FMC bans portfolio services in commodities
Mumbai: Commodity markets regulator the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has debarred members from offering clients portfolio advisory, portfolio management and other services in the commodity derivative markets mainly due to the expectation that it would lead to a rise in speculation. It said it has not formulated any guidelines for investment advisory services by any entity. However, three months ago the regulator had issued draft guidelines to exchanges on portfolio advisory services.

Some players say portfolio services are not leading to a boost in the volumes on the exchanges. They said investors are bound to invest in commodities even if there are no advisory or portfolio management services and it would be in the interest of investors to allow these services after setting up guidelines.

Turnover in many commodities has been escalating, forcing the FMC to impose additional margins and cut open interest positions.

At the same time, the regulator is planning to launch an integrated electronic market surveillance system on the lines of the SEBI.
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Idea hopes to raise Rs2,500cr from IPO
New Delhi: AV Birla Group Company Idea Cellular has filed it red herring prospectus with market regulator SEBI for clearance of an initial public offering. The company hopes to mop up an estimated Rs2,500 crore. It is likely to offload about 10 per cent equity through the IPO and has the option to retain up to 15 per cent surplus through the green shoe option.

The issue proceeds will be utilised in expanding services in new circles, national long distance operations, launch of its cellular services in Mumbai, redemption of preference shares and general corporate purposes, said a company official.

Idea Cellular is planning to list the shares at both the BSE and NSE. While Citigroup Global and UBS Securities are the senior co-book running lead managers, JM Morgan Stanley and DSP Merrill Lynch are the lead managers.
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SEBI puts restraining order on PCS Technologies
Mumbai: SEBI has restrained PCS Industries (now known as PCS Technologies Ltd) from acting as an intermediary in any capacity for a period of six months. PCS Industries, the registrar to the Mazda Fabrics and Processors issue is alleged to have caused irregularities in the issue as it had handed over all the records to the issuer company immediately after the issue without maintaining it for the mandatory three-year period.

It is also alleged to have assisted the promoters of the company in fulfilling the subscription level by not scrutinising the genuineness of the application received.
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Varun Shipping collects Rs 169 cr
Mumbai: Varun Shipping Company has collected Rs169 crore from allotting 2.25 crore equity shares at Rs75 each (Rs10 on capital account and Rs65 on premium account) for cash to six entities. The six entities are Caledonia Investments plc (1.51 crore equity shares), Sofina S.A (16.5 lakh), ICG Q Ltd (12 lakh), Societe Generale (12 lakh), IL&FS Trust Company Ltd A/c IL&FS Private Equity Trust — Leverage India Fund (15 lakh) and Khatau International Ltd (18.5 lakh), a promoter group company.
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Mutual funds asset base increases 10 per cent in November
Kolkata: Mutual funds as a whole posted a marked increase in their asset bases during November leading to a 10 per cent increase in the industry's overall assets under management (AUM) - an addition of Rs31,658 crore, with total assets standing at Rs3.41 lakh crore a new high for fund houses.

Distributors recorded strong mark to market gains in the region of Rs6,000 crore on the back of 5.67 per cent growth in the Sensex and 5.62 per cent growth in the Nifty.
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Holcim looks at majority stake in Guj Ambuja
Hyderabad: Swiss cement company Holcim, which recently raised its stake in Gujarat Ambuja Cement (GACL) to 18.4 per cent from 14.8 per cent last month, is mulling going in for a majority holding in the Indian company.

Thomas Schmidheiny, director of Holcim, who holds 22 per cent equity in the Swiss multinational, said the company would continue to increase its stake in GACL and taking over its management control, was not impossible over a period.
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Ess Dee, XL Telecom IPOs get decent response
Mumbai: The initial public offer of Ess Dee Aluminium, engaged in packaging for pharma companies, was oversubscribed 2.29 times and received a total of over Rs1.59 crore.

The IPO of XL Telecom with interests in mobile handset assembly was oversubscribed 1.58 times, and received a total of over 62.42 lakh bids for its offer of 69.60 lakh shares.

The price band for the issue, which would close on December 7, has been fixed between Rs125-150.

The proceeds from the IPO would be deployed in establishing an increased capacity in the solar photovoltaic division and for setting up a surface mounting technology (SMT) line for the manufacture of motherboards for mobile and fixed wireless phones business.

The portion reserved for the Qualified Institutional Buyers was subscribed by over 4 times receiving robust response from Foreign Institutional Investors.

The price band for the issue has been fixed between Rs200 to Rs225.
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Fidelity to acquire 12-14 per cent stake in Avesthagen
Mumbai: Fidelity Investments is planning to buy 12-14 per cent stake in the Bangalore-based biotech firm Avesthagen for $10-12 million. The Bangalore-based company is currently scouting the market for investors and looking to raise capital up to Rs120-180 crore, as a pre-cursor before it enters the capital market in 2008.

Avesthagen has already raised up to $5-7 million with Indian corporate majors such as the Tata Group, Godrej and ICICI having invested in the company.

The funds will be used for the company's proposed 55 patent filings. The biotech firm is valued at $107 million on a current turnover of Rs11 crore. Daninvest.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Groupe Danone, had earlier purchased 5 per cent in Avesthagen for $8 million. With the current ongoing tussle between the Wadia group and the French food giant Groupe Danone, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered a status quo after hearing the Wadia group's petition seeking surrender of shares bought by Danone in Avesthagen.

Avesthagen is also in the process of acquiring two domestic seed companies to deploy technology that it has developed in the agri-biotechnology business. The capital expansion is also being done to set up manufacturing facilities to upscale production, before moving into phase two of research and development.
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