Essar not to exit Hutch
Mumbai: The Ruias of Essar say they plan to remain invested in Hutchison Essar and would partner with Vodafone to work together.

Ravi Ruia, vice president Hutchison Essar and Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin recently had a two hour long meeting at the Ruias' residence in Mumbai.

Sarin was reported to be "delighted" to partner with the Ruias and said he had a lot of respect for the Ruias.

Sarin said Vodafone and the Ruias were moving towards finalizing the partnership arrangement but were trying to iron out certain issues.

He said Essar was a founding shareholder of Hutchison Essar and the group sees telecom as a core part of its business portfolio for the long term," said a formal statement from the Essar group issued later in the day.

There has been speculation that the Essars may sell their holding to Vodafone, which had offered to buy it at the same rate it was paying for Hutchison Telecommunication's stake.
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Avestha Gengraine to set up development center in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: Bangalore-based biotechnology company, Avestha Gengraine Technologies plans to invest about Rs 100 crore in Hyderabad to take up expansion and new research projects here.

The company has acquired a nine-acre site at the SP Biotech Park in the Genome valley near the city and is setting up a manufacturing unit and related research facilities. In fact the company had acquired Good Earth with a facility here some years ago.

The company would invest the money over the next two to three years.

The company said the project would not only cater to the agri-biotech industry's growth but also generate employment.

The company has about 55 patents in the agri-biotech business domain and has a range of hybrid seeds in the pipeline. The company recently announced that it had raised funding of about Rs 150 crore from Groupe Danone, Groupe Limagrain and two other strategic investors.
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Hexaware FY06 net up 36 pc
Mumbai: Hexaware Technologies has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs124.23 crore for the year ended December 31, 2006 (FY06), as against Rs91.49 crore in FY05.

The group informed the BSE that total income for FY06 stood at Rs876.38 crore, as against Rs693.23 crore in FY05.

For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2006, the group posted a net profit of Rs33.75 crore (Rs24.75 crore in Q4FY05). Total income for the quarter is Rs250.19 crore (Rs182.04 crore in Q4FY05).

The company has set aside an investment of about $40 million to acquire European firms mainly in ERP, business intelligence, BFSI and transportation verticals said Atul Nishar, chairman, Hexaware.

Hexaware's liquidity currently stands at around $70 million. The acquisitions are expected to be sealed this year and would be executed through internal accruals.

Nishar said there would be no dilution of equity this year.
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RIL may tie up with HSA for Yemen retail chain
Hyderabad: Yemen-based business group, Hayel Saeed Anam Group (HSA) may tie up with Reliance Retail for setting up a retail chain in Yemen.

The group is weighing various options including forming a joint venture with Reliance or taking up an equity participation in the project. It is currently working out detailed modalities on this and plan to hold talks with the Mukesh Ambani controlled company soon.

HSA is one of the largest business groups in Yemen with interests in manufacture of FMCG products, processing, export and import of seafood, plastics, diary and bakery products, textiles, agriculture, banking, transportation, insurance, cosmetics and perfumes, etc. The group is also engaged in buying and selling of refinery products.

Reliance Industries and International Finance Corporation hold stakes in an HSA controlled $532-million Ras Issa refinery project in Yemen. The project will have the capacity to produce 8,000 tonnes of different refinery products and will be completed in three years.

The refinery project is being constructed by Hood Oil, a subsidiary of HSA.
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Nicholas Piramal to invest $50mn in UK, Indian plants
Mumbai: Nicholas Piramal India will invest $50 million (an estimated Rs220 crore) over a three-year period in its plants in the UK and India. The company has invested approximately $50 million over the past three years and plans a similar investment over 2007-09, the company told the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company's plan includes a new sterile supplies pilot plant due to go on stream in Mumbai in the fourth quarter of this year.
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Apollo Hospitals to expand global footprint
Hyderabad: The Apollo Group of Hospitals is expanding its global presence either through strategic partners with local hospital chains overseas and also through mergers and acquisitions in the US and Europe.

The group is looking at acquiring a UK-based hospital chain in partnership with private equity players. Apollo will provide its management expertise in such deals.

One such deal Apollo plans to pursue is a UK-based hospital chain estimated to be valued upwards of £1.2 billion.

The group had recently announced a tie-up with Hayel Sayeed Group to manage a hospital in Yemen and has received similar offers to manage hospitals in some other countries, particularly Nigeria. And the group is close to finalising a telemedicine project that would provide access to Apollo healthcare to African countries.

Apollo Hospital and Johns Hopkins Institute also plan to work on genetic research in pursuit of `mischief maker' in the genetic composition that leads to heart ailments in Indians.
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MRPL gets approval for retail foray
Mumbai: The government has approved MRPL, ONGC's subsidiary, entering the retail petroleum business. The company has identified 27 sites and is going ahead in joint venture with Ashok Leyland. The company has also sought infrastructure-sharing deals with other state-owned oil marketing firms to get into the aircraft refuelling business.

ONGC-MRPL had already acquired land for setting up retail outlets. MRPL has the licence to set up 500 outlets and has lined up 'HiQ', its retail brand. ONGC managed to open only one outlet in Mangalore under the 'OVAL' brand before the oil ministry forced ONGC to be out of retailing as it was not profitable due to soaring international crude.

MRPL is also planning sign an agreement for sharing jet refuelling facilities with HPCL and IOC. The company is also in talks with Airports Authority of India for setting up its own facilities, wherever possible.

The government has also approved a capital expenditure of Rs75,000 crore proposed by ONGC for the next five year plan (2007-2012). Over 30 pc of this has been set aside for the core business of E&P, while the remaining would be used for integration and diversification projects.
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Leyland, Volvo pact talks receive setback
Mumbai: Talks between the London based Hindujas and Swedish commercial vehicle maker Volvo over an equity tie-up in Hinduja-flagship Ashok Leyland, are said to have received a setback with the companies unable to reach a consensus on price and management control.

While the Hindujas wan to strike the deal at over Rs60 per share, Volvo doesn't agree to the price. Also, the Swedish company is looking for management control of the company, which the Hindujas do not want to give up.

The Hindujas hold 50 pc stake in Ashok Leyland through their holding company Land Rover Leyland International Holdings (LRLIH). Around four months ago, Volvo came very close to acquiring a 30-35 pc stake in the Ashok Leyland's holding company LRLIH, which in turn would have given it a 15-18 pc stake in Ashok Leyland.

The Hindujas also missed out on tying up with another Swedish truck maker, Scania, earlier.

Both Volvo and Scania asked for management control of Ashok Leyland, which the Hindujas were not comfortable giving up. Fiat-arm Iveco sold its 15 pc indirect stake in Ashok Leyland in July 2006 after a 20-year association with the Indian company.
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