Bidding war begins: CSN offers 515p for Corus
London: A bidding war has broken out between the Corus Group and Brazil's CSN with the latter announcing a counter offer of 4.9 billion pounds (515 pence a share) within hours of Tata Steel raising its initial offer to 4.7 billion pounds (500 pence a share) for the Anglo-Dutch steel maker.

Tatas informed the London Stock Exchange: "Tata Steel is currently considering its position and will make further announcement in due course."

The shares of Corus zoomed on the London Stock Exchange, and were up 5.5 pc (27.75p) at 527.27 pence in mid-noon deals today.

The CSN offer is higher than the initial proposal made by it and as well as the revised Tata offer of 500 pence per share, he said.

The Latin American firm said the acquisition would be funded by a cash contribution of 1.6 billion pounds and a debt of 4.3 billion pounds.

The Brazilian firm, which already owns 3.8 pc in Europe's second largest steel company, also said it has reached an agreement with the two main pension trustees - the last hurdle in its way to make a formal bid for Corus.
Back to News Review index page  

American Tower gets FIPB approval with conditions
New Delhi: Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has cleared the proposal of American Tower Company (ATC) that owns and operates communication sites, to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary with the condition that the firm would have to dilute a 26 pc stake to the Indian public within the next five years.

The board, at its meeting on December 8, cleared the proposal following the recommendation of the Department of Telecom with the divestment clause, official sources said.

Boston-based ATC will acquire 100 pc stake in the existing Indian venture, ATC Tower Company of India, by buying out the individual resident investor. At present, ATC holds 48.78 pc stake in ATC India, while the individual investor holds 51.22 pc.
Back to News Review index page  

Hero Cycles, Ultra sign agreement for electric 2-wheelers
New Delhi: UK-based Ultra Motor Company (UMC) and Hero Cycles (HCL) have signed an agreement to manufacture and market electric two-wheelers in India by January 2007.

Under the technical collaboration-cum-joint marketing agreement, UMC will provide electric vehicle (EV) technology and kit including the UMC- patented ultra-motor electronic controller and marketing support.

HCL, on the other hand, will be responsible for assembly, manufacturing and service, the statement said.
Back to News Review index page  

Mauritius telecom firm to invest Rs 3,000-cr in India
Mumbai: Independent Mobile Infrastructure Mauritius, a telecom infrastructure provider, is seeking approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB's) approval for investing up to Rs3,000 crore ($674 million) in India to tap the rapidly increasing opportunities in the world's fastest growing telecommunications market.

It is the second company after American Tower Corporation to seek permission to enter the telecommunications infrastructure space, an industry projected to be worth about $20 billion by 2010.

The company would make the investment over 1-5 years. The investment for its foray into Indian telecom infrastructure will be made depending on the capital requirements.
Back to News Review index page  

GMR awards Delhi airport contract to L&T
Mumbai: GMR Industries-promoted Delhi International Airport (P) (DIAL) has awarded Larsen & Toubro (L&T) a Rs5,400 crore contract for design and construction of terminal, runway and associated works of the Delhi airport. The deal will give shape to the Master Plan unveiled by GMR-DIAL recently. The Master Plan envisages the design and construction of a new terminal and a runway for the modernisation and upgrade of the Delhi airport.

The passenger terminal building (Terminal 3) will cater to both domestic and international passengers. It will house more than 130 check-in counters, 50 emigration and 48 immigration counters to reduce waiting time for passengers.

T3, which will be spread over 4.4 million sq ft, will have 74 aerobridges and 30 remote parking stands for aircraft. Besides, 56 passenger travelators will make commuting within the terminal easy. The contract also includes installation of elevators and escalators, baggage-handling systems, IT, security, electrical and mechanical systems.

To be ready well in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2010, T3 will enhance the total capacity of the Delhi airport to 37 million passengers a year by 2010.
Back to News Review index page  

Jet Airways to start flights to US, Canada
Mumbai: The Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways is planning to launch flights to New York in August followed by San Francisco and Toronto.

The company is targeting 50 per cent revenue from its international operations in three years.

Jet Airways will launch direct daily flights from Delhi and Kolkata to Bangkok from January 23, 2007. Flights to San Francisco via Shanghai are likely to start in October 2007 and the airline will be able to fly to Gulf destinations by early 2008.

The airline will have 22 widebodies aircraft by 2008-09.

The airline is also looking at key destinations including Mauritius, Rome, Zurich, Munich, Frankfurt and certain points in South East Asia like Bangkok.

As an inaugural offer, Jet Airways has introduced a special return air fare of Rs6,500 on the Kolkata-Bangkok-Kolkata sector for a two month period while economy class fares start at Rs 13,500 on the Delhi-Bangkok-Delhi sector.

The return airfare for Club Premiere for the Delhi-Bangkok sector ranges from Rs28,500 to Rs38,000 while on the Kolkata-Bangkok sector it is between Rs18,500 and Rs26,000.
Back to News Review index page  

Infosys maintains $3bn revenue forecast
Mumbai: Infosys Technologies, the first Indian company to join Nasdaq 100, aims to become one of the world's top four IT services providers. The company maintains its October revenue forecast of around $3 billion for the current financial year, dismissing claims of a slowdown in IT spending.

Nandan Nilakani, managing director, Infosys said that though the slowdown in IT spending is a dicey subject, we believe there are no indications of a perceptible slowdown, and the projections stay.

The company's business model will be a mix of consulting services with offshore capabilities said V. Balakrishnan, chief financial officer of Infosys.

According to Nilekani, the company may also look at acquisitions, which would required in verticals and geographies where organic growth alone won't ensure scalability. Infosys currently enjoys a 40-per cent growth rate in Europe.
Back to News Review index page  

Adobe to enter Indian mobile market next year
Bangalore: Adobe is in talks with Indian cellular operators for bringing more zing into their Value Added Services (VAS), said Naresh Chand Gupta, managing director - R&D, Adobe Systems India.

With Adobe's Flash Cast product (from the Macromedia acquisition), operators can introduce a variety of small animation services, such as weather information to their subscribers. Adobe's Flash Lite allows gaming and mobile application providers to develop quick Flash-based applications such as m-coupons.

Vertical-specific applications such as an ATM-like interface on your mobile screen can also be expected to perk up the m-banking industry. Engineers at Adobe's Bangalore R&D centre are working with partners to design such applications. The company is also looking at data-oriented applications to enhance the internet experience of mobile users.

The Bangalore centre of the company has two products - Captivate and Contribute which were successful in the global market. Captivate allows subject matter experts to create a demo quickly, while Contribute is a web collaboration tool. The company's India centres have filed 50 patents over the past four years, he said.
Back to News Review index page  

Sun Micro to penetrate small town India, SMBs
Hyderabad: Sun Microsystems India is offering a range of solutions that will help small businesses to upgrade and transition to the Internet. The company will launch its operations across 18 tier III cities and towns over the year. This strategy is aimed at closer proximity to businesses located in the region.

According to the company the requirement of the companies is industry-specific and calls for customisation, which can best be handled by local presence.

The SMB segment is perceived to hold immense potential for growth from a Sun India perspective. This is because about 50 per cent of the business comes from this segment, which has emerged as the fastest growing segment for Sun in India.

Of the $7.7-billion SMB market in India for IT infrastructure, the addressable market from the Sun India perspective is about $1.2 billion and this presents exciting opportunities, he added.
Back to News Review index page  

Rajesh Exports gets into realty, sets up jewellery subsidiary
Bangalore: Riding on the realty boom Bangalore-based Rajesh Exports (REL) has set up a 100 pc subsidiary - Bangalore Infra - for its foray into real estate development. REL has also decided to hive off its jewellery retail business into a separate subsidiary called 24 K Retail.

According to the company the primary objective of forming the two subsidiaries is to professionally manage and expand new businesses and letting REL focus on its core business of manufacture and export of wholesale and private label gold and diamond jewellery.

Rajesh Exports has 100 acres of land in and around Bangalore, valued at nearly Rs350 crore. Of this, more than 85 acres is in Devanahalli (near the upcoming airport), another 12 acres on the Mysore Road and another 2,25,000 sq ft in Bangalore CBD and High Streets.

Initially, Bangalore Infra will focus on residential and commercial projects. It is likely to launch its first real estate project by April 2007.
Back to News Review index page  

Aptech starts operations in Malaysia
Aptech Ltd ("Aptech") has opened its first office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and at the launch, the company also announced the inauguration of a high-end training centre located at Antarabangsa, in the heart of the Golden Triangle in Kuala Lumpur.

Aptech initially plans to offer services & solutions to individuals, corporates and academic institutions in Malaysia and later address the client's needs across South East Asia.

Company officials said the new Kuala Lumpur office reiterates Aptech's South East Asia strategy of being near to its important regional markets and affirms its commitment to the Malaysian domestic market as well.

Aptech has been operating in Malaysia in partnership with Human Resource Development Corporation (PSMB) and Cosmopoint since 2002.

Under this, Aptech has provided high end software development training to over 1000 IT graduates and has an excellent 98 pc post training job placement record.
Back to News Review index page