Tatas hike stake in Tata Steel to fend takeovers
Mumbai: Tata Sons is hiking its stake in Tata Steel in order to be able to successfully fend off hostile takeover bids such as the one mounted by Mittal Steel for European steel maker Arcelor recently. The shareholders of Tata Steel approved enhancing the authorised share capital from Rs850 crore to Rs2,000 crore, raising additional long-term resources of Rs6,500 crore and creation of charges for borrowing up to Rs20,000 crore. The Rs6,500 crore includes preferential allotment to promoters, which would check hostile bids and make the monies paid available to the company.

Tata Steel also informed the BSE that it would issue on preferential basis 2.70 crore ordinary shares of Rs 10 each at a price of Rs516 per share for Rs1,393.2 crore to Tata Sons. Also proposed were 2.85 crore warrants, each entitling Tata Sons to subscribe to one ordinary share of Tata Steel against cash payment. The promoter company would pay Rs51.60 per warrant on allotment; Tata Sons can exercise its option after April 1, 2007 but not later than 18 months from the date of issue, in accordance with SEBI prescribed pricing formula.

As per the notice to the AGM, Tata Sons's current equity stake of 20.04 per cent in Tata Steel would go up to 23.85 per cent after the allotment of ordinary shares and 27.48 per cent after the allotment of ordinary shares on exercise of warrants. The holding of other Tata companies, not subscribing to the preferential issue, would fall from 6.75 per cent to 6.43 per cent and on to 6.12 per cent.

Tata Steel is also making hiking capex plans of Rs70,000 crore over the next 10 years, the chairman, Ratan Tata, said at the company's AGM here today. Though the company is targeting 30 mt capacity in 10 years time (similar to Nippon Steel's current capacity), Tata Steel is not currently among the world's top ten steel producers by volume though it is one of top three in terms of profit per tonne of steel.
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Raymond company acquires Colorplus
Mumbai: Raymond Ltd informed the BSE on Wednesday that Raymond Apparel Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond Ltd, which held 74.1 per cent in the share capital of Colorplus Fashions Ltd, a subsidiary of the company, has now acquired the balance shareholding of 25.9 per cent in the share capital of Colorplus Fashions Ltd. Shares of Raymond moved up by Rs4.85 to Rs400.25 on the BSE.
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Maruti plans diesel version of Swift
Pune: Maruti Udyog has firmed up plans to launch a diesel version of its popular Swift model by November this year and to replace Baleno, its premium sedan by the end of 2007.

The company is also working on a three-box version of the Swift, which it would roll out into the market by the middle of next year.

Sources said MUL is also in the middle of development work for two all new platforms, code named model P and N which will be ready two years from now, enabling it to retain the top slot. The company is hoping on combined volumes of 2,50,000 for the two proposed models, including exports.

The Swift diesel would roll out in November this year with a 1.3 JTD engine from Fiat which it will manufacture under license from the latter. Suzuki has acquired the world-class technology for diesel engine from Fiat and Adam Opel, UK. Suzuki has chosen Maruti India, for the manufacture of the diesel engines.

The company had earlier announced that it would come out with a compact car using this diesel engine by the end of the year. The model that will replace Baleno will straddle the existing Baleno and Esteem model with the company now believed to be working on a car that will pull in the volumes with aggressive pricing.
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Mobile players to share network
New Delhi: The cellular industry has launched a network infrastructure sharing programme, under which mobile operators will put up their equipment on a single tower.

This will cut down infrastructure costs and also reduce the sprouting of 'ugly towers' all over big cities. Besides, it would cut down time spent on seeking permissions and security clearances that each operator requires separately. Apart from this this will improve the quality of services offered by cellular operators in terms of network congestion and poor coverage.

India is the fastest growing cellular market in the world adding five million subscribers a month. It has over 100 million cellphone users. Within in a couple of years, the number is projected to more than double. In keeping with this growth India would need 1.4 lakh towers by 2007 and 3.5 lakh towers by 2010, up from 70,000 at present.
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Intel to launch dual-core processors
Hyderabad: Intel plans to introduce its Core 2 Duo processors shortly. These processors effectively harness the power of two processors in one chip, thereby saving on power while enhancing the processing capability. A PC typically consumes power equivalent to about 3-4 bulbs, and these processors save 40 per cent power and improve processing power by 40 per cent.

The director of South Asia, customer solutions group, Surendra Arora said the new family of processors, at more or less the same price as Pentium IV, would herald enhanced computing power for users. Shipments of the new processors are expected to increase by the year-end. The Intel Core 2 Duo processors have a different architecture and are based on 65-nanometre technology as opposed to 90-nanometre technology. Laptops and PCs equipped with the new processors are set to hit the market this year.

Formerly code-named Conroe and Merom, the processors are based on new micro-architecture and will include two processing cores or brains per chip. Hence they are referred to as Duo. Since these are just right for enthusiasts and gamers, it is also referred to as Intel Core 2 Extreme processor.
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Videocon set to acquire Daewoo unit worldwide
New Delhi: Videocon is readying to acquire South Korean company, Daewoo's consumer electronic business worldwide. The company is said to have resolved all major glitches in the deal and will make the announcement soon. Though the details of the deal could not be ascertained immediately, sources say it could be in the region of $500-600m.

Other bidders in the fray were Haier, LG and a couple of investment funds. Given Daewoo's various financial obligations, the deal was delayed and took close to six months to come through.

The acquisition would bring Daewoo's consumer electronics business including LCD TVs, plasma TVs and components into Videocon's fold strengthening its position in the industry. It would also have a strategic fit into the group as it would find a consuming partner for its recently acquired Thomson's picture tube business.

The Videocon group's brand portfolio in India now includes Videocon, Sansui, Akai, Kenstar, Hyundai, Toshiba, Electrolux and Kelvinator.
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Neyveli Lignite comes to stand still as employees strike
Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) operations have came to a standstill as NLC employees' strike, protesting the Centre's decision to divest 10 per cent of its equity, entered the second day.
Barring a 50 Mw power-generation plant, which would sustain supply to the households and hospitals in the Neyveli township, all other activities have been affected. Neyveli Lignite had registered poor Q4 and FY06 results for the period ended 31 March 2006. The company has registered a net loss of Rs65.86 crore in Q4 March 2006 as compared to a net profit of Rs500.57 crore in Q4 March 2005.

Total income for the same period has decreased from Rs1,264.95 crore to Rs224.57 crore.

The company's net profit declined to Rs702.35 crore for the year ended 31 March 2006 compared to Rs1,215 crore in FY05. Total income for the same period has decreased from Rs3,646.78 crore to Rs2,702.43 crore. The government currently holds 93.56% stake in the company, whereas the public holds 1.11 per cent. FIIs hold 0.82 per cent and other institutional investors hold 4.09 per cent. Neyveli Lignite is one of the largest power-generating companies in the country today with a capacity of over 2,400 Mw.
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