Tatas to float $2bn bond for Corus acquisition
Mumbai: Tata Steel is considering offering a $2 billion bond to part-finance the acquisition of UK based Anglo-Dutch Corus Group if the deal works out. British laws demand an open offer to all Corus shareholders if the Tata group's holding in the company goes beyond 30 per cent.

Tata Steel is also said to have lined up a loan of up to $6.5 billion from Standard Chartered Plc, ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank and plans to refinance the loan later through a combination of instruments, including a bond issue of $2 billion.

Tata Sons, the group's holding company, will chip in with the remaining portion.

The fund-raising programme might include the launch of a special purpose vehicle to conclude the deal - the same route taken by Tata Tea when it acquired Tetley, sources said. Tata's bid is expected to be at a premium to the ruling Corus share price.

If Tata Steel manages to wrest control of Corus, it will be the second most valuable takeover bid after Mittal Steel's $31 billion (16.5 billion pounds) acquisition of rival Arcelor this year and will propel Tata Steel to the sixth slot from 56th in global rankings, and will underscore its growing appetite to cut costs by merging with rivals.
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Petronet stake may be sold to Qatar
New Delhi: India and Qatar are looking at signing a deal under which the former would get more liquefied natural as (LNG) from that country. This is as Qatar would pick up a stake in Petronet LNG Ltd.

The petroleum secretary, M.S. Srinivasan, said that Qatar has been offered an opportunity to pick up Petronet's $100-million foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB), which upon conversion into equity shares would translate into 7.5-12.5 per cent equity stake.

After subscribing to the FCCB, Qatar could join Petronet in making an offer to buy the LNG terminal of Ratnagiri Gas and Power Ltd (erstwhile Dabhol power plant), which is proposed to be hived off. He said a team from the Qatar Investment Agency would be in India next week to carry out due diligence for buying a stake in Petronet.

According to analysts, the deal with Qatar would ensure regular supply of LNG to the Dabhol plant, which is facing start-up delays because of non-availability of fuel.

India currently has a contract to buy 7.5 mt of LNG a year from Qatar, and is seeking to raise it to 17.5 mt. The current supply from Qatar is only five mt.
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Drug policy may be delayed as cos oppose cost-based pricing
New Delhi: Pharmaceutical companies have come out against proposals that call for cost-based pricing of drugs, sharing of production cost data and equipping the future regulator — the National Pharma Pricing Authority, — with suo motu powers to bring drugs outside the National List of Essential Medicines under its control. As a result the new drug policy is expected to get further delayed.

Ministry sources said, the industry is also questioning the move to control prices and has instead proposed incentives such as free medicines for district drug banks and so on.

The high-level, 14-member Government-industry joint committee set up by the Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals is unable to take unanimous decisions on these issues, Ministry sources said. Apart from the difficulties with cost-based pricing, adding further complexities to the entire issue is the interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment based on which the Government had initiated the move to bring a majority of the drugs under price control, Ministry sources said.
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BHEL bags contract to set up power lines
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has received an order for an indigenously developed Controlled Shunt Reactor (CSR), a device used in high voltage transmission lines. It received the order for supply, erection, testing and commissioning of an 80 MVAR, 400kv CSR at Karad Substation on Karad-Lonikand line on a turnkey basis from Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd.

The contract would be completed in 18 months and the CSR's reactor transformer would be manufactured at BHEL's Bhopal plant. As CSRs can be taken out of the circuit even in loaded line conditions, 25-30 per cent more power can be transmitted through improvement in voltage profile compared to a fixed shunt reactor configuration, according to a press release said.
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Ashok Leyland plans bus assembly unit in UAE
Chennai: Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group Company, has signed an agreement with the Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (Rakia) to set up a bus assembly unit at Ras Al Khaimah, the UAE. The assembly will be set up with an initial investment of $5 million (Rs23 crore) with a capacity to build 1,000 buses of international styling, manufacture and quality. The unit to be managed and operated by Ashok Leyland is expected to start production in a year's time.

The bus assembly unit will eventually be upgraded to a vehicle assembly plant for trucks and buses in the second phase. The unit will use Ashok Leyland chassis and bus body CKD units from India, including Irizar TVS. The facility will include a modern paint shop for bus bodies and employ 450 workers.

The unit will have an industrial licence that will enable duty-free import of vehicle kits and duty free export of finished vehicles to the GCC and the West Asia, the release said.

Ashok Leyland has a 60 per cent share in Dubai's standard bus market with exports to the region expected to be in excess of 1,500 vehicles a year.
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Kirloskar Bros sets aside Rs250-300-cr for acquisitions
Pune: Pump manufacturer the Rs900-crore Pune-based Kirloskar Brothers, is eyeing acquisitions in areas where it does not have a big presence. KBL has set aside Rs250 crore Rs300 crore for acquisitions in the areas of pumps for the paper and pulp industry.

The company received Rs204 crore from its recent divestment of Kirloskar Copeland alone. The time is ideal for KBL to scout for acquisitions in Africa and South-East Asia.

Currently the company is positioned at the 22nd place among the largest pump manufacturers, up from its 28th position last year. In 2003 KBL had acquired the UK-based SPP Pumps, and has recently acquired the Chennai-based Aban Constructions.
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Tetley acquires 33 pc stake in African tea
Mumbai: Tata Tea subsidiary, the Tetley Group, has signed an agreement to acquire a 33 per cent stake in the South African tea company, Joekels Tea Packers. The cost of the deal has not been disclosed though it is being funded by the Tetley Group.

Joekels is the third largest player in the South African tea market with a five per cent market share (in value terms) and a turnover of $5 million. Joekels manufactures and sells a strong portfolio of brands spanning a range of tea drinking segments. Its key brands are Phendula Tips, Rooibos Laager, the economy Tea Time range, Tea4kidz, with special blends for children, and a recent launch, San Aqua, which is a Rooibos ice tea. Joekels will get a license to sell Tetley branded products in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. The Tetley brands will be made at their factory in Pinetown, Kwazulu Natal province.

The South African company was founded in 1994 and is owned and managed by Jonathan Kelsey and Joe Swart. Tata Tea scrip closed at Rs737 on Thursday, up by 0.04 per cent over Wednesday's closing price of Rs736.70.
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DVC comes under regulated power tariff regime
New Delhi: PSU Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), which had the freedom to autonomously fix power tariffs, will now have to approach the State and central electricity regulators for the purpose. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has brought DVC under the ambit of regulated tariff mechanism as per the Electricity Act, 2003, and announced generation and transmission tariffs for 2004-09, a CERC release said.

With CERC's decision, state regulators would now be able to determine the retail distribution tariff for DVC's consumers falling within their respective jurisdiction.
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M&M launches new tractor: commits Rs400-cr in tractor biz over two years
New Delhi: Mahindra & Mahindra plans to invest Rs 400 crore in its tractor business over the next two to three years. The money would be spent in a new greenfield plant, expanding capacity and development of new products.

The company is in talks with three different states for setting up of a greenfield plant. The company expects the new plant to have a minimum annual production capacity of 40,000 tractor units.

The company expects the new plant to be operational in the next 18 to 24 months. The company is also hiking the production capacity at its Rudrapur plant to 39,000 units. M&M expects to end this year with a production capacity of 1,20,000 units.
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Carborundum may seek SEZ status for new plant
Chennai: Carborundum Universal, plans to apply for a SEZ status for a new plant that it has recently set up at Sriperumbudur for producing coated abrasives. The new plant is spread over 22.5 acres, just 2.5 acres short of the qualifying 25 acres for single-product SEZ status. Such a status would give the plant a number of fiscal benefits, notably a 10-year income-tax holiday. The plant can produce 15 million sq m of coated abrasives, which are used for surface polishing.

The capacity of the new plant is as much as the existing national capacity for coated abrasives today.

At least 50 per cent of the production of the plant would be exported. Carborundum would then be left with an effective capacity of about 20 million sq m of coated abrasives.
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Sabeer Bhatia relaunches travel site arzoo.com
Mumbai: Sabeer Bhatia the co founder of Hotmail. Has relaunched travel website 'arzoo.com' that shut down years ago. The travel portal will now offer domestic and international flight bookings as well as hotel reservations.

The website was launched in 1999, but the company could not withstand the dot-com bubble burst that followed in 2001.

Besides the Internet, customers can book their tickets through a toll free number or via SMS.

Bhatia is confident that this time around his relaunch vehicle would be successful as he says about 15 million passengers travel by train in India daily, of whom, three million have the financial capability to fly.
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Tata Sky to invest Rs3000-cr: targets a million subscribers
Kolkata: Tata Sky an 80:20 JV between Tata and Star is looking at getting one million subscribers in India by August 2007. the company plans to invest close to Rs3,000 crore over 4 years.

Under its launch offer, customers were being asked to pay a Rs4000 installation charge that included activation and one-year warranty.

Under the offer, subscription fee would be Rs200 per month for the next four months, after which the fee would be revised.

For every television, a customer would need to buy one Tata Sky box. In households with more than one television, the second box onwards would be charged at Rs3,500 per installation instead of Rs4,000, while only Rs100 would have to be paid as subscription fee every month instead of Rs200.

Tata Sky, as of now, offers more than 100 television channels with 8 interactive services.
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Fiat Auto sales rise by 140 pc
Mumbai: Fiat Auto has posted a 140 per cent growth by selling 302 vehicles in September after it entered into an alliance with Tata Motors.

In June this year Fiat had entered into an alliance with Tata Motors to manufacture vehicles at its Ranjangaon facility near Pune.

Since then, the company has consistently grown its sales by sellling 107 vehicles in July, 281 in August and 302 in September as against 79 in July, 200 in August and 126 in September in the same period last year.
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