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France concerned over Mittal’s offer
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Apollo Tyres buys Dunlop at Durban
Mumbai, January 30 Apollo Tyres has acquired the $200 million Dunlop Tyres International (Pty) Ltd at Durban in South Africa in an all-cash deal for 100 per cent equity worth Rs 290 crore ($62 million). Petroleum Ministry to shift focus
Maruti to park Rs 6,000 cr in Haryana
Dell to set up call centre in Gurgaon
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OVL to buy out ExxonMobil’s stake in Brazil
Holcim picks up stake in Gujarat Ambuja
Gold hallmarking
made simple Business
ties linked to India-US ties, says Lockheed official
Corporate Results Bank Account
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France concerned over Mittal’s offer
Paris, January 30 Mr Breton said that so far Mittal Steel had not put forward an industrial plan to back its hostile takeover bid. The steel group was free to pursue its bid but at some stage it would have to discuss “concrete projects”. Mr Breton said after a meeting with Mittal Steel chief executive Lakshmi Mittal that there was no “information ... that the cultures of the two groups could function and live together” and no “analysis to know if the group that could result from the operation would have compatible governance systems”. Breton said: “No industrial project is on the table at the moment.” He added: “If the Mittal Steel group decides to pursue this route — clearly it is free to do what it wants — at some stage it will clearly have to discuss concrete projects, which today are not in the hands of the parties concerned.” Mittal Steel, the biggest steel maker in the world by volume, has made a hostile offer for the number two world group Arcelor to create by far the dominant world steel manufacturer. Arcelor was formed of a merger of steel groups in Luxembourg, France and Spain at a time when European governments were restructuring, and withdrawing from, their steel industries. In a separate development, the chief executive of European steel maker Arcelor, Mr Guy Dolle, said today that the company would resist a hostile takeover bid worth Euro 18.6 billion ($22.7 billion) from rival Mittal Steel. “We were prepared for this attack since last spring. We are ready. We have a plan that enables us to resist,” Mr Dolle told the Europe 1 radio station. “The fight has begun, and we are going to win it,” he added. After a meeting of Arcelor Board members yesterday, the group issued a statement saying that the management “unanimously rejects the unsolicited bid from Mittal Steel which it considers to be hostile”. — AFP
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Apollo Tyres buys Dunlop at Durban
Mumbai, January 30 Even as the Board of Directors of Apollo Tyres today approved the acquisition, the transaction is, however, subject to regulatory approvals in both countries, including that of the South African Competition Commission. Speaking to Mumbai media after the Board meeting, Mr Onkar S. Kanwar, Chairman & Managing Director, Apollo Tyres, said: “This acquisition opens up new avenues for the company. We will add value to the Dunlop South Africa and the combined entity will become an even stronger force to reckon with in the coming years.” In terms of size, reach, technology and product range, Mr Kanwar pointed out “the acquisition will make Apollo Tyres the undisputed number one Indian tyre manufacturer and in terms of global ranking in the tyre industry, the company is expected to rank 13th or 14th as against the existing 16th rank.” Mr Kanwar said Dunlop Tyres International’s three manufacturing plants with a combined manpower of 4,000 persons in South Africa and Zimbabwe has combined plant capacities of 59,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) that produce the entire range of bias and radial products—right from high-end truck and bus tyres to industrial, farm, light truck, off-the road (OTR) and mining tyres.
— UNI
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Petroleum Ministry to shift focus
New Delhi, January 30 Soon after assuming charge as the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora said domestic issues like nurturing of navratna public sector companies back to pink of financial health, supply of subsidised cooking fuel to targeted groups and exploring untapped hydrocarbon resources would be his priority. His statement assumes importance as his predecessor,Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, was blamed for destroying the financial health of public sector oil companies like IOC, ONGC by resisting the moves to link oil prices with the market price despite a sharp rise in the international crude prices. Indicating his unhappiness over the handling of energy security issues, Mr Deora said India’s vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would have a direct bearing on the country’s security. Meanwhile, ONGC CMD Subir Raha brushed aside US criticism of it teaming up with a Chinese firm to acquire a Syrian oilfield, saying that the $573 million spent on taking a stake in al-Furat fields was not any FDI to the UN-sanctioned country but was a payout to a Canadian firm for the equity. “I have seen media reports of US taking strong exception to investment (in Syria). We are paying PetroCanada for the acquisition and not making any FDI. The Canadian firm had already invested in Syria and we are taking over their stake,” he said.
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Maruti to park Rs 6,000 cr in Haryana
Chandigarh, January 30 This was stated by the Managing Director of MUL, Mr Jagdish Khattar, while talking to mediapersons here today. He was in the city to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Haryana government for adoption of ITIs at Gurgaon and Rohtak. Mr Khattar said that a sum of Rs 2,700 crore had been earmarked for the modernisation of its Gurgaon-based manufacturing unit, which would be done in the next three years. “The new assembly line unit is coming up at IMT, Manesar, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,700 crore. With this new unit, the manufacturing capacity of the company would increase by 1 lakh cars, from its present capacity of 6 lakh cars,” he said. The MUL Managing Director also informed the mediapersons that the diesel engine factory was being set up in collaboration with Fiat. This would be done with an investment of Rs 1,600 crore, he added.
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Dell to set up call centre in Gurgaon
New Delhi, January 30 Gurgaon would be the fourth call centre being established by Dell in the country, whose global revenues in the last four quarters were $54.2 billion. The company has call centres in Mohali, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. “The call centre in Gurgaon is expected to add 700 to 1,000 employees in Delhi’s India employment of 10,000 by the end of 2006,” Mr Kevin Rollins, CEO of Dell said. He said the call centre in the outskirts of the Capital would open from a temporary location in April and then move to a 2,50,000 sq foot built to suit location, which is scheduled to open this fall. The Dell CEO said the company would begin the process of hiring staff for the call centre operations from March. Mr Rollins said the company plans to double the size of its India-based product development team during the next two years, based on its success in supporting the company’s enterprise systems, a strategic product area for Dell. The product development team is currently based in Bangalore and the company has no plans at the moment to set up similar teams outside this Southern Indian city. Rollins said the company is looking into setting up a manufacturing facility in India. Dell has seven manufacturing plants all over the world and the India unit would be the eighth such facility.
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OVL to buy out ExxonMobil’s stake in Brazil
New Delhi, January 30 “OVL has reached an agreement with ExxonMobil,” a senior official in the Petroleum Ministry said. Royal Dutch/Shell is the operator of the field with a 35 per cent stake in the Campos Basin oilfield. Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras has the remaining 35 per cent stake. “Shell and Petrobras have pre-emption rights and their approval was contingent to OVL getting a stake,” the official said. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had on December 16 approved OVL’s proposal to invest $ 820 million in the Brazilian field. ExxonMobil holds a stake in two offshroe blocks in the Campos basin. It has a 30 per cent stake in Block BC-10 where an oil discovery with potential reserves of 400 million barrels had been made.
— PTI
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Holcim picks up stake in Gujarat Ambuja
Mumbai, January 30 Holcim has acquired 20 crore equity shares from the promoters of the company at Rs 105 per share for $476 million. The existing promoters of Gujarat Ambuja will continue to hold 8.8 per cent equity capital even after the Rs 2,100 crore deal with the world’s second biggest cement company. Holcim, the world’s second largest cement manufacturer, will pick up another 20 per cent for $560 million. It already owns 34 per cent of Associated Cement Companies Ltd. The company will make a public offer for the 20 per cent stake at the rate of Rs 90 per share. The acquisition of management control of Gujarat Ambuja would give Holcim three jetties — two in western India and one in Sri Lanka — boosting its import capacity.
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Gold hallmarking
made simple New Delhi, January 30 Senior BIS officials say 35 additional assaying centres will be set up by March next year. Besides, the BIS has also simplified the licensing procedure. Instead of issuing an annual licence, it will now issue a licence for three years. It has also been decided to charge differential rates for issuing licences. In metros, jewellers will have to pay Rs 25,000 for three years instead of an annual fee of Rs 47,400 and for districts and towns, the fee will be lower. A hallmark is a stamped symbol on gold and silver objects that guarantees that the metal conforms to certain legal quality standards. It indicates that the metal has been evaluated and tested at an official assay office and conforms to the national and international standards. |
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Business ties linked to India-US ties, New Delhi, January 30 “Governmental relations in the national security arena have an impact on our ability to do business,” said Mr Robert Trice, Lockheed Martin’s Senior Vice-President for Business Development. “We in the (US) industry follow the lead of our government. Everything we do has to have the full support of the US administration and Congress,” he said here. He is here as part of the Lockheed Martin delegation that will attend the Defexpo, 2006, arms fair here. In the past, India has been reluctant to source defence hardware from the USA in view of that country’s complicated procedures for arms sales and its sanction regimes that have resulted in spares being withheld in the past. The Indian Government is expected to announce soon its formal “request for proposals” for the 126-jet deal. Besides the US-made jets, other aircraft being considered are Sweden’s Gripen, Russia’s MiG-29 and France’s Mirage 2000. |
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Corporate Results
New Delhi, January 30 The turnover of the company has increased 3 per cent to Rs 12,548 crore, despite a subsidy payout of Rs 2,843 crore to the oil marketing companies IOC, BPC and HPC, as per the government instructions. The net profit for the corresponding quarter last year (FY-05) was Rs 3,493 crore, after sharing a subsidy of Rs. 1,332 crore. Earnings-Per-Share (EPS) of ONGC for the nine-month of FY-05 has increased to Rs 79.56 per share as compared to Rs 64.42 per share for the corresponding period the year before. ONGC has already paid the highest-ever interim dividend of 250 per cent for the current fiscal (in December 2005), amounting to a payout of Rs. 3,565 crore. Hero Honda earns Rs 261 crore profit
Hero Honda has reported a 19.5 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 at Rs 261.7 crore against Rs 218.9 crore in the same period last fiscal. The company’s total income (net of excise) in the period increased from Rs 2,043.1 crore in Q3 of last fiscal to Rs 2,350.8 crore in October-December 2005.
NTPC declares
20 pc dividend
State-run power giant NTPC Ltd has reported a 30.47 per cent jump in net profit for the third quarter this fiscal to Rs 1,781.7 crore compared to Rs 1,365.5 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal. Total Income during the quarter ending December 31, 2005, increased 22.34 per cent to Rs 7,671.5 crore from Rs 6,270.6 crore in the same quarter a year ago, NTPC informed stock exchanges. The Board of Directors of the company also decided to pay interim dividend of 20 per cent for 2005-06. The company has fixed February 14, 2006 as record date for payment of interim dividend.
Suzlon Energy net up fourfold
Suzlon Energy Ltd today posted a four-fold rise in net profit at Rs 161.94 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 as compared to Rs 37.28 crore for the same quarter in 2004-05. Total income has increased to Rs 881.84 crore for the third quarter in current fiscal from Rs 290.45 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Board of Directors have declared an interim dividend of Rs 2.50 per share on equity shares of Rs 10 each for the year 2005-06, it added.
i-Flex Solutions gains 20 per cent
i-Flex Solutions Ltd today reported a 20 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 57.94 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 as compared to Rs 48 crore for the same quarter in last fiscal. Total revenue has increased 19.25 per cent to Rs 297.47 crore for the third quarter in current fiscal from Rs 249.43 crore in the year-ago period, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
— PTI, TNS
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Bank Account Mumbai, January 30 The alliance has taken the total number of such tie-ups Aviva has to 18 across 353 locations. “The tie-up with CBOP is a major strategic deal for Aviva India. Aviva is India’s leading bancassurer with more partnerships and a first class reputation for implementation. Bancassurance channel contributes close to 66 per cent of Aviva’s business in India,” Aviva Life Insurance Director Stuart Purdy said here today. Bancassurance policy sales on an average save 15 per cent of the company on a ballpark basis. This year Aviva has collected Rs 650 crore in premiums as against Rs 313 crore last year, Mr Purdy added.
PNB profit Punjab National Bank has reported 18 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 370 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005 compared to Rs 314 crore in the same period in the previous fiscal. Total business of the bank grew by 17.5 per cent at Rs 1,72,939 crore till December, 2005, as compared to Rs 1,47,162 crore in the year-ago period, PNB chairman S.C. Gupta said here. Deposits of the bank rose by 10 per cent to Rs 1,05,749 crore while advances grew by 31 per cent to Rs 67,190 crore.
Indian Bank card Indian Bank today announced the launch of Visa Global Credit Card becoming the latest to join the plastic money bandwagon, in the backdrop of cash withdrawals by Visa Card alone touching $ 26 billion in India last year. At a press conference here, Visa Consolidated Support Services Deputy Country Manager South Asia Uttam Nayak said Indian Bank was the first bank to launch the card with the new logo in the country. With the stock market booming and the India story unfolding, the banking sector, though it had a ‘vast and the largest’ base of customers in India and globally, had not encashed second generation with nearly 100 million people in the 17 to 21 years age category, he said.
— Agencies |
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Pulwama to have eight units
Srinagar, January 30 |
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L&T consortium Transco contract Nagarjuna Const Rs 500 note Airtel scheme Bids for NMDC divestment CST to be 2 pc |
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