Mitsubishi to set up second plant in Haldia
Kolkata: Mitsusibhi Corporation's subsidiary MCC PTA India plans to set up a second purified terepthalic acid (PTA) plant in Haldia, West Bengal with an investment of Rs 1,665 crore.

According to the West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, the state has received a letter from the Japanese company saying that its board had approved the project. He said the second plant would be set up with a capacity of eight lakh tonnes per annum. The first 4.7 lakh tonnes capacity plant set up by the company was with an investment of Rs 1,475 crore.
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Prakausali Investments in open offer to acquire stake in Unitech
Mumbai: Prakausali Investments (India) has made an open offer to acquire up to 18 lakh shares of Unitech, the New Delhi based real estate developer, to further consolidate its holdings.

The company said the offer was made to the public shareholders of Unitech in compliance with SEBI regulations. The acquirer along with Ramesh Chandra, Sanjay Chandra, Ajay Chandra, Praveen Gumani, Chandi Manshramani and Ritu Manshramani - plans to pick up 18 lakh fully paid-up equity shares of Rs 10 each, representing 14.41 per cent of the equity share cap ital of Unitech Ltd at Rs 895 per equity share. At present, the promoters own 60.48 per cent stake in Unitech.
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HM to launch Cedia, Montero
New Delhi: Hindustan Motors is planning to launch the Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia and Montero in 2006. The premium mid size Lancer Cedia is all set for launch towards the end of January 2006. The car will come with a two-litre petrol engine and will be brought in completely knocked-down kits and assembled at Hindustan Motors' Chennai Car Plant, at Tiruvallur.

The Mitsubishi Montero, in turn, is built along the lines of the rugged and heavy sports utility vehicle. The company would be launching Montero in the first quarter of the next year through the CBU route.
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ONGC not to offload stake in IOC, GAIL
Kolkata: After the central government scuttled ONGC's plans of acquiring assets in Nigeria the exploration and production major has cancelled plans to sell part of its equity stake in IOC and GAIL (India) during the year.

ONGC holds 10 per cent stake in IOC and 2.35 per cent in GAIL. The company had earlier considered selling part of its crossholdings worth about Rs 7,000 crore in the two oil PSUs to finance the acquisition of 45 per cent stake in South Atlantic Petroleum's Akpo oil and gasfield in Nigeria. The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) rejected the proposal earlier this month.

Sources, however, pointed out that the company was pursuing an aggressive investment plan for greenfield and brownfield expansion of operations both at home and overseas, which may necessitate offloading crossholding at a later date.

The IOC board is also expected to discuss the sale of its crossholdings in ONGC and GAIL on December 28. IOC plans an immediate sale of 2-2.5 per cent stake in ONGC worth Rs 3,000-3,700 crore through block trading to finance its investment plans. The company holds 9.6 per cent stake in ONGC worth roughly Rs 15,000 crore — a five-fold growth since 1998.
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PSL to increase Vizag mills capacity
Kolkata: PSL, the steel piped maker is planning to expand the steel pipe making capacity at its Vizag plant by 1.5 lakh tonne per annum (tpa). Ashok Punj, managing director, PSL said that the plan is to enhance the capacity of the two mills by 75,000 tpa each at Vizag.

The company is expanding the capacity due to the unfolding market in Orissa, in the steel sector, and Andhra Pradesh for oil & gas related activity in the Kakinada region. The project is expected to be completed by March 2007.

The company is also planning to set up a unit abroad to cater to the overseas markets, likely to be located in the West Asian region. In addition, the company has bagged an order worth Rs 240 crore from GAIL for Dahej-Uran pipeline project through a competitive bidding process.
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KEC International's scheme of arrangement sanctioned
Mumbai: KEC International, among the largest power transmission engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company in the world, has said that the scheme of arrangement between, Bespoke Finvest, KEC Infrastructures and KEC Holdings has become effective from December 26 following the filing of the certified copy of Bombay High Court's order with the Registrar of Companies according to the company.

The Bombay High Court on September 27, 2005 had sanctioned the scheme of arrangement between KEC International, Bespoke Finvest, KEC Infrastructures, KEC Holdings and their respective shareholders and creditors.
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Himatsingka's GDRs get listed
Mumbai: Himatsingka Seide's global depository shares have received listing on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange with effect from December 22. The company had earlier raised $60 million by way of 2,09,64,360 GDRs, where each GDR represented one equity share of Rs 5 each.

The global depositary receipts were issued at a price of $2.862 per GDR.
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Posco goes against central govt; to build separate port
New Delhi: South Korean steel giant, Pohang Steel Company (Posco) has said that it intends to go ahead with building its own captive port near the state owned Paradip port, despite the Central government voicing its opposition to the idea.

The company says it needs to develop a captive port near state-owned Paradip port for handling its cargo since it has a 12 million tonne mega steel plant to be built for Rs 52,000 crore. It says the size of the plant needs a dedicated port facility.

Recently the shipping ministry had asked the Orissa government to discourage the Posco from developing a separate port at Jatadhari, 12 km from Paradip, saying it would cause enormous soil erosion in up stream Paradip besides upsetting the eco-system.
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IOC commissions unit at Panipat refinery
Mumbai: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has commissioned a new diesel hydro treatment unit (DHDT) at its Panipat refinery.

The unit is part of the ongoing refinery expansion project to double its capacity from six to 12 million metric tonnes per annum (MM TPA), according to the company. The DHDT is the second major unit of the refinery expansion project to go on stream after the successful commissioning of the Hydrogen Generation Unit in November '05.

The new unit, which was licensed by AXENS, France has a capacity of 3,500,000 tonnes per annum (TPA), and is the largest capacity DHDT unit in the country. Larsen & Toubro constructed the unit on lump sum turnkey basis, along with Engineers India as project consultants.

According to IOC officials, the plant will enable Panipat refinery to maximise the production of diesel conforming to EURO-III norms.
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MTNL joins lifetime free bandwagon
New Delhi: MTNL has joined the crowd of companies offering life-time validity on prepaid mobile cards with the launch of MTNL Trump Jeevan Sathi scheme. The Jeevan Sathi card, which is available for Rs 900, promises to give life long validity, according to which users can continue to receive incoming calls even if they do not recharge their cards.

The MTNL Trump Jeevan Sathi card will have a talk value of Rs 100.
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Indian registers Rs.65.61-cr net profit in '04-05
New Delhi: State owned airlines Indian (earlier known as Indian Airlines) has reported a net profit of Rs 65.61 crore for 2004-05, up from Rs 44.17 crore reported during the previous year making it the best performance of the airline since 1987-88.

According to the audited financial results for fiscal 2004-05, the airlines' total revenues stood at Rs 5,362.57 crore, up from Rs 4,677.50 crore recorded during the previous year. According to rough estimates of the company's board of directors the airline was expected to register a net profit of Rs 17.5 crore in 2004-05.

The domestic airline is planning to tap the capital market with an initial public offering (IPO) in early 2006. A part of the proceeds from the IPO is likely to be used to finance the acquisition of 43-Airbus aircraft.

Officials attributed the better financial results to the various cost-cutting methods that were adopted that helped save Rs 76.59 crore.
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Scandent receives $64.5 mn from Australia company
Mumbai: Scandent Solutions' Australian subsidiary, Cambridge Integrated Services Victoria Pty. Ltd., has received a four-year renewable contract worth $64.5 million from an Australian firm.

The contract is for processing workers' compensation claims of the State Victoria WorkCover Authority.
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Thermax merger scheme receives approval
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has sanctioned the merger scheme of Pune-based Thermax with its two wholly owned subsidiaries - Thermax Babcock & Wilcox (TBWL) and Thermax Capital (TCL).

Thermax is a major player in energy and environment management offering total integrated, solutions in the areas of heating, cooling, power, water and waste management, air pollution control and chemicals.
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MBT looks at acquiring BPO unit
Kolkata: Telecom solutions provider, Mahindra-British Telecom (MBT), is considering acquiring a BPO company with an investment of Rs 300 crore.

The company recently opened a new development center in Kolkata. Vineet Nayyar CEO and managing director MBT said the company was open to acquiring a BPO to provide support services to its clients.

The company recently acquired telecom equipment-makers' solutions provider Axes.

Nayyar said that the total headcount would be scaled up to 15,000 in the next two years from the 8,000 level at present.
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PSL receives Rs 240cr contract from Gail
Mumbai: PSL has secured an order worth Rs 240 crore from Gail India for its Dahej Uran pipeline project.

The order is for the manufacture and supply of 30" API 5LX70 grade pipes for 197 kms including three-layer, external polyethylene and internal coating on the pipes.

The order is expected to be completed within eight months.
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