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Govt to list large central PSUs
Morgan Stanley purchases Lloyds’ card unit for $1.8b
Nath to convince Left that India’s WTO stand is right
Pfizer arm buys Bharti Healthcare
North India’s first bio-diesel project to come up at Panipat
Encourage crop diversification, bankers told
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Maxis eyes Aircel
Reliance finds oil in KG basin
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Govt to list large central PSUs
New Delhi, December 20 In a written reply, he said the government has decided, in principle, to list large, profitable Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) on domestic stock exchanges and to selectively sell small portions of equity in listed, profitable CPSEs (other than the navratnas). Disinvestment decisions are taken by the government on a case-by-case basis from time to time, Mr Dev said and added that the amount realisable from disinvestments would depend upon the market conditions prevailing at the time of the offer for sale/initial public offer. On coordination between CPSEs, the minister said the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) acts as a nodal department for all CPSEs in respect of coordination of matters of general policy of non-financial nature affecting all public sector industrial and commercial
undertakings. On the revival of Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels Ltd. (BHPV), he said that the government has submitted a revival package, based on study of consultants to the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) and after receipt of recommendations, the government will take a decision in the matter. The Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) has also been extending plan and non-plan assistance to help the PSEs in maintaining the infrastructure, payment of wages and salaries to the
employees. — UNI
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Morgan Stanley purchases Lloyds’ card unit for $1.8b
London, December 20 Morgan Stanley said on Tuesday the acquisition would expand its UK credit card business significantly, adding £800 million worth of balances to its existing £1.5 billion book of business and increasing its accounts by 47 per cent to over 2.3 million. Morgan Stanley paid a 22 per cent premium to the unit’s £800 million of net balances, a higher price than some recent credit card deals in the United States and above the 14 per cent premium Lloyds paid for a 70 per cent stake in Goldfish in 2003. “This acquisition is consistent with Morgan Stanley’s stated strategy of growing our international business by taking opportunities for bolt-on acquisitions and further underscores our increasing resource commitment to the UK and Europe,” David Walker, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, said in a statement. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley’s new Chief Executive John Mack reversed plans to jettison its US credit card unit Discover, one of the world’s largest credit card issuers,
disappointing investors who felt it didn’t fit with Morgan Stanley’s main investment banking franchise. Morgan Stanley’s share price has trailed those of rivals since the break-up plan was abandoned and as senior bankers continue to leave the Wall Street firm. Lloyds, Britain’s fifth-largest bank by assets, said it would make a profit before tax of £70 million from the cash deal, which also includes the Goldfish brand and loyalty programme. Terri Dial, Lloyds’ new head of UK retail, said the bank wanted to concentrate on expanding its own Lloyds TSB branded credit card
business. — Reuters
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Nath to convince Left that India’s WTO stand is right
New Delhi, December 20 It has chalked out a strategy to calm down the Left parties and civil organisation, which are up in arms that “India has almost surrendered at the WTO and left the least developing countries in lurch by agreeing with the US and European Union at Hong Kong.” Concerned with the political fall out, now Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has himself decided to meet the leaders of the Left parties to “remove their apprehensions on the outcome of the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting,” and would make a statement in Parliament tomorrow. “Now the Left parties have a stand that India should not join the WTO at all, that is no more an Indian stand. Otherwise, we will make efforts to convince them about what India has gained in Hong Kong,” he told reporters today. Condemning the total surrender of Indian delegation at Hong Kong, Mr S.P. Shukla, Convenor, Indian People’s Campaign Against WTO said: “In the entire process of “reaching consensus” on an extremely disastrous draft that has come out of the sixth Ministerial, India (along with Brazil) has played an extremely negative and dubious role.” Regarding ending of export subsidies by 2013 by developed countries, the critics wondered that the export subsidies, particularly in EU, were not more than 3.5 per cent of total $300 billion agricultural subsidies. On this Mr Nath, said: “Our strategy was first to ensure the defence of our agriculture from the export subsidised imports that would not be enter in Indian market. In the next round, we will negotiate, likely to start by April 2006, phasing out of domestic subsidies.”
Safta from Jan 1 South Asia Free Trade Agreement (Safta) will come into effect from January 1 next, Lok Sabha was informed today. “This is important for India politically and in terms of trade,” Mr Kamal Nath said in reply to a question. As part of Safta, he said various sea routes could be explored to enhance trade with Pakistan. Mr Nath said there were some hindrances in implementation of Safta but in the last fortnight very positive developments had taken place and “it is coming into effect from January 1”. The trade liberalisation under SAFTA, to which both India and Pakistan are signatories, would be applicable to all items except those in the sensitive (negative) list. India’s sensitive list has 884 items and Pakistan’s 1183, the minister said.
— PTI
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Pfizer arm buys Bharti Healthcare
New Delhi, December 20 Capsugel, one of the world leaders in the business of manufacturing capsules, has acquired the stake at the rate of Rs 71 per share. According to Bharti Enterprises Vice-Chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal, ''The decision to exit this venture is in keeping with our functional and operational specialisation and with a view to focus on businesses that are customer facing as well as scalable.'' Capsugel will bring world-class manufacturing practices and quality standards for meeting the requirements of existing and future customers. The worldwide presence of Capsugel coupled with its marketing strengths would result in further exposure to new clients. The company has, however, said that in compliance with the undertaking furnished, pursuant to SEBI delisting guidelines, by the promoters to BSE, the promoters will continue to buy the shares from other shareholders at Rs 83 per share for 6 months w.e.f. October 11, 2005 (delisting date). According to Pfizer, ''In considering opportunities to enter the Indian market, Pfizer selected Bharti Healthcare Ltd based on the strong results and reputation built up by the leadership of Bharti.
— UNI
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Ranbaxy shares hit after US ruling
Shares in Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. continued to fall for the second day after an adverse ruling by a US judge that India’s top drugmaker could not launch a copycat version of Pfizer Inc.’s $12 billion-a-year cholesterol drug,
Lipitor.
The company’s shares that had closed on 390 on Friday, before the ruling came out, fell by 9 per cent yesterday, and closed at 356.30 today. The BSE Sensex also closed at 9346.24 point, declining by 48 points. Meanwhile, the patent victory has boosted Pfizer shares by nearly 8 per cent yesterday though Ranbaxy has announced to challenge the ruling of the US court.
— TNS
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North India’s first bio-diesel project to come up at Panipat
Panipat, December 20 Talking to The Tribune here this afternoon, the Director of Nova Bio Fuels Private Limited, Mr Sukhmal Jain, said the company had tied up with a German-based firm to provide the technical assistance of Rs 70 crore project. On the ambitious project, he said that company had already started a pilot project in Hisar and produces 500 litres bio-diesel from Jatropha (also known as ratanjot). Encouraged by the response, the company was in touch with IndianOil Corporation (IOC) and various car manufacturing firms for marketing the product. To educate the farmers in the region, Mr Jain said the company is educating them to grow the plant as hedge in their respective fields for additional income. He informed that the company was ready to ink contacts with the farmers for supply of seeds or oil. On the future prospects, he said that various institutions of the country and abroad had successfully tested bio-diesel in Indian conditions. He said that the company would need one lakh kg of seeds for the project. The company has also established nurseries at Panipat and Hisar to provide first-hand information to the farmers.
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Encourage crop diversification, bankers told
Chandigarh, December 20 This suggestion was made by Mr P.K. Verma, Financial Commissioner (Development), Punjab, while addressing the 94th meeting of state-level Bankers Committee of Punjab here today. Various strategies and action plan for effective contribution of banking industry for better economic growth in Punjab were discussed in this meeting. Mr Verma said the farmers in Punjab were under huge debts of commission agents and were paying 18 to 24 per cent interest. He advised the banks to formulate schemes for farmers with much lower rate of interest to enable them to come out of this debt trap. He also discussed the problem of declining ground-water level in Punjab, which was declining by three to four feet each year. "To revert the trend of wheat paddy rotation, investments should be encouraged in fields like dairy, horticulture, infrastructure development, poultry, floriculture instead of financing costly agriculture inputs," he insisted. Meanwhile, Mr C.P.
Swarankar, Executive Director of Punjab National Bank, while presiding over the meeting, said the credit to agriculture sector in Punjab has increased by two times from Rs 5,159 crore in September 2002 to Rs 10, 060 crore in September 2005. He also informed that the bank credit to the SSI sector has crossed Rs 5,000 crore mark and reached Rs 5,174 crore as on September 2005.
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Maxis eyes Aircel
Kuala Lumpur, December 20 Maxis and state-run Telekom Malaysia Bhd were said to be in stake purchase talks with Chennai-based Aircel, in a deal valued at about $700 million, a financial daily reported last Friday, quoting unnamed sources. “Maxis’ strategy for overseas expansion has been to explore opportunities in emerging markets with good potential for growth,” the firm said in a statement. “Maxis has been approached by, and has been in discussions with, a number of operators in India including Aircel, and is narrowing down the options towards conclusion,” it added. Both Maxis and Telekom are seeking investment opportunities in highly populated regional neighbours like India and Indonesia to seek growth, as its domestic market for new cellphone users approaches saturation point. Both Malaysian firms have already invested in Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, and are seeking more acquisition targets in India.
— Reuters
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Reliance finds oil in KG basin
New Delhi, December 20 The discovery has been made in a block close to Reliance's gas rich D6 block in the KG basin. "They (Reliance) have submitted a discovery note (and) in our technical assessment yes they have found oil," Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons Director-General V K Sibal said. He, however, said it was too early to make an estimation of reserves and an assessment of commerciality of the discovery can only be made once the find was tested.
Garware Shipping
Garware Shipping Corporation Ltd has secured a Rs 23 crore contract from BG Exploration and Production India Ltd (British Gas) for supplying its Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) 'M V Everest' to them. Under this time charter contract, Garware Shipping would supply M V Everest, the vessel it had acquired from Norway last week, to British Gas, the offshore shipping company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The vessel is a state-of-the-art UT755 design, which would be deployed in West Coast India,
it said.
Archies retail chain
Greetings and gift products company, Archies Ltd today said it would launch a new chain of retail stores, Stupid Cupid, for fashion accessories and premium gifts. The new retail stores' chain will provide another choice to its prospective customers, Delhi-based company informed the stock exchanges. The company would be opening five stores by the end of this financial year and another 10 stores in the next financial year, it said. Initially, the stores would be opened in Delhi and NCR and thereafter it will open such stores in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and other metros.
Mastek solution
IT company, Mastek Ltd, has launched insurance policy administration platform, Elixir, in India for the first time. Elixir is a perfect solution aimed at insurance companies, which want to launch innovative hybrid products in a shortest time, Ahmedabad-based company today informed the stock exchanges. The IT solution will improve efficiency of insurance firms distribution network and enhance competitiveness' it
said. — PTI
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