as Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Intel, Vodafone, Bank of America, Barclays and UBS do not have joint ventures in India but are part of the DJ Global Titans Index.
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Visesh allots convertible warrants to IndiaCo Ventures
Mumbai: Visesh Infotecnics has allotted five lakh convertible warrants of Rs50 each, convertible into equal number of equity shares, on a preferential basis to Pune-based IndiaCo Ventures.
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Prudential ICICI India fund raises $150-$200mn
Singapore: India's biggest private sector fund manager, Prudential ICICI Asset Management Co. has raised $150-$200mn for a new fund investing in Indian service sector stocks, an executive said.

The executive said say investors are focusing more on stocks that can benefit in the longer term from rising domestic consumption, a boom in outsourcing, and higher infrastructure spending.

Prudential ICICI Asset Management Co. has assets of $4.5 billion. ICICI Bank owns 51 percent of the joint venture, while British insurer Prudential, owns 49 percent.

Shah said the new fund, which will open for regular subscription next month, will invest in stocks in India's aviation, auto parts, healthcare, telecoms and tourism and travel sectors, among others.

The initial offer period of the open-ended Prudential ICICI Services Industries Fund closed on Friday.
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PVR IPO in Rs.200-240 band
Mumbai: PVR Ltd which operator multiplexes, has set a price band of Rs200 to Rs240 a share for its initial public offer, aiming to raise up to Rs1.85 billion ($40.4mn).

The company's 7.7-million-share, or 34 percent of the post-issue capital, offer is expected to open Dec. 8-14, he said.

The IPO consists of 5.7 million new shares and sale of 2 million shares by private equity firm ICICI Venture Funds Management, which holds 27 percent of the expanded capital.

ICICI Venture invested Rs380 million in 2003, and now owns 47 per cent stock of the company after a series of private share issues.

The funds raised would be used to build cinemas in cities such as Hyderabad and Chennai that are seeing a BPO-led economic boom. PVR plans to more than double its total screens to 82, in 10 cinemas, by March 2008.

PVR posted a net profit of Rs36.5 million on revenue of Rs862.3 million for the year ended March 2005.
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