Corporate Sector News

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This Particular thread is dedicated to the Corporate Sector news , Launch of Products , new Appointments, Merging , Acquisitions and results declared in Quarters by the Indian Companies as well as Throughout the globe.




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ArcelorMittal's Malay Mukherjee named Essar Steel CEO- Corporate Announcement-News By Company-News-The Economic Times

ArcelorMittal's Malay Mukherjee named Essar Steel CEO
4 Sep 2009, 1656 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Essar Steel on Friday appointed Malay Mukherjee, who resigned as director from the board of global steel giant ArcelorMittal, as the Chief Executive Officer.

Mukherjee will look after both global as well as domestic steel operations of the group. Mukerjee's appointment is effective from October 15.

"The Essar Group announces the appointment of Malay Mukherjee as the CEO of its steel business," the Ruias-led corporate said in a statement. The incumbent, Jatinder Mehra, will join the Essar Group as Director.

"Malay Mukherjee comes with valuable international experience in the steel business and is an excellent addition to Essar Group's dynamic leadership team," Essar Group Chairman Shashi Ruia said.

The outgoing CEO, would continue to be an active member of the Group Management Committee, among others, it said.

"Our steel business has grown by leaps and bounds under the stewardship of Mehra. His new assignment will enable Essar to continue to draw on his rich experience," Ruia said.

The group said that Mukherjee's appointment is in line with its strategy to induct industry veterans to aid its global growth.

The new appointee had joined the L N Mittal Group in 1993 and rose to the position of a board director from which he stepped down on Tuesday. Prior to ArcelorMittal, he was Executive Director with state-run SAIL's Bhillai Steel Plant.
 
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Tata provides detail on electric Indica Vista for Europe

Tata provides detail on electric Indica Vista for Europe

Automotive News September 5th, 2009

Tata provides detail on electric Indica Vista for Europe

Tata Motors is aiming to become the second electric car manufacturer in the Indian market.

Reva is already being manufactured in India which is sold locally and exported to international markets.

Tata would manufacture an electric version of their Indica hatchback which would be sold in Europe.

This electric version of the Indica car has been developed by Tata Motors European Technical Centre.

The company said that this model can be sold in India provided there is enough demand and the government provide the relevant subsidies.

Tata Indica Electric would go on sale in Norway first.
 

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Tata Motors to raise Ace truck production

Tata Motors to raise Ace truck production

Ace production to be increased as new versions of the mini-truck get launched

By:BS Reporter |Published :September 03, 2009
Photos: BSM



Tata Motors will raise production of its Ace light truck by 15-20 per cent by the end of March. The company currently produces 14,000-15,000 of these in a month.

Ravi Pisharody, president for commercial vehicles at Tata Motors, told reporters the company is witnessing “a little improvement” in overall commercial vehicle exports, with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka performing better than other markets. Tata Motors has introduced a new variant of the Ace in West Bengal and will be launching it in seven more states next month, he said. In addition, a ‘Super Ace’ version will be introduced next month, Pisharody said.

The company today unveiled its new ‘Tata 407 Pickup’ and the new offerings from the Ace Platform — ‘Tata Super Ace’ and ‘Tata Ace EX. The introduction of these new products are expected to increase sales of the sub-one-tonne to three-tonne segment trucks, with more payload options and greater power.

Pisharody said, “It has always been our commitment to continually refresh our product portfolio, with both new products and improvements on proven platforms, guided by our customers’ feedback.”

ABOUT THE PRODUCTS

Tata 407 Pickup

The Tata 407 Pickup comes with a payload of 2.25T which offers nearly double the payload of any other pickup vehicle in the market. Thus customers do not face any hassles of overloading. Further, the Tata 407 Pickup gives customers the benefit of a relatively small turning circle radius of 5.5m which, along with an overall length of only 4700 mm, helps in maneuverability even in narrow lanes. The inherent ability of this vehicle gives the customer an opportunity of carrying 2T loads for longer distances, which translates to more business.

The Tata 407 Pickup comes with a service interval of 20,000 kms enabling the customer to spend less on maintenance. The legendary 407 platform with 3 years / 3 lakh kms warranty gives confidence and assurance of extended life. The Tata 407 Pickup comes with a competitive price which gives the benefit of almost the same EMI, similar down payment making it an attractive business proposition.

Tata Super Ace

The Tata Super Ace is a powerful, fuel efficient, ultra stylish 1 tonne truck with unmatched 70 HP and top speed of 125 kmph to hit the Indian roads. The vehicle is a four cylinder, 475 IDI turbo intercooled diesel engine which comes with a payload of 1000 Kg. It offers a larger deck length of 8’7”, perfect for voluminous loads. The Tata Super ACE offers superior comfort for the driver, sleek styling, with fully a functional dashboard with lockable glovebox, provision for mobile charger, ORVMs on both sides and sun visor. It also has power steering, bucket seats with front to rear adjustment for better drivability and roomy car like interiors.

The overall length is 4340 mm allows for easy access in narrow lanes. The Tata Super Ace comes with 12 months/50,000 kms warranty which gives confidence and assurance of extended life.

The Tata Super ACE will now enable owners to increase the number of trips in the day, provide better earnings and faster growth, thus keeping in pace with the growing business needs.

Tata Ace EX

The Tata Ace EX, offers an increased mileage of upto 6%-10% over the current ACE. It has been equipped with superior features such as five speed gear box in order to reach out to farther locations in less time with more savings, bigger tyres with higher ground clearance to negotiate off-terrain with ease, unique electronic stop and start arrangement that saves fuel at traffic jams by auto ignition and clutch start.

The Tata Ace EX comes with a warranty of 36,000 kms /12 months.
 

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The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Business | Arcelor stake in Uttam Galva Mittal firm to be co-promoter

Arcelor stake in Uttam Galva
Mittal firm to be co-promoter


OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT



Calcutta, Sept. 4: Frustrated with the slow progress of his twin greenfield projects in India, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal has done what he does best: acquire a company.

Uttam Galva Steels, one of India’s leading secondary steel producer, today informed stock exchanges that Mittal would become the co-promoter of the company, giving the world’s richest Indian a toehold in the local market.

According to the agreement, ArcelorMittal will acquire a stake equal to that of the current promoters — the Miglanis. Uttam Galva is currently valued at around Rs 1,300 crore.

The existing promoters hold about 40 per cent stake in Uttam Galva Steels and, based on the company’s current market value, the promoters stake will be worth over Rs 500 crore.

While it did not elaborate on the exact size of the shareholding to be acquired by ArcelorMittal, Uttam Galva informed the stock exchanges that an open offer would be made by ArcelorMittal Netherlands BV.

Mittal, who grew up in Calcutta and now lives in London, has lined up two mammoth integrated steel projects worth $20 billion in Jharkhand and Orissa. The projects, announced in 2005 and 2007, respectively, were to be Mittal’s first attempt to build new plants as he had created the world’s largest steel company ArcelorMittal through a series of acquisitions over the years.

However, the plans have come a cropper so far. The company has not been able to acquire land either in Orissa or Jharkhand.

Mittal has also not been able to get enough coal and iron ore mining leases to meet the demand of the two plants, estimated to have a capacity of 12 million tonnes each.

The slow progress of the projects — similar issues ail the new projects of Tata Steel and Posco — in India has made Mittal unhappy.

He had openly vented his frustration of not being able to make much headway in India. Even the recent global downturn in the steel industry — ArcelorMittal has reported three straight quarterly losses — has not affected Mittal’s India plans.

Though Uttam Galva is not a substitute for the two projects in eastern India, it gives ArcelorMittal a direct manufacturing presence in India.

The acquisition will change the dynamics of India’s secondary steel sector, which produces cold roll (CR) and galvanised steel products (GP) used in the automobile and the consumer durables industries.

“With the acquisition of Uttam Galva, no independent large size CR and GP maker now exists in India,” a steel industry observer said.

Uttam Galva buys bulk of its raw material — hot rolled coils — from Ispat, owned by L.N. Mittal’s brothers, Pramod and Vinod Mittal.

Pledged shares

At the end of June, the Miglanis had pledged over 67 per cent of the 46.4 million shares they held in the galvanised steel maker with lenders, a situation that would have made them vulnerable to corporate predators.

The deal with ArcelorMittal will help them free the pledged shares but will also mean having to cede control of the 13-member board of directors, which includes two nominees of financial institutions.

Under the deal, the two sides — the Miglanis and the Mittals — will get to appoint the same number of directors.

The arrangement also confers a veto right to both sides on “a list of matters subject to their maintaining a certain prescribed thresholds of shareholding”.

The threshold wasn’t spelt out in the notice to the stock exchanges.

ArcelorMittal will acquire equal number of shares as Miglani’s through an open offer. In case the requisite number of shares are not received in the offer, Miglani’s will sell their stake to have equal holding.
 

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IT News Online > India - Telecom - Intex Launches 2 Dual SIM Phones, Opens First Intex SQUARE in India

Intex Launches 2 Dual SIM Phones, Opens First Intex SQUARE in India
IT News Online Staff
2009-09-04

Intex Technologies (India) Ltd., an IT hardware, mobile phones and electronics company, has launched two new Dual SIM mobile phones in India, the Intex IN 4477 and IN 2020 Elegant. The company also announced that it has entered the Small Format Retail segment with the launch of its first store, Intex SQUARE, in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

The Intex IN 4477 is a voguish Dual SIM (GSM+GSM) phone with a multimedia player that plays all video formats including MP4 and 3 GP, and delivers clear audio. The phone features a 2.4-inch QVGA screen, expandable memory up to 8 GB, tri-band operations (900/1800/1900) and USB-PC connectivity for easy data, music and video transfer.

The Intex IN 4477 also includes Bluetooth, a VGA camera, FM radio and a phonebook memory of 1000 contacts. The phone's battery provides a talk-time of four hours and a stand-by time of up to 8 days. This Dual SIM phone is available at an MOP of Rs. 3,800/-.

The Intex IN 2020 Elegant is also a GSM + GSM, Dual SIM phone. The phone doubles up as a radio on stretching out a small antenna on its top, so users do not have to carry their earphones to listen to FM. It also has an audio player, expandable memory and a torchlight. The phone has an auto call record function, so users can record their conversations for future reference. The Intex IN 2020 has a talk-time of four hours and a stand-by time of up to 7 days. The phone has an MOP of Rs. 2,800/-.

Sanjay Kumar, DGM-Telecom, Intex Technologies, said, "Consumer response to our Dual SIM series has been overwhelming and we are now all geared up to maintain the pace of introducing new models. These handsets, true to the Intex promise of 'Demand More', will meet the needs and expectations of masses that are looking for a one stop solution for their communication, utility and entertainment needs. Intex IN 4477 and IN 2020 Elegant will be followed by two more models which will hit the market soon."

In a separate announcement, Intex said it has entered the Small Format Retail segment with the opening of its first Intex SQUARE store in Meerut. Before this, the company had positioned the brand at more than 100 hyper markets and specialty stores across the country, through the shop-in-shop concept, for about three years.

Intex said it has been diversifying and increasing its focus on ways to bring the brand, product experience and service closer to the consumers. Retail being one of the major thrust areas in this strategy, the company has planned an investment of more than Rs. 100 crores for the venture for this FY and FY 2010-11.

Ramesh A. Vaswani, Executive Vice Chairman, Intex Technologies, said, "Small Format Technology Stores have taken off in recent years owing to many advantages - convenience, location, opportunity for touch and fee, and a first-hand experience, clutter-free shopping, better redress, etc. Also, the consumer sentiment is reviving. Penetration of technology driven products in SOHO segment is on an upscale. Buyers in smaller cities are showing a great enthusiasm for this new format."

Intex SQUARE will be set up with the joint efforts of the company and its channel partners. Intex said these partners have a good track record and a sound standing in the market. For the Intex SQUARE activity, they will be selected from a network of more than 2000 distributors. This strategy signifies the extension of the mutually beneficial relationship to the next level. As the retail activity progresses, the company may evolve other models also for expansion.

The flagship store at Meerut, set up in association with M/s RCA Technologies, one of Intex's distributors in the area, has the entire range of Intex products on its shelves. This comprises of PCs, TFT LCD Monitors, Netbooks, Mobile Phones, Multimedia Speakers, DVD Players, UPS, Cabinets, Web Cameras, Keyboards, Mouse, Headphones, to name a few.

Spread over 200 sq. ft., the store has been done up in a modern format using concepts of interior design to facilitate storage and display, and ensure a pleasing technology experience to consumers.

"We have had a good exposure of the retail segment through our shop-in-shop endeavor and are all set to test the waters further. The venture will bring us closer to our existing and prospective consumers to cater to their technology needs. We have a wide range of products comprising of more than 350 SKUs, good support of partners, a dedicated team to look after the operations, strategic locations and a strong after-sales service back-up comprising of more than 200 service points. This is a modest beginning. We aim to leverage the brand equity and replicate the same success which we have achieved in the traditional channel," added Vaswani.

The roll out has been planned in two phases. The first phase will cover five locations in North India followed by West, South and East India. The company expects to have 60 Intex SQUAREs across India by March, 2011.



 

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N97 to hit Indian market by Diwali

N97 to hit Indian market by Diwali
Piyali Mandal/PTI / Stuttgart/germany September 3, 2009, 17:52 IST

To cash in on the festivity, the world's largest handset maker, Nokia, today said it will launch new version of its flagship smartphone N97 in the Indian market by Diwali or middle of October this year.

Nokia launched two music devices and a new version of N97, called the N97 Mini, during the Nokia World event here.

"Though the music devices will be available in India by Q4 (2009-10), we plan to bring the N97 Mini by October in the Indian market," Nokia India Managing Director D Shivakumar said.

Despite critics claiming that Nokia is not doing well in the high-end segment, Shivkumar said the company is not only doing well, the performance is beyond company's expectation in the smartphone segment.

Globally, Nokia has sold about two million units of the original N97 within months of its launch. The launch of N97 was announced in the last Nokia World event and it hit the market only in June this year.

Nokia has been maintaining a market share of about 40 per cent world wide and is a leader in the Indian market with handsets in low to high range in the market.

Priced at about Rs 31,000 (450 euros), the N97 Mini features a tilting 3.2" touch display, QWERTY keyboard and fully customisable homescreen.
 

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Upping offer price of Rs 120 out of the question: Miglani, Uttam Galva Steel- Interviews-Opinion-The Economic Times

Upping offer price of Rs 120 out of the question: Miglani, Uttam Galva Steel
7 Sep 2009, 1520 hrs IST, ET Now

ET now spoke to Ankit Miglani , Director, Uttam Galva Steel on its recent deal with Arcelor Mittal and what it means for the company going forward. Here is the full transcript of the interview:

How should we interpret this deal? Is this indirect entry of Uttam Galva into the HR and the CR space or an indirect way for perhaps, the Miglani family to go out of Uttam Galva now?

This is neither of the two. Uttam Galva remains very committed to the cold-rolling, galvanising and colour coating space. We are and have always been a service centre of sorts we are providing an end service to an end user. We buy commodity grade raw material and supply tailor-made niche grade products. None of that is changing in the operating space. This is in no way a route for the promoters to exit the business. We are extremely committed to Uttam Galva and we have full confidence in the business and the entire understanding of this transaction is that the existing management of Uttam Galva continues to manage the operating business with the full management technical raw material support of the co-promoter.


For a company like yours, it is the availability of the raw material and the volatility in the raw material which could really change things. Would the deal insulate you from this volatility?

The fact that they will be joint equity holder and co-promoter of the organisation gives them an incentive to supply HR coil to us at the same price rather than to any other customer in a time of short supply. There is no binding agreement forcing Arcelor to sell raw material to us or forcing us to buy hot-rolled coil only from Arcelor. We are still to operate as a profit centre, we are free to buy from whoever we can but since they have an equity stake, in times of short supply if they have an option to sell to somebody else or to us, obviously, the incentive is to sell to us.


One question really on the negative cash flows of Uttam Galva and the fact that there is a fairly high debt structure within the company, do you think the entry of Arcelor will help to ease the kind of debt-equity structure? Will there be fresh capital infusion for further growth and capital expenditure plans?

We have no intention for equity enhancement at this point. There is no negative cash flow per se. We do not have any shortage of liquidity. We have not had it even in the peak of the crisis which was last October-November-December. We are leveraged but that is a function of a continuous growth strategy. If we do not leverage ourselves we do not grow as fast, so we have taken a conscious decision to maintain a high leverage so that we can grow much faster than we would otherwise.

Since we are a highly capital intensive industry, a 1.5-1.7 leveraging is not really something that is of concern. Typically a steel industry or any such industry which is extremely capital intensive would be highly leveraged if they are on a growth path.

Is there a possibility that Arcelor might look at Uttam Galva as a sourcing hub from India?

It is something that could be explored at a future point but as of this point we have not discussed any change in marketing strategy. We have a very different customer base than the global Arcelor network. We tend to focus on niche products and very specialised requirements, so it is not something that we are competing with them in any market directly. In the future perhaps some synergies could be established where we could evaluate something of that sort but so far nothing has been discussed to affect market strategy in anyway.


With new co-promoter coming in, have your plans for expansion changed in anyway, have you reworked them, have discussions been taken forward on that front?

No, at this point we are focussing on completing this transaction. The projects which are already ongoing will be completed on schedule and those projects are fully funded. All new projects will be jointly decided once the new Board is inducted and once the new Board is inducted we will all take decisions together for the growth of the company.


There is a lot of excitement around the open offer price. On that price of Rs. 120 per share, if the market response is poor at that at that level will ArcelorMittal up the price?

Upping the price is out of the question for the simple reason that we have signed an agreement that in case the open offer fails completely or is partially filled, the promoters will divest their existing holding in the company to the extent such that both the promoter and co-promoter hold an equal stake in the company. So, there is no reason for them to change the offer price in anyway. Today we have a holding of 45%, assuming no one tenders their shares we would still divest half our holding to Arcelor such that both Arcelor and the existing promoters holds 22.5% equity.


Is this a trend which you have seen the foreseeable future for other steel converters as well?

We have seen a significant trend towards integration as far as standalone converters in India are concerned. The bulk of them have either setup their own integrated projects or have aligned themselves with hot-rolled coil producers. Now we are aligning ourselves with a global hot-rolled giant. Bhushan has gone into backward integration, so all the major producers are picking one route or the other. It typically does make sense to have some sort of tie up at least on the raw material supply. Even if it is not a fully integrated project, going integrated of course has its own pros and cons. It is a much higher risk and reward scenario. We have chosen this as this fits with our overall strategy, it allows us to remain global, it gives us a lot of synergies on the raw material front and most importantly it allows us to establish technologies which we do not currently have.
Is there understanding between the existing promoter and the new co-promoter, the maximum ArcelorMittal could hold in Uttam Galva at any point in time?

We have an understanding that after the open offer is complete whatever our holding comes to, neither promoter will increase their stake in the company without the approval of the other promoter which is a fair and pretty standard clause all over. We would of course have absolutely no issues with ArcelorMittal increasing their stake in the future. I do not think they will have an issue with us either. It is just something that comes in a standard agreement and as and when the time comes we will jointly take a decision which in the best interest of the organisation.


If you are saying that if ArcelorMittal after the open offer has the liberty of increasing the stake and you in principal have no problems with that, so what does that mean?

It means that they obviously have confidence in the organisation. It does not change the way the company is run. We have absolute faith in the way ArcelorMittal conducts their business and they have absolute faith in the way we conduct our business. At the end of the day both of us will have aligned interests which are to the growth and betterment of this organisation. We do not have any petty concerns about who is calling the shots or who is the decision maker at the end of the day. The idea is not the percentage of pie that is being held, the idea is how to make this entire pie much bigger. That is a purpose of this entire transaction. As you see in this transaction there is no cash flow coming into the company. The cash flow is going to reward the existing shareholders of the company. There is not so much of an incentive promoter by giving 5% stake. It does not really make a difference in our lives as far as money is concerned. The issue is you bring a strategic partner on board which helps you grow the absolute size of this organisation and that is the end game. If somebody holds 5% more or 5% less it does change anything in the grand scheme of things.


What do you have to say on the conflict between the stand-alone operations of Arcelor in India and what they will be doing with Uttam Galva?

As far as I understand Arcelor is still completely committed to the 24 million ton steel project in Orissa and Jharkhand, there is absolutely no change in that strategy. As far as any project that Uttam Galva does in the future of course since they are co promoters they will be co promoters in our downstream activity or backward integration plan.

We are fully committed to our project in Orissa which is a very small project when you look at ArcelorMittal’s plans. We are planning a 3 million ton project. We are very committed to that. We are on land acquisition stage. Since that is an Uttam Galva Steel’s project and ArcelorMittal is a co-promoter it will also be a co-project of theirs but that has no bearing whatsoever on this transaction and it will not interfere with any of their other plans in that region.
 

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Bank Of India raises Rs 500 cr via bonds- Stocks in News-Stocks-Markets-The Economic Times

Bank Of India raises Rs 500 cr via bonds
7 Sep 2009, 1738 hrs IST, PTI

MUMBAI: Bank Of India today said it has raised Rs 500 crore by issue of bonds.

The bank has raised Rs 500 crore through issue of upper Tier-II capital bonds, with a coupon rate of 8.50 per cent per annum, Bank Of India said in a filing to the National Stock Exchange.

Shares of Bank Of India today closed at Rs 335.05 on the NSE, up 0.36 per cent from previous close.
 

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Honda Siel launches new Civic- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Honda Siel launches new Civic
8 Sep 2009, 1538 hrs IST, ECONOMICTIMES.COM

NEW DELHI: Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) Ltd on Tuesday launched the new Honda Civic. The new Civic has a curved 5 Point Metallic Front Grille and restyled front bumper which the company believes gives the car a sportier look. Also new are the stylized ‘Dark Smokey Headlights & Crystalline Octagonal Tail Lights’. The audio system of the new Civic comes equipped with a USB port together with the CD player. An intelligent fuel economy indicator has been introduced in the new Honda Civic to enable the customer to achieve the good fuel efficiency.

New Civic will be available in 3 variants - SMT, VMT & VAT. Honda civic will have an additional color option Polished Metal along with the existing colors available in the range.

The new Civic SMT comes with two tone fabric seats with matching fabric on door panels & armrest. Honda Civic VMT & VAT comes with a steering mounted cruise control system that helps to cruise at the desired speed with one touch operation. It also comes with a new fog light with garnish and newly designed alloy wheel.

Additionally, all the variants will be available in 2 attractive types - Elegance and Inspire.

The company believes that the 1.8 L i-VTEC engine in the new Honda Civic is the most advanced engine technology available in the segment. It combines Honda’s i-VTEC (Intelligent Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) technology with VTC (Variable Time Control) to deliver powerful performance and superior fuel economy. The i-VTEC regulates the opening of air-fuel intake valves and exhaust valves in accordance with engine speeds. The ARAI fuel efficiency results for Civic MT are 15.5 km/. The car is E10 compatible and has Euro IV emission levels.

Safety equipment is standard across all variants. It has active and passive safety features including ABS (Anti - Lock braking system) with EBD (Electronic Brake - Force Distribution System) & Brake Assist, Dual SRS airbags and pre-tensioner seat belts

The Civic was first launched in 2006 in the lower D segment of passenger car
market in India. HSCI has sold over 42,000 units in just over 3 years. Honda Civic has won 10 automobile awards including the Indian Car of the Year (ICOTY) 2007. It was also winner of the JD Power Initial Quality Study in its very 1st year with the best ever score in the Industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Masahiro Takedagawa, President and CEO, Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. said, “The Honda Civic is a segment defining product both in terms of looks and performance. The new Honda Civic carries forward the legacy of the Civic which is already the most refined and advanced car in the segment.”

Bookings for the new Honda Civic will start immediately at the company’s distribution network of 106 authorised dealership facilities, across the country. This network is likely to go up to 112 facilities by the end of the current financial year.

The all Honda Civic comes with a 2+2 year warranty and 24-hr roadside assistance as standard value for all new Civic buyers.
 

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IIFCL to refinance 60 % of bank loans for PPP projects​

HYDERABAD: Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India Usha Thorat said the Central Government had decided that India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) would refinance 60 per cent of commercial bank loans for public-private partnership (PPP) projects in critical areas in the next 15-18 months. This was done to ease the financing constraints for infrastructure projects under the PPP mode. IIFCL was a special purpose vehicle set up to provide long-term financial assistance to stimulate public investment in infrastructure.

Delivering the keynote address at a conclave organised by the Institute of Public Enterprise for chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) of industry here on Friday, Ms. Thorat said the IIFCL had been authorised to raise Rs. 10,000 crore through government-guaranteed tax-free bonds by the end of 2008-09 and an additional Rs. 30,000 crore on the same basis as per requirement in 2009-10. The refinancing option with IIFCL now was expected to leverage bank financing for PPP programmes to the extent of about Rs. 1 lakh crore.

The Deputy Governor felt that ‘take out financing’, a long-term permanent financing, was one way of addressing the asset-liability mismatch (ALM). Ms. Thorat also said that the RBI was preparing guidelines to allow repos in corporate bonds and they would be put on the bank’s website soon. Chairman and Managing Director of National Mineral Development Corporation Rana Som said the job of CEOs was much more challenging now though their path was well defined than in the past. The meeting was also addressed by Chairman of State unit of Confederation of Indian Industry Y. Harishchandra Prasad.

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RIL margins to cost Rs 10k cr more on fertilsers, power cos: RPower- Power-Energy-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

RIL margins to cost Rs 10k cr more on fertilsers, power cos: RPower
13 Sep 2009, 2051 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Power today alleged that Mukesh Ambani-led RIL was charging unauthorised margins on sale of gas to power and fertiliser units imposing an additional burden of Rs 10,000 crore on them and sought immediate intervention of the government.

"Reliance Industries Ltd is charging an illegal and unauthorised marketing margins of 13.5 cents (Rs 6.6) per million BTU on sale of gas from KG basin D6 fields...RIL's decision to levy this margin does not have the approval of the Empowered Group of Ministers," Reliance Power Chief Executive Officer J P Chalasani said in a statement.

While no comment could be obtained immediately from RIL, the allegations come amid the legal battle between the group firms of two brothers Anil and Mukesh over supply of gas to RNRL from RIL's Krishna-Godavari basin.

Dubbing the margins as "illegitimate and unjustified", Chalasani said these would result into an additional burden of Rs 10,000 crore on power and fertiliser consuming units.

"The major burden will be borne by government of India in the form of fertiliser subsidies and governments of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat in the form of power subsidies," he said.

The group firms of the two brothers have approached the Supreme Court on a Bombay High Court ruling, which upheld that the Anil Ambani group company RNRL would get gas at USD 2.31 per mmBtu, 44 per cent lower than the price fixed by the government. The apex court will commence hearing on October 20.

Chalasani said the Petroleum Ministry has denied giving permission to RIL to charge any marketing margin but it is taking no steps to prevent the "illegal levy".

This, he said, "once again strengthens the apprehensions about the biased and partisan approach of the Petroleum Ministry".

Seeking urgent intervention of the government to stop the levy, he said, "the marketing margin already imposed should either be refunded or adjusted against the future sale of gas."

Based on the higher sales price, the government should get a higher share of profit in addition to the royalty as per the production sharing contract, Chalasani said.

"Shockingly, even this is not happening and the entire benefit of Rs 10,000 crore is going to RIL alone," he said.

The Reliance Power CEO said that RIL was "hoodwinking" the Central government and the people of India to "enrich its own coffers".

On the one hand, the government is denied its share of additional sales realisation generated by RIL, and on the other the government has to eventually pay for additional burden in the form of additional subsidies, he said.

Under similar circumstances, state-run GAIL is not permitted to charge any marketing margin on supply of gas to the consumers. "This once again shows the double standard being adopted by the Petroleum Ministry."

He said, there was no element of marketing involved and the margins were unjustified.
 

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Pipavav Shipyard's $100 mln IPO oversubscribed | Business News | Reuters

Pipavav Shipyard's $100 mln IPO oversubscribed
Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:45pm IST

By Swati Pandey

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Pipavav Shipyard's IPO to raise over $100 million was subscribed nearly 3 times on its first day of order-taking, but analysts said its trading performance could be muted given a high valuation relative to its peers.

The deal was fully covered within one hour of opening on Wednesday, one banker said. By 5 p.m. on the first day, the 85.45 million share offering was subscribed 2.67 times, according to the National Stock Exchange's website.

Most of the bids were at the top end of the 55-60 rupees price band, the banker said.

The shipbuilder on Tuesday received 920 million rupees worth of share orders from anchor investors including Commonwealth Equity Fund Ltd, India Diversified (Mauritius) Ltd and Marshal India Select Fund Ltd.

"I don't see gains coming in on listing. I see the price band is a bit overvalued as of now," Tiju Samuel, analyst at HDFC Securities said. "The company has good fundamentals but not for the short-term. I won't go for listing gains."

The IPO's price range is about 2.3 times book value based on post-listing equity capital, Keynote Capitals Ltd said. By comparison, local rivals ABG Shipyard and Bharati Shipyard trade at 1.3 and 0.7 times, respectively, Keynote said.

For similar reasons, Angel Broking has an 'avoid' rating on the IPO.

"The IPO is expensive compared to its domestic peers, ABG and Bharati Shipyard, which have a diversified order book with strong revenue and operating visibility over the next 2-3 years," A 1852269932 said in its research report.

Brokers are also concerned about Pipavav's short track record in the business. Its first vessel is due to be delivered next year.

Pipavav Shipyard's 5 billion-plus rupees IPO follows recent offerings from state hydropower producer NHPC and private utility Adani Power.

Indian companies have raised more than $9 billion through share sales so far this year, surpassing the total for all of 2008, powered by a sharp rally in the stock market that has been fueled by an influx of foreign funds.

The benchmark stock index has more than doubled from a 2009 low in early March. The index rallied 1.35 percent to a near 16-month closing high on Wednesday.

Pipavav, co-owned by SKIL Infrastructure Ltd and engineering firm Punj Lloyd, plans to raise funds primarily for construction of facilities for shipbuilding, ship repair and offshore business.

The company's current order book stands at $920 million for 34 vessels, including 12 offshore supply vessels for state-run explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp.

Citigroup, Enam Financial and JM Financial are the book-running lead managers for the issue.

(For more news on Reuters Money click www.reutersmoney.in)
 

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The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Business | Ship firms in stake tussle

Ship firms in stake tussle

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT


TALE TWIST

Mumbai, Sept. 16: Bharati Shipyard, which is locked in a battle with ABG Shipyard to acquire Great Offshore — today increased its stake in the latter when it bought over 11 lakh shares of the offshore oil services provider.

Bharati bought the shares in bulk deals on both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

Videocon Industries was one of the sellers.

Videocon sold over 2.23 lakh shares of Great Offshore to Dhanashree Properties Pvt Ltd — a subsidiary of Bharati — at Rs 556.66 per share. On the BSE, Dhanashree Properties acquired 7.56 lakh shares at Rs 558.80 apiece. It also bought 3.60 lakh shares on the NSE at Rs 558.82 per share.

The purchase of these shares, which constitute nearly 3 per cent of Great Offshore equity, increases Bharati’s holding in the company to around 24 per cent. ABG owns around 11 per cent.

Both the companies have announced open offers for Great Offshore. While Bharati has offered Rs 405 a share, ABG Shipyard has proposed a price of Rs 520 apiece. After the latest stake purchase, Bharati will have to revise its open offer price to at least Rs 558.80 per share.

The battle for Great Offshore began when Vijay Sheth, the former vice-chairman and managing director of the company, asked Bharati Shipyard for a loan of Rs 240 crore to repay the amount owed to two financial institutions. In exchange, he had pledged a 14.89 per cent stake in Great Offshore. Sheth was unable to repay the loan and Bharati decided in May to invoke the pledge and acquired the shares at Rs 315 apiece.
 

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Dr. Reddy?s Climbs on Glaxo Stake Purchase Report (Update3) - Bloomberg.com

Dr. Reddy’s Climbs on Glaxo Stake Purchase Report
(Update3)

By Saikat Chatterjee and Trista Kelley

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., India’s second-biggest drugmaker, rose to its highest level in at least 18 years in Mumbai trading after the Economic Times reported that GlaxoSmithKline Plc is in talks to buy a stake.

Dr. Reddy’s advanced 3.7 percent to close at 866 rupees. The stock rose to its highest close since Bloomberg began tracking it in 1991.

“The acquisition of a small stake is a possibility as big pharma companies are looking at small generic drugmakers in emerging markets,” said Bino Pathiparampil, an analyst at Mumbai-based India Infoline Ltd., who advises investors to buy Dr. Reddy’s shares.

Glaxo Chief Executive Officer Andrew Witty has been making acquisitions and partnerships in emerging economies to offset the impact of competition from generic medicines. A stake in Dr. Reddy’s would strengthen Glaxo’s position in India, where the U.K. company has 5.9 percent of the pharmaceutical market. Glaxo in June agreed to sell Dr. Reddy’s medicines outside India.

“I don’t believe they’re going to make any material purchase of shares but if they want to take a small stake to cement the relationship and drive the alliance then that makes sense,” said Michael Leacock, an analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, in an interview in London. “We constantly hear rumors of Glaxo buying all sorts of companies, very few of them turn out to be true.”

$150 Million

Glaxo is in talks to purchase a 5 percent stake in Dr. Reddy’s to strengthen its association with the Indian generic drugmaker, the Economic Times said. Glaxo may have to pay $150 million for the stake, the report said, citing people it didn’t identify who are familiar with the development.

Glaxo rose 24.5 pence, or 2.1 percent, to 1201.5 pence at 12:05 p.m. in London trading.

Dr. Reddy’s, in an e-mailed statement, declined to comment on what it termed as “market speculation.” Glaxo spokeswoman Claire Brough also declined to comment.

Daiichi Sankyo Co., Japan’s third-biggest drugmaker, last year completed its acquisition of a 64 percent stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., India’s biggest drugmaker, to expand in the faster-growing market for generic medicines.

Daiichi paid as much as 198 billion rupees ($4.1 billion) to enter the market for generic drugs, where sales are growing faster than demand for branded medicines.

To contact the reporters on this story: Saikat Chatterjee in New Delhi at [email protected]; Hemal Savai in Mumbai at [email protected]
Last Updated: September 18, 2009 07:17 EDT
 

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Pipavav Shipyard IPO subscribed over 8 times- IPOs-Markets-The Economic Times

Pipavav Shipyard IPO subscribed over 8 times
18 Sep 2009, 2139 hrs IST, PTI

MUMBAI: Riding on a strong response from investors, the initial public offer (IPO) of private sector ship-builder Pipavav Shipyard got subscribed over eight times on the final day of its issue today, garnering a demand of as much as Rs 3,400 crore.

The IPO, through which the company hopes to raise funds up to Rs 513 crore, got a total bid of 57.64 crore against seven crore shares on offer, according to the latest data available with the National Stock Exchange.

The company had come to capital market with a total issue size of 8.55 crore shares in the price band of Rs 55-60. Pipavav''s public offer received a strong response from qualified institutional and non-institutional investors.

QIBs subscribed the offer 10.63 times, while non-institutional buyers category got bids for 14.81 times of the portion reserved for them. The issue also received a good response from retail investors, who subscribed the portion reserved for them nearly three times, according to latest data available on the stock exchanges.

The IPO, which was fully subscribed within the first hours of opening on September 16, garnered a demand of over Rs 3,458 crore. However, the shares reserved for employees of the company remained undersubscribed with bids for just 77 per cent.
 

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Indian pharma to be involved in $150 mn global vaccine venture- Pharmaceuticals-Healthcare / Biotech-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Indian pharma to be involved in $150 mn global vaccine venture
18 Sep 2009, 1544 hrs IST, IANS

LONDON: Indian generic drug companies will be the "first to be called" to collaborate with a $150 million joint venture between the US
pharmaceutical giant Merck and British medical charity Wellcome Trust to develop and produce new vaccines in India.

The new company, MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories, will have 60 staff who will develop cheap vaccines for neglected diseases that are common in developing countries, CEO Altaf A. Lal said.

These vaccines - new as well as improved versions of existing ones - will be marketed around the world. Importantly, the company will develop vaccines that do not need to be refrigerated.

"Indian pharmaceutical companies will be in the centre stage. In Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune? wherever they are they will be the first to be called," said Lal, former chief of the molecular vaccine section in the US National Center for Infectious Diseases.

Wellcome Trust Director Mark Wolpert said the new company will benefit from the "capability of generic companies to produce hundreds of millions of doses".

"To be able to have low cost capability is important. I see collaboration all the way," he said.

India is among a handful of countries that have advanced vaccine production capability.

Lal said: "There's tremendous capacity in India: we are fortunate to have so many choices, and doubly fortunate to be working on diseases that they (Indian companies) may not be targeting and which may not be in their pipeline. So I only see win-win on both sides."

"The aim is global. In India for the developing world as a whole, and that's where academia comes in as well," Lal told IANS Thursday at the London offices of Wellcome Trust, one of the biggest medical charities in the world.

Lal, who was born in Jammu and Kashmir and educated in Lucknow, said India had "great scientific expertise, political leadership, as well as health challenges."

"I have served with institutions in India, and I know the many challenges that country and that region face. Too many children in India and other developing countries die from infectious diseases, even children under five. So we have much work to do to develop vaccines that these children need so that they are safe."

"Once we have decided on a set of priorities, we will involve Indian companies from the very beginning," Lal said.

The first vaccine the group will focus on will be against Group A Streptococci, which affects 18 million people around the world - 86 percent of them in developing countries - and causes half a million deaths every year worldwide, said Merck CEO Richard T. Clark.

David Haymann, Chairman of the UK Health Protection Agency who will chair the Hilleman advisory group, said the company will tap into "the great skills from Indian researchers and academics, and quite an established vaccine industry, which together can provide for the needs of developing countries".
 

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AFP: Merck, Wellcome to develop vaccines for poor countries

Merck, Wellcome to develop vaccines for poor countries

(AFP) – 1 day ago

NEW YORK — US pharmaceutical giant Merck and British research charity Wellcome Trust on Thursday announced a joint venture to develop "affordable" vaccines for poor countries.

Merck & Co. and Wellcome Trust said the non-profit joint venture, to be based in India, is "the first-of-its-kind research and development (R&D) joint venture with a not-for-profit mission to focus on developing affordable vaccines to prevent diseases that commonly affect low-income countries."

In addition to developing vaccines for unmet needs, the R&D partnership, MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories, will seek to optimize existing vaccines, they said in a joint statement.

"The heart of this concept is the creation of a sustainable R&D organization that operates like a business, but with a not-for-profit operating model, to address the vaccine needs of low-income countries," they said.

The kind of programs under consideration include developing vaccines that do not require refrigeration, and a vaccine against Group A streptococci which causes more than 500,000 deaths per year worldwide.

Merck and the Wellcome Trust said they would invest equally in the joint venture, making a combined cash contribution of 90 million pounds over the next seven years.

According to the partners, their joint venture marks the first time a research charity and a pharmaceutical company have teamed up to form a separate entity with equally shared funding and decision-making rights.

The site in India has not yet been identified, they said, but Hilleman Laboratories will support a staff of approximately 60 researchers and developers and is expected to be operational in 2010.
 

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RIL sells 25% less trust shares- Stocks in News-Stocks-Markets-The Economic Times

RIL sells 25% less trust shares
18 Sep 2009, 0038 hrs IST, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries (RIL), the nation’s most valuable company, on Thursday sold its shares held by a trust for about Rs 3,188 crore which could boost the company’s consolidated earnings for the quarter.

The company sold 1.5 crore treasury stocks through a series of block deals at Rs 2,125 apiece which pulled its shares down 4.45% to close at Rs 2086.35 on BSE.

The number of shares sold was nearly 25% lower than the maximum expected to be sold as investors demand did not match up.
The book value of the shares held by the trust was Rs 158 apiece and the share sale will reflect in the company’s consolidated results, RIL said in a media release.

RIL hired DSP Merrill Lynch and Citigroup Global Markets to sell up to 20 million shares, which included a greenshoe option of 10 million.

The Petroleum Trust, which owns the treasury stocks that were created seven years ago because of the merger of Reliance Petroleum with RIL, will own 5.7% after the deal. RIL created another subsidiary later with the same name that has again been merged with the parent company. The promoters hold 49% in RIL.

RIL did not say for what it would use the funds for, leading analysts to speculate that it may buy an unspecified petroleum asset overseas where energy assets have fallen in value since the collapse of oil price last year.

Investment advisor SP Tulsian said the transaction indicated RIL’s intention to encash its entire treasury stock in the next 12-18 months. Reliance is sitting on cash and cash equivalent of about Rs 21,800 crore as of June 30 and a debt of Rs 51,800 crore.
 

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