Globeleq's stake in Sasan acquired by Lanco Infratech, Jindal Steel
Hyderabad: Lanco Infratech's Mauritius-based holding company Prince Stone Investments and and Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) together have acquired 100 per cent of the equity holding of Globeleq.

The consortium formed by Globeleq Singapore and Lanco Infratech successfully bid for the Sasan domestic coal-based ultra mega power project by the Power Finance Corporation in December 2006.

Now, the uncertainty about who would develop the ultra project has been resolved. Prince Stone Investments would acquire 60 per cent of Globeleq's stake and the rest would be held by JSPL. Since Globeleq Singapore held 70 per cent stake in Sasan and with JSPL acquiring 40 per cent stake, Jindal Steel would now hold about 28 per cent of total equity in the project.

The 4,000-MW project is being implemented with domestic coal and the Lanco Globeleq consortium had quoted Rs1.19 paise per unit.
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Alstom gets hydro projects
Mumbai: Alstom Projects India (APIL), a subsidiary of France-based Alstom SA, has bagged three new orders of Rs750 crore from National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and Gati Infrastructure, for implementing hydro projects.

While NHPC's orders entails execution of projects for the URI Stage-II and Chamera Stage-III, the order from Gati Infrastructure was for the Chuzachen project, Alstom said. The orders include turnkey execution of electro-mechanical lot comprising of hydro-turbines, generators and auxiliaries.

The company would execute most of the works at the hydro unit based in Vadodara, the company said.
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Bajaj Auto launches 200cc bike
New Delhi: Bajaj Auto has launched its new 200 cc performance bike 'Pulsar DTS-i' priced at Rs65,497. The company is targeting total sales of 50,000 for the Pulsar range by June this year. The company sold around 43,000 bikes last month.
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HCL Technologies in services tie-up with Canadian company
Mumbai: Shiv Nadar promoted HCL Technologies has tied up with Canadian actuarial firm Eckler Ltd to provide global consultancy services. HCL Technologies and Eckler will work together on actuarial consulting and implementation projects around the world, a statement said.
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TCS enters into joint venture in China
After negotiating for two years, Tata Consultancy Services has inaugurated its joint venture in China. The company has entered into a joint venture with three Chinese partners, being billed by TCS as a `role model for the Chinese IT industry'.

The TCS joint venture, in which Microsoft is also expected to take a 10 per cent stake, plans to employ at least 5,000 people over the next five years, to be scaled up from the company's present strength of 800 employees in China.

The TCS joint venture will thus be one of the largest software companies in China once it reaches its 5,000-employee target. The new venture is widely expected to enable TCS to finally break into the $30-billion domestic Chinese IT market.

The new joint venture has already bagged a multi-million dollar contract to implement a comprehensive international trading system for China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS), a sub-institution of the People's Bank of China. Usually, foreign-owned companies are kept out of the really large, lucrative deals at the state-owned enterprises and the new TCS joint venture, with the backing of the Chinese government, looks set to make a break through.

TCS's announcement came less than a week after Satyam Computer Services Ltd, began construction of a 2,500-seat software development centre in east China's Nanjing city, a sign that real Sino-Indian collaboration in software may finally be taking off.
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Reliance Capital buys 6 per cent stake in GBN
Mumbai: Anil Ambani group company Reliance Capital has acquired over six per cent stake in Global Broadcast News (GBN), which operates the English news channel CNN-IBN and Hindi channel IBN7. Reliance Capital acquired 16.75 lakh shares, representing 6.27 per cent stake of Global Broadcast News through an open market transaction on BSE yesterday.
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Essar says may take legal action against Vodafone
New Delhi: Essar may initiate legal action against Vodafone, which recently acquired Hutchison Telecom's stale in the Indian mobile venture Hutch-Essar. This is because Essar says it is being ignored in taking key business decisions, according to reports in the British media.

The Times newspaper reported that Essar is concerned over Vodafone's move to forge ahead with plans like network sharing without consulting it first.

The report quoted unnamed sources close to the group as saying Essar was unhappy about the way Vodafone was treating the acquisition as a done deal when their position is yet to be resolved.

The plan to share network with India's leading mobile player Bharti Airtel was central to Vodafone's strategy to maximise returns from Hutch-Essar, The Times report said.

Essar is yet to decide whether to sell out of the venture or accept Vodafone's offer of a partnership.
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Nokia launches six new next gen phones
Bangkok: Finnish mobile handset maker Nokia at the 'Showcase Nokia 2007' event launched six new models focused on removing barriers for widespread adoption of business. The phones would be launched later in the year in India.

The company announced a trio of new Nokia Eseries devices, designed for business professionals, including 'Nokia E61i' emailer device and the 'Nokia E65' slider. The company also launched 'Nokia E90 Communicator' – a legendary communicator with an all inclusive business device with advanced technologies, such as HSDPA (next version of 3G communications) and integrated GPS which will help a subscriber navigate through cities with directions.

The company is bullish on India which has emerged as the third biggest location for the company in terms of sales.
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Norwegian company buys MTR Foods for $100 million
Mumbai: Norwegian company Orkla has acquired Bangalore-based MTR Foods for $100 million.

MTR Foods makes spices and ready-to-eat foods and has been the object of acquisition by local as well as foreign firms for quite some time, as the demand for packaged foods grows on the back of the rapidly-expanding retail market. Singapore-based private equity firm Aquarius and J.P. Morgan Partners, who together held more than 40 percent in the family-owned company, have also sold their stakes to Orkla.
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Ashok Leyland may acquire Punjab Tractors stake
New Delhi: Ashok Leyland, India's second-biggest bus and truck maker, has bid for a 29 percent stake in Punjab Tractors Ltd. held by private equity fund Actis, which is interested in selling its shareholding in the tractor maker.
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Ranbaxy launches Atorvastatin in Denmark
Mumbai: Ranbaxy Laboratories has launched the generic Atorvastatin in Denmark the cholesterol-lowering drug which is sold by Pfizer as Lipitor(r).

Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO & managing director, of the company, in a statement said, "The introduction of Atorvastatin in Denmark is a significant milestone in Ranbaxy's Atorvastatin strategy and heralds the beginning of the company's determined efforts to bring affordable Atorvastatin to patients in Europe and other parts of the world. Generic Atorvastatin will bring significant and immediate cost benefits to the Danish healthcare system."

Ranbaxy will continue to actively pursue all options in the EU and other markets in order to bring affordable Atorvastatin to patients around the world, the release added.
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TCI, Concor tie-up to provide logistics solutions
New Delhi: Transport Corporation of India (TCI) has tied-up with Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) to provide rail-road based logistics and warehousing services to customers.

The two companies have entered into an MoU for establishing a long-term joint working group (JWG) for providing customised logistics solutions, TCI said.

The JWG would work toward evolving mechanism for operating dedicated rakes on specific rail corridors, it said.
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Toyota mulls launching 'Prius' in India
New Delhi: Toyota Motor is studying the Indian market to launch its hybrid and eco-friendly car 'Prius.' However, since Prius would be directly imported into India the current duty structure on CBUs would lead to doubling of its price in India.

Toyota officials said at the current levels of duty, Prius would be priced anywhere between Rs20-Rs25 lakh in India while it sells for about Rs10 lakh in the US. The company claims the model accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the hybrid vehicle sales globally.
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IVRCL Infra bags orders worth Rs516 crore
Mumbai: IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects has secured order worth Rs516.09 crore for the execution of projects related to water supply, rural electrification and construction in various locations.

The company bagged the contracts under the water supply bracket valued at Rs411.01 crores. IVRCL Infrastructures would carry out construction, operation and maintenance of Dehani Lift (Drip) Irrigation Scheme in Maharashtra as well as works for the JBIC Assisted Kerala Water Supply Project.

Projects under the water supply segment also include the Arrah, Sasaram and Muzaffarpur Phase I contracts awarded by Public Health and Engineering Department of the Bihar Government, the company informed the BSE.

In the rural electrification works awarded to the company, Power Grid Corporation of India has given IVRCL work in Lakshisarai and Munger district under RGGVY scheme.
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