GM to roll out three new models
New Delhi: General Motors India plans to launch three new models in the B and C segments just after the Auto Expo. These include the Aveo notchback and hatchback and the Optra Sport.

The Aveo is available in both 1.6 litre and 1.4 litre engine variants and is likely to be positioned in the Rs4-4.3 lakh range to give both Getz and Swift some tough competition.
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GHCL acquires US textiles company
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd. (GHCL) has signed an agreement to acquire over 90 per cent stake in US textiles company Dan River through its international subsidiary, according to chairman Sanjay Dalmia.

Dan River will outsource 90 per cent of its work to India (especially to GHCL's Vapi plant), China and Pakistan to refinance its existing debts. GHCL will take control of the US company on January 2.

Dan River will be able to integrate its well-built marketing capability in the US home textile space with the high quality and competitive manufacturing competence of GHCL's textile facility at Vapi, besides integrating its global outsourcing strategy of sourcing from India, Pakistan and China.

The equity cost of acquisition at US$17.5mn, will be funded through GHCL's recently concluded FCCB issue proceeds, while the existing debts will be refinanced. Dan River is the leading player in the US textile markets with an annual turnover of $250mn in home textiles. The acquisition enables GHCL to enter into existing marketing arrangements of $250mn even before the Indian manufacturing unit at Vapi, Gujarat commences operations in March 2006.
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Glenmark acquires South African marketing company
Mumbai: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' Swiss subsidiary has acquired Bouwer Bartlett, a South African sales and marketing company. The cost of acquisition has not been revealed. The acquisition provides Glenmark an entry into the South African market, which is one of the largest and fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in Africa.

Bouwer Bartlett has a basket of 22 products, most of which are in the dermatology segment.

Glenmark expects the South African operations to close at US$3.1mn with an EBITDA of US$6,00,000 in the calendar year '06. The company with a presence in over 30 of the 54 markets in Africa, established a representative office in South Africa in '03, in addition to its three other offices in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria. This acquisition will help consolidate the company's presence in Africa.
Glenmark's shares closed at Rs291.75, down 2.16%, on the BSE on Monday.
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LG to make IT products more affordable
Mumbai: KR Kim managing director LG has said that the company's strategy includes capturing leadership positions in communication and IT products like mobile phones, laptops, PCs, monitors and other peripherals by positioning the products on the affordable platform.

The Rs6,500-crore Korean chaebol had recently done away with its affordability strategy and implemented a premium strategy in the durables market following a global directive to chase value growth and improve profitability.
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Sundram Fasteners to buy German firm
Chennai: Sundram Fasteners has announced that it will acquire German auto component company Peiner Umformtechnik to gain access to its European customer base. The company did not reveal the sum it would pay for the acquisition.

Sundram Fasteners' acquisition cost is based on the value of Peiner's assets at the end of December and the acquisition will take effect in January. Sundram Fasteners' chairman and managing director, Suresh Krishna, told the press, "Peiner's a profitable unit," he said.

Peiner is owned by Textron Deutschland, with whom Sundram Fasteners' has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Peiner's equity for cash. Krishna said the acquisition would be funded through internal accruals.

Peiner makes standard and special fasteners for the automobile, industrial and construction sectors. Sundram Fasteners' also makes high tensile fasteners for the automotive industry.
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Pantaloon Retail to increase focus on Pantaloon
Mumbai: Pantaloon Retail India (PRIL) is planning to increase focus on its lifestyle retail format, Pantaloon. The Pantaloon brand will be given a new look and will be positioned as a lifestyle brand for the young, particularly women.

For the coming year, PRIL has earmarked an advertising and marketing budget of Rs100 crore to be spent on all the retail formats in its stable.

The company said the new brand identity is part of an aggressive push to drive Pantaloon keeping in mind the youth. With lifestyle changes, women are becoming more fashion conscious and have decision-making power. The new brand identity has a more feminine look to it, in line with the strategy planned for Pantaloon.
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Demerged Reliance co.'s to be listed
Mumbai: The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has said that the four companies arising from the reorganisation of the Reliance group would apply to the Sebi through stock exchanges (SEs) for a listing without making an IPO.

The four companies resulting out of the reorganisation are Reliance Communication Ventures (holding company for Reliance Infocomm), Reliance Energy Ventures (holding company for Reliance Energy), Reliance Capital Ventures (holding company for Reliance Capital) and Global Fuel Management Services.

After getting approvals from Sebi and SEs, registrars and transfer agents will compile the data to determine names of shareholders of Reliance Industries (RIL) as on the record date — January 25, '06.

Shares of the four companies will be allotted to shareholders.

While the RIL shareholders, who hold shares in demat mode, will be given an electronic credit of shares, those holding shares in physical mode will be despatched share certificates by registered post. This involves printing and despatch of over 55 lakh share certificates by R&T agents for all RIL shareholders, holding shares in physical mode.
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Premier Airways to take off next year
Mumbai: Yet another low cost airline, Premier Airways, will take off next year. The airline being floated by ten US-based non-resident Indians will launch its services from September with an initial investment of US$50mn (Rs225 crore).

Headquartered in Chennai, the airline will start operations by connecting all metros from Chennai.

Premier Airways is the second low cost carrier from South India. Madurai-based Paramount Airways had launched commercial flights on October 19 from Coimbatore. Other low cost carriers include Capt G R Gopinath-promoted Air Deccan, Gurgaon-based SpiceJet and the Wadia Group promoted GoAir.

Premier Airways has been talking to European aircraft manufacturer Airbus for taking aircraft on lease, soures said, adding that it would take up five aircraft initially. The airline would have a total of 26 aircraft over three years.
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Reliance Info ties up with Verizon for roaming facilities in North America
Mumbai: Reliance Infocomm has entered into an agreement with the US telephony company Verizon to offer CDMA-based roaming services to its users visiting North America.

With this tie-up Reliance international roaming presence has been extended to 10 countries across the world that jointly hold over 90 per cent of the global CDMA footprint. This offer is only for Reliance's post-paid subscribers.

The roaming service was launched on Wednesday and is available to Reliance customers who use single band handsets. This is the second roaming tie-up for Reliance Infocomm in the US, the earlier being an agreement signed up with Sprint, the other CDMA operator in that country.

Reliance Infocomm has tie-ups with Unicom of China, Pelephone of Israel, Telecom Mobile of New Zealand, Mobile 8 of Indonesia, Hutch in Hong Kong, ABPW of Taiwan, Telestra of Australia, Cat Telecom of Thailand and S K Telecom of Korea.

Inroaming services for S K Telecom, Korea, were rolled out on December 15.
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Cisco to launch CPN programme by Jan.
Mumbai: Cisco Systems will launch its popular Cisco Powered Network (CPN) designation in India by January 2006. The company launched CPN in international markets in 1999.

The company has also signed up telephony majors Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) and Bharti Tele-Ventures as members and is to confer CPN designation for their Internet Protocol Virtual Private Networks (IP VPN) services.

The company's CPN is a designation of quality, performance and reliability of the services being offered. Over 350 service providers - including telecom majors AT&T, British Telecom and MCI - in 62 countries around the world, use CPN. However, the CPN programme cannot be termed as a certification.

Cisco is also looking at offering the programme to other Indian telecom players and is believed to have initiated talks with Reliance Infocomm and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) among others.
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Alcatel to ready WiMax beta by `06
Mumbai: Alcatel, the French telecom company, will be ready with the beta version of WiMax technology for mobile communications by the second half of 2006, and will offer it commercially by the end of next year.

The wireless networking standard being developed at the company's Chennai centre is an ideal platform for telecommunications across the globe and especially for the rural foray of Indian telecom operators.

The company is also planning to increase its quantum of research and development (R&D) outsourcing to Asia, of which India and China will get the lion's share. The company is planning to make India one of its major manufacturing hubs and increase R&D outsourcing to its Indian subsidiary, Alcatel India. The company's present R&D budget is of around US$1.8bn with 17,000 engineers across the world, of which 1,000 are based in India.

The centre was set up in association with Indian government's Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), with an investment of Rs212 crore.
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NPIL enters into contract manufacturing agreement with Pfizer
Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal India (NPIL) has signed a long-term contract manufacturing agreement with Pfizer International LLC for animal health products. The agreement is for a period of seven years and renewable thereafter, according to a note from the company. No details were divulged on the size of the contract.
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Zensar sets up recovery centre in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: Zensar Technologies Ltd has announced plans to locate a disaster recovery centre at Hyderabad to support its global operations.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Dr Ganesh Natarajan, the chief executive officer of Zensar, and the head of the recently set up global operations center in the city, Vijay Saradhi, that the company has also planned an innovation technology solutions centre.

The company wants the Hyderabad centre to serve as the financial services business of the company. By the end of 2006, the company expects to locate about 400 people in Hyderabad, of whom 250 would come from its recent acquisition of OBT Global Inc, a specialised SAP solutions provider in Hyderabad.
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Wockhardt gets USFDA nod for epilepsy drug
Mumbai: Pharma company Wockhardt has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) for marketing its epilepsy drug Zonisamide capsules, in the US.

Zonisamide is the generic version of Dainippon's Zonegran capsules and according to Wockhardt, is among the first to receive approvals for this market.

The current market of Zonisamide in the US is US$174mn and the overall anti-epileptic market is estimated to be about US$8bn.
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UltraTech Cement to be merged with Narmada Cement
Mumbai: Narmada Cement is to be merged with UltraTech Cement, the merger ratio being one equity share of UltraTech Cement for every 18 equity shares of Narmada Cement. The AV Birla group company's cement production capacity after the merger will be 17 million-tonnes-per-annum.

The merger ratio is based on an independent valuation done by Mumbai-based Bansi S. Mehta & Co, said a news release from UltraTech.

UltraTech holds 97.8 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital of Narmada Cement.
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Maruti to unveil Escudo, Solio
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog will have a grand showing at the upcoming Eighth Auto Expo to be held in Delhi next month when it will unveil the SUV Escudo and the hatchback, Solio. The former car was launched internationally in August this year.

Another prime attraction will be the single-seater car, the Formula Hayabusa, which has acquired world fame in motor sports.

It will also showcase its latest environment initiative of cars that use non-conventional fuels with the Omni LPG and Wagon R LPG on display. In addition, the company would have a separate section for motor sports at the Auto Expo.
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NTPC in joint venture pact - to take over two power plants in Bihar
New Delhi: National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plans to form a joint venture company to take over two 110 MW power plants in Bihar.

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bihar Government and the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) in this regard.

NTPC will hold 51 per cent equity in the joint venture while the rest will remain with BSEB, the communication said. Both the thermal plants are located in Muzaffarpur district of the eastern State, it said.
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Tata Chem to make open offer for Brunner Mond's remaining equity
Mumbai: Tata Chemicals, which acquired 63.5 per cent equity stake in Brunner Mond last Friday for Rs508 crore would make an open offer for the remaining equity of the UK based company after the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The company will fund the acquisition from internal accruals, said Prasad Menon, managing director, TCL, at a press briefing here. The stake acquired so far has also been funded without any borrowings, with the company having used its cash resources, including FCCB proceeds, for the purpose.

He said the FCCB funds have almost dried up; US$108mn were spent for the BM deal while TCL drew US$38mn earlier this year to become an equal partner at Indo Maroc Phosphore SA (IMACID).

Tata Chemicals and UK-based Brunner Mond Group (BM) will be the third biggest soda ash manufacturer worldwide with a production capacity of 3 million tonnes.

The current chairman of Brunner Mond would continue to head the company as a Tata nominee and Menon is also expected to join the board.
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