Jindal Steel's Bolivia mine acquisition plan uncertain
New Delhi: Jindal Steel & Power's (JSPL) plan to acquire the El Mutun iron ore mines in Bolivia is stuck due to the recent policy changes of the Bolivian Government. Last week, the Bolivian Government nationalised the petrol and gas sector while Iron ore was already in the hands of the Government there, but selling of the iron ore mine would have meant privatisation of iron ore mining.

JSPL is now not sure whether the last round of bidding would take place in time because of the Government's moves at nationalisation. The bidding initially had five competitors - JSPL, Rotterdam-based Mittal Steel, China's Shandong Luneng Hengyuan Trading Group Co Ltd, a joint venture between Argentina's Siderar SAIC and Techint Argentina SA, and the Brazil-based EBX Group.
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Reliance Comm to foray into Egypt
New Delhi: Reliance Communications, India's largest CDMA player, is looking at the Egyptian mobile market. It has formed a consortium with Egypt-based Arab Computer Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Mohammad Kharafi and Sons Co, and is among the 11 bidders that have been shortlisted by Egypt's National Telecom Regulatory Authority for the country's third mobile licence.

Sources said the Egyptian telecom regulator had sought up to eight weeks to assess the technical capabilities of the all the bidders before finalising the qualified ones. Following this, qualified companies will have to submit financial bids and be part of an auction, with a reserve price of $ 434 million.

The Egyptian telecom regulator also said the winner would be chosen not just on financial parameters, but also on the basis of a specific time frame, within which it could set up an operational network.
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Reliance to enter Pakistan
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) India's largest private sector company is in talk with Pakistan PTA, the country's only major producer of purified terephthalic acid (PTA) for acquiring an equity stake in the former. If the deal goes through, it will be the biggest investment by an Indian company in Pakistan. The PTA plant in Pakistan is close to Port Qasim, about 50 km from Karachi which makes things logistically easier for Reliance. The Indian company's Jamnagar port in Gujarat is just about 10 hours from Port Qasim.

The Pakistan venture would add muscle to Reliance's polyester business as it assures RIL of another steady source of raw material after the expansion of its polyester facilities.

RIL's polyester capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum is the sixth largest in the world. The company is the largest producer of polyester fibre and yarn in the world. The company is moving towards high-end applications like industrial usage of PTA from mere textiles.

With a turnover of nearly Rs2,200 crore last year, Pakistan PTA produces 72,000 tonnes of PTA and sells 4,78,000 tonnes. RIL's present PTA capacity is 9, 75,000 tonnes a year, which is slated to increase to 1.9 million tonnes after the current expansion.
Pakistan PTA was formed after the PTA business was demerged from ICI Pakistan in 2001.
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Intl Travel House profit up
New Delhi: ITC's travel arm International Travel House has reported a profit after tax of Rs7 crore during 2005-06, up from Rs4.58 crore reported during the same period in the previous year. During the year, the company registered a turnover of Rs490.33 crore up from Rs400.85 crore reported during the previous year.
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SHCIL acquires stake in GKM
Coimbatore: The Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) has picked up a stake in the Coimbatore-based G K Management Services India, a business process outsourcing company operating in the areas of finance, accounting and insurance claim processing. The company has a US-subsidiary, responsible for its front-end operations.

Company officials ar GSK Management Services said the company has been witnessing growth in tax preparation and financial accounting not just in the US but also in UK and Australia.

The company has a strategic relationship with the US-based RIA Thomson, a $7.8 billion company for tax preparation services of US based clients. The company is planning to expand operations in the UK and Australia by opening branches.
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MMTC targets Rs.20,000-cr turnover
New Delhi: MMTC has set a target to achieve a turnover of Rs20,000 crore for the current fiscal after a Rs16,385-crore turnover it achieved during 2005-06.

The chairman-cum-managing director, MMTC S.D. Kapoor, said, " In 2005-06 we have done well in terms of business volume but profit margins were under pressure because trading was very tough and competition intense." Activities, which contributed the maximum to the company's business, include gold, precious metals and jewellery, metals, coal and hydrocarbon products and fertilisers. The company posted a trading profit of Rs211 crore with net profit before tax of Rs135 crore. The net profit after tax amounted to Rs94.25 crore.
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Polaris plans Rs.60-cr capex this year
Chennai: Polaris Software Lab plans to spend Rs60 crore on capital expenditure this year after spending about Rs70 crore on capex last year, said Arun Jain, chairman and managing director, Polaris. In the March quarter, the Chennai-based software company got 10 new global accounts of which four are AAA accounts (revenues of $10 million and above). Earlier, Polaris had four large accounts - NEC, AIG, UBS and Citi.

Speaking to investors/analysts at a conference call on the company's fourth quarter and annual financial results last week, Jain said a majority of capex spending this year would be in developing new facilities. He said this year the focus would be on Mumbai while last year it was Hyderabad.

In 2005-06, Polaris set up an investment banking focused centre at Hyderabad. This centre has a capacity to seat 2,000 people and currently there are around 1,200 people in it.
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NDTV signs on Dhoni
New Delhi: NDTV has signed an exclusive one-year contract with wicketkeeper- batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Under the contract, starting May 7, Dhoni would be available exclusively on NDTV for all interviews, views and special shows.

"We are pleased to announce our exclusive association with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It has been our continuous effort to bring quality content to the millions of cricket fans across the country. Our viewers would now be able to watch and hear one of India's most adored youth icons. The decision to sign him was taken in view of his immense talent, maturity and exemplary display of sportsmanship," Dr Prannoy Roy, chairman, NDTV said.

Dhoni presented an autographed bat to NDTV. Commenting on the tie-up, Dhoni said, "It is a privilege to be associated with India's most reputed and respected media house. I am sure that through this platform I will be able to reach out to all cricketing fans in India and across the world. I look forward to a successful and fulfilling relationship".
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Ten Sports goes to SC
New Delhi: Taj Television Ltd, owner of sports channel Ten Sports, which has exclusive rights to telecast the upcoming India-West Indies cricket series, has gone to the Supreme Court seeking to restrain Prasar Bharati from downlinking the live feed of the matches. The Dubai-based sports channel has refused to provide the link without payment.

Ten Sports has filed an application contending that if the Test-matches and One-Day International series were broadcast simultaneously on Doordarshan, it would suffer a huge loss and said it had already sold the distribution right to Discovery, which will have the right to license throughout the country.

It said if interim relief was not granted the order of the court delivered before the recent Indo-Pak series would become infructuous.

Ten Sports, had filed the petition seeking stay of the government guidelines that made it mandatory for sports channels to share broadcast of sporting events of national importance with Prasar Bharati.

The court had allowed live telecast of Indo-Pak one day internationals on Doordarshan after an agreement was reached between Ten Sports and Prasar Bharati that the latter would deposit in court, a sum of Rs15 crore.
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