Tata Steel acquires 21.1 pc stake in Corus
Mumbai: Tata Steel has begun the acquisition process of UK-based steel maker Corus and has set up an SPV for the Corus acquisition. The SPV has acquired 21.1 per cent of the equity share capital of the Anglo-Dutch steel maker at 608 pence per share, said the company in a notice to the stock exchanges on Thursday.

Tata Steel has acquired 199 million shares, spending £1.22 billion (around Rs10,490 crore) in the process.

Tata Steel shares dropped from Wednesday's closing price of Rs463.95 to Rs457.75 on Thursday, marking a drop of Rs6.20 (1.34 per cent).

The formalities are expected to be completed within three to four months, with executive committees and task forces being set up to start the integration process.

The company plans to fund the $12.1 billion acquisition through a debt-equity ratio of 53:47. The exposure to Tata Steel will be in the region of $4.1 billion, through a mix of debt and equity. The rest of the funding will be done by the SPV through various long-term loans, which would be serviced out of Corus' cash flows.
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Volvo to launch cars in India
Chennai: Swedish car major Volvo is launching its cars in India and plans to have three distributors — one each in Mumbai and Delhi, while the third is yet to be decided, according to Maud Olofsson, Swedish deputy prime minister and minister for enterprise and energy.

Volvo would also invest Rs70 crore in a bus building facility in Bangalore and it would provide job opportunities for around 700 people.

Bilateral trade relations between India and Sweden in 2006 touched $2 billion, 40 per cent higher than in 2005.

Ms Olofsson said India and Sweden could jointly work in areas such as information, communication and technology, biotechnology and environment.
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Maruti raises prices
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog has announced a price hike in the view of rising input costs. The company has raised prices of the Baleno and Gypsy King by Rs12,000. Prices of the new WagonR and Zen Estilo have been increased by Rs3,500. The increase in Maruti 800, Omni, Alto, Swift (Petrol)Vxi and Esteem has been Rs2,000.

According to a statement from the company, "Over the recent past, there have been significant increases in input costs of the company as also the operational costs of its dealers. The company has decided to pass on a part of this burden to its customers. A major portion of this increase will go towards the dealers' margins to help them provide better services to the customers," the company said in a statement.
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Motorola turns down BSNL's offer on cellular contract
New Delhi: The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam's (BSNL) interim formula to Motorola, to award 40 per cent of the 45.5-million line contract in the Delhi High Court to the latter was rejected by the US based company.

The High Court has extended the stay on the mega GSM project until February 12. This would further hurt the state-owned company's plans to ramp up its network, which is already running at almost full capacity.

The suggestion to clear 40 per cent of the total contract was made by the Additional Solicitor General, Gopal Subramanium, appearing for BSNL. Subramanium contended that as per the term of the contract 60 per cent of the project would go to the first lowest bidder and rest 40 would go to the second lowest bidder.

BSNL said if Motorola won the case, it would get a maximum of 60 per cent of the contract, and therefore, the balance should be cleared for awarding of contract and the PSU would be able to move ahead with its expansion plans.

Motorola's lawyers did not accept this. Motorola had challenged its disqualification from the bidding process for supply of equipment to BSNL. Ericsson and Nokia had emerged as the two lowest bidders when BSNL opened the bids in October 2006.
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Dabur sells domestic non-oncology biz to Alembic
Ahmedabad: Alembic Ltd, the Vadodara-based pharmaceutical major has acquired the entire domestic non-oncology formulation business of Dabur Pharma for Rs159 crore.

The non-oncology formulation business of Dabur Pharma is mainly into high growth, lifestyle segments such as cardiovascular, diabetic, gastrointestinal, and gynaecology.

The acquisition is subject to necessary statutory and regulatory approvals wherever applicable. Alembic sources said the transaction would be completed in two months.

The consideration for the acquisition is Rs159 crore plus the actual net working capital on the closing date. This business had net sales of Rs62 crore for nine-months ended December 31, 2006, and is expected to post sales of Rs80 crore for the full year.
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Usha Martin to develop captive coal mines
Kolkata: Specialty steel and wire rope manufacturing company Usha Martin plans to commence captive coal mining within the next six months thus completing its raw material linkages. The company already has captive iron ore mines and power generation units. The forging of linkages to coal, iron ore and power is expected to have a positive impact on the company's bottomline. Already, linkages to iron ore requirements had helped the company cut input costs.

The company is in the process of making a capital investment of Rs1,350 crore in logistics, minerals and power distribution, in increasing the steel production capacity to one million tonnes, and in value addition to the product mix and in strengthening the company's global distribution and marketing network.

The company has raised Rs200 crore by way of GDRs/promoters equity. A further sum of Rs500 crore would comprise the debt component from State Bank of India and ICICI Bank. The balance amount required would be generated from internal accruals over the next three years. According to him, the company would continue to focus on becoming the largest wire rope company in the world. When it achieves one million tonnes steel production three years from now, 50 per cent of it would be value added by the company itself.
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MphasiS Q3 net declines 12 pc to Rs36 crore
Bangalore: MphasiS' consolidated net profit for the quarter-ended December 31, 2006 declined 12 per cent to Rs35.8 crore as compared to Rs40.8 crore in the corresponding last quarter. Revenues grew by 26 per cent to Rs306 crore over the same quarter last year.

The company said it incurred a forex loss of Rs6 crore and a tax charge of Rs2 crore which impacted its profit growth.

However, on a sequential basis, net profits were up 53 per cent and revenues grew five per cent over the September 2006 quarter, despite a strong rupee. MphasiS added 11 new clients during the quarter of which nine are in software services and two in BPO.

The MphasiS stock closed about four per cent higher at Rs290.15 on the BSE on Thursday.
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