Subex Systems acquires UK software firm in largest buyout
Bangalore: Subex Systems has acquired UK-based software firm Azure Solutions in a stock-plus-cash deal exceeding $140 million (Rs629 crore). This is the largest overseas buyout by an Indian software firm till date. Subash Menon, chairman and CEO of Subex, said that the deal was primarily a stock transaction with a cash involvement of 2-3 per cent.

Azure is a British Telecom (BT) spin-off and is the largest player in the revenue assurance space and provides solutions for data integrity, wholesale and interconnect billing, international settlements, and fraud management, among others. After the merger, the company Subex Azure would have 23 of the world's largest 40 telecom firms including BT as customers, and a clientele of 150 installations across 60 countries.

Azure registered revenues of $31 million for the year ended March 2006. Following the announcement, Subex shares hit an intra-day high of Rs650, before closing at Rs633 on the BSE, a gain of 16 per cent over the previous close. Subex expects to close the deal in a month.

Subex would be issuing 1.3 crore fresh shares in the form of GDRs to the investors of Azure, who are predominantly venture capitalists. New Venture Partners, Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, and Intel Capital hold stake in Azure.

Subex's paid-up capital is expected to increase to Rs36 crore from Rs23 crore currently with the issue of new shares.

Subex Systems reported a 47-per cent growth in net profit and a 55-per cent growth in revenues for the year-ended March 2006. Subex clocked a consolidated net profit of Rs37.87 crore on revenue of Rs181.43 crore for the year-ended March 31, 2006, compared to a net of Rs25.72 crore on revenue of Rs116.55 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Subex's product business accounted for 65 per cent of the total revenues, while the rest came from services. The board has approved a final dividend of 10 per cent (Re1 on par value of Rs10). Together with the interim dividend of 15 per cent, the total dividend for the year stands at 25 per cent (Rs2.5 on par value of Rs10).
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Ranbaxy prevails over Pfizer in Austria
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories has won the Atorvastatin case filed by Pfizer in a patents court in Austria. The appeal was filed by Pfizer for its $12 billion cholesterol lowering drug soon after the Austrian Patent Office had ruled its patent (AT 207896) as invalid in March last year.

A five-judge panel of the Supreme Patent and Trademark Board of Austria unanimously affirmed the earlier ruling invalidating all the three claims covering Atorvastatin calcium, according to a release by Ranbaxy.

Atorvastatin calcium, sold under the brand name Lipitor by Pfizer Inc, is its largest selling prescription drug.
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IPCL to merge six subsidiaries with self
Mumbai: Indian Petrochemicals Corporation plans to merge its six polyester manufacturing subsidiaries with itself. The board of directors of the company has approved the merger of Apollo Fibres (AFL), Central India Polyester (CIPL), India Polyfibres (IPL), Orissa Polyfibres (OPL), Recron Synthetics (RSL) and Silvassa Industries (SIPL) with the company.

The board has recommended an exchange ratio of one equity share of IPCL for every 25 equity shares of AFL, 23 shares of CIPL, 28 shares of IPL, 28 equity shares OPL, 34 shares of RSL and 38 equity shares of SIPL.

This would result in 3.91 crore equity shares of the company being issued to the shareholders of the merging companies and post merger, IPCL's share capital would increase to 28.73 equity crore shares from 24.80 crores equity shares, the company said.
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IPCL Q4 net profit down 25.89 pc
IPCL has reported a 25.89 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 249 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2006, compared to Rs336 crore in the year-ago period.

The total income of the company also declined 13.34 per cent to Rs2,324 crore for the quarter under review as against Rs2,682 crore, a year ago. The company's net profit for the year ended March 2006, however, rose 27.68 per cent at Rs1,005 crore against Rs786 crore for the previous fiscal.
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KEC Intl gets $63 million order from Ethiopia
Mumbai: KEC International, part of RPG Enterprises, engaged in power transmission, engineering, procurement and construction with presence in more than 15 countries, has received a $63 million order from Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) for the construction of power distribution networks. The contract is funded by the World Bank.

The project would involve construction of 33 KV distribution lines for about 1,400 kms and setting up 460 transformers, for electrification of 73 circles, aimed at satisfying the growing demand for electricity in Ethiopia, it said.

KEC is also constructing more than 2,000 kms of 33 KV lines, which would entail rural electrification of nearly 40,000 villages in Ethiopia.

KEC Industries shares were trading at Rs473.10, up 5.12 per cent at BSE.
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Monnet allots 1.84 lakh shares upon FCCBs conversion
Mumbai: Monnet Ispat has allotted 1.84 lakh equity shares upon conversion of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs). The 1.84-lakh equity shares would be allotted upon conversion of 200 FCCBs of $5,000 due on 2010, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

After the conversion, the paid up share capital of the company would increase to Rs34.34 crore consisting of 3.43 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each, it said.

The shares of the company were trading at Rs300, down 2.99 per cent at the BSE.
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Pratibha receives contract from J&K
Mumbai: Pratibha Industries engaged in infrastructure business with focus on water segment, has received a Rs27.2 crore contract from Jammu & Kashmir Economic Re-Construction Agency for water supply. The project, would entail laying, jointing, testing and commissioning of 50 kms of Ductile Iron pipes for transmission and distribution of water to Srinagar from Rangil water treatment plant.

The Asian Development Bank will provide the funds the project the company told the BSE.
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Jubilant prices $200 million FCCB issue
Mumbai: Jubilant Organosys has priced its $200 million foreign currency convertible bond issue at a conversion rate of Rs413.45 per share. The $200 million unsecured and zero coupon five-year FCCB issue, placed with international investors, would be convertible at 50 per cent premium at the price per Re one share, Jubilant informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The FCCBs are expected to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and would be convertible into equity shares listed on National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) or global depository shares to be listed on Luxemburg Stock Exchange.

The proceeds of the issue would be used to fund acquisitions, capital expenditure for organic growth or any such projects. The shares of the company were trading at Rs275, down 0.13 per cent at the NSE.
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DCM Engg to set up new unit in south
Ludhiana: The Punjab based DCM Engineering is planning to set up a new unit in southern India with an investment of Rs200 crore within next two years.

"We will select a state for setting up our new manufacturing facility of an annual capacity of 50,000 tonne of castings," said Keshav Sachdev, managing director of DCM Engineering.

The company will either launch an IPO (Initial Public Offer) or adopt a strategic investment route to fund the ambitious expansion project, Sachdev said. DCM Engineering has a plant in Ropar district of Punjab and is targeting to achieve a turnover of Rs300 this fiscal as against Rs250 crore last year.
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Opto Circuits signs pact with German firm
Mumbai: Opto Circuits' company Eurocor has signed a distribution agreement with Germany-based leading medical device distributor Fumedica AG. The agreement entails distribution of Eurocor's entire range of coronary stent systems and balloon dilation catheters for the German and Swiss markets, the company informed t he Bombay Stock Exchange.

This is the first major agreement signed by Eurocor, after it was acquired by Opto Circuits and is expected to generate revenues of approximately Rs27 crore during the current year, the companhy said.

Opto Circuits is a Bangalore-based medical electronics company.
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Cairn discovers oil in Rajasthan again
New Delhi: Cairn Energy of UK has discovered more oil in Rajasthan, and estimates that it's in place reserves have now risen to the tune of 3.5 billion barrels.

"Today we can announce a further discovery in Rajasthan which is the 18th on the block. The N-P exploratory well in Barmer has encountered 16 metres of oil bearing Fatehgarh sands," said Norman Murray, chairman of the company.

Cairn estimates that the three main northern fields - Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya - had risen to 800 million barrels of oil. "We now believe that there is in excess of 3.5 billion barrels of oil in place within our acreage and the resource base continues to grow," he said.

The company has till date has made 18 discoveries - Guda, Raageshwari gas, Raageshwari oil, Kameshwari oil, Saraswati oil, GS-V-1, N-R-4, Vandana, Vijaya, N-E-1, Aishwariya, Mangala, Bhagyam South-I, NC West Oil and gas, N-I, Shakti and Bhagyam.
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Reliance plans to start gas distribution
New Delhi: Reliance Industries will invest over Rs5,000 crore in setting up City Gas Distribution (CGD) projects in eight cities in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for supplying natural gas to households, industries and automobiles.

In AP the CGD networks would be set up in Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Nalgonda and Hyderabad and in Sholapur, Pune and Thane in Maharashtra. The company also plans to supply gas, sourced from its gigantic field in Bay of Bengal, to commercial consumers such as hotels, restaurants and hospitals and industries and automobiles in the form of compressed natural gas.
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Kavveri Telecom acquires Canadian company unit
Mumbai: Kavveri Telecom Products has acquired the Til-Tek antenna antenna division of Canada-based Wi-Lan Inc through its Canadian arm Kavveri Technologies Inc. Til-Tek antenna applications include cellular, GSM and rural point-to-multipoint systems as well as special applications such as radar test targets and digital audio broadcast antennas.

"Til-Tek was a key first acquisition and will provide a very strong platform to facilitate Kavveri's expansion into the lucrative North American market," said C Shivakumar Reddy, Kavveri Telecom managing director.
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RayBan to introduce Polo Ralph Lauren brand in India
New Delhi: RayBan Sun Optics plans to launch the designer Polo Ralph Lauren brand of sunglasses in India next year. The company will introduce 100 models across its in-house brands this year.

The development comes on the back of its parent company Luxottica signing a licence agreement with Polo Ralph Lauren to use the latter's brand. Hence the brand would be introduced in India in the first quarter of next year said company officials.

This will be the 16th brand that the company markets in India, which includes three in-house brands Ray-Ban, Vogue and Arnette.

The company is looking at introducing about 100 models from its three in-house brands, of which 43 new models would be from the sports brand Arnette.
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MTNL posts 56 per cent fall in Q4 net
New Delhi: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam has posted a 56.60 per cent decline in net profit at Rs140.27 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2006 as compared to Rs323.26 crore for corresponding quarter last fiscal. The total income of the company decreased 3.80 per cent to Rs1,594.51 crore for the fourth quarter of 2005-06 as against Rs1657.61 crore in the same period last year, according to R S P Sinha, CMD of the company.

For the year ended March 2006, the company posted a net profit of Rs578.67 crore as compared to Rs938.97 crore a year ago.
The total income decreased to Rs5,785.57 crore in 2005-06 from Rs6,084.10 crore last year.
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Wockhardt Q1 net dips 87 pc
Mumbai: Pharmaceutical and biotech major, Wockhardt has posted an 87.10 per cent decline in profit after tax for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, at Rs4.9 crore as compared to Rs38 crore for the same quarter in 2004-05. The total income increased 24.79 per cent to Rs264.7 crore for the first quarter ended March 31, 2006, as against Rs212.1 crore in the year ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The group's consolidated loss after tax for the quarter ended March 31, 2006 stood at Rs3.7 crore against a profit after tax of Rs41.7 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005.

The company's shares were trading at Rs461.05, down 0.76 per cent at the BSE.
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Visualsoft Tech Q4 net dips 42.02 pc
Mumbai: Visualsoft Technologies has posted a 42.02 per cent decline in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2006, at Rs4.07 crore as compared to Rs7.02 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2005. The company's total income for the quarter ended March 31, 2006, declined 43.72 per cent to Rs28.95 crore from Rs51.44 crore for the corresponding period in 2004-05.

For the year ended March 31, 2006, the company's net profit decreased 28.69 per cent to Rs20.20 crore as compared to Rs28.33 crore for the year ended March 31, 2005.
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Pantaloon company acquires 33 per cent stake in Capital Foods
Mumbai: Future Capital's, Pantaloon Retail's private equity fund, retail arm Indivision Capital, has picked up 33 per cent stake in processed foods company, Capital Foods, makers of brands like Smith & Jones and Ching's Secret and a leading private label supplier to several big retailers abroad like Target, Tesco.

Ajay Gupta, the managing director, confirmed the development and said, "It will help us grow faster. Currently, we are growing at more than 40 per cent every year and want to reach the Rs100 crore mark in a few months time," he said.

The promoters of the company will hold 67 per cent after the transaction and the remaining 33 per cent will be owned by Indivision. Currently, the company has a turnover of around Rs40 crore. The company has a manufacturing facility to make ready to eat meals plant at Kandla for products like ketchup, chutney and cooking pastes.
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Hindustan Lever Q1 net expected to be up 30 per cent
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever the country's biggest FMCG company is expected to report around a 30 per cent rise in quarterly profit on Friday, helped by higher prices for its soaps and sales of premium skincare products. The company is also expected to benefit from a slower rise in prices of raw materials such as soda ash and linear alkyl benzene, and tax cuts on ice creams and other processed foods.

HLL is forecast to report a 30 per cent rise in net profit to Rs324 crore ($72 million) in the first quarter ended March 31, according to a Reuters poll of 10 brokerages. Net sales are forecast to rise 13.5 per cent to Rs2845 crore.

Its full-year profit is forecast to rise 14 percent to Rs1610 crore, according to Reuters Estimates.

Shares in Hindustan Lever, valued at nearly $14 billion, rose 38 percent during the January-March quarter, beating a 34.2 percent gain for the sector index and a 20 percent rise for the main BSE index.

Lever reported its first profit rise in more than a year in the 2005 April-June quarter, after a bruising price war with Procter & Gamble in detergents and shampoos.

High oil prices will continue to pressure the cost of packaging and making detergents, while fierce competition would force higher advertising spending, analysts said.
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Taj GVK in Rs.300 crore expansion plans
Mumbai: Taj GVK Hotels plans to invest Rs400 crore in the next 3-4 years to expand its hotels chain in India. The company has plans to set up new hotels of about 250 rooms in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The company will also be expanding Taj Krishna and Taj Residency hotels in Hyderabad.

The company will add 65 luxury residences and 125 luxury deluxe rooms to its 261 room property in Hyderabad. It will also expand the 151 room Taj Residency in Hyderabad by 125 rooms.

Currently, Taj GVK Hotels has got three hotels in Hyderabad and one in Chandigarh.

Taj GVK Hotels registered net profit of Rs46.28 crore for the year ended March 2006, a growth of 109 per cent compared with Rs22.09 crore reported in the previous year.
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