New Delhi, August 26
ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of ONGC, beat Korea and arch rival China in a takeover bid for UK-listed Imperial Energy at $2.58 billion (£1.4 billion). OVL has been drubbed by Chinese companies in oil acquisitions abroad, especially in Africa, on many occasions over the past few years. The buying of Imperial Energy will give one more toehold for OVL in Russia, the first one being the producing property in Sakhalin.

Imperial's Board of Directors has agreed for taking over the Russia-focused company for 1,250 pence per share. Imperial's shares closed at 1,240 pence on Friday. Sources close to the development said, ONGC had received a green light from the Indian and Russian governments to buy Imperial.

Imperial, a relatively small British oil and gas company based in Leeds in the UK, has oil-producing blocks in Tomsk region of western Siberia in Russia and Kastanai in north-central Kazakhstan. This takeover will also give OVL an entry in Kazakhstan, where it had failed earlier because the regime of the day favoured Chinese investment.

OVL, through its wholly owned subsidiary Jarpeno Ltd, had made a bid of 1,290 pence per share on July 11, but as the oil price started falling from the peak of $147/barrel, the bid price also fell accordingly and this was to OVL’s advantage, sources said.

“Imperial Energy's directors are pleased to have been able to reach an agreement with OVL and intend unanimously to recommend shareholders accept the proposed offer,” Imperial Energy executive chairman Peter Levine said in a regulatory filing to the London Stock Exchange.

OVL managing director R.S. Butola said “the acquisition represents an important addition to OVL's operations and we believe that the company’s financial strength and technical expertise will further enhance the attractive growth potential of the business in the Tomsk region.”

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) was expected to make an offer of 15 per cent more than the OVL offer.

The Tomsk property produced about 10,000 barrels of oil per day in December 2007 and is targeting to raise this to 80,000 barrels per day (4 million tons a year) by the end of 2011. The Russian ministry of natural resources said Imperial's Russian Registered Reserves amount to about 450 million barrels of hydrocarbons. Independent assessment of the reserves by DeGolyer and McNaughton in December 2007 suggested in-place reserves of 920 million barrels of oil equivalent.

New Delhi, August 26
The industrial climate is "getting difficult" in West Bengal where the government needs to address the Singur issue if the state wants to remain an investment destination, CII president K.V. Kamath said today.

After attending an industry leaders' meeting with finance minister P Chidambaram, Kamath said before going into any state, an industry undertakes due diligence on the environment in the state.

However, the environment in West Bengal "is getting difficult," he said, adding it would "certainly bring difficulties in the minds of the industry" scouting for new locations.

"This is something that needs to be addressed if the state continues to be magnet for industry," Kamath said.

He said the Singur issue did not figure in the discussion with Chidambaram because, "our view is that this is something that is best handled at the state level at this point of time".

He hoped the industry group (the Tatas) and the state would work on resolving the issue.

Last week, Ratan Tata had threatened to take the Nano project elsewhere if the protests did not end. Trinamool Congress cadres led by its chief Mamata Banerjee have laid a siege to the Tata Motors factory in Singur demanding return of 400 acres of land to farmers.

"In any location if industry finds that it is not able to execute the project or commission the project, I think it is a matter of concern and I am sure the concerned industrial group and the state government will find a solution which is amicable," Kamath said. — PTI

New Delhi, August 26
Telecom regulator TRAI yesterday said the two largest private telecom service providers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications topped the list of most congested network with the former having the largest number of congestion points.

It said the circles or states more affected due to Point of Interconnection (PoI) congestion were Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, North Eastern states and Himachal Pradesh.

The regulator released the PoI report for April-June quarter, which said amongst the private service providers Bharti Airtel has the largest number 56 PoIs as of June, followed by RCom (22 PoIs), Dishnet Wireless (21 PoIs as of March), Vodafone (19 PoIs as of March) and Idea (19 PoIs).

In order to ensure seamless interconnection, TRAI has been monitoring the level of congestion at the Point of Interconnection between various service providers on monthly basis.

This parameter signifies the ease with which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a customer of another network. This parameter also reflects as to how effective is the interconnection between the two networks.

The benchmark notified by TRAI in the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulation of July 2005 for this parameter should be less than 0.5 per cent. This means out of 200 calls between two operators only one call should face congestion problem.

The PoI Congestion Report analysis shows that the performance of the Cellular Mobile Service Providers with respect to the congestion on PoIs has improved in June, 2008.

Ludhiana, August 26
Troubles of hosiery industry on account of turbulence in Jammu and Kashmir are now multiplying. While demand has been already hit, industry is now facing problems availing credit facilities from their suppliers of raw material.

With business of this industry coming to a halt, yarn manufacturers are exercising extreme cautions while extending credit to hosiery manufacturers. Most industrialists are unable to obtain material on credit. Production, hence, has slowed down immensely.

"Hosiery manufacturers are not doing any business. Future, too, is uncertain and under such situations we are being careful before while making a decision on whether to extend credit to them," said a top official of leading national yarn manufacturing company here.

Production, by this time of the year, was expected to reach a peak, particularly due to demand from Jammu and Kashmir. However, due to law and order problems, industrialists could send material only in the initial phase. While payments of the supplies sent so far, too, are stuck, uncertainty regarding demand in future is adding to the worries of producers.

"Traders from that state would have placed large orders by now. But this did not happen and business worth crores of rupees has already suffered," said Sunil Dutt, a trader here.

Most units have slowed down production and are now waiting for winters to arrive so that demand from other regions is generated. Hundreds of units at small and micro level depend on hosiery business for employment. Many of them have even stopped production.

After a brisk business last year, the industry had exhausted all its piled-up stocks. It was expecting a good start but much to its disappointment the future appears not so bright.

Mumbai, August 26
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) today stated that it planned to transfer most of its stake in the KG D6 block of the Krishna-Godavari Basin to four subsidiary companies. RIL holds 90 per cent stake in the block while Canadian company Niko Resources holds the rest. Eighty per cent of RIL's stake would be transferred to the subsidiaries, RIL said today.

The company's proposal in this regard has been submitted to the regulatory authorities and was awaiting approval, the statement said. "This is common global practice and would enable the company to enhance its financial flexibility as the company builds its E&P portfolio," the company said.

New Delhi, August 26
In a bid to reduce congestion and overcrowding inside airport terminals, the government has decided not to allow private domestic carriers to undertake handling of baggage at six airports from next year.

The six major airports identified are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, official sources said, adding that private carriers would not be allowed to carry out this task from January 1 next year.

As per the prevailing system, national carriers, entities authorised by the airport operator and private airlines do self-handling.

The ministry has decided that at these airports, the operator or its joint venture firm, subsidiary companies of the national carrier or its joint venture firms or any other ground handling service provider selected through a competitive bidding process, would be allowed to carry out these services at the airports, they said.

The decision has been taken after complaints regarding lack of space and overcrowding inside the terminals due to a large number of ground handling equipment being positioned on the airside. A large number of personnel are also stationed to man these equipment.

The decision, the sources said, would go a long way in taking care of lack of space on the airside of busy metro airports. — PTI

BRIEFLY

IEET Baddi, Oracle join hands
Chandigarh: The Institute of Engineering and Emerging Technologies (IEET), Baddi, has signed an agreement with Oracle for workforce development. Disclosing this here on Sunday, institute director Dr H.S. Shan said under the agreement, students of IEET would get technical support from the Oracle University. They will be trained by the proven expertise in Oracle technology and thereafter eligible for Oracle Certifications under the agreement. — TNS

NBCC dividend
New Delhi: The National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) on Tuesday presented a dividend cheque of Rs 55.97 crore to urban development minister S. Jaipal Reddy. The cheque was presented by CMD of NBCC Arup Roy Choudhury.The company has declared gross profit of Rs 418 crore with a total income of Rs 2,025 crore. — TNS

Cairn plan in Rajasthan
New Delhi: Cairn India's Rajasthan fields will pump over 16 per cent more oil at 175,000 barrels per day and will contribute over one-fifth of the country's current domestic oil output, when it commences production in second half of 2009. Cairn has submitted a revised development plan for Mangala oil field, largest in the Rajasthan block and has got investment approval for the second biggest field called Bhagyam, company's chief executive Rahul Dhir said on Tuesday.— PTI

Exim Bank initiative
Mumbai: Exim Bank on Monday said it has extended a Line of Credit (LoC) of $10 million to Uzbekistan's National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity. The LoC will be provided by Exim to the Uzbekistan bank for financing India's exports to that country, a press release issued here stated. The LoC will facilitate and boost India's exports to Uzbekistan, the release said.— PTI

Emke Group to invest 1,200 cr
Kochi: UAE-based Emke Group is planning to set up India's biggest shopping mall in the city at an investment of Rs 1,200 crore, top company official said on Monday. The Lulu International Shopping Mall, expected to be ready by 2010, would be spread over 17 acres of land, Emke group managing director Yusuffali MA told reporters here.— PTI

IDBI Bank hikes deposit rates
Mumbai: New-generation public sector lender, IDBI Bank on Monday hiked its interest rates on deposits across various tenures by upto 0.75 per cent with immediate effect. Deposits having a maturity of 1-2 years up to Rs 15 lakh will now carry and interest rate of 10 per cent while those above Rs 15 lakh will attract 10.25 per cent as against 9.5 per cent earlier, the bank said in a statement issued here.— PTI