Hexaware acquires US company for Rs154 crore
Mumbai: Hexaware Technologies plans to acquire the business of FocusFrame, a US-based testing consulting firm, in an all cash deal for $34.3 million (Rs154 crore) and is likely to conclude the acquisition within six weeks said a statement from the company.

Hexaware will pay $25 million in cash on closing the deal, while the balance amount will paid over 24 months on meeting projected revenue and margin targets.

Atul Nishar, executive chairman, Hexaware said the acquisition would be funded entirely through current cash resources.

California-based FocusFrame specialises in automated testing of ERP and custom applications. It has 200 employees and has nine Fortune 500 customers and seven `million dollar' clients.

This acquisition will enable Hexaware, which specialises in manual software testing, to venture into automated testing and acquire access to the patented `Accelerator technology'. Accelerators allow SAP users to reduce up to 40 per cent of their testing cost and can be applied to other enterprise platforms like PeopleSoft and .Net. Hexaware expect its total testing services revenues to go up to $100 million (Rs450 crore) in three years' time with this acquisition.

FocusFrame is likely to achieve revenues of $24 million for fiscal 2006, with 14 per cent profit-before-tax margin.
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Volvo Bus to set up new JV in India
New Delhi: Swedish automotive company Volvo Bus Corporation is setting up a new joint venture company with Jaico Automobile Engineering Company to develop, assemble, manufacture, export and sell coaches in India. Volvo would hold 70 per cent stake in the JV while the balance would be held Jaico.

The project involves a foreign direct investment inflow of Rs27.20 crore. The proposed plant will have a capacity to manufacture 1,000 bus bodies annually.
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Reliance Petro to open 500 outlets
Mumbai: Reliance Petroleum (RPL) has received oil marketing rights from the ministry of oil and natural gas and now plans to invest Rs500 crore in rolling out 500 retail outlets over the next three years.

The ministry granted Reliance Petroleum the rights after it found that the company fulfilled conditions for a Rs2,500 crore investment. According to the ministry guidelines, any company wishing to get into retail operations for petroleum products has to have invested Rs 2500 crore in the sector.

Analysts say RPL retail plans will not fructify until after the second refinery in Jamnagar is operational. The 29 mmtpa - Rs27,000 crore refinery is expected to go on stream by end 2009. Existing Reliance Industries (RIL) dealerships may also be transferred to RPL at a later stage. Reliance Industries has 1300 existing dealerships.
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Flag Telecom to start BPO services
New Delhi: The wholly owned subsidiary of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group Flag Telecom, is venturing into outsourcing and IP-based managed services.

The company will focus on high-end global managed services (GMS) market targeting enterprises and fast-growing telecom service providers.

The company iws said believed to have chalked out a strategy to capture a significant market share of the fast-growing GMS market, tipped to cross the $5 billion by end of 2008.

The company is said to have appointed former Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) chief financial officer, Vinay Agarwal as head of finance and has also roped in telecom professionals from across international geographies and functional areas to carry out the venture.
With this, Flag would join the band of select telecom carriers, which are on the roadmap of blurring the distinction between information technology and telecommunications.
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P&G goes brand hunting
Bangalore: Procter & Gamble (P&G) is looking at acquiring regional brands in India and is learnt to have approached Kerala-based SD Pharmacy Group for acquiring the latter's ayurvedic herbal soaps portfolio led by Chandanam brand.

Recently P&G has been seen establishing its India strategy. In the detergents segment with brands like Tide Ariel P&G has established itself as a force to reckon with. The drastic price cuts of '04 produced results with the company gaining market share and also managing to upgrade low-end users.

Last year, SD Pharmacy sold one of its soap brands, Manjal, to Marico Industries. The interest in herbal soaps has been increasing since Wipro Consumer Care acquired a leading soap brand in the category, Chandrika, two years ago.
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Tata Motors acquires Nissan's S African plant
New Delhi: Tata Motors has acquired an automobile manufacturing plant in South Africa from Japanese auto giant Nissan. The acquired facility in Pretoria has been engaged in making trucks for the $80.5-bn Nissan. It is not clear if Tatas would use this unit for making only commercial vehicles or also for producing its cars. The transaction value, which is expected to be modest, has not been disclosed.

Tatas had earlier indicated that they would be making vehicles in South Africa though concrete plans — whether it was looking at a greenfield venture or eyeing the takeover of an existing unit — were not disclosed.

A Tata Motors spokesman confirming the deal said, "The Nissan plant has been acquired by Tata Africa Holdings. Tata Motors is indeed looking at opportunities for assembling and manufacturing its vehicles in South Africa. Tata Motors will take this forward in partnership with Tata Africa Holdings."
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Birlas make big plans for retail
New Delhi: The Aditya Birla group is planning a retail roll-out with an investment of Rs15,000-crore over 6,000 stores in three years. The size of the investment is next only to the Ambani's and is much larger than anticipated by industry analysts and peers.

The Birlas plan to go it alone in retail and will not tie-up with a global retail major. The company will also like Reliance follow a multi-format strategy, ranging from neighbourhood stores to specialty stores and hypermarkets to supermarkets. Three, they will initially focus on grocery and lifestyle. The Birla's retail venture will be headed by Group chief financial officer Sumant Sinha.

The Birla group already owns brands like Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England, and has been retailing these for 15 years through Madura Garments. It also owns retail chains Planet Fashion and Trouser Town in India, SAARC and the Middle East.
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