 |
|
|
CSN
outbids Tatas Put more
money in science, Nobel winner tells India L&T
bags Rs 5,400-cr Delhi airport contract Tata picks up less than 10 pc in SpiceJet |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Montek bullish on FDI, silent
on disinvestment No to hike in cotton MSP No BSNL plan to cut roaming tariff BoI to buy
76 pc stake in Indonesian bank Govt eyes coal mines in Africa, Indonesia, B’desh Stock market fall no cause for worry: FM
Tata
BlueScope unit in Rajasthan Aptech
centre in Malaysia Aditya
Birla group mulling Austrian Co takeover UMC-Hero Group pact
|
|
CSN outbids Tatas London, December 11 Within hours of Tata Steel's bid of £4.7 billion (nearly Rs 41,000 crore), CSN, high on support from pension trustees for its increased commitment to their fund, pipped the Indian corporate giant with a cash offer of £4.9 billion (Rs 42,700 crore). Acknowledging the counter bid, Tata Steel said it was currently considering its position and "will make a further announcement in due course." The winner for Corus would be decided by the shareholders at the extraordinary general meeting on December 20. Commenting on the competitive bidding, Corus Chairman Jim Leng said: "This offer (CSN's 515 pence) is both higher than the initial proposal (of 475 pence) by CSN as well as the revised Tata offer of 500 pence per share."It is also consistent with our strategic objective of securing access to raw materials, low-cost production and growth markets. The combination of the two businesses will create a stronger platform from which to compete and grow in an increasingly global market." CSN Chairman and CEO Benjamin Steinbruch, announcing the higher offer, said: "This is a winning combination for all stakeholders... Our goal is to unlock the value of our iron ore assets through Corus, transforming them into cost- effective, high-quality steel products..." Earlier in the morning, Tata Steel Chairman Ratan Tata had said: "We remain convinced of the compelling strategic rationale of this partnership and the revised terms deliver substantial additional value to Corus shareholders." It was, however, not clear whether the Tatas would revise their bid as a section of the banking sector analysts felt that the Indian corporate house would not up its offer further.There was, however, no indication from Tatas about their next move. The battle for the takeover of Corus, which would make the new combined entity as the fifth largest steel player, has caught the eyeballs of bankers, investors and analysts almost in the same fashion when Mittal Steel acquired Arcelor for $35 billion to become the world's largest steel producer. While Mittal launched a hostile bid, the battle between Tata and CSN has put the Corus Board in a piquant situation - of recommending first the Indian corporate house, and within hours,the Brazilian company to its shareholders Taking debt and pension payments into consideration, Corus should cost CSN up to £5.8 billion if shareholders accept the offer of 515 pence a share. — PTI
|
||
|
Put more money in science, Nobel winner tells India New Delhi, December 11 “India is good in computer software but not hardware,” the French Nobel laureate said. Mr Cohen-Tannoudji, who toured Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, found Hyderabad very impressive. He wants India to invest in such infrastructures and scientific equipment. His advice to policy-makers: “Put more money in science and education, and try to attract young people to science.” The French physicist shared the 1997 Nobel Prize with Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light. — UNI
|
||
|
L&T bags Rs 5,400-cr Delhi airport contract Mumbai, December 11 The GMR-led Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL), which is revamping and modernising the airport, awarded the contract for designing and constructing the terminal and runways, L&T said. The company would also carry out associated work for the airport, scheduled to be commissioned before the Commonwealth Games in 2010, it said. The new 4.43 km runway would be one of the longest in Asia and would be operational in 2008. It would be equipped with a hi-tech system enabling landing even with a visibility of only 50 meters. — PTI
|
||
|
Tata picks up less than 10 pc in SpiceJet New Delhi, December 11 The source added existing investor Istithmar, a Dubai-based investment firm, would raise its stake to 15 per cent from 10 per cent this month. “It is not a strategic investment, purely a financial one,” a spokesman for the Tata group, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters. “There is a board meet scheduled later to discuss fund raising,” a SpiceJet official said without giving further details. An industry source close to the deal said the carrier had “issued fresh equity” for a “qualified institutional buyer deal for about 7-8 per cent of the company’s current market cap”. “They have not done a preferential (allotment), and equity of their directors has not been diluted,” the source, who declined to be named, said. In November, New Delhi-based SpiceJet said it was in talks with Indian and foreign strategic investors for a “plain-vanilla equity sale” to raise $60 million and hoped to finalise terms and conditions with investors by December-end. Spicejet has already raised money twice - through a $80 million overseas convertible bond issue and a $12.5 million stake sale to Istithmar - since it began operations in May 2005. The airline’s revenues for the business year ending May crossed Rs 4.53 billion and it hopes for 100 per cent annual growth in sales. — Reuters
|
||
|
Montek bullish on FDI, silent on disinvestment New Delhi, December 11 Addressing a press conference here to highlight the content of the National Development Council (NDC) meeting on Saturday, Dr Ahluwalia visualised a much bigger role for FDI in the next Plan, but did not think that disinvestment of public sector undertakings was critical to the new strategy. He said the states were completely supportive of the commission’s thrust for making growth inclusive. This would entail a much bigger thrust to agriculture as well as more allocations for the social sectors, like education and health. The strategy on inclusiveness would also focus on high employment generation and skill development. He said even states like Kerala, which have a differing perception about FDI and financial sector reforms, were not willing to be left out. He visualised a much bigger role for the FDI, saying that an annual flow in this regard from $4 billion to $7 billion dollars was feasible. He said the bandwagon in relating to the Eleventh Plan would be led by small and medium enterprises and not the big large companies. The NDC meeting was primarily convened to give its approval to the Approach paper, but later a NDC Sub-Committee Report ‘Debt Outstandings of the states against the National Small Savings Fund’ was also added to the agenda. Work on finalisation of the Eleventh Plan had started in the commission and he expressed the hope that the final document would be ready between March and October, after the next NDC meeting. — UNI
|
||
|
No to hike in cotton MSP Mumbai, December 11 Patil made this statement following protests at Wani in Yavatmal district last week where one farmer was shot dead by the police following violence. Patil handed over a cheque for Rs 4 lakh to the family of the deceased. According to Patil, the state government would not be able to buy cotton at Rs 2,700 per quintal as demanded by the farmers as international cotton prices are at Rs 1,800 per quintal. "We don't want cotton growers from all over the world to dump their produce in Maharashtra," Patil said.
|
||
|
No BSNL plan to cut roaming tariff New Delhi, December 11 "Our roaming tariffs are already lower than those of private operators, so a further reduction will make them below cost," officials of both PSUs said. TRAI, which has initiated a consultation process on review of ceiling tariffs for roaming services, has said the cost of offering services has come down by as much as 67 per cent on a yearly basis and this should be reflected in the tariffs. The regulator wants to do away with the monthly rental being charged by operators and the premium charge for availing short messaging services while roaming. BSNL and MTNL's roaming charges range from Rs 1.50-2.40 for a 60-second pulse. Earlier, TRAI had shot down a proposal from BSNL, which had sought to charge a termination rate on all roaming calls. BSNL had wanted a three-way split of revenues earned from roaming services, whereby the operator on whose network the call terminates also get a share. At present, the revenue is shared only between the operator who owns the subscriber and the operator on whose network the subscriber is roaming. Currently, service providers levy a monthly rental of about Rs 50 for access to national roaming services and SMS is charged at a maximum of Rs 3.50. For an outgoing call, GSM operators' tariff ranges from Rs 2.89 to Rs 3.99 per minute while the CDMA operator's roaming charges for local outgoing calls range from Re 1 to Rs 3.99. Charges for an incoming call while roaming vary from Rs 3.09 to Rs 3.99 per minute among private GSM operators, while CDMA operators' incoming roaming tariff ranges from Re 1 to Rs 3.99. TRAI has noted while roaming tariffs have come down from a maximum of Rs 13 a minute in 2002 to Rs 3.99 at present,the operators have not done enough to bring down airtime charges, which have remained at Rs 3 over the past four years. BSNL plans to launch global roaming with about 400 foreign operators. — PTI
|
||
|
BoI to buy 76 pc stake in Indonesian bank Mumbai, December 11
|
||
|
Govt eyes coal mines in Africa, Indonesia, B’desh New Delhi, December 11 "Companies in the steel, cement and power sector would soon heave a sigh of relief as far as the sourcing of coal is concerned as the government plans to buy coal mines abroad," Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao said today. "We have shortlisted Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Indonesia and Bangladesh for acquiring coal mines and they are under consideration," Mr Rao said on the sidelines of a coal seminar here. The minister said 35 million tonnes of coal was likely to be imported in the financial year ending March, 2007. The country purchased about the same amount last year while it produced 407 million tonnes of coal during 2005-06. Power companies account for 70 per cent of India's total coal consumption. Mr Rao said the mines would be acquired by Coal India Ltd (CIL) through its subsidiary, Coal Videsh Ltd, which has been created for this purpose. "Coal India wants to have its own mines abroad. However, it is yet to be approved by the Cabinet," he said. CIL Chairman P.S.Bhattacharya said last month the company was already in talks with public sector companies - Steel Authority of India Ltd and Rastriya Ispat Nigam Ltd - for jointly acquiring coal blocks abroad. — PTI
|
|
Stock market fall no cause for worry: FM New Delhi, December 11 Pointing out that the banking stocks fell because of the hike in the cash reserve ratio by the RBI, he said the central bank's move was aimed at moderating credit. "Inflation is unacceptably high. It should be below 5 per cent and towards 4 per cent," he said, adding that more measures would be taken to curb inflation. Inflation stood at 5.30 per cent during the week ended November 25 against 5.45 per cent during the previous week. Sensex tumbled by 537.76 points to 13,261.73 at 1 p.m. as almost all index-related stocks, particularly banking shares, moved in the negative zone. Bankex fell by 6.5 per cent. "There is no need to worry. Stock markets are at their highs. Bank stocks are falling because of the CRR hike," he said. The RBI had last week increased the CRR, the amount of assets that all banks must park with the central bank, by 50 basis points to absorb Rs 13,500 crore from the system. The Supply-side management and interest rate increases had not been able to moderate credit growth, Mr Chidambaram said. Credit growth has been over 30 per cent for the past three consecutive years and still stands at 30-31 per cent. Since the CRR is the minimum cash that banks have to keep with the Reserve Bank in proportion to their deposits, a hike in this ratio would suck out liquidity, moderating credit growth and hence inflation. — PTI
|
|
Tata
BlueScope unit in Rajasthan
Bhiwadi, December 11 The company commissioned its second steel-building components facililty here. In August, it commissioned a similar facility in Pune. Tata BluseScope plans to start operations at its third facility in Chennai by January next year. Besides the three building-component manufacturing facilities in Pune, Bhiwadi and Chennai, it would invest Rs 900 crore in a colour-coating facility in Jamshedpur. It would provide zinc aluminium coated steel sheets, colour-coated steel sheets and other customised construction solutions. —
PTI |
|
Kuala Lumpur, December 11 Mr Khera said the company had a three-year plan over which it would allocate an investment of 20 million ringet (Malaysian currency) in the centre, which will have the capacity to train 500 to 1000 persons a year. — PTI
|
|
Aditya Birla group mulling Austrian Co takeover Mumbai, December 11 Sources said the group was keen on the takeover to bring about operational synergy and cost efficiency, besides ramp up its production capacity by 4,53,800 tonnes. However, no official confirmation was available. But a group spokesperson said, “We do not comment on speculative reports.” The deal, however, appears to be a win-win situation for the Aditya Birla group and if it goes through, will be one of India's biggest acquisitions in the textiles space. Given the Austrian major's strong R&D base, it will afford the Aditya Birla group a strong footing in the premium-end specialty fibres segment. The group will also gain in terms of cost-effectiveness and operational synergies. — PTI
|
|||||
|
New Delhi, December 11 Under the technical collaboration-cum-joint marketing agreement, UMC will provide electric vehicle (EV) technology, kit, including UMC patented ultra-motor electronic controller, and marketing support, Ultra Motor India MD V J Prakash said. HCL will be responsible for assembly, manufacturing and service, the statement said. Both UMC and HCL will also mutually work towards developing the EV business in India by investing in joint marketing of these ultra-powered electric two-wheelers and also setting up a retail and service infrastructure. — PTI
|
|||||
|
Gurgaon, December 11
|
|||||
SEBI suspends Reliance Co Cairn IPO HP Coop Bank |
|||||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
