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Sebi okays gold exchange funds
Maxis, Apollo to acquire Aircel for
$1.08 billion
A year when bulls reigned supreme
HP to submit Rs 1,800 crore plan outlay
Aftek bags 100 pc stake in Arexera
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India’s external debt up by 1.8 pc
Vaidhyanathan panel for revamp of LTCCS
Salora to set up wind park in Maharashtra
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Sebi okays gold exchange funds
Mumbai, December 30 “There will be no extension to the Clause 49 deadline of December 31, 2005,” Sebi Chairman M Damodaran told reporters here. Clause 49, which is popularly known as Corporate Governance clause, makes it mandatory for all companies that there should be at least 50 per cent independent directors on its Board. The Sebi Board has approved insertion of a provision for launch of gold exchange trade funds, besides introducing refund of payments through the electronic clearing system, Mr Damodaran said. The Board has also decided after Jagdish Kapoor Committee report that transaction in access of Rs 5 lakh would require biometric identification system and those below five lakh will require PAN Card. Mr Damodaran said all investors would be brought into the biometric identification system over a period of time in a phased manner. The Board has also approved to introduce the grading of initial public offering on an optional basis, he added. On the eve of the deadline set by Sebi for appointment of independent directors on boards of listed companies, as many as 13,000 professionals have posted their resume on a website acting as a meeting platform for director aspirants and companies. Demolishing the myth created by listed companies that there are not enough professionals in the country, about 13,000 have enrolled in the website (primedirectors.com ) created by Prime Database,” its Managing Director Prithvi Haldea said. Of these, profiles of 7,732 professionals have already been hosted on the website while the profiles of about 5,200 professionals are currently under processing. An analysis of the profiles revealed the candidates were highly experienced. For example, there are 279 who already hold 448 independent directorships on listed companies, 390 are IIM graduates, 178 are/were professors at IITs/IIMs/IISc, 700 are graduates from foreign universities like Harvard, Wharton, Kellog and Stanford. Meanwhile, Sebi has warned four brokers for irregularities in maintaining and delay in delivery of contract notes, failure in collecting upfront margins and non-maintenance of unique client code. Two of the brokers are members of the National Stock Exchange, while one each is registered with Calcutta Stock Exchange and Uttar Pradesh Stock Exchange, a SEBI press note today said. Sykes & Ray Equities (I) Ltd was pulled up for delay in delivery of contract, while Nirpan Securities was reprimanded for irregularities in maintaining the contract notes, failure to collect upfront margins and for non-maintenance of unique client code. Both brokers are members of NSE. CSE member Kanodia Stock Broking (Pvt) Ltd was warned for not maintaining client registration forms and for failing to make payments to clients within the statutory 48 hours. UPSE member Atmaram Kejriwal & Co was upbraided by Sebi for not maintaining margin deposit book and order book and failing to appoint compliance officer and direct money transactions between members.
— Agencies
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Maxis, Apollo to acquire Aircel for $1.08 billion
New Delhi, December 30 Maxis Communications Bhd and the joint venture company will jointly invest $1.08 billion to purchase the 100 per cent stake in the Tamil Nadu-based mobile operators. Of the $1 billion, $280 million would be injected into the company as cash. This implies a pre-money equity valuation of $800 million for Aircel. On completion of the proposed acquisition, Maxis will hold a 65 per cent equity stake in Aircel directly while the JVC will hold the remaining 35 per cent, Maxis informed Malaysian stock exchange. The JVC will be an Indian company jointly owned by Maxis and the Reddy family in a ratio that will give Maxis an overall equity interest in Aircel of 74 per cent, the maximum foreign ownership permitted in Indian telecom companies. The transaction will be executed in two independent stages. In the first stage, a subscription for new equity shares (26 per cent of the expanded capital) and the second, the purchase of all of the existing equity shares held by Aircel Televentures Limited. The second transaction will be subject to shareholders’ and Malaysian, as well as Indian regulatory approvals. “We are delighted to make this strategic entry into the Indian telecom market,” Maxis Chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Megat Zaharuddin was quoted as saying. “This exciting acquisition, which is also the largest Malaysian investment ever in India, marks another milestone in our aspiration to be a regional communications player of choice,” he said. Aircel is the top mobile operator in Tamil Nadu. It has 2.2 million subscribers in Tamil Nadu and Chennai as of October 2005. With a total of 12 circles planned to be in operation by the end of 2006, Aircel will provide Maxis with a near national platform with access to a market of about 628 million persons or 58 per cent of India’s total population, Maxis said. Commenting on the acquisition, Aircel’s Director, Mr V. Srinivasan, said: “Aircel has taken rapid strides from being a single circle operator to spreading its wings across various geographies in North and East India. Aircel is proud to have created a strong platform of performance and profitability that will help realise Maxis’ vision of entering the Indian market and becoming a leader in the Indian telecom space.” When contacted, Apollo Hospitals Chairman Pratap C. Reddy said in Chennai that the deal had nothing to do with the hospital, but related to one of his sons-in-law. — PTI
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A year when bulls reigned supreme
Mumbai, December 30 Domestic mutual funds too played a key role in what has been the strongest-ever, most inclusive and as yet scam-free stocks rally. The stock market bellwether, which rung out 2004 at 6,602.69 points and rung in the New Year at 6,626.49 level, hardly paused for breath as it raced to conquer new heights— the 7,000 mark on June 21, 8,000 on September 8 and 9,000 level on November 28. It also set a new intra-trade high of 9,442.98 points on December 23. MFs contributed immensely to this coarse price upsurge at a time when Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) threatened to pull out, making a withdrawal of over $7.91 million in October, after a record inflow in first nine months, which was a little higher than the record investment of $8.52 billion made in a singe calendar year (in 2004). There was scare of a scam in the market when Sensex swelled above the 8,000 mark in September, with industry chambers and Left parties asking the regulators to step in but the government was confident that nothing was amiss. It turned out in the end that all that the market needed was a healthy correction and not a probe as demanded by some quarters. The bourses comfortably rested on the country’s strong economic fundamentals and consistent robust growth in corporate earnings, even as the government remained committed to reforms and promised to push annual GDP growth to 8-10 per cent in the next couple of years. FIIs made a beeline to make investments in the country and poured in more than $10.5 billion in equity as on December 22, 2005. The number of registered FIIs with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) also has risen to 823 from 637 on December 31, 2004. Besides many market-friendly proposals in the Budget presented in February-end and the national electricity policy cleared by the Union Cabinet the same month, the government initiated several other steps towards economic reforms during the year. The Reserve Bank of India, for the first time, laid down rules to clear ways for banking mergers and acquisitions, while the government allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment through the automatic route in biotechnology space. The government also hiked FDI limit in the telecom sector to 74 per cent from 49 per cent. Even as the prolonged partnership feud between Ambani brothers worked as an impediment to the bullish market, it had inherent strengths to withstand such worrying factors. However, the amicable resolution of the dispute in the top heavyweight Reliance Industries later turned out to be a blessing to the surging markets. The market also sidestepped concerns over soaring global oil prices, which had touched $70 per barrel level, and Federal Reserve’s consecutive rate hikes, though it had temporary and marginal negative impact on Indian bourses. The price rally was unprecedently intensive, particularly after June that many counters from specified and non-specified groups were lifted to new record highs at the year-end. As a result, investors wealth in all traded shares on December 23, 2005 zoomed to Rs 24,53,186 crore against Rs 16,85,988 crore on December 31, 2004. The intensity of the bull-charge could be gauged by impressive 1,000-point gains in just 16 days during November. The Sensex had been on a record setting spree during the second half of the calendar year. The BSE barometer breached the crucial 9,000 level during November and scaled an all-time intra-trade high of 9,442.98 on December 23, 2005. It had also hit an all-time closing peak of 9,394.27 on December 19, 2005. The benchmark index later retreated and ended at 9,256.91 on December 23, 2005, against the close of 6,602.69 on December 31, 2004, a net rise of 2,654.22 points or 40.20 per cent. Similarly, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty also touched a new intra-trade peak of 2,857 on December 23, 2005, and scaled a historic closing high of 2,842.60 on December 19, 2005. It ended at 2,804.85 on December 23, 2005 from the close of 2,080.50 on December 31, 2004, a net gain of 724.35 points or 34.82 per cent. — PTI
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HP to submit Rs 1,800 crore plan outlay
Dharamsala, December 30 A meeting of the state Planning Commission presided over by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today accepted the proposal to submit an annual plan outlay to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore. Mr Virbhadra Singh said that annual plan proposal would reflect the priorities of the state and would be translated into actions through the Budget. He said the annual plan for year 2006-07 would be the base document from where the 11th plan proposals would take off. The proposed plan outlay would consist of 43.90 per cent for the social services, 16.63 per cent for transport and communication services, 12.51 per cent for agriculture and allied services, 8.68 per cent for irrigation and flood control and 6.67 percent for energy sectors, he said. The Chief Minister said that private sector participation was important for balanced growth in all areas. Tourism, hydel generation and transport would be priority sectors for the government, he said adding the state must capitalise on bio-diversity. The Chief Minister said the state had accorded top priority to transport in the first four annual plans and power development in the next three five year plans and now the social services was on the top agenda for development. He said the targeted growth rate for the 10th Five Year plan was fixed at 8.9 per cent and during mid term appraisal it had been assessed at 7 per cent . The CM added that over the years state’s economy had diversified in the right directions. The per capita income in the state had gone up to Rs 27,000, which was higher than that of the national average of Rs.23.308, he said.
— PTI
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Aftek bags 100 pc stake in Arexera
Mumbai, December 30 The company announced the picking up of the remaining 51 per cent of the German company, resulting in its full acquisition, it informed the stock exchanges. “Complete acquisition of Arexera was always on our radar since there is a lot of potential in the enterprise search space and Arexera has the right tools to tap this potential and build on it,” Mr Ranjit Dhuru, Chairman and Managing Director of the company, said. “Plus there was always the Seekport advantage. Through Arexera we now own 33 per cent of Seekport,” he said. It made the announcement at the 18th annual general meeting of the company, it said. Aftek initially held a stake of 49 per cent in Arexera retaining the right to acquire the remaining 51. At the meeting, the company also declared a dividend of 50 per cent (Re 1 per equity share Rs 2 each) on the expanded equity for the accounting year 2004-05, it said. The members also raised the FII investment limit from 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the ordinary share capital. — PTI
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India’s external debt up by 1.8 pc
New Delhi, December 30 The external debt was up by 1.8 per cent or $2.2 billion to $124.3 billion at the end of September from $122.1 billion in June end this year, a Finance Ministry report said today. "The external debt management policy of the government continued to focus on raising loans from least expensive sources with longer maturities, monitoring of short-term debt, keeping commercial debt under manageable limits, encouraging non-debt creating capital flows and accelerating growth of exports," it said. Long-term debt increased by $1.2 billion due to spurt in ECBs. India Inc raised about $1.35 billion in ECBs taking the total commercial borrowing to $28.53 billion. — PTI
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Vaidhyanathan panel for revamp of LTCCS
New Delhi, December 30 The funding figure for restoring the health of the LTCCS is 'indicative' and subject to the revision after audit of the recent accounts of cooperative banks are completed, Mr Vaidhyanathan told mediapersons here today. The draft of the report submitted to Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday suggested that 74 per cent of the amount be shared by the Centre, 11 per cent by the states and the remaining 15 per cent be mobilised by the institutions themselves. The LTCCS has accumulated over Rs 16,000 crore of outstanding loans due to poor recovery and inadeqaute fund mobilisation. — UNI
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