New Delhi, June 9
Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication (RCom) could be much closer to signing off the deal with the South African telco MTN, with the talks now being focused over the share swap ratio.

Experts and those in the know of negotiations said, a broad framework for a deal appears to be firming up. MTN could take up to 74 per cent in RCom and Anil Ambani could swap between 43 and 63 per cent of his holding, depending on the success of an open offer, to become the biggest shareholder in MTN.

If RCom were to pull off a merger with MTN, it would create a global telecom giant with close to 120 million subscribers that would have a footprint stretching from the Cape of Good Hope to the Himalayas across 23 countries and covering a population of two billion, a third of the world. Besides, an RCom-MTN combine will have the largest Wimax footprint globally covering 50 per cent of the world’s population.

The combine will also command a market cap of over $65 billion, have revenue to the tune of $14.4 billion, an operating profit of over $6 billion and assets worth $26.8 billion, and emerge as he second most profitable operator in emerging markets after China Mobile. It will also form the world’s 10th largest telecom company and will more than drawf Bharti Airtel, which currently has a market cap of a little over $40 billion with 65 million subscribers.

Reliance and MTN began talks last month after Bharti Airtel and MTN failed to agree over the structure of a proposed tie-up.

It is learnt that Ambani wants the ratio to be 0.66:1 (66 MTN shares for 100 RCom shares) while the MTN management is asking for 0.51:1. A top team from RCom, comprising a dozen officials, has been stationed at MTN’s headquarters in Johannesburg for the past few days working out various details.

In addition to the share swap ratio, the parties are also discussing the structure of the management of the entity, post merger. It is learnt that they are in favour of keeping the existing management unchanged in most of the geographies.

India allows foreigners to own up to 74 per cent of a telecom firm. A purchase of 15 per cent of a firm would trigger a mandatory open offer for another 20 per cent. Under South African regulations, a company can buy up to 35 percent without having to make an open offer for more shares.

As per reports, MTN may end up getting anything between 63 to 74 per cent of RCom’s equity, including the stake garnered through the open offer, and Anil Ambani would end up getting anything between a 28 and 34 per cent stake in MTN.

However, reports suggest that Ambani is certain to join the MTN board as either chairman or co-chairman. MTN chief executive Phuthuma Nhelko is expected to continue in his present capacity. Cyril Ramaphosa, a famous personality in the world of South African business and politics, is MTN’s chairman.

New Delhi, June 9
Taking a cue from the country’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), country’s second largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor India, today announced the launch of its Accent model in the CNG variant. Last year, HMIL had introduced a CNG variant for its flagship model Santro.

The dual fuel Accent will use compressed natural gas (CNG) as an alternate fuel. The Accent comes with a 1.5 litre petrol engine, which without any modification is compatible with CNG.

Earlier last week, MSIL had launched its Maruti 800 “Duo” with the option of using LPG as an alternate fuel after seeing the success of its Wagon R duo following the launch last year.

HMI has tied up with the leading CNG kit supplier CEV of Korea, who will supply all the components of the CNG fitment. The kit is not only safe but with an advanced Lambda control system ensures that it meets the Euro III emission norms.

To ensure that there are no flaws in the fitment process, HMI has an exclusive arrangement with leading fitment specialist CEV to retro fit the kits on the Accent model.

Initially, the CNG Accent will be available in Delhi and the NCR areas.

The CNG Accent would have a manual selector switch, which would enable the driver to easily switch from gasoline to CNG and vice versa. The on-board CNG cylinder has a capacity of approximately 12 kg and the running cost on CNG for the Accent is estimated to be in the region of Rs 1.15 per km or even less depending on the driving cycle, company officials said.

H.S. Lheem, managing director, Hyundai Motor India, said, “The Accent has been one of our best selling models ever since its launch. Offering it with a CNG kit will only add to its appeal as it will not only be cheaper to run but also eco-friendly”.

Bangalore, June 9
Thanks to the burgeoning BPO companies of Gurgaon, the National Capital Region (NCR) has elbowed its way into the “leader” slot among the IT-BPO industry locations of the country.

Chandigarh has been categorised as one of the “challenger” locations while Shimla, the picturesque capital of Himachal Pradesh, has been branded only as an “aspirant” location along with other minnows such as Patna and Guwahati.

Slotting of Indian cities from the perspective of the IT industry was made available at the 10th annual Nasscom BPO Strategy Summit 2008, which took off in Bangalore today.

The detailed findings from the Nasscom-A.T Kearney study on ‘location roadmap for IT-BPO growth: Assessment of 50 leading cities’, showed Bangalore,Chennai and Hyderabad, capital cities of three southern states, enjoying the position of “leader” in the location roadmap for IT-BPO growth. Thiruvananthapuram, capital of Leftist Kerala, however, is lagging behind its southern counterparts as it has been slotted as a “challenger” location.

Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune are the other cities categorised as “leader” locations in the findings released here today.

Next to “leader”, the highest category in the study is “challenger”, then comes “followers”, while “aspirants” is the lowest category.

The conference, a two-day event, is being attended by more than 500 delegates and over 60 speakers representing over 300 companies. The international trade delegations and participants include representatives from the USA, the UK, South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Egypt and Philippines. 

New Delhi, June 9
With airlines facing mounting losses due to skyrocketing fuel prices, civil aviation minister Praful Patel would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday to find ways to prevent the crisis, which is taking a toll on the aviation industry.

The civil aviation industry has faced a staggering loss of Rs 4,000 crore in 2007-08 and this could double in the current fiscal depending on the fuel prices, according to industry estimates.

Patel, who has expressed serious concern over the health of the industry, is joined by industry leaders, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and Kingfisher Airlines' Vijay Mallya, in raising concerns over the "crisis" situation, which industry experts feel could see some airlines going bust, like in the early 1990s.

Fearing such a situation, Patel has said, he would raise the concerns expressed by the airline industry. He is likely to make a presentation to the Prime Minister and finance minister P. Chidambaram about the difficulties being faced by the aviation industry.

Some airline chiefs are also expected to join the meeting.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of several airlines trying their best to curtail costs. Some of them are even contemplating pruning their services, delaying their fleet induction plans or even grounding some of their aircraft, experts said.

The airlines are also in a fix as they could not pass on the entire burden of fuel price hike to the travellers, as this would eat into their market share. — PTI 

Frankfurt, June 9
Korean technology group Samsung launched a new touchscreen smartphone on Monday, hours before Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was expected to announce a new version of the iPhone.

Like the iPhone, Samsung's Omnia aims to make Internet browsing easy, and has a wide screen for viewing video as well as music capabilities and a 5 megapixel camera. It runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile software.

The phone will be unveiled at the CommunicAsia trade fair in Singapore starting June 17 and go on sale in southeast Asia that week. It will be available in Europe in July.— Reuters

New Delhi, June 9
State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) today said it has won Rs 3,588-crore turnkey order to set up a Combined Cycle Power Plant (CCPP) at Bawana here through International Competitive Bidding.

Combined Cycle Power Plant produces electricity and the waste heat is used to make steam to generate additional electricity via steam engine.

The order was placed by Pragati Power Corporation Ltd and also involves supply and commissioning of four gas turbines for Pragati-III CCPP, a company release said.

The company had earlier won similar Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) contracts for 700 MW gas turbine-based CCPP from GSPC Pipavav Power Company, 350 MW gas-turbine based at Hazira and 345 MW at Nagothane in Maharashtra.

It had earlier set up 330 MW Pragati CCPP on a turnkey basis.

BHEL would take up designing, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning and civil works in the project. The company would commission two steam turbine generator sets and four heat recovery steam generators.— PTI

London, June 9
British telecom giant Vodafone, whose Indian origin CEO Arun Sarin is set to resign next month, today emerged as the sixth biggest wealth creator in the country ahead of giants like Barclays, BT and Tesco, as per a list prepared by the UK government.

UK-based firm, the world's biggest mobile operator with a significant presence in India as well, has also been named among the 30 biggest wealth creators across Europe at 21st position, according to the British government's Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).

The list of 30 top companies in the UK, ranked on the basis of value added to their business during the year 2007, has been topped by energy giant Royal Dutch Shell, followed by another energy major BP, banking giants HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland and drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in the top five. The list of top 30 firms across Europe has been topped by Royal Dutch Scotland, followed by BP, Total Siemens and DaimlerChrysler in the top five.

Firms like Deutsche Telekom, HSBC, Volksvagen, Allianz, UBS and Nestle have been ranked ahead of Vodafone in the European list. The British telecom major has moved up eight positions from its 29th rank in the previous list published five years ago on the basis of financial figures for the year 2002. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Rupee tumbles by 21 paise
Mumbai: The Indian rupee lost 21 paise to close at 42.87/88 against the greenback as pull-out by foreign funds on Monday, which saw the stock markets tumbling, led to increased demand for the US currency. The rupee, weighed down already by a hike in fuel prices last week, moved in a range of 42.85 and 42.95 before concluding the day at 42.87/88, a steep fall of 21 paise over the previous close, at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market. — PTI

Indian Bank to expand
Tiruchirapalli: Indian Bank would open 100 branches before end of this fiscal in addition to the existing 1,546 branches, a top bank official said. Bank CMD M.S. Sundara Rajan said, out of the total number of branches, 43 per cent were located in Tamil Nadu yielding 40 per cent of the total business volume. The new branches would come up in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and North-East, he said.— PTI

Cadila buyout plan
Mumbai: Pharmaceutical firm Zydus Cadila on Monday said it would acquire 70 per cent stake in South Africa-based generic firm Simayla Pharmaceuticals for an undisclosed amount. The remaining 30 per cent stake would be held by the promoter of Simayla Pharmaceuticals, Ben Classen, who would continue to head the firm's operations, the company said in a filing to the BSE.— PTI

Moser Baer in pact with TN
Chennai: Data storage devices manufacturer, Moser Baer, on Monday inked a pact with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up a Rs 2,000-crore plant at Oragadam, to produce nano materials and photovoltaic products. State industries secretary MF Farooqui and Deepak Puri, CMD, Moser Baer India, signed the MoU in the presence of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. — PTI

Archidply public offer
Mumbai: Archidply Industries plans to raise up to Rs 52.9 crore through an initial public offer that will open on June 11. The IPO would have 66,15,720 equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at a premium. The price band of the issue has been fixed between Rs 70-80, a company statement said.— PTI

Sadbhav Engg plan
Mumbai: Sadbhav Engineering, a construction firm, said on Monday it would acquire 74 per cent stake in Hong Kong-based Ocean Bright Corporation for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was carried out through the wholly-owned subsidiary of the company Sadbhav Natural Resources the company said in a filing to the BSE.— PTI

JPMorgan unveils bond fund
Mumbai: JPMorgan Asset Management India on Monday announced the launch of its open-ended income scheme JPMorgan India Active Bond Fund. The scheme closes on June 25, a release issued here stated.— PTI

HDFC Bank in Una
Una: HDFC Bank opened its branch here on Monday. Jasmeet Singh, zonal head, HDFC Bank, informed that this was the 11th branch in Himachal Pradesh. — OC