Dr R.A. Mashelkar, Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, having a word with Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Industries Ltd, at the launch of Indigene Pharmaceuticals, in Mumbai on Friday. — PTI photo

Tata Industries picks up stake in Indigene Pharma                             
New Delhi, June 30
Tata Industries Ltd said today it has acquired a significant stake in Indigene Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of US-based indigene Pharma Inc for an undisclosed amount.

HP clears Hero Honda project
Shimla, June 30
The state-level single-window clearance and monitoring authority today cleared 18 industrial proposals involving in investment of Rs 732 crore, including the Rs 550-crore Hero Honda project for manufacturing two-wheelers.

Jet files civil suit against Subroto Roy 
Mumbai, June 30
The legal wrangle between Jet Airways and Air Sahara, following abortion of the acquisition deal, got further complicated today with Jet moving Bombay High Court against Sahara chief Subroto Roy for recovery of Rs 500 crore advance money.

A four-seater smart car is seen in Tokyo in a 2003 file photo. DaimlerChrysler has struck a deal on compensating Mitsubishi Motors Corp for reducing the output of the mini car at the Japanese carmaker's Dutch plant, Daimler said on Friday. — Reuters

DGH sends notices to RIL, Niko
New Delhi, June 30
The Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has sent notices to Reliance Industries and Niko Resources of Canada, seeking explanation as to how they arrived at the increased figure of 35.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas reserves in Block D6 as in its own assessment in-place reserves were 11.9 tcf only.

Gold recovers
Mumbai, June 30
Gold and silver recovered on bullish global advice, traders at the Bombay Bullion Association said. Standard gold (99.5 purity) and pure gold (99.9 purity) opened high crossing the Rs 9,000-mark at Rs 9,005 and Rs 9,050 per 10 gm, respectively.

Union Bank scheme
Chandigarh, June 30
The Union Bank of India has announced the launch of a new deposit product — “Union Double”. It was launched by Mr M.V. Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank in Mumbai. The scheme doubles the investment in just 8 years and 9 months.

New Delhi, June 30
Hutchison Telecommunication (India) today acquired the entire 5.11 per cent stake of Hinduja TMT in the unlisted Indian cellular joint venture with the Essar group for an all-cash deal of $450 million (Rs 2,025 crore).

Hutchison Telecommuni-cation India Ltd (HTIL) is an indirect subsidiary of Hong Kong-based mobile operator Hutchison Telecommuni-cation International.

Hinduja TMT with its two subsidiaries — InNetwork Entertainment Ltd & Pacific Horizon Ltd — and Hinduja Group's Mauritius-based company Kumbat has entered into a definitive agreement for selling its entire stake in IndusInd Telecom Network Ltd, the special purpose vehicle holding 5.11 per cent of Hutchison Essar Ltd (HEL), to HT (India) Ltd for $450 million, the company said in a statement.

With this, Hindujas exit the telecom business. Hindujas' IndusInd Investment Bank acted as the sole financial adviser to the deal.

The deal is based on a valuation of the unlisted Indian jv — Hutchison Essar — between $8-9 billion.

The acquisition would take Hutchison Telecommuni-cations International Ltd's direct holding to almost 48 per cent in Hutchison Essar. The Ruias of the Essar group hold 33.6 per cent in the company.

Mr Ashok P Hinduja, Executive Chairman of the company said, the Board decided to monetise its investment in HEL to unlock the value for its shareholders and accepted the offer made by HTIL. The proceeds from the divestment of this stake sale will not only help the company to aggressively pursue its growth path in its businesses but will also enable it to explore opportunities in new lines of businesses.

Prior to this sale, HTMT completed the acquisition of the entire shareholding of Sumitomo Corporation in Pacific Horizon due to which the company's effective shareholding in HEL increased from 3.4 pc to 4.68 pc.

In October last year, Essar had bought 3.2 per cent stake in the company, then Hutchison Max, from Max India's Analjit Singh for $147 million. — PTI

Luxembourg, June 30
Paving the way for a merger between Arcelor and Mittal Steel, a majority of shareholders of the Luxembourg-based firm today voted down a merger proposal from Russia’s Severstal.

About 58 per cent of Arcelor shareholders voted against the Severstal offer.

In the process, they accepted Mittal Steel’s $32.3 billion offer, which was approved by the Board of Arcelor on June 25 after a five-month-long battle.

Arcelor had recommended acceptance of share and cash from Mittal Steel valuing at about $32.3 billion, which would create a group with 3,20,000 employees producing about 116.0 million tonnes of steel annually, accounting for about 10 per cent of the world market.

Arcelor Chairman Joseph Kinsch told shareholders that the long fight with Mittal was worth it, saying that the India-born steel tycoon L N. Mittal and the markets had finally recognised Arcelor’s “true value.” The Board of Arcelor had called on shareholders to vote against Severstal, saying that it believed the Mittal deal, which it had originally described as unfriendly and hostile, was better and set a benchmark for the steel industry.

“We have created in five months more than euro12 billion in value,” Mt Kinsch said.

“The battle was long and hard,” he said. “This defence allowed us to come out with the best solution for the group and the most value for shareholders.” — PTI 

Mumbai, June 30
Multinational healthcare and pharmaceutical major Bayer Group said today it was planning to sell its diagnostics business to Siemens AG, Germany, for 4.2 billion euros.

Bayer AG Chairman Werner Wenning said Bayer’s diagnostics business had grown considerably faster than the market in terms of earnings and profitability over the past three years and it was the right time to divest the business.

The company, however, said its consumer-influenced diabetes care division would not be affected by the transaction. Similarly, the contrast agents (diagnostic imaging) business of Schering AG, which would form an important part of the future of Bayer Schering Pharma AG, would also not be affected.

For Bayer, the after-tax proceeds of the divestment would be about 3.6 billion euros.

“The effect of this divestment is to substantially reduce our debt, thus helping improve our credit profile,” Mr Wenning said.— PTI 

New Delhi, June 30
The government has received 54 bids from 26 companies, including eight foreign companies for all 10 coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks under the third round of bidding closing today.

“Evaluation of bids will now be taken by the government and the blocks are expected to be awarded by August 31. The entire process would take about four months from bid evaluation to the signing of contracts and the contracts are expected to be signed by October this year,” said Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinshaw Patel here today.

He said, “We are delighted by the overwhelming response in the third round of bidding. During the bidding process, the ministry has sold data to the prospective bidders worth Rs 9.5 crore, indicating response of the companies,” he said.

The foreign companies who made a bid include global giant in CBM production BP of UK, Arrow Energy and Molopo from Australia, CDX Gas, Omimex, EIG and Coal Gas from USA and GeoPetrol of France.

Mr Patel said the blocks on offer include two blocks each in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and one each in Jharkhand and West Bengal. The estimated CBM resource in these blocks is about 635 billion cubic metres.

Notably, the government has already signed 16 contracts for exploration and production of CBM, including 5 contracts in CBM-I and 8 contracts under CBM-II. An in-place reserve of about 6.2 trillion cubic feet has already been established in 4 blocks by RIL, ONGC and GEECL.

The Indian companies which have bid are RIL, Reliance Energy Limited (REL), Essar Oil Ltd, Oil India Ltd, Shiv-Vani, Indiabulls, Great Eastern Energy Corp Ltd (GEECL), GAIL, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Jubiliant Oil and Gas Pvt Ltd, IOC, Coal India Ltd (CIL), Adinath, GSPCL, Deep Industries, tata Power, Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL).

The first commercial production of CBM is expected to start by mid-2007, which will provide a new source of energy. By 2010-11, CBM gas production in the country is expected to be about 8-10 MMSCMD.

This will supplement India’s natural gas supply and is likely to be around 8-10 per cent of the total gas supply in the country, said Mr Patel.

The Director-General Hydrocarbons, Mr V.K. Sibal, said, "India is one of the select countries, which have undertaken steps through a transparent policy to harness the domestic CBM resources.'' The perception the world over has changed. The confidence for investing in India is building up,'' Mr Sibal added.

Mumbai, June 30
Wockhardt Ltd said today it had acquired Dumex India Pvt Ltd along with its two products, Protinex and Farex, from the Netherlands-based Royal Numico NV for an undisclosed sum.

The company plans to change the acquired company’s name to ‘Dumex’ within six months, Wockhardt said.

“Acquisition of Protinex and Farex is a critical milestone in our growth plans in nutrition business. Today’s acquisition makes us the undisputed leader in medical nutrition. The global market for medical nutrition is worth $32.5 billion,” Wockhardt Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said.

Under the agreement, Royal Numico would also offer technical know-how to the company for the manufacture of specialised sugar-free infant food products currently marketed in India and internationally, under its brand names Dulac and Dupro.

The acquisition had the potential to double its nutrition products sale to Rs 120 crore as Protinex and Farex complements its product range, it added.

The company would inherit a strong sales and marketing organisation with 235 personnel and the acquisition follows Royal Numico’s decision to focus on China and other markets.

The company has a strong presence in infant nutrition with Dexolac, Nusobee and Firstfood brands, with annual sales of about Rs 60 crore. — PTI

New Delhi, June 30
Tata Industries Ltd said today it has acquired a significant stake in Indigene Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of US-based indigene Pharma Inc for an undisclosed amount.

Indigene, which is involved in biopharmaceuticals, has been in the business of both prescription and consumer healthcare products.

Commenting on the strategic alliance with Indigene, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata said the group had been actively seeking opportunities in knowledge-based industries.

“Our strategic alliance with Tatas enables us to leverage the group’s reputation and vision, nurturing the growth phase of ventures and creating fundamentally strong organisations,” Indigene Chairman and CEO M Vaman Rao said. The company, however, has not specified the percentage of stake and its valuation. — PTI 

Mumbai, June 30
The legal wrangle between Jet Airways and Air Sahara, following abortion of the acquisition deal, got further complicated today with Jet moving Bombay High Court against Sahara chief Subroto Roy for recovery of Rs 500 crore advance money.

The date for hearing of this fresh petition has not been fixed as yet.

Jet's lawyer Janak Dwarakadas said, "Since Roy was a personal guarantor for the refund of the advance in case share-purchase agreement was terminated — for any reason whatsoever — we are filing a case against him." "The agreement provided that in the event of acquisition agreement being aborted, Sahara would refund Rs 500 crore within seven days, and Mr Roy had stood a personal guarantor for this purpose," he said.

Meanwhile, the District Court in Lucknow hearing a petition by Air Sahara on its failed acquisition deal by Jet Airways today deferred hearing on the matter till July 29, after being informed by counsels of opposing parties that a petition had been filed in the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the cases.

District and Sessions Judge Shiv Charan Sharma, while deferring the matter, directed that the interim order restraining Jet Airways from making any withdrawal from the escrow account, and ICICI Bank from releasing any money will continue till further orders.

Air Sahara today filed a supplementary affidavit on which the court granted time till July 22 to Jet for filing a rejoinder affidavit. — PTI 

New Delhi, June 30
The Directorate-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has sent notices to Reliance Industries and Niko Resources of Canada, seeking explanation as to how they arrived at the increased figure of 35.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas reserves in Block D6 as in its own assessment in-place reserves were 11.9 tcf only.

“The proven reserves in the block are 5.7 tcf and the gross in-place reserves stand at 11.9 tcf,” Mr V.K. Sibal, DGH, said.

He said RIL and Niko hadbeen given 15 days to respond on how they arrived at the 35.4 tcf figure. The notice also seeks to know how Block D6 data was given to Gaffney, Cline and Associates for assessment of reserves when as per the production sharing contract (PSC), permission of the DGH had to be obtained for sending out any data.

“Mine (gas field) belongs to the Government of India and profit from exploration in the block is shared with the operator in kind. So, they cannot resort to declaration of reserves or sending out data without our permission,” he said.

He said as per the PSC, companies exploring for oil and gas in India are required to notify any discovery or establishment of reserves to the government first and can go public only after upstream regulatory authority DGH approves of it. — PTI

Chandigarh, June 30
The Union Bank of India has announced the launch of a new deposit product — “Union Double”. It was launched by Mr M.V. Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank in Mumbai. The scheme doubles the investment in just 8 years and 9 months.

The rate of interest is 8 per cent per annum. The annualised yield works out to be 11.43 per cent. In the case of senior citizens, an additional interest @ 0.50 per cent will be offered.

The scheme is available for a limited period only and will be opened from July 1 to July 31. A minimum of Rs 5,000 can be invested under the scheme. The maximum amount that can be deposited is Rs 1 crore. — TNS