Matsushita acquires 80 per cent stake in Anchor Electricals
Mumbai: Japanese company Matsushita Electric Works (MEW) with brands like National and Panasonic, has picked up an 80 per cent equity stake in the privately held Anchor Electricals for Rs2,000 crore.

Before this, Matsushita Electric Works had bought out a German company for around Rs1,000 crore.

Anchor, the market leader in the Indian electrical accessories and wiring devices market with annual sales exceeding Rs900 crore will become a consolidated subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd after the transaction. MEW will introduce new products such as home appliances, lighting, home automation, interior design solutions and security systems and security products in India. It will also look at improving the manufacturing efficiency.

Anchor is eyeing 100 per cent growth in the next four years and a 500 per cent growth in the next 10 years.

The price-earnings ratio for the deal is 15 times the 2006-07 earnings.

Anchor Electricals recorded net sales of Rs922 crore for the year ended March 2006 and net profit of Rs187 crore. MEW's sales stood at $13.7 billion for the year ended March 2006.

For the moment, the joint venture will continue to be called Anchor Electricals. The company will also continue to sell products under the brand name Anchor until Matsushita gets a fair understanding of the Indian consumer and the distribution network in the country, top officials said. The reconstituted board will have six representatives from Matsushita and four members from the Shah family.

Senior Matsushita executive Toshihide Arii will be the chairman and CEO of the new venture, while Atul Shah will continue to be MD of the company.

The joint venture will allow Anchor Electricals to expand its product portfolio and access Matsushita's proprietary technologies. For Matsushita, Anchor is an ideal launch pad to kick off a full-fledged business operation in India, one of the fastest growing markets in Asia.
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Louis Vuitton to acquire 20 per cent stake in Hidesign
New Delhi: French luxury brand Louis Vuitton (LV) from the LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) fold will pick up a 20 per cent stake in the Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry) based luxury leather goods maker Hidesign.

However the deal would be finalised only after restructuring in Hidesign is finished said Dilip Kapur, president, Hidesign.

The Indian leather company currently does business under three verticals — Akela, Hidesign Boutique and Hidesign — all of which are undergoing consolidation that will take another two months to be completed.

Louis Vuitton officials are set to visit the company's unit at Puducherry on May 7 to conduct an audit that will identify the changes required in Hidesign's technical expertise, machinery, planning, buildings and quality of products to put the Indian firm on par with its French counterpart.

Though LV would not be sourcing goods from Hidesign, the association with the former will give the Indian company the ability to leverage LV's formidable reputation in markets worldwide and get a foothold in new markets.

LVMH in turn is understood to have identified the Indian premium leather accessories brand as a partner as it sees a similarity in the way Hidesign approaches craftsmanship. As a leather industry expert put it, a luxury brand needs a touch of exclusivity, which can never come out of China, even though its productivity is higher.

Hidesign clocked a turnover of around Rs100 crore in 2006-07.
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Maruti Udyog cuts car prices by up to Rs5,000
New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki has cut prices of its products by up to Rs5,000 following increased tax sops offered by Haryana, where its facilities are located.

The reduced sales tax would translate to a price cut in the range of Rs3,000-Rs5,000 across various models, the official added.

Haryana had in the beginning of the month reduced sales tax from 3 per cent to 2 per cent coinciding with the reduction in central sales tax from 4 per cent to 3 per cent.

The reduction in price could not have come at a better time for the leading car maker of the country, when the psychological effect of higher interest rates are making customers postpone their purchases.
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Bharati Shipyard gets order worth Rs180 crore order
Mumbai: Bharati Shipyard has bagged an order worth Rs180 crore from UP Offshore (Bahamas) marking the foray of the Indian firm into South America.

The company has signed a contract with UP Offshore for construction and supply of two platform supply vessels, Bharati Shipyard informed the BSE on Monday.

A platform supply vessel (PSV) is specially designed to supply drilling mud, pulverised cement, diesel fuel, portable and non-portable water and chemicals used in the drilling process.

UP Offshore, is a subsidiary of Ultrapetrol (Bahamas) Ltd, engaged in construction and operation of platform supply vessels that provide services to offshore petroleum exploration and production companies primarily in the North Sea and Brazil.
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Monnet Ispat Q4 net up 96 per cent at Rs43 crore
Mumbai: Monnet Ispat has registered a net profit at Rs42.79 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2007, up 95.56 per cent as against Rs21.88 crore for the same quarter a year ago.

Gross income rose 40.17 per cent to Rs197.71 crore for the three months ended March 31, 2007 as compared to Rs141.05 crore in the corresponding period of 2006, Monnet Ispat informed the National Stock Exchange.

Shares of the company were last trading at Rs260.45, up 0.19 per cent on the NSE.
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Adlabs ties up with Percept to distribute non-Indian films
New Delhi: Anil Ambani controlled Adlabs Films plans to start distributing non-Indian movies with Spiderman-3, in collaboration with Percept Picture Company. Adlabs, which plans to distribute about 15-18 movies every year, expects non-Indian movies to contribute 15 per cent to its total distribution revenues.

Company officials said they expected the distribution business to contribute over Rs100 crore this year, with about Rs15 -18 crore expected to come from distribution of non-Indian movies. Adlabs will release over 250 prints — a major percentage of the total 600 prints being distributed all over India — in territories like Mumbai, Gujarat, Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Adlabs has established overseas distribution offices in US and the UK in 2006, and domestic distribution offices in Delhi, UP, Punjab and Mumbai more recently. The company aims to distribute six to eight English movies every year.
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Tata Group eyes Egypt
Mumbai: Tata Motors is planning to set up a car manufacturing unit in Egypt, North Africa and had recently held talks with an eight-member high-level delegation from the country, here on an investment and tourism promotion drive. The Tata company has also shown interest in making investments in the area of petroleum and gas in Egypt.

Egypt is a big transport market for Tata Motors. In March 2006, after a comprehensive market analysis, Tata Motors decided to re-enter Egypt.

Taj Hotels, Palaces and Resort, another Tata enterprise, is also looking at buying land in Cairo, Egypt to set up a five-star luxury hotel, with a capacity between 250 and 300 rooms and a likely investment of $55 million. Egypt currently has 176,000 hotels and hopes to increase the number to 240,000 by 2011.

Egypt is gaining popularity as an investment destination due to its strategic geographic location, which makes it a regional hub linking the Mediterranean, Europe, Asia and the Arab world. It is a gateway to Africa besides being a lucrative business provider to shipping lines and companies in optical fibre cables.
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HLL to stop advertising on Star
Mumbai: Star India is likely to lose Rs100 crore following Hindustan Lever's (HLL) to pull its advertising off the Star network.

Talks have been on between HLL and Star for the past seven weeks to lower ad rates after the conditional access system (CAS) roll out in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata since January.

HLL was said to be asking for 35 per cent discount on existing ad rates, while Star was not conceding beyond a 25 per cent cut, said sources close to the development.

With no headway being made on the talks HLL has decided stopped advertising on the Star network.

HLL is among the biggest advertisers on Star, buying about 20 per cent of the channels inventory. Star's annual ad time is about 1750 hours. HLL is said to spend around Rs300-350 crore on television advertising annually, out of which Rs100 crore goes to Star.

One of the main reasons advertisers are demanding discounted ad rates is the drop in channel viewership after CAS was made mandatory. Star India has witnessed 1-1.5 per cent dip in the overall viewership post the CAS rollout.
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