Rajshree Sugars to acquire Trident Sugars
Mumbai: Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals is planning to acquire Trident Sugars for Rs62 crore. Rajshree Sugars is also setting up two new sugar factories with a capacity of 5,000 tcd each at Madhubani and East Champaran in Bihar, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company's board is considering issuing the issue of 73.08 lakh equity shares of Rs10 each through a public issue, rights issue, preferential allotment, FCCBs, GDRs, ADRs to finance the capital projects of the company. The company's shares were trading at Rs203.75, up 0.54 per cent at the BSE.
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Ambuja Cement Eastern to merge with Gujarat Ambuja
Mumbai: Gujarat Ambuja Cements is merging Ambuja Cement Eastern (ACEL) with itself, and will offer four equity shares of GACL of Rs2 each for every five equity shares of ACEL of face value of Rs10 each. The ratio recommended by the GACL board and also by the ACEL board is based on a valuation report prepared by Deloitte Haskins & Sells, according to statement from the Ambuja Group.

As a result of this Swiss major Holcim's stake in GACL will increase to almost 24 per cent from 14.8 per cent, something that Holcim's recent open offer for GACL could not achieve. This is as Holcim owns 67 per cent stake in Ambuja Cements India, which in turn owns nearly 96 per cent stake in ACEL.

Holcim acquired 14.8 per cent stake in GACL early this year; this stake remained unchanged even after its open offer for GACL last month, which saw only 3.66 lakh shares tendered and accepted. GACL will issue about 15.4 crore equity shares of Rs2 each to ACEL shareholders. After this GACL's fully diluted equity capital would increase from Rs271.02 crore to Rs301.81 crore, a dilution of about 10.2 per cent.

The merger will extend Gujarat Ambuja's reach in the country's eastern region where ACEL leads in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. GACL's total cement capacity will increase to 16 million tonnes, said a statement from the company. GACL gained by 3.24 per cent on the BSE, to close at Rs125.95 on Wednesday while ACEL lost 3.81 per cent to close at Rs95.85.
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Steel companies hike prices
Mumbai: Steel companies have raised prices with the rise in HR and zinc prices. JSW Steel, Essar Steel, Uttam Galva and AML Steel have increased prices of steel products by around Rs1,500-2,000 per tonne. Steel majors, Tata Steel and SAIL have not issued any communication on this.

Chennai-based AML Steel, also hiked prices by Rs2,000 per tonne. The company said it has raised prices keeping in line with the global upturn in the alloy's prices.

Zinc prices have also been quite strong in the global market. Zinc is used as an anti-corrosive coating material for galvanised steel.
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HCL, Dish TV sign 5-year agreement
New Delhi: HCL Infosystems has entered into a five-year partnership with Dish TV, under which the DTH service provider will leverage HCL's distribution and service support reach to expand its base in the country. The advantage for HCL will be that the alliance will enable it to offer digital entertainment services as part of its digital lifestyle portfolio.

HCL will work to strengthen the presence of Dish TV in around 13 key cities in the first phase. HCL will organise direct-to-customer initiatives and a road show to enable customers experience the digital DTH difference.

HCL Infosystems will offer set top boxes and antennas under the subscription scheme.

Ajai Chowdhry, chairman and CEO, HCL Infosystems, said, "This tie-up would enhance the accessibility of DTH in India - thus taking this global standard of broadcast entertainment to even remote regions which do not have any access to traditional cable TV system."
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UB in big ticket acquisition plans in UK
Mumbai: United Spirits, the spirits business arm of Vijay Mallya's UB group, is planning a $1 billion acquisition in the United Kingdom and has identified four international Scotch whiskey brands and a distillery company in the UK for acquisitions. The international consolidation would help United Spirits to enhance its Indian market portfolio with premium global brands.

The UB group is now one of the world's leading liquor producers after the acquisition of Shaw Wallace & Co from the Chhabria family, and would fund the acquisition mostly through cash reserves and the balance would be funded through external borrowings.

United Spirits is now planning a major capacity expansion programme involving an investment of Rs 400 crore in its Indian facilities. The capex will streamline its own production base in strategic locations across the country and a few greenfield projects.
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Sony to launch a new range of mobiles
New Delhi: Sony Ericsson has launched three new mobile handsets under its Walkman Phone range, priced between Rs12,500 and Rs22,000. This is along with the launch of desk and portable speakers called mobile docking stations, which can be attached to the phone to enhance its music output.

These speakers are compatible with Sony Ericsson's Walkman phone series.

The MDS60 and MPS60 are portable speakers that give an extra boost to the music stored in phones. Consumers can plug or dock their mobile phones into the speakers and enjoy music in stereo wherever they are. Track changes, volume control and other operations can be managed from the music mobile phone.
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Intel to invest $1bn to expedite PC access
Bangalore: Intel Corporation plans to invest more than $1 billion in the next five years to expedite access to technology and education in developing communities as part of its World Ahead program. The five-year objectives of the Program are to extend broadband PC access to the world's next billion users, while training 10 million more teachers on the use of technology in education, according to a company release.
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iGate, Owens Corning sign multi-year deal
Bangalore: iGATE Global Solutions has entered into a multi-year deal with Owens Corning, a US-based Fortune 500 firm offering building material systems and composite solutions. According to the deal iGATE would be one of the Owens Corning's strategic partners for providing supply chain tech services. As part of the deal iGATE will establishe a dedicated SAP and supply chain technology centre for Owens Corning.
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Riga Sugar to raise Rs.40-cr from overseas markets
Kolkata: Riga Sugar Company (RSCL), promoted by the Kolkata based O P Dhanuka group, is planning to tap the overseas market with Rs40 crore foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) to finance its capacity expansion plan. The company says that after Uttar Pradesh, Bihar would be the new growth zone for sugar industry as the new Bihar government has announced an incentive package for establishment and expansion of sugar units. The company has a 3,500 ton crushing per day (TCD) capacity sugar mill at Sitamarhi in Bihar and is planning to expand the capacity to 5,000 TCD in the next year in order to become one of the biggest sugar mills in the state.

Besides, increasing the capacity of sugar mill, RSCL would set up an ethanol plant with a capacity of 45 kilolitre per day (KLPD) and an extra neutral alcohol (ENA) plant with a capacity of 25 (KLPD) at its distillery unit. The expansion programme of the company would entail a total estimated expenditure of Rs40 crore which would be funded through FCCB or other overseas financial instruments. The expansion and diversification project will be completed by 2006-07 according to the company.
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Glaxo plans to offload Agrivet to Virbac for Rs207cr
Mumbai: Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals pland to sell its Agrivet Farm Care (AFC) business to Virbac Animal Health India, a subsidiary of Europe-based Virbac SA, for Rs207.1 crore.

The proposed divestment of AFC would transfer all rights and obligations of Glaxo in the undertaking, including the services of about 240 employees to Virbac, a company release said.

AFC has a market share of over 10 percent and markets a large range of products in the cattle segment, for usage by veterinarians and breeders.
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MRTPC holds DLF guilty of unfair trade practices
New Delhi: The monopolies and restrictive trade practices commission (MRTPC) says DLF Universal is guilty of unfair trade practices like not completing construction within the stipulated time and charging extra money from clients for resultant cost escalations.

The MRTPC has warned DLF not to repeat such a practice in future and to pay interest at the rate of 9 per cent to its consumers.

The issue reached MRTPC after some DLF customers filed a compensation application along with a request for unfair trade practice enquiry against the company.
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Jet Air to go for discounting strategy
Mumbai: Despite intense competition in the airline industry from budget airlines Jet Airways says it will offer 50 per cent of total tickets at discounted rates. It says it will keep the full fare-discounted fare mix at 50:50 for the time to take on competition from other players including low-cost airlines.

Following the escalation in fuel prices, Jet had levied a fuel surcharge of Rs300 on all fare levels on domestic routes, effective May 1. Jet had 9.56 million revenue passengers in the last fiscal.
The airline is also planning to unveil a new product for its domestic and international travellers, which would be declared in the next couple of weeks.

The airline intends to make structural changes in seats and comfort for its travelers and will implemented the changes soon. Jet will also induct eight additional aircraft this fiscal, including five Boeing B-737s for domestic operations, two Airbus A-330s and one B-737 for international operations.

The company has set aside Rs11,000 crore as capital expenditure for acquiring 30 aircraft and will float a $500 million foreign currency convertible bond by May 31 followed by a follow-on public issue of $300 million.
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Chevron likely to be RIL's partner in city gas distribution
Mumbai: US petroleum major Chevron Corporation is likely to be Reliance Industries' (RIL) partner in domestic gas distribution in eight cities across India with an investment of Rs5,000 crore.

RIL is planning to set up city gas distribution (CGD) projects in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for supplying natural gas to households, industry and automobiles. In these states RIL wants to set up CGD networks in Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Nalgonda and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and Sholapur, Pune and Thane in Maharashtra.

RIL also plans to supply compressed natural gas, sourced from its gigantic field in the Bay of Bengal, to commercial consumers likes hotels, restaurants and hospitals and industries and automobiles.

The RIL-Chevron combine will be the fourth player in the city gas distribution business.
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