Mumbai, March 29
Tycoon Vijay Mallya, scrambling to raise funds to rescue his ailing Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, is considering the sale of all or part of his stake in United Breweries, his flagship beer business, to Dutch brewer Heineken NV, said people familiar with the situation.

They added Mallya has the option of selling a stake in UB to ease his financial woes, and Heineken would be a keen buyer to gain control of India's biggest brewer and maker of Kingfisher beer.

The Amsterdam-based brewer holds a 37.38% stake in UB as a legacy of its takeover of Scottish and Newcastle in 2008. The purchase of 13%, valued at $370 million at current market prices, would be enough to take Heineken over the 50% mark.

Mallya owns around 19% of UB and has held talks with a number of different parties to try and raise cash for his ailing Kingfisher Airline. There are no active talks going on at the moment with Heineken, the people said.

"Mallya is clearly looking at all his options and if he did look to sell a stake to give Heineken control of UB then he’d find a willing buyer," said one person with knowledge of the situation.

United Breweries controls around half the fast-growing Indian beer market with SABMiller Plc having around a third, but beer consumption is still relatively low at less than 1 litre per person per year compared with China at close to 30 litres and western Europe of around 60 litres.

The Financial Times reported that Mallya was close to selling a 13% stake in UB to Heineken, while the Business Standard newspaper said he may be looking to sell part of his holding and invest some of the process in his airline.

Mallya is under pressure from his airline's lenders to inject equity into Kingfisher, which has debts of $1.3 billion and has slashed its flight schedule and grounded most of its fleet as it has been unable to pay staff.

Mallya's UB Group confirmed it had entered talks with the world's biggest spirits group Diageo Plc in late 2008 about buying a stake in his 38.7% owned United Spirits company. But the talks broke down in 2009 after Diageo was offered a high-priced small stake and saw no future path towards raising its holding or influence. — Reuters

New Delhi, March 29
Showing signs of recovery, the eight core infrastructure industries grew by 6.8% in February on account of healthy coal and power output, up from a dismal performance of 0.5% a month ago.

The growth by 6.4% in February last year. The eight industries — crude oil, petroleum refinery products, natural gas, fertilizers, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel — have a weight of 37.90% in the overall Index of Industrial Production.

Electricity, coal and cement output rose 8%, 17.8% and 10.8%, respectively, in February, according to the provisional data released on Thursday. Economists said if this growth rate is maintained for a few more months, it would improve the overall industry output. The eight core sectors had grown by a mere 0.5% in January 2012.

"We’ve to see if these numbers hold up in March and April. Then there’d be a turnaround in infrastructure growth," director and senior economist of Deloitte Haskins & Sells Anis Chakravarty said. "The growth is mainly driven by coal that performed badly last year," CRISIL economist D.K. Joshi said. — PTI

Mumbai, March 29
Half a world away from Wall Street, the board of directors of embattled Goldman Sachs Group Inc were meeting in India amid reports that senior executives have talked about splitting the roles of chief executive and chairman, both held now by Lloyd Blankfein.

The meeting on Thursday is the first in India for the directors of the investment bank.

Goldman declined to give any details of the annual board meeting, but a source previously told Reuters the US bank had scheduled it in India in a sign of its "commitment" to the fast-growing emerging market.

Officials including Blankfein, COO Gary Cohn and board members including ArcelorMittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal were in India for a series of meetings, including a dinner on Thursday night with top Indian industrialists.

They were due to travel later to New Delhi, people familiar with the matter said.

Goldman Sachs, long Wall Street's preeminent investment bank, has become a lightning rod for criticism of the financial industry in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Proposals to separate the CEO and chairman roles have long been sought by outside groups, but two people familiar with management thinking provided the first indication that internal discussions about such a move have taken place.

Under such a restructuring, Cohn would assume the chief executive officer role and vice chairman J. Michael Evans would become president, leaving Blankfein with only the chairman role, two sources told Reuters this week.

With its big potential but low fees and fierce competition, India has proven a tough market for global investment banks, including Goldman. — Reuters

Mumbai/London, March 29
Vodafone Group Plc and India's Tata Communications were granted on Thursday three weeks more to decide whether they want to bid for British telecoms group Cable & Wireless Plc, now valued at $1.5 billion.

Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile phone carrier by revenue, and Tata Comms now have to announce by 1600 GMT on April 19 either a firm intention to make an offer after their preliminary talks with C&W Worldwide or walk away.

A previous deadline was set to expire on Thursday.

C&W Worldwide said in a statement the regulator, Britain's Takeover Panel, agreed to extend the deadline at the company's request. Sources had earlier told Reuters C&W Worldwide was likely to seek an extension of the deadline as the two potential bidders wanted more time.

Tata Communications, 26 per cent owned by the Indian government, thinks it did not get as much time as Vodafone to evaluate a possible bid since Vodafone got an earlier extension, while Vodafone thinks it still has not received enough information to decide on a bid, said the sources, who declined to be named as the process is not public.

Vodafone said in February it was in the early stages of looking at a bid for C&W Worldwide, which has issued a string of profit warnings since it split from Cable & Wireless Communications two years ago.

Tata Communications, part of the salt-to-software Tata Group conglomerate, said on March 1 it too was evaluating a possible cash offer, a step that could trigger a takeover battle for troubled C&W Worldwide, which has fixed telephone lines that can be used to relieve pressure on cellular phone networks, and provides voice, data and other services.

C&W Worldwide also has an international cable network linking more than 150 countries, a factor that could be of particular interest for Tata Communications, which also has submarine cable assets.

Standard Chartered is advising Tata Communications, and one of the sources said the Indian company had also roped in Morgan Stanley. Rothschild and Barclays Capital are advising C&W Worldwide, while UBS is the adviser to Vodafone. — Reuters

New Delhi, March 29
Hinduja group firm Ashok Leyland said Thursday it is planning a foray into aerospace business, both defence and civilian, and is talking to foreign players for technology partnership.

"We’re looking at opportunities in the aerospace business, when we will finally enter that will depend on any good opportunity and the finalization of areas in which we want to enter," Ashok Leyland vice chairman V. Sumantran told reporters at the Defence Expo here.

The company is looking at both civilian as well as defence sector for foraying into the business, he added.

"We’re talking to different foreign companies for technology sourcing. The nature of the association whether it’ll be an equity partnership or a joint venture will depend on the kind of products we want to develop," Sumantran said.

When asked in which area of the aerospace business the firm will first enter, he said it is ready to look at the entire range of the aerospace business and will decide depending upon its capabilities.

The company today showcased 6x6 and 8x8 defence logistics truck at the Expo. The group has formed a new company, Ashok Leyland Defence System Ltd, to pursue its interest in the sector.

Talking about the company’s bid to develop and supply Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles (FICV) for defence forces, Sumantran said: "Vehicles of all the players are going to be tested till 2016-17 and only after that orders would be placed." Ashok Leyland is part of a consortium with Larsen & Toubro, he added. — PTI