General Motors to launch 'Aveo-UVA' by December
New Delhi: General Motors India plans to launch its hatchback model 'Aveo-UVA' by the year end. The company plans to give the hatchback a 1.2 litre engine capacity to get the benefit of excise duty cuts announced in this year's budget.

The company is looking at launching the model in two fuel variants.

The company will also launch the 'Chevy Spark' by April next year from GM's facility in Halol in Gujarat. The company's plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra is expected to start production by October 2008 and will produce the small car with an initial capacity of 1,40,000 units.
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M&M to invest Rs1,000-cr in capacity expansion over three years
New Delhi: Mahindra & Mahindra plans to invest Rs1,000 crore on capacity expansion in the next three years which will include development of the 'Ingenio', engine development and als capacity expansion at its Uttaranchal plant, according to company officials.

The company is expecting its assembly unit in Egypt to start production by the end of this fiscal. This unit would produce 'Scorpio' with a capacity of about 5,000-6,000 units per year and would also be used for exports in the Middle East region. The company is also planning assembly units for the Scorpio in Russia and Scorpio pick-up in Malaysia.
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Ranbaxy may sell Irish unit
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories has put its manufacturing unit in Ireland, which has been valued at 25-35 million euros, on the block. Ranbaxy's Ireland unit produces general solid dose products and semi-synthetic penicillin for the Irish and the UK markets and also serves as a gateway to the European Union.

According to sources, the company had generated revenues of 12 million euros from the Ireland unit last year. The facility currently employs between 80-90 people and holds over 100 marketing licences issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for the sale of products in the UK as and over 50 marketing licences issued by the Irish Medicine Board for the sale of its products in Ireland.

Ranbaxy decided to sell its Irish unit following the acquisition of Terapia in Romania, where it plans to consolidate its European manufacturing operations.
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R-ADAG to hike stake in Rel Comm to 66.62 pc
Mumbai: Reliance Communications has completed its corporate reorganisation plan while the stake of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) in the company rising to 66.62 per cent.

The total shareholding of the promoter and promoter group currently stands 42.23 per cent according to the data available with stock exchanges.

As per the reorganization plan, which was put into motion in March this year, Reliance Communications has been made the primary operating company for the entire telecom business of the group.

R-ADAG received control of Reliance Communications in February this year after the demerger scheme became effective in December last year.

Post the corporate reorganisation, retail investors hold 12.93 per cent while foreign investors own 14.15 per cent stake in the company. Domestic institutional investors hold a 6.3 per cent stake.
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Cairn Energy declines DGH request
London: Cairn Energy Plc has declined to accede to the request made by Indian oil regulator DGH for a joint assessment of oil and gas reserves in any field before they are announced to the public.

Cairn Energy finance director Kevin Hart said the company's policy of reserve disclosure was in line with global practices and that it had been briefing the DGH before they were made public.

Cairn Energy's group engineering and operations director Phil Tracy said that it would be difficult to control the price-sensitive information being leaked out, if it is revealed in advance.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) had on August 28 written to all operators that "in order to qualify reports on estimation of in-place/reserves/production profiles of oil and gas fields, DGH has to be made a party through involving it during the studies and estimation of such numbers."
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VSNL files plea in Holland Court on bandwidth
Mumbai: Telecom services provider VSNL has filed writ petition in a Holland Court seeking a direction to set aside the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) Arbitration Tribunal's order that has asked the company to provide landing station access in Mumbai to rival FLAG.

On May 26, ICC's International Court of Arbitration had directed VSNL to provide FLAG, access to the Mumbai landing station of the FEA cable system.

VSNL filing a writ petition said it was disappointed that the tribunal decided by a 2:1 majority to reject what the company believed to be the effect to the Construction and Maintenance Agreement (governing the FLAG Europe-Asia cable system).

Accusing VSNL of not honouring the award of the tribunal, Reliance Communications-owned Flag Telecom had reapproached the tribunal in August, against the Tata group company seeking a time-table for damages and 'determination of the reasonable and cost-based access charges'.
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Videocon group is top bidder for Daewoo Electronics
Seoul: A consortium led by Videocon Industries and US fund Ripplewood Holdings was chosen as a primary bidder to buy South Korean appliances maker Daewoo Electronics for a reported price of around $700 million.

Woori Bank, one of Daewoo's leading creditors declined to reveal the bid price, but it is said that the Videocon consortium offered 670 billion to 680 billion won ($700 million-$711 million). Daewoo Electronics was put up for sale by its domestic creditors, who own 97.5 percent of the unlisted firm.

Five bidders, including one local investor and four foreign firms, presented final bids for Daewoo on Aug. 17. Creditors did not reveal the unsuccessful bidders' names, but a creditor source had said a Malaysian investment fund was in the race.

ABN AMRO, Woori Investment & Securities Co. and Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers are managing the sale.
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