Holcim increases equity stake in Gujarat Ambuja Cements to 18.4 pc
Mumbai: Swiss cement company Holcim has increased its equity holding in Gujarat Ambuja Cements. The Swiss company bought 50 million shares in GACL from the promoter group in two block deals paying Rs685 crore amounting to a 3.6 per cent stake in GACL. With this the Swiss company's stake in GACL goes up to 18.4 per cent from about 14.8 per cent earlier.

The Sekhsaria (promoter) family's holding companies Radha Madhav and RKBK Financial Services sold the shares to Holderind Investments Ltd, Mauritius (for Holcim). Holcim had acquired a 14.8 per cent stake in GACL from the promoters in January this year when it bought majority stake in Ambuja Cement India Ltd.

When group company Ambuja Cement Eastern is merged with GACL, Holcim's stake in GACL will go up to 27 per cent.

The latest deal is part of the shareholder agreement between Holcim and the promoter family; Holcim does not plan to increase its stake further in GACL, said agency reports quoting a Holcim spokesperson.

Holcim has over 34 per cent stake in ACC Ltd, having initially bought into the company in 2005.
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Jet gets approval to operate US flights
New Delhi: After a two year wait Jet Airways has received clearance from US authorities to launch flights to the country. The airline has been given "economic authority" by the US Department of Transport to operate regular flights to the US.

Jet Airways will now have to follow regular procedures for operating flights to the US, such as completing operational discussions with the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), said a spokesperson of the US Embassy.

The operational discussion with the FAA would include review of various procedures, including looking at the pilots employed with the airline before approval is granted.
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Sterlite to foray into power sector
Mumbai: Sterlite Industries India will foray into the commercial energy business by setting up a 2,400 MW green field power plant in Jharsuguda, Orissa, with an investment of $1.9 billion.

The power business will be operated through Sterlite Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sterlite Industries India Ltd, belonging to Vedanta Resources.

Sterlite proposes to set up a 4 x 600 MW coal-based thermal power plant, which will be the first phase of the total power project. The second phase of the project, which has not yet been approved by the Board, involves setting up of another 1,200 MW plant (2 x 600 MW). The company's board has also proposed to raise funds to the tune of Rs12,500 crore.
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Tata Sky files appeal against Sun Group
New Delhi: Tata Sky has filed an appeal with the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against the Sun Group saying the latter is refusing to share signals and that all efforts of negotiations between the two groups had failed.

As per regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, every channel must share its feeds with all DTH operators on non-discriminatory terms. If refused, the DTH operator can approach the tribunal after serving a 15 days notice to the channel. The Sun Network consists of 14 channels in four languages, and the company has also acquired a licence for its DTH service Sun Direct. Tata Sky says it would pick all 14 channels provided by Sun. A TDSAT Bench has summoned both parties to appear before it on November 21.
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Sanmar group acquires Egyptian co for Rs900-cr
Chennai: The Sanmar Group has acquired the chemicals business of an Egyptian company for $200 million (Rs900 crore). The chemicals business belongs to Trust Chemical Industries based in Port Said, Egypt which owns a caustic soda plant with a capacity of 2,00,000 tonnes per annum and started operations a little over a year ago. The plant also has facilities installed to manufacture chlorine-based products such as hydrochloric acid, chlorinated paraffin wax, sodium hypochlorite and ferric chloride. After the acquisition is completed, the Sanmar Group would evaluate the possibility of manufacture of further products at Port Said, such as ethylene dichloride (EDC) and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) using the chlorine available. Both the acquisitions would be done through two separate companies set up for the purpose.

Chemplast Sanmar will not invest in either of the acquisitions. For the present, the Egypt business would be run as a separate entity, headquartered at Port Said. The rationale behind the acquisition is that power costs in Egypt being low the unit would remain very competitive in the highly cyclical caustic soda industry.
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M&M may acquire German co
Mumbai: Mahindra & Mahindra is talking to the promoters of Schoeneweiss & Co GmbH, a forging company based in Germany, to acquire a majority stake from the promoters. M&M is required to seek approval from the German Federal Cartel under a relevant German law against restraints of competition and it has in anticipation of the finalisation of the transaction, approached the German authorities for their approval. The proposed acquisition is subject to the finalisation of the transaction structure, fulfilment of certain condition precedents and other corporate regulatory approvals as may be required.
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Sangam (India) to hike capex by Rs167-cr
Mumbai: Polyester-viscose dyed yarn maker Sangam (India) has increased its capital expenditure by Rs167.40 crore, bringing it to a total of Rs707.40 crore. The company plans to add 51,840 spindles for manufacturing polyester-viscose yarn, and 12 knitting machines to add value to its cotton yarn business.

The company's existing Rs540 crore expansion plans is progressing on schedule, the company said in a statement. The increased capital expenditure will be financed through a combination of internal accruals, and term loans under the Technology Upgradation Fund scheme. The expansion plans are expected to be complete by December 2007, when the total capacity of spindles will increase to 2, 11,584 and the total number of weaving & knitting machines to 279.
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Advinus collaborates with Merck for drug development
Mumbai: The Tata Sons-promoted Advinus Therapeutics has entered into a drug discovery and clinical development collaboration with US-based Merck Inc to jointly develop drugs for metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity.

Merck will retain the right to advance the most promising of these candidates into late-stage clinical trials.

Advinus will receive an upfront payment and could receive up to $74.5 million (around Rs333 crore) for each target.

The company is also eligible for royalties on the sales of any products that result from the collaboration.

Advinus has R&D centres at Pune and Bangalore. The company is planning to triple its manpower strength at the Pune facility, which currently employs 65 people, over the next three years.
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GSPC finds oil
Ahmedabad: Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has found oil during exploration in Ahmedabad district.

The crude oil has been found in well number PK/2-A/2 at Ahmedabad exploration block near Ingoli village in Dholka taluka at a depth of about 1,900 metres.

The find is estimated to be anywhere between 1,200 to 1,400 barrels per day and could fetch Rs1,200 crore as per prevailing rates, company officials said.

Earlier GSPC struck oil at the block that was earlier abandoned by Oil and Natural Gas Corp which had yielded about 1,200 barrels per day. Now, both these wells in Dholka would be able to generate more than 2,000 barrels of crude daily.

Officials said the rate of production is estimated to continue for about ten years. The development plan for PK/2-A/2 discovery area has been submitted to upstream regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and the approval is expected shortly.
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Teledata gets Rs300 crore order from MP govt
Mumbai: Teledata Informatics has received a Rs300 crore project from the MP government to provide wireless broadband connectivity in rural areas. The company will invest Rs150 crore in the state to connect villages to the district headquarters and state capital Bhopal through broadband. The expected revenue from the 5-year contract is Rs60 crore per year.

The company proposes to set up infrastructure at select points in Bhopal and around 200 points in rural areas to improve lives of people.

This phase will also include development of complete ecosystem of IT applications, services and logistics. The first phase is expected to be operational six months from the date of signing of the MoU, said Teledata.
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