Singapore, March 21
Formula One (F1), the top global motor racing series, is considering options for a stock market listing, a source told Reuters, as media reports put Singapore on the map as its preferred location for the float.

A Singapore listing for F1 would potentially make it the second major sports brand to look at the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state after English Premier League soccer club Manchester United considered a $1 billion Singapore IPO late last year.

CVC Capital Partners, which acquired majority control of F1 in 2006, would continue to be a long-term holder of the business and the initial public offering (IPO) option being explored is for only part of the company, the source said.

Britain's Sky News first reported over the weekend that CVC has asked Goldman Sachs to examine a placement of some F1 shares with a new investor. This would be a precursor to a formal IPO process in Singapore, the news channel reported.

The source, who asked not be identified as the discussions are private, declined to comment on the Sky report.

Goldman Sachs and CVC also declined to comment.

CVC owns 63.4% of Formula One and an IPO could value the company at more than $10 billion, media reports say. A minimum 15% float in Singapore would make the deal worth $1.5 billion.

DOES A DEAL HAVE WHEELS? While Manchester United's Singapore IPO was put on hold due to volatile markets, sources have told Reuters the club has not abandoned its plan to list in Singapore but that no decision has been made on the timing.

Singapore, which competes with Hong Kong for international listings, became the venue for the world's first night-time Grand Prix in 2008 in efforts to make it a more attractive place for tourists.

Investor reaction to such a listing could be difficult to gauge as there was plenty of skepticism around Manchester United's business and profitability when the club was preparing for a public float last year.

"The same thing will apply to F1. At the end of the day it depends on their profitability and whether they can generate returns for shareholders," said Ng Kian Teck, lead analyst at SIAS Research in Singapore. "But F1 has good branding and strong market share”. — Reuters

London, March 21
Michael Woodford, 51, the former Olympus CEO who blew the whistle on one of Japan's most high-profile frauds, added the title of "boldest business person of the year" to his list of awards for unearthing the $1.7 billion accounting scandal.

Woodford, a rare foreign CEO in Japan who was fired last October after questioning a series of murky acquisitions and fees, received his latest accolade at the Financial Times ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business Awards on Tuesday evening. "If there was one person who captured the spirit of boldness in business in 2011, it was Michael Woodford at Olympus," said FT editor Lionel Barber.

Armed with a laptop, a clutch of documents and a tale of intrigue, Woodford alerted prosecutors and journalists around the world to a scandal that has seen seven arrested and which sent Olympus's stock plunging 80%. Woodford is one of the few business people to have received awards from almost all major British newspapers. — Reuters

New Delhi, March 21
Telenor's Indian cellular joint venture partner, Unitech Ltd, is "in principle" ready to sell its stake to the Norwegian company but wants a "fair" valuation, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

Separately, the Indian unit of the Norwegian state-backed carrier, among the companies set to lose their cellular licences after a court order, asked the Supreme Court to direct the government to hold 2G mobile spectrum auctions by June 2.

In early February, the Supreme Court ordered all 122 mobile licences awarded in a scandal-tainted 2008 sale, including 22 held by Uninor, Telenor's local joint venture, to be revoked in four months.

It asked the government to redistribute the licences and spectrum through an auction.

India's telecoms ministry said last month that it would take at least 400 days from February 2 to complete the auction process. The ministry has sought direction from the court on the timing of the auction.

"The auctions can and should happen by June 2. We don't think 400 days are needed," Sigve Brekke, head of Telenor's Asian operations and also managing director of the Indian venture, told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Brekke also said Telenor's Indian unit is suggesting that the telecoms regulator keep the base price in the 2G spectrum auction the same as that in the 3G auction of 2010, and wants the winners to be allowed to pay the bid price in phases.

Telenor owns 67.25 percent of the Indian joint venture, with Unitech, a real estate company, owning the remainder. Uninor ranks eighth in the market, with 41 million subscribers.

Telenor has said it would seek to move Uninor's business to a new company at a "fair market value." Brekke declined to comment on Wednesday when asked if Telenor was open to buying out Unitech from their JV.

Both Telenor and Unitech have approached the Company Law Board after the Norwegian company accused its partner of "fraud and misrepresentation" after the licence cancellation order and said it will migrate the business to a fresh venture to seek new licences.

Unitech has said Telenor cannot scrap the joint venture agreement unilaterally and that it has the right of veto in their shareholder agreement to block any asset transfer.

The company law board, a quasi-judiciary body, recently asked Unitech to tell it whether it wants to buy Telenor's stake in the JV or sell its own stake to Telenor. — Reuters

Mumbai, March 21
Rich, famous and well-connected may not be enough for liquor baron Vijay Mallya to rescue his Kingfisher Airlines. Tax authorities have frozen its bank accounts. Most of its fleet is grounded. Staff haven't been paid since December, and Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has threatened to shut it down if it can't meet safety and financial viability standards. The airline needs a white knight investor — urgently — if it is to survive in its current form.

"Kingfisher's survival depends on the equity infusion. Everything depends on that. If he (Mallya) can't get that then everything will fall apart," said an executive at a state bank that considers its loan to Kingfisher nonperforming, a classification Indian lenders make reluctantly. The executive did not want to be named as he is not authorised to comment on individual client issues.

While Mallya shoulders plenty of blame for Kingfisher's crisis, a harsh regulatory environment and taxes that make jet fuel more expensive than just about anywhere else also hurt.

The demise of Kingfisher would benefit rivals such as top-two carriers Jet Airways and IndiGo, and fares have indeed risen since Kingfisher started grounding its planes.

However, India's aviation market dynamics will remain brutal in the absence of major policy changes and as long as New Delhi subsidises even bigger losses at state-owned Air India.

Kingfisher's banks, owed $1.3 billion, would be left to pick over the carcass in a country that does not have a formal bankruptcy process. Loans are secured in part by a combination of guarantees by the airline's parent, the UB group, as well as Kingfisher shares, Mallya's personal guarantees, Mumbai real estate assets and the Kingfisher brand itself, bankers said.

European planemaker Airbus, which has accommodated Kingfisher by pushing its aircraft deliveries back in the queue, would lose outstanding orders for 92 planes with a combined list price of $12 billion. It would also see Kingfisher's fleet enter the second-hand market.

"We’ve supported them in good times and we are supporting them in bad times," said Airbus spokesman Justin Dubon.

Kingfisher shares, worth about $190 million, skidded to a record low this week on mounting fears of the airline's demise.

Mallya on Tuesday submitted what he described as a "holding" plan with regulators to fly an abbreviated schedule with just 20 planes — less than a third of its former strength — and cancelled all international flights.

DEATH SPIRAL? Kingfisher's compounding woes bring it closer to the point of no return.

"When you get into a quagmire, and have three or four big issues and are trying to solve all together and none are getting resolved, it's just like a quicksand pit that keeps dragging you down," said a former member of Kingfisher's board of directors, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

With little cash, Kingfisher Airlines is cancelling flights. Cancelled flights mean passengers choose other airlines. Fewer passengers mean even less cash to keep planes in the air, making it that much harder to attract investors. Once India's no.2 airline, it now has less than 10 per cent of the domestic market.

While Mallya has his detractors, he is working strenuously to pull his airline back from the brink. "It's just the solutions never came ... attempts were made, but no solutions. The hope of promise from A party or B government or C guy never came," said the former Kingfisher director. — Reuters

New Delhi, March 21
Malvinder Mohan Singh, executive chairman, Fortis Healthcare has taken over as the new chief of CII (Northern Region). Jayant Davar, founder and currently vice chairman & MD of Sandhar Technologies Ltd, has taken over as deputy chairman. The company manufactures a range of auto components and operates out of 3 countries and 22 plant locations.

Singh is executive chairman of Fortis Healthcare, a leading healthcare player in the pan Asia Pacific region. In line with his strategy of creating a leading multicountry integrated healthcare delivery model, he transformed Fortis from an Indian company to the market leader in multiple healthcare verticals in Asia Pacific.

Previously, Singh was chairman, MD & CEO of Ranbaxy Laboratories. He was instrumental in the coming together of Ranbaxy and Daiichi Sankyo, to create the world’s 15th largest pharma firm, a move seen as a game changer by industry experts.

In the financial services and insurance sectors, he has business interests through Religare Enterprises. As its chairman he helped evolve the company's strategy of creating an integrated financial services organization in India.