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Holcim-Lafarge merger to create world’s largest cement company
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Biz talk
Commercial operations of A-380 in India to begin from May 30
Ranbaxy stock ends nearly 4% down post Sun Pharma deal
Curtains on Microsoft’s Windows XP
9 Kingfisher trademarks put up for
sale
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Holcim-Lafarge merger to create world’s largest cement company
Zurich/New Delhi, April 7 Holcim and Lafarge, with combined sales of 32 billion euro, said the merger plan was unanimously approved by their Boards and fully supported by their core shareholders. "The proposed merger would enable optimised capital allocation across the expanded footprint and strong cash-flow generation and the robust balance sheet that will provide financial strength," the two firms said in a joint statement. The new entity, LafargeHolcim, will be headquartered in Switzerland and will have Holcim's chairman-designate Wolfgang Reitzle as group chairman. Bruno Lafont, Lafarge's chief executive, will take over as the CEO of the combined group. "The new global company would deliver compelling benefits for all stakeholders. LafargeHolcim would be in best position to contribute to addressing the challenges of urbanisation - affordable housing, urban sprawl and transport," it said. LafargeHolcim will have enhanced presence in the global building materials sector with number one position worldwide across cement, concrete and aggregates and new opportunities to optimise production and commercial networks, it added. "After a strategic optimisation of the portfolio through a pro-active divestment process, in anticipation of regulatory requirements, LafargeHolcim would occupy complementary positions," it said. LafargeHolcim will be listed on the SIX in Zurich and Euronext Paris. The Board will be composed with equal numbers of Lafarge and Holcim directors and through an efficient distribution of central corporate functions in France and Switzerland. "The proposed combination would be structured as a public offer filed by Holcim for all outstanding shares of Lafarge on the basis of a 1 for 1 exchange ratio with an agreement to have equal dividends on a per share basis between announcement and completion," it said. The deal is likely to be closed in the first half of 2015.
— PTI Cementing ties
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CII for more transparency to check crony capitalism
Ajay Shriram, CII president talks to Sanjeev Sharma
Q. What should be the priorities for the new government to revive growth? A: CII has prepared an agenda for the revival of growth which we will present to the new government. Some of the measures that can be implemented in the short term are introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST), which can add 1.5% to GDP growth due to increased efficiency, fast-tracking of stalled projects and boosting public investment and resumption of policy easing by the RBI, now that inflation has begun to moderate. The other measures include continuing on the path of fiscal consolidation in order to moderate interest rates and addressing the issue of fragmented supply chain in agriculture by delisting perishables from the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts of States. In the medium term, the need is to restore our savings and investment rates to earlier levels. Household savings in financial instruments will revive only with a stable growth and inflation environment. This then can be utilised to boost investments without depending excessively on foreign capital inflows. Q. Crony capitalism has become part of the discourse. Industry has been worried about investigations in some high-profile cases. How do you see the situation and its impact on investments? A: A more transparent system is required to minimise discretion by policy makers. This would reduce corruption and crony capitalism. Clearances and permissions should be automated and an efficient tracking system should do away with the necessity to follow up on routine applications. Allocation of natural resources should also follow more transparent processes. Q. How can manufacturing be boosted especially given the low-cost imports coming into the country? A: It is now widely recognised that manufacturing needs to be revived and our exports boosted. In order to make this sector competitive, we need to have access to better infrastructure and flexibility in labour laws. Infrastructure projects such as roads and highways and power connectivity to all businesses are desperately required. Driving time, port turnaround time etc have to be dramatically reduced with better logistics. The railway re-organisation process has been on the table for some time and must be fast-tracked. Our labour laws are archaic and need to be modernised to allow flexibility to industry. Q. More than new reforms, it is the difficulty in procedural functions, activism among other reasons that is holding up projects. What are the possible remedial measures? A: The remedy is to have defined and transparent processes and avoid delays in taking decisions. Activities such as starting a business, enforcing contracts, registering property and paying taxes take much longer time than in other countries. State governments need to work on improving these processes, which can go a long way in improving the business environment in India, especially for MSMEs. Q. What are the measures to revive investments and confidence of the investors and industry? A: The issue of project clearance is important for reviving the confidence of investors. While the CCI (Cabinet Committee on Investments) has done a remarkable job in identifying the bottlenecks in the process of clearance, a similar setup is required at the state-level to review and monitor projects.
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Commercial operations of A-380 in India to begin from May 30
New Delhi, April 7 Another daily flight would continue to be operated with B-777s. In total, 14 flights would serve each city per week, an airline statement said. While SIA's B-777s offer over 330 seats in a three-class configuration, the A-380s have a total seat capacity of 471. "We have been keen to operate the Airbus A380 to India and are glad that the Air Services Agreement between Singapore and India now allows us to do so," said Singapore Airlines' (SIA) senior vice-president (Marketing Planning) Lee Wen Fen. "India is a particularly important market for Singapore Airlines and we are very pleased that more of our customers will soon be able to experience the spaciousness and comfort of the world's largest aircraft," she said. — PTI
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Ranbaxy stock ends nearly 4% down post Sun Pharma deal
Mumbai, April 7 On the NSE, the stock settled 3.58% down at Rs 443.10. Sun Pharma rises 2.68%
On the other hand, shares of Sun Pharma rose 2.68% to close at Rs 587.25 on the BSE. Sun Pharma and Ranbaxy said they will become the largest pharmaceutical company in India, with an estimated combined revenue of $4.2 billion, and the fifth-largest speciality generics company in the world. Ranbaxy, controlled by Daiichi Sankyo of Japan, is struggling with quality compliance issues as all four of its plants in India have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration from exporting products to the US. Sun's Karkhadi plant is also barred from shipping products to the US for violation of good manufacturing norms. As per their agreement, Ranbaxy shareholders will get 0.8 share of Sun Pharma for each share of Ranbaxy, representing an implied value of Rs 457 for each Ranbaxy share.
— PTI |
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Curtains on Microsoft’s Windows XP
New Delhi, April 7 From tomorrow, customers will no longer receive new security updates, hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates for their XP OS. Windows XP, which was launched in October 2001, is three generations behind the latest operating system Windows 8 that hit markets in October 2012. "There is a sense of urgency because after April 8, Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) customers will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options or online technical content updates," Microsoft director (Trustworthy Computing division) Tim Rains had said earlier in a blog post.
— PTI |
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BHEL shares down over 3% as profit slides Listed cos make open offers worth
Rs 6,510 cr in February Markets closed today Stylam Industries unveils compact grade laminates RCom, RJio sign intra-city infra sharing pact
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The new CII president, Ajay Shriram, chairman and senior managing director, DCM Shriram Limited, has called for more transparency in the system to reduce corruption and crony capitalism. He talks about the priorities for the new government, the need to quicken decision making and measures that can revive investor confidence.
