Taj Hotels to acquire Ritz Carlton in Boston
New York: Tata group owned Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the Ritz-Carlton, Boston Hotel from its current owners, Millennium Partners. (See: Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces to acquire the Ritz-Carlton, Boston)

The $170-million transaction will close on January 11, 2007. The hotel will been renamed the Taj Boston upon closing the purchase. Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces operates 75 hotels across the world, including some of the world's most luxurious and iconic hotels.

Raymond Bickson, managing director and CEO of Indian Hotels company, which operates Taj Hotel Resort and Palaces, said the new addition shows the commitment to establish significant presence in key destination across the globe.

In 2002, The Ritz-Carlton had completed a $50 million restoration and refurbishment. Taj Hotels will assume management of the hotel on January 11 next.
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Raymond enters into JV with Italian firm Grotto
Mumbai: Raymond has entered into a 50:50 joint venture (JV) Grotto S.p.A., of Italy (the owner of the international brand 'Gas') to sell the latter's range of casual apparel and a accessories bearing the trademark 'Gas' in India.

The joint venture is subject to the approval of the board of directors of the respective companies.
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Harrisons Malayalam plans to sell off rubber estate for Rs53 crore
Mumbai: Plantation company, Harrisons Malayalam has got the shareholders nod to hive off its Kaliyar Estate in Kerala for Rs53 crore.

The company has received the shareholders approval, for selling, transferring or otherwise disposing off the rubber estate for Rs53 crore as per the agreement of sale, through a postal ballot. The estate covers 603 hectares of land in the Idukki district of Kerala.

The shares of the company were trading at Rs87.25, up 1.63 per cent on the BSE.
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Simplex Infra obtains contract from Delhi Metro
Mumbai: Simplex Infrastructures has secured a contract worth Rs212.11 crores from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, New Delhi for part design and construction of viaduct and structural work of three elevated stations (Chattarpur, Ghitorni and Arjangarh) on Qutub Minar - Gurgaon Corridor of Delhi MRTS Project of Phase II.
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Granules India to raise $20 million
Mumbai: Granules India has informed the BSE that the board of directors of the company has approved issue of convertible securities/GDRs/ADRs/FCCBs for raising funds to the tune of $20 million, subject to the approval of shareholders of the company.
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Samsung India to manufacture TVs in Chennai
Chennai: Samsung India Electronics has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up two projects-an SEZ unit and a domestic tariff area (DTA) unit-with an investment of Rs450 crore.

Samsung said it would invest about Rs284 crore in the DTA project to manufacture CTVs, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines.

Samsung will also set up an SEZ to manufacture computer monitors (including LCD Monitors), computer printers and other technology products with an investment of Rs 166 crore, the release added.

The DTA project will be set up on 50-acre land in the SIPCOT Sriperumbudur Industrial Park, near here, while the SEZ will come up on a 30-acre land in the Sriperumbudur Hi-Tech SEZ located with the industrial complex.
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Penna Industries sets up 1-million tonne cement unit in UAE
Dubai: Penna Cement Industries has set up a cement plant worth Rs 480 crore in Ras Al Khaimah emirate of UAE in a joint venture with RAK Investment Authority which holds the majority stake in the joint venture firm Pioneer Cements.

The plant, inaugurated by Ras Al Khaimah Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler Shaikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, has a capacity of 1 million tonne and was set up in a record time of 16 months.

This is the second major investment by an Indian company in Ras Al Khaimah in the past month. Earlier, Ashok Leyland had announced the setting up of a bus assembly unit in the emirate.
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India's Essar to begin refining crude oil from Nov 14
New Delhi: Essar Oil will begin processing crude at its new refinery in Jamnagar in Gujarat from November 14. Trial production will begin from Nov 14 and in a month's time the company expects to reach 150,000 barrels a day. The refinery will reach its maximum capacity of 210,000 barrels a day during the first half of next year according to a company official.

Essar Oil has bought four cargoes, each of a million barrels, from Algeria and Middle East.

Essar's unit will help India raise its refining capacity to 148.97 million tonne by April 2007 from 138 million tonne at present.
The government is encouraging companies to expand their refining capacity to help the country emerge as an Asian refining hub.

Essar's shares were up 4.4 per cent at Rs54.95 in a firm Mumbai market.
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Zee, ESPN-Star in joint bid for ICC TV rights
Mumbai: Zee Telefilms and ESPN-Star Sports are planning to jointly bid for the global telecast rights of the International Cricket Council's matches from 2007-15 while Dubai-based Taj Television's Ten Sports and India's Nimbus Communications may also submit a bid for the cricket rights in Dubai on Friday.

ESPN Star is a venture of News Corp and Walt Disney Co News Corp also has a distribution deal with Nimbus for the latter's sports channels in India until 2010.

The bids for the rights for the World Cups in 2011 and 2015, four Champions Trophy tournaments and Twenty-20 games are estimated in the range of $600 million to $800 million. Some estimates are even going as high as $1 billion.

Sony Corp's Sony Entertainment Television (SET), which won the ICC rights for the four years between 2003 to 2007 for a reported USD250 million, is not in the bidding this time.

The telecast rights to the Indian board's matches were awarded earlier this year to Nimbus for $612 million for four years.
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Nimbus gets Bangladesh cricket marketing deal
Dhaka: Nimbus Communications has won a tender from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to sell marketing rights for six years until 2012.

Nimbus has offered $56.88 million for the deal. The other contender for the deal, India's Zee Telefilms trailed Nimbus with a bid of USD35.30 million.

The five-year, US$11.75-mn television rights acquired by ESPN-Star Sports from BCB expired in April.
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IOC issues tender to buy sweet crude for December
Singapore: Indian Oil Corp has issued a new tender to buy sweet crude for end-December and January loading, traders said today.
India's largest state refiner bought 4.5 million barrels of sweet crude in its last tender, for similar loading dates, comprising 4 million barrels of West African crude and 500,000 barrels of Malaysian crude .

IOC, which has a total refining capacity of around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), issues several tenders a month to buy crude, mainly West African grades.
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Shaw Wallace to provide Rs5,000 crore worth securities for McDowell
Mumbai: Shaw Wallace and Company said it would provide guarantees and securities worth up to Rs5,000 crore to domestic and overseas subsidiaries of McDowell and Company.

Shaw Wallace said it would give guarantee and securities on behalf of the domestic and overseas subsidiaries of McDowell and Company Ltd (now renamed as United Spirits Ltd) up to Rs5,000 crore.
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Air Deccan 2007 summer reservations from Nov 12
Bangalore: Low cost airline Air Deccan has announced opening of reservations for its much-awaited April to June 2007 summer schedules from November 12, at fares which beginning at Rs 9 (plus taxes).

The company will operate 310 flights in the coming summer from 250 flights last summer. It has added 10 aircraft and introduced 41 new routes. Till date, Air Deccan has carried over 7.3 million passengers to different destinations.
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Singer India offers once off amount in loan settlement
Mumbai: Singer India has offered Rs7 crore in a one-time settlement in lieu of its Rs26 crore loan taken from a consortium of banks.

Singer India said bankers have agreed in principle for a one-time settlement of Rs7 crores for outstanding dues amounting to a much higher Rs26 crore.

The lead banker State Bank of Travancore has conveyed its approval and the amount has to be settled within 60 days from the date of sanction, subject to the approval of the competent authorities of the respective bankers.

Singer India's net worth was fully eroded and it became a sick company as on May 31, 2005.
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