 |
|
|
It’s Vodafone-Essar, finally
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overpowering REpower
Nath defends SEZs
Rush outsmarts FM; over 200 Cos announce dividend
Assocham business delegation to Pak
Zensar acquires US-based ThoughtDigital
Maruti cars get dearer
Reliance to use GAIL network
SAIL plans plant in Jharkhand
L&T bags Rs 1,400-cr order
|
|
It’s Vodafone-Essar, finally
New Delhi, March 15 The two companies said in a joint statement that they have agreed on partnership terms for Hutchison Essar, in which Vodafone is acquiring 67 per cent stake from Hong Kong’s Hutchison Telecom International Ltd while Essar would continue to retain its 33 per cent stake. “The partners have agreed that Hutchison Essar will be renamed Vodafone-Essar and in due course the business will market its products and services under the Vodafone brand,” it said. Under the terms of the partnership, Vodafone will have operational control of Vodafone-Essar and Essar will have rights consistent with its shareholding, including proportionate Board representation. Ravi Ruia will be appointed as chairman of Vodafone-Essar and Arun Sarin will be vice-chairman. Essar will also have an option to sell its 33 per cent stake to Vodafone for $5 billion between the third and fourth years or an option to sell between $1 billion and $5 billion worth of Vodafone-Essar shares to Vodafone at an independently appraised fair market trading value. Sarin said, “Essar has played a key role in transforming this business into a leading Indian mobile operator. We look forward to leveraging this experience and working with our partner as the company enters its next phase of growth in the attractive Indian telecommunications market”. Essar vice-chairman Ravi Ruia said, “I welcome them as our partner into this successful business, which we will now take forward to the next level...By partnering with Vodafone we expect to create further value in the business”. Earlier last month, Vodafone had clinched a deal to acquire HTIL’s stake for $11.1 billion in cash and about $2 billion dollars in debt assumptions. Vodafone, meanwhile, categorically stated that it would not acquire the 15 per cent stake held by private partners like Hutch CEO Asim Ghosh, Analjit Singh of Max and other minor stakeholders. Commerce minister Kamal Nath has said Vodafone’s acquisition of controlling stake in Hutch-Essar appears to be in conformity with the law and the FIPB would take up the case in a few days. — Agencies
|
|
Overpowering REpower
New Delhi, March 15 Areva said in a statement today that it was sweetening its offer for shares it did not already own, to 140 euros per share from the previous offer price of 105 euros, representing a 33.3 per cent increase. The revised bid from Areva offers 11.1 per cent premium to Suzlon’s offer of 126 euros. Areva said its offer was valid till April 20, subject to further revision. The company has become a strategic investor in REpower since 2005 and its offer for further stake represents its commitment to the business and management of the German firm. Earlier this month, Suzlon Energy had received approval from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) for its offer to acquire REpower. According to Suzlon’s offer, the shareholders of REpower could tender their shares from March 2, 2007, onward till April 20, 2007. Prior to Areva’s increased offer, Suzlon had said, with support from Repower’s second largest shareholder Martifer Group, it had placed a 20 per cent higher bid than that of the French major. Areva, the major shareholder of REpower Systems, already holds nearly 30 per cent stake in the company, while Martifer holds 25.4 per cent stake. The acquisition would be effected through Suzlon Windenergie GmbH, a joint venture company in which Suzlon and Martifer hold 75:25 stake. The company was formed for the purpose of the proposed REpower takeover. Meanwhile, Suzlon Energy said today it would evaluate Areva’s latest offer and act accordingly. “We have noted Areva’s offer and are awaiting complete details. We will evaluate the offer once we have complete information and then take a view accordingly,” a company spokesperson said.
— PTI |
|
Nath defends SEZs
New Delhi, March 15 "The land acquisition for all industrial purposes should be equitable, transparent and inclusive of farmers," he told reporters. He said the incident in Nandigram was unfortunate, however, SEZ policy should not be held responsible for it. "Yesterday's incidents in West Bengal are unfortunate...we should not look at it as SEZ issue but one of land acquisition for industrial projects," he said, referring to the protests by activists against SEZs in Nandigram leading to police firing in which 11 persons were killed and 75 injured. Asked whether yesterday's violence could slow down the fresh approvals on SEZs, Nath said in many pending cases there was no dispute and promoters have already tied-up land. The empowered group of ministers (eGoM) on SEZs headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukkerjee could not meet since January and there is a freeze on fresh approvals and notifications. Nath said when eGoM meets next it would look "distinctively" at the cases where land was not an issue and where acquisition was a problem. However, there is uncertainty over the next meeting of the GoM. In most of the pending 172 cases awaiting notification, the land has been tied up without any protests. In fact, five chief ministers and some union ministers have written to the eGoM to notify the pending cases. He said the centre has asked the state governments to provide details of land acquisition. When the reply is received it would be placed before the eGoM for directions on future of SEZs. |
|
Rush outsmarts FM; over 200 Cos announce dividend
New Delhi, March 15 Making things even merrier for the market, companies are also rushing in with announcements for allotment of shares under the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP), an area that caught the finance minister's attention in this year's budget for collecting taxes. Ever since Chidambaram presented his budget for 2007-08, as many as 181 companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange have announced their plans to pay interim dividends in just 10 days, while 19 companies have made public their intention to allot shares under ESOP before the budget proposals come into effect on April 1. Besides, a number of companies listed on other exchanges have also announced such plans and the list is multiplying day by day and the numbers of companies making dividend payments and alloting shares under ESOP plan in the current month are expected to be much larger. While the finance minister said the tax rates for ESOPs are yet to be finalised, he tried to play down the hike in dividend distribution tax (DDT), saying this year's budget was aimed at benefitting the common man and the tax was to be paid by companies alone, the move is expected to lead to additional tax burden of thousands of crore for the companies. Chidambaram said in his budget speech that rate of DDT would be raised from 12.5 per cent to 15 per cent on dividends distributed by companies, while he also proposed to bring the ESOPs under fringe benefit tax (FBT) ambit. He, however, said a 2.5 per cent hike in the levy would not put any major burden on taxpayers, as most investors receiving dividend income are in the higher tax bracket. According to the market analysts, the spate of companies rushing in to announce interim dividends by March 31, when it comes into effect, is expected to continue as by announcing dividend in the current financial year, they would not attract the additional tax burden. Moreover, it is not only the small companies that are rushing in with their dividend announcements, as the list of those who have announced their dividend payout plans include blue chips like Reliance Industries, HLL, Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra and Grasim Industries. The list of companies making dividend payouts this month also includes state-run corporates like steel giant SAIL, aluminium major Nalco and gas utility firm GAIL. Besides, blue chips like Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Satyam Computer, HLL and ACC have also declared their plans to allot shares under ESOP scheme.
— PTI |
|
Assocham business delegation to Pak
New Delhi, March 15 The delegation to be led by Assocham Indo-Pak Business Council chairman Ravi Wig is scheduled to meet members of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad chambers and senior functionaries of government of Pakistan to explore joint business possibilities in the identified areas. The areas identified for future collaboration include tea, sugar, fresh fruit and vegetables and basmati rice, energy, tourism, ITEs, cotton, textiles & machinery and pharmaceuticals. During the interactions between Assocham’s business delegation members and their counterparts in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, the importance for increased trade relations would be stressed to ensure that India and Pakistan strengthen their synergies to enhance their trade volumes for mutual benefits. The two-way trade between India and Pakistan which is poised to touch about $1000 million could multiply by 10 times to reach $10 billion market in next couple of years. The Assocham, in the meanwhile, has brought out a study, which says that with the establishment of good relations between the two countries, coupled with the implementation of SAFTA, the illegal trade which was within the range of $2 billion in 2004-05 has come down to less than $1 billion by January 2007. According to study, Pakistan imports more than 150 million tonnes of tea from the world market whereas from India it imports only around 2.5 per cent of total. There is a huge potential for Indian tea exporters to take advantage in Pakistan, more so because recently key exporter to Pakistan, Kenya has fallen short of its supply of tea due to drought. Items of informal trade between India and Pakistan has largely been confined to items like clothes, machinery particularly textile machinery, tyres, cosmetics and jewellery, drugs and pharmaceuticals live stocks and chemicals. Other items comprised dry fruits, tobacco products, leather products and the like. The two nations are major exporters of basmati rice and key importers of edible oil, thus if they join hands, they can land with the best deals with international market, the study said. |
|
Zensar acquires US-based ThoughtDigital
London, March 15 ThoughtDigital, owned by SOA Software, is a profitable East Coast (USA) systems integrator with a turnover of $27 million for the year ended December 31, 2006. It employs 120 Oracle consultants and has a strong client base in verticals such as communications and media, financial services, consumer products and services. Zensar expects to achieve great synergies with ThoughtDigital in the Oracle space, given the rapid growth of its EAS (enterprise application solution) business in the US market. “Zensar is making remarkable progress in the UK and the takeover of ThoughtDigital confirms our commitment to strengthening our position as a world player in the ERP (enterprise resource planning) market, which is good news for all of our customers in the UK and across Europe,” country head of the UK, Gurdeep Grewal said. “Our merger and acquisition strategy is to acquire leadership position in chosen areas, the acquisition of ThoughtDigital is a significant step in this direction. I am confident that this purchase will add considerable shareholder value, besides giving us a leadership position,” he said. Zensar employs over 3,400 people globally with nearly 200 of them based in the UK and Europe. It has a robust customer base and has formed strong partnerships with Sun Microsystems and Oracle. Its customers include major blue chips such as Marks & Spencer, National Grid, Cisco Systems and Electronic Arts. Headquartered in Pune, Zensar Technologies has marketing presence in US, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. The company has operations and a customer base spanning across 18 countries, including software development centres in India and China.
— PTI |
|
Maruti cars get dearer
New Delhi, March 15 The company said post price hike, its popular premium hatchback Swift would be costlier between Rs 656 and Rs 818 across different variants. The base model of Swift will now cost Rs 4,68,657 as against Rs 4,68,000 (ex-showroom Delhi) earlier. Zen Estilo Vxi would now cost Rs 3,74,019 as against Rs 3,73,500 as its price has been revised upwards by Rs 519. The prices of Esteem models have been hiked by Rs 912 and Rs 982 for the Lxi and Vxi variants, respectively. Esteem’s base model would now cost Rs 4,79,135. “While the cess changes announced in the Union Budget 2007-08 came into effect from March 1, 2007, the company had decided to maintain its ex-showroom prices at pre-budget levels for a fortnight,” the company said.
— PTI |
|
Reliance to use GAIL network
New Delhi, March 15 RIL, which had earlier inked a deal to use GSPC pipelines in Gujarat to take gas to its Jamnagar refinery, today signed an MoU with GAIL for using the state-run firm's network to take gas to its proposed 2,000 MW power plant in Haryana SEZ. Officials said RIL will lay a pipeline from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Barauch in Gujarat from where it will pump gas into the GSPC network. RIL's pipeline would also connect to GAIL's Dahej-Uran pipeline to transport gas to customers in Maharashtra and Gujarat, including RIL units like IPCL. GAIL's Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur pipeline, that is being extended to Punjab, would be used for taking 10 million cubic metres per day of gas to its power plant in Haryana SEZ. Besides, GAIL's network in Andhra Pradesh would be used by RIL to meet the 10 mmscmd shortfall in the state. Maharashtra too has 8-10 mmscmd of shortfall. "The 130 mmscmd transmission capacity of our 5,800-km trunk pipeline network is being utilised only to the extent of 52-53 per cent due to supply constraints. With the MoU, we hope to use the infrastructure to its full," GAIL CMD U.D. Choubey told reporters here.
— PTI |
|
SAIL plans plant in Jharkhand
Kolkata, March 15 The project was in lieu of renewal of the mining lease for Chiria mines, Roongta said. Chiria mines is considered to have the finest iron-ore deposit in the country. “The Jharkhand government wanted value-addition of the iron-ore sourced from the state and we are willing to meet their aspirations,” he said. Consultant Mecon had been given the mandate to carry out the preliminary study for a possible site for the steel plant, Roongta said. “The finer details of the project are yet to be worked out, including investment. But, according to standard cost for a 6 MT plant would be around Rs 18,000 crore, but could change depending upon the final product mix,” he said.
— PTI |
|
L&T bags Rs 1,400-cr order
Mumbai, March 15 This is the largest single-value EPC order by the client and was bagged against international competition from Chinese, Korean and Russian firms in the fray. L&T would construct the new blast furnace having a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of hot metal per year.
— PTI |
||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
