RPG Cables completes financial restructuring
Kolkata: Deutsche Bank AG Hong Kong has acquired a 14.9 per cent stake in RPG Cables, which manufactures cables for power and Telecom sector. A company spokesman said that an amount of Rs151 crore had been infused through a mixture of debt and equity where promoters had also participated.

RPG Cabled has allotted fully convertible debentures to Deutsche Bank aggregating Rs28 crore, equivalent to 14.9 per cent of RPG Cables' equity capital.

The company expects that the restructuring exercise would help meet the strong demand in the power and telecom sectors.

RPG Cables' has manufacturing units located in Thane, Silvassa and Mysore.
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Arcelor Mittal bids for Sesa Goa at Rs2,200/share
Mumbai: Arcelor Mittal has bid to acquire Mitsui Corp's 51 pc stake in Sesa Goa, India's biggest private iron ore exporter at around Rs2,200 per share according to sources. The highest bid received so far is Rs2500 per share.

Tthe Aditya Birla group has bid around Rs2,000 per share.

Other companies in the fray to control Sesa Goa are Vedanta Resources and global mining major CVRD.

According to sources, an announcement on the stake sale is likely next week. Mitsui's advisor in the stake sale is Morgan Stanley.

The Arcelor Mittal offer of Rs2,200 per share values Sesa Goa at over Rs8,600 crore; the deal would be worth over Rs4,400 crore.
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Jacob of US to buy stake in Avesthagen
Mumbai: US private equity firm Jacob Ballas Capital (JBC) may soon acquire a minority stake in Avestha Gengraine Technologies (Avesthagen), the biotech firm for $10 million.

JCB is an India focused private equity firm floated by New York Life Investment Management LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company, Singapore-based Excelfin, Indo Pacific Estates and Punj Lloyd, one of the leading engineering construction firm in India.

JCB's $10 million investment will be $5 million in equity and $5 million in warrants. The deal is said to be structured at Rs1,850 per share, and values the company at a per money value of $124 million.

Avesthagen had earlier raised $32 million from Fidelity Investments and France-based biotech majors Biomerieux and Limagrain and the food giant Danone.

JCB's fund infusion will be used for the company's proposed acquisition and patent filings.

Avesthagen operates in biopharmaceuticals, bioutritionals, bioagriculture and science innovation.
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Sun TV gets interim stay on sharing feed with TataSky
Chennai: Sun TV has challenged the order passed by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) asking the former to share its signals with the Direct-to-Home provider TataSky in the Madras High Court.

Sun TV has obtained an order of interim stay. Earlier on March 19, the TDSAT in an interim order asked Sun TV to provide all its 20 channels on a-la-carte basis to TataSky at 50 per cent of its declared cable tariff.

The DTH service provider had also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court but later withdrew the case after the TDSAT took up the petition. TataSky had contested Sun TV's decision not to provide signals to the DTH operator saying that it was resulting in a loss for the company.
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Bajaj Auto inaugurates new plant in Uttarakhand
Pantnagar: Bajaj Auto has inaugurated its greenfield plant in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, which will enable it receive tax rebates.

Following this, the company has announced a cut of as much as
Rs3,000 in the prices of its 100 cc model Platina, among the first few bikes to be manufactured here.

The company said it has priced Platina at Rs33,000 down from the earlier Rs36,000. Earlier the company had earlier that it would exit this segment soon. By July, the company plans to roll out a new motorcycle in the executive category, which could be priced around Rs40,000.

Rajiv Bajaj managing director, Bajaj Auto dismissed the claim of Bajaj foraying into the small car segment or partnering with Tata Motors. He said the focus of the company would remain on the four-wheeler cargo, which it would launch by 2009.

The plant at Uttarakhand, Bajaj said, would address the overseas market in the future. While there was no fixed timeframe by when they would start exporting from the plant, it has been built to scale up capacity for exports to Indonesia where it seeks to gain its market share.

The company already has a three-wheeler assembly unit at Indonesia and would like to tap the two-wheeler market, he said, adding that it was looking to set up a manufacturing facility at Jakarta.
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Reliance to set up Rs25,000 crore mega pipeline grid
Mumbai: Reliance Industries plans to invest between Rs25,000 crore and Rs30,000 crore in setting up a pipeline grid covering main gas transport trunk lines supplemented by spur lines crisscrossing four major States to begin with. The grid would cover the entire country later with pipelines stretching about 10,000 km across the country to be used on "common carrier basis."

The initial stretch of about 1,950 km of main line and about 1,150 km of spur lines would be laid within 18 months and all of the 10,000 km line within three years.

Of the initial investment of about Rs18,000 crore that would cover two major trunk lines, about Rs9,000 crore would be invested in pipelines in Andhra Pradesh alone. This would be supplemented by City Gas Distribution network.
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NMDC to diversify into steel, coal mining, power
Hyderabad: The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has decided to diversify into coal mining, power and renewable energy and also set up a greenfield integrated steel plant, with an overall investment of more than Rs10,000 crore.

The 2-million-tonne steel plant of the company would come up in Chhattisgarh, where a location is being finalised. NMDC is also scouting for joint venture partners and is in talks with SAIL, RINL and others to put up the Rs3,500-crore plant.

The pre-feasibility studies have been completed and a consultant is being appointed to identify the location and do the project-costing.

NMDC will be part of the mega venture contemplated by the Centre to acquire overseas mines with a huge corpus fund. SAIL, Coal India, NTPC and RINL are other PSU members in the consortia which will bid for mines in Indonesia and Australia. Independently also, NMDC has applied for coal blocks for lease, on license and is ready for acquisition within the country.

The company is also setting up a 10-MW power plant to power its projects. In renewable energy the company proposes to set up windmills in Karnataka with an investment of Rs110 crore.
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Rig shortage hits ONGC plans
New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is unable to exploit the block in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) Basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast, where it has made its biggest gas discovery due to non-availability of rigs.

The gas find in ultra deepwater well in KG Basin became controversial when the Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) discounted it on grounds that ONGC had not followed the conventional method of testing to establish the find and abandoned the well.

Subsequently, while accepting the discovery, the DGH had said that if ONGC makes a re-entry in the well located in KG-DW-98/2 block and carries out the required tests, discovery or potential commercial viability could be accepted.

ONGC holds 90 per cent interest in the KG block, with rest being held by Cairn.

The company said it does not plan to re-enter the ultra deepwater well (UD1) where it has found hydrocarbons and may undertake conventional testing for one of the appraisal wells in the block, as the feature of the area is very large.

This would be subject to availability of rigs. The company's rigs however are already deployed in other blocks.

There is an acute shortage of such rigs worldwide, and apart from spiralling of charter rates most of the rigs are overbooked.
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Trent enters into pact with The Xander Group
Mumbai: Trent has entered into a pact with the US-based global private equity firm The Xander Group Inc.

The company said The Xander Group Inc. through one or more of its fund vehicles will invest in the development of an institutional retail real estate portfolio in India in partnership with high quality Indian developers.

The company would have anchor tenancy rights and obligations and would participate with Xander in the management of such portfolio and its growth.

The arrangement will be of considerable help to the company in its growth plans in the retail sector, including through its current formats like Westside, Landmark and Star India Bazaar, the release added.
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Birla sugar mills to complete Rs800 crore expansion
New Delhi: The Birla group of sugar mills will soon complete its Rs800 crore expansion works in November this year. The company is diversifying into allied sectors like ethanol production and co-power generation.

Oudh Sugar Mills chairman and managing director Chandra Shekhar Nopany said the expansion was started one and a half years ago and it was at an advanced stage of completion. Birla group already has seven sugar and distillery units -- four in Uttar Pradesh and three in Bihar.

Apart from setting up an ethanol production unit and co-generation power plant, Birla group has also increased the capacity of existing units under the expansion plan.

Oudh Sugar Mills' greenfield 7,000 tcd capacity sugar unit at Hata in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh at a cost of Rs336 crore is nearing completion. Another of the company's 17 MW co-generation power plant, situated at the same place, will star operating by November, 2008.

The company has also completed expansion of its UP-based Hargaon and Narkatiaganj sugar factories, which commenced operations for the crushing season 2006-07.

After completion of all the expansion programmes, Oudh Sugar will have total crushing capacity of 28,700 tcd, captive power generation of 30 MW and two distilleries of 130 klpd.
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