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BHEL lines up Rs 10,000 cr
for acquisitions FM: Divestment of profit-making PSUs unlikely Mittal goes for Total, Lukoil India on Caparo’s radar |
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MPs back 9.5 pc EPF interest rate Israeli firm to invest $1 b Indian not to be referred to BIFR Swiss Re to buy 26 pc in TTK Healthcare Spicejet to raise Rs 355 cr
KG basin output to be doubled Oil refining capacity to soar DoT seeks nod for foreign CEOs Iran urges OPEC to cut output Rajesh Exports eyes retail HDFC Bank at Dharamsala
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BHEL lines up Rs 10,000 cr
for acquisitions
New Delhi, December 12 “We are scouting for suitable companies in niche technology... If we go for 3-4 acquisitions in next years we would require at least Rs 8,000-10,000 crore to acquire and then their expansion,” BHEL Chairman and Managing Director A.K. Puri said today. The company is talking to several players, Mr Puri said, adding that an internal dedicated group has been set up with a purpose to scout for such companies. “Tatas will bid for the project we shall support them through EPC,” he said, adding that the two companies had already reached an understanding and the private company was not talking to any body else in this regard. On NTPC’s proposed foray in Sri Lanka for an investment of up to $500 million, he said they were in talks with NTPC for a possible joint venture. BHEL recently amended its Article of Association, enabling the public sector to acquire foreign companies of up to Rs 1,000 crore from Rs 250 crore earlier. Beyond that, the PSU has to go to the Cabinet for approval. “Management control is what we are interested in... 100 per cent stake is not necessary,” he said, when asked whether BHEL would go for a total buyout or form joint ventures. The PSU also plans to bid for a 600 MW power project in Libya on its own. Besides, it has signed an MoU with Sudan for setting up a 500 MW plant at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore. —
PTI |
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FM: Divestment of profit-making PSUs unlikely New Delhi, December 12 The Finance Minister also said the government would wait for building a consensus on divesting small portions of equity in profit-making PSUs. "Some months ago, Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) put disinvestment on hold pending more consultations. I do not expect any money to flow into the National Investment Fund (NIF) in the immediate future," he said in the Rajya Sabha. "Since there was no consensus (on divesting profit-making PSUs), the Prime Minister had put the process on hold," he said. Prior to the NIF, all proceeds from disinvestment of PSUs went into the Consolidated Fund of India. —
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Mittal goes for Total, Lukoil New Delhi, December 12 Mittal Steel, which had last year announced its entry into oil and gas business through two joint ventures with the ONGC, has already on its own picked up a 3 per cent stake in Chevron's under-construction $6-billion Olokola liquefied natural gas (OK-LNG) project in Nigeria. Industry sources said Lakshmi N. Mittal was not happy with the progress of ONGC-Mittal Energy Services Ltd (OMESL), a joint venture that was to trade and ship oil and gas, including LNG. Mittal Steel in June had signed a pact with Total to jointly acquire oil and gas properties particulary in Africa and trade oil and gas produced from such fields. Last month, it signed with Lukoil for specific acquisitions in Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan. While the ONGC has not hidden its reservations on trading in oil and gas with Mittal, it has gone ahead and signed a deal with the Hinduja Group for sourcing of LNG and is negotiating an OMEL type of agreement with the multi-billion dollar group. Sources said Mittal would get 4.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the OK-LNG venture and was looking at taking a stake in big oil and gas projects in Africa and Central Asia. Industry pundits predicted that while OMEL might continue operations with its current portfolio of three blocks in Nigeria, OMESL might be wound up soon. Mittal wants to use his influence in oil-rich Central Asian and African countries, where he has operations, to get lucrative oil contracts. OMEL had identified Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Congo, Angola, Trinidad and Tobago, Romania and Indonesia as priority areas for doing business. The ONGC had identified seven countries - Iran, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Libya, Oman and Saudi Arabia - for doing business with the Hinduja Group. Mittal had in August written to the government protesting against the reversal of several decisions reached with the ONGC last year. — PTI
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India on Caparo’s radar
London, December 12 “Sixty per cent of my business is in Britain, 35 per cent in the US and, so far, less than 5 per cent is in India. However, India is the target for future expansion,” Lord Paul, British Ambassador for Overseas Business, said in an interview to magazine Manufacturer. Lord Paul, 74, said seven plants had been built in India in the past three years and nine more were under construction. Describing him as an Indian born Brit, the magazine narrates how Jalandhar-born Swraj Paul built his family empire brick by brick, currently employing over 5,000 people worldwide. —
PTI |
MPs back 9.5 pc EPF interest rate New Delhi, December 12 “A 9.5 per cent interest is not unreasonable in the prevailing scenario, particularly when the overall prices are rising rapidly," the Standing Committee on Labour said in its 18th report tabled in Parliament today. Noting that lowering the EPF interest rate would affect four crore subscribers, the panel headed by Mr S. Sudhakar Reddy said that before taking any decision on important issues concerning workers, the government should evolve a consensus. "....whatever be the parameter in fixing the rate of interest, the interest of EPF subscribers should be safeguarded by providing them the interest at the rate of 9.5 per cent," the report said and asked the government to gear up its machinery to recover Rs 2,145 crore outstanding dues from defaulting establishments. On the issue of bonded labourers, the panel said it was "least satisfied" with the government's reply. "The ministry has not even bothered to convene a state Labour Ministers' Conference to address the issue forcefully," it said. Mr Reddy said states like Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa had not even furnished the statistics of bonded labour in their respective states. — PTI
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Israeli firm to invest $1 b
Jerusalem, December 12 The owner of the firm, Mr Mordechay Zisser, and Vice-Chairman Abraham Goren, who were in India last week, were close to finalising deals, daily Ha'aretz reported. Elbit's largest project in India involves establishing a chain of hospitals in partnership with Ambuja Realty. The first hospital with 1,000 beds will be built in Kolkata at a cost of $230 million, the report said. A biotechnology centre would be located next to the hospital construction of which was slated to commence in four months. Elbit and Ambuja, the leading Indian cement company, also planned to establish a joint venture that would construct at least 18 hospitals in major cities across India as well as a medical college and nursing school. —
PTI |
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Indian not to be referred to BIFR
New Delhi, December 12 Mr Prasanta Chatterjee (CPM) asked whether the profits earned by the national carrier for the past three financial years would be taken before referring the issue to the BIFR. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the question did not arise at all. Indian did not earn any profit during 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1995-96. To a question of Mr C. Ramachandraiah (TDP) on whether the government proposed to formulate the guidelines making it compulsory for the new and existing airlines to disclose the fund sources for the aircraft they planned to acquire, the minister replied in the negative. —
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Swiss Re to buy 26 pc in TTK Healthcare Mumbai, December 12 According to the agreement, Swiss Re's Indian arm, Swiss Re Services India, and its Bangalore-based BPO arm, Swiss Re Shared Services India, along with TTKHCS, will form a joint venture, Swiss Re Managing Director Jean-Michel Chatagny said. TTKHCS, India's leading health insurance third party administrator (TPA), has bought back the remaining 4 per cent stake from IVF, raising its stake in the company to 74 per cent, TTKHCS Managing Director Girish Rao said. Swiss Re will also launch a healthcare services advisory company to work with the new entity, focusing on product development and corporate health schemes. — PTI
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Spicejet to raise Rs 355 cr New Delhi, December 12 Spicejet is set to raise $80 million ( Rs 355 crore) through private placement of 6.9 crore equity shares at Rs 51.36 per share on a preferential basis. This will be 27 per cent of the enhanced equity. After the allotment, the company will have a paid-up capital would be more than Rs 255 crore. The current paid-up capital is Rs 184.33 crore. The Tata group has proposed to invest $17.2 million through two investment arms -- Tata Investments Corporation Limited ($1.2 million), and $16 million by Ewart Investments Limited ( an investment company of the Tata group). The combined proposal amounts to 7.5 per cent of Spicejet’s equity, airline Director Ajai Singh said here today.However, reports said that the placement to two Tata investment arms have been made at a price band of Rs 40 - 42 per share. This would amount to a 7.5 per cent stake in SpiceJet after the preferential allotment. Besides the Tata group, the other major investors include the US-based leading private equity firm Texas Pacific ($30 million), Goldman Sachs ( $5 million) and Dubai-based Istithmar PJSC ( $25 million). The company has also received proposals from BP Paribas and the Swiss Finance Company. Mr Ajai Singh said the funds would be utilised for financing the ongoing expansion plans, which included acquisition of more aircraft and connecting more destinations. The airline planned addition of seven or eight Boeings over the next fiscal and another 10 in calendar year 2008. The Spicejet Board approved the proposals yesterday and recommended that these be placed for shareholders’ approval at a meeting to be held on January 11, 2007." Although, the Tata group has said that it was a pure financial investment, industry experts said the move might have a long-term objective of venturing into the country’s aviation sector as the group has seldom taken stake as a pure financial investment.
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New Delhi, December 12 The RIL-led consortium has obtained the approval to make capital expenditure of $2.47 billion to develop the basin, Minister of State for Petroleum Dinshaw Patel said in a written reply to the Upper House. Mr Patel said the consortium had submitted addendum to the development plan to increase the production with an increase in expenditure to $8.84 billion. This is a huge 400 per cent increase in rupee terms increasing from Rs 11,500 crore to Rs 41,550 crore. — UNI
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Oil refining capacity to soar New Delhi, December 12 The projects that are likely to commence its operations in 11th Plan are Reliance Petroleum’s 29 MT refinery at Jamnagar along with Indian Oil Corporation’s 15 MT Paradip refinery in Orissa, Hindustan Petroleum’s 9 MT, Bathinda refinery in Punjab and Bharat Petroleum’s 6 MT and Bina refinery in Punjab, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora informed the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry.
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DoT seeks nod for foreign CEOs New Delhi, December 12 The DoT sent the final Cabinet note to various ministries yesterday. The latest deadline by which the telecom companies have to comply with the FDI guidelines is January 2. The Cabinet is expected to approve the changes in the original guidelines of FDI in telecom (Press Note 5) before that. In the note, it has said there is no need to insist on having Indian CEOs and CFOs at the telecom companies and nationality criteria to choose CEOs/CFOs would only look regressive when the country is encouraging FDI in the sector. — PTI
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Tehran, December 12 “Like most of OPEC members, Iran does not consider oil prices lower than $60 a barrel appropriate. Given the considerable oil oversupply, we will try to have a production cut,” Mr Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh was quoted as saying. Last Monday, OPEC President and Nigerian Oil Minister Edmund Daukoru “estimated the current oversupply on the oil market at about one million barrels per day”. The OPEC chief was also quoted as saying that the cartel’s ministers would study all aspects of the market situation when they meet in Abuja on Thursday and “take the appropriate decision”. At its most recent meeting in Qatar in October, OPEC approved a cut in its output quota of 1.2 million barrels a day to stem falling prices, which have dropped from above $78 in July. — AFP
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Mumbai, December 12 Bangalore Infra Ltd, the real estate arm of Rajesh Exports, would look after the firm's prime properties in Bangalore and seek to develop them. Headed by experienced personnel, the property division would also cash in on opportunities in infrastructure development in Bangalore.— PTI
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Shimla, December 12
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