To: Mohan Marette who wrote (4557 ) 6/14/1999 2:00:00 AM From: Mohan Marette Respond to
Business News Snippets (Domestic)L&T, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Mazagaon Dock Ltd bid for a project to construct 2 oil well platforms and pipelines measuring 30 km in the Panna-Mukta oil fields. The bid is likely to be awarded in early July and the project has to be completed within 10 months.Satyam Computer Services Ltd (SCSL) launched ‘Dr. Millennium,' a web based software tool to check whether a network was Y2K compliant and fix it if it was not. Satyam Computers will charge between Rs400 to Rs500 per connection. Jammu & Kashmir Bank is planning a bonus issue in May or June next year, according to the Bank's chairman M Y Khan. The Bank's profit increased 71% while its total income increased 33% Unit Trust of India (UTI) has withdrawn its proposed Institutional Investors Fund Unit Scheme (IIFUS). SEBI had asked UTI to keep the fund in abeyance its MIP '99 II scheme after the fund raised Rs27bn under MIP '99 I scheme. Bank of India is planning to form a subsidiary to venture in to housing finance business. BoI Chairman said though life insurance was an attractive segment the bank had not taken a decision in this matter.Times Bank part of the Times group has decided to price its private bank's share at Rs10. The issue size is expected to be Rs350mn. Hindustan Lever has been planning to forward integrate its wheat business by foraying into biscuits and bread. It is now planning to bid for Modern Foods where the government plans to divest upto 74% stake. ICRA downgraded long, medium and short-term ratings of SAIL. Long-term rating of SAIL is down to LBBB+ from LA. Its medium-term rating is now down to MA- from MA+ whereas short-term rating is also down from A3+ to A1.Tata Electric Companies bid to purchase 51% in Orissa's power HDFC is planning to launch a mutual fund by end-July. Details about whether the scheme would be open-ended or close-ended have not been finalized yet. Arvind Mills has appointed Arthur Andersen to help the company restructure its operations. It is likely to spin off its garments and brands (Ruff and Tuff, Excalibur, Flying Machine, Ruggers and Newport) into a separate company. At a later stage, a private equity player will be offered a stake in the garment business. Morgan Stanley recommended a maiden dividend of Rs0.75 for its 15 year closed ended scheme, Morgan Stanley Growth Fund. The current unit price is Rs8.30 and its NAV is Rs13.28. Digital Equipment secured an order from Compaq worth Rs800mn to be executed in the next 12 months. After the global merger between Digital Equipment and Compaq, Digital Equipment India has exited from hardware business in favor of Compaq and will focus only on software services.Aptech and Rediff have announced a tie up to provide on line training. This tie up would expand its reach and presence.The Reserve Bank . of India's financial network ‘Infinet' will go online from June 19, 1999. ‘Infinet' will use Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) and link 22 locations in India initially. Dabur Pharmaceuticals has set up its first overseas unit in Britain with a investment of US$5bn. The company has already registered Axol as a separate company in the UK to manufacture and market oncological products in the European markets. The Rs9.15bn healthcare major Dabur is expecting its pharma division to contribute Rs1bn in sales in FY2000 against Rs0.72bn last year. Mastek is all set for listing on the US bourses. Majesco the company's US subsidiary will go in for de-subsidiarization. Ashank Desai, CEO, Mastek said he is considering a straight ADR issue or will take Majesco public.The new issue will bring in funds and enable the company offer stock options to employees.Infosys Technologies entered into a strategic alliance with CyberSource Corp of the US to provide e-commerce implementation. Under the alliance, Infosys will use CyberSource service and technologies to deliver solutions. More than 400 net merchants worldwide use CyberSource products.Ranbaxy , Parvinder Singh will quit from the post of MD wef October 1, 1999. At a board meeting he announced that he will continue as the Chairman of the company. D S Brar, currently the President will succeed Singh as the CEO and MD. TVS Suzuki recorded a 16.2% sales growth sales in May 1999. The company sold 58,642 vehicles in May 1999 compared to 50,486 vehicles in May 1998. However, May sales were 9.7% lower compared to 64,956 vehicles sold in April 1999.Samsung is planning to sell its commercial vehicle unit to Sweden based Volvo. Currently it is looking to hand over its passenger car business to the Daewoo group. The conglomerate will focus on electronics and services businesses only.Maars Software will soon invest in its subsidiary in England. The company is planning to invest $2mn with a focus on ERP, Euro and software development. It is also in the final stages of acquiring a product company in UK for $0.5mn. These expenses will be funded out of the proceeds of the recently concluded preferential issue. It placed 2.08mn shares of Rs10 each at Rs268 per share.ICICI is planning to raise $300mn to boost its Tier I capital. The company may convert all its outstanding GDRs into ADRs and mop $300mn using the ADR route. The final decision is expected to be taken by month end.
