Idea plans $2-billion investment in two years
Mumbai: Idea Celluar, the Aditya Birla group telecom company which listed on the stock Exchanges on Friday, is planning an investment of $2 billion in the next two years. This is the same as the investment announced by rival telecom majors Bharti and Reliance Communications.

Idea Cellular CEO Sanjeev Aga told the press that the telecom sector had extraordinary promise just after the listing of Idea here on the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Aditya Birla Group and Idea Cellular Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla meanwhile ruled out any tie-up to compete with rivals like Vodafone.

Idea currently operates in 11 circles out of 13 for which it has been issued license. It has applied for license in nine new circles. In the past six months the company has launched operations in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
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Bajaj Auto not to be divided between sons: Rahul Bajaj
New Delhi: Bajaj Auto would not be carved up between his two sons, Rajiv and Sanjiv, said chairman Rahul Bajaj and they would continue to be part of the company even after the proposed demerger takes place.

However, he said that his younger son Sanjiv would probably spend more time on the new demerged company or companies.

Bajaj reiterated that plan to demerge the company's financial and investments business into a separate entity was based on the intention of unlocking shareholder value by utilising surplus cash and not because of the reported 'rift between the brothers'.

The Board of Bajaj Auto is likely to take up the issue of demerger in its meeting in May or July, he added.

Sanjiv Bajaj, executive director of Bajaj Auto said the demerger process was being evaluated at the moment and it would depend on what kind of impact it would have on the company.
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Italian coffee chain to acquire Barista
Mumbai: Italian coffee chain Lavazza will soon acquire the majority stake in coffee retailer Barista from ace investor C Sivasankaran or Siva, as he is popularly knowm who had bought 65 pc in Barista from the Amit Judge-controlled Turner Morrison 3 years ago, and later also bought the Tata Group's 35 pc stake. His Sterling Group was learnt to have paid nearly Rs 65 crore for the acquisition of 100 pc in Barista.

Standard Chartered Bank is advising Sivasankaran while Lazard is Lavazza's advisor.

Sivasankaran is expected to get a handsome premium from this deal.

Barista posted sales of around Rs45 crore last year.
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RIL forms separate company for overseas oil, gas projects
New Delhi: Reliance Industries (RIL) has formed a separate company Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC for its overseas oil and gas projects. The company will be based in Dubai. RIL is also eyeing a tie-up with ONGC Videsh to jointly bid for oil and gas opportunities abroad.

The Dubai-based firm has been modelled on lines of ONGC Videsh Ltd, which is a fully owned overseas investment subsidiary of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC).

The company is looking at opportunities in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. (See:Reliance shifting gears again)
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