To: Mohan Marette who wrote (5756 ) 8/21/1999 12:37:00 PM From: Mohan Marette Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Business news-Week in review.(Aug.21,99)News Snippets (Domestic) Grasim Industries Ltd have gained substantially after its acquisition of the cement business of group firm Indian Rayon. Grasim shares have risen more than other commodity stocks in the recent cyclicals-led rally and have moved up from Rs113 at the start of May to Monday's close of 373.65. Enron India , is looking at the possibility of acquiring assets in Indian oil companies. The CEO of Enron India, Mr. Sanjay Bhatnagar said that the company was examining the possibilities of acquiring upstream and downstream assets in India, and was holding talks with several "interested parties."Ten foreign, six Indian private companies and five public sector companies have submitted 45 bids for 27 of the 48 blocks that the government had offered for oil and gas exploration under a New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Reliance Industries Ltd. and ONGC have submitted the maximum number of bids. India Rayon Industries is planning to buy-back 25% of the company's equity (in H2 FY1999) in a price band of Rs70 to 90 per share, this is expected to cost Rs1.5bn. The company has also written off the investments in Seawater Magnesia taking a one-time charge of Rs3.5bn, planning to sell the unit as and when it gets a buyer or convert it into a magnesium chemical unit for pharmaceutical industry besides plans to exit textiles business in a phased manner. Maars Software International Ltd has acquired the intellectual property rights of Systematic Products wing of the UK based Saphire Systematics. In addition, Maars will now have access to more than 1000 firms in UK and Kenya. The systematics division of Saphire offers purchase, sales, inventory control product called Accord, which is accredited by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. The company also said that board will meet on September 6 to consider a bonus equity issue. Pentafour Communications Ltd said that it bagged a "major CAD services order" from Eaton Corporation, USA. Though the value of contract is yet unknown, the project involves developing a system through which the U.S.firm and a customer could exchange data seamlessly. NASSCOM said that India's software exports in April-June 1999-2000 rose to Rs35.2bn compared to Rs22.7bn recorded during the same period last year.Earlier, NASSCOM said that software exports recorded a growth of 68% in rupee terms and 56% in dollar terms in 1998-99 (April-March) from the previous year when exports had totalled Rs65.3bn rupees or US$1.75bn. Zee Telefilms has fallen below 28 percent. The ceiling on FII holdings in Zee is 30 percent. The central bank said foreign portfolio investors can now make fresh purchases in Zee with its permission.Zee Telefilms has filed a case against News Corporation of Rupert Murdoch in London's High Court of Justice, Chancery Division seeking to restrain Star TV from broadcasting Hindi Programs on the Star Plus Channel. Zee has alleged News Corp of violating the non-compete clause of the agreement, according to which Zee would beam Hindi programs while Star English programs. SEBI has decided to relax rules for the initial public offerings IPOs of IT sector companies. According to the new rules at least 10 percent of the securities and atleast two million securities of an IPO should be offered to the public. The size of the net offer to the public has been set at 500 million rupees. I has decided to extend the rolling settlement facility to all types of investors and cover 500 towns. Both carry forward and non-carry forward shares will be included under this scheme. The committee has proposed T+5 rolling system, ie Monday trades are settled by next Monday. Selection of the scrips will be done by a sub-group comprising representatives of NSE, BSE, DSE and ISE based on the liquidity of the scrips. This facility will be confined to demat scrips and to exchanges, which are connected to the depositaries and have a trade guarantee fund. Ramco Industries Ltd have approved a proposal to demerge the firm's software division into a separate firm, Ramco Systems Ltd (RSL). Under the demerger scheme announced last June and effective April 1, 1999, RSL would allot one share for every share held in Ramco Industries. It is however, still subject to the approval of the court, the central bank and others. Maruti Udyog Ltd is expecting to sell 400,000 vehicles in the current financial year as against 330,000 vehicles in 1998/99. Mr. Jagdish Khattar the company's new MD said that, in revenue terms the turnover target of the company for the current year is Rs90bn while it is expected to increase to Rs100bn by FY2001.ICICI is planning to expand its housing finance business assuming that the sector would grow sharply as a result of incentives provided in the last budget. The FI which has been providing home loans in seven cities, would expand its reach covering 15 towns by the end of this year. ICICI is also planning to provide auto and consumer durable loans, professional loans, personal loans and credit cards. ICICI Ltd said that it has set a price of Rs73 per share for a preferential equity issue to local institutional shareholders and a domestic public equity offering. The preferential allotment will total Rs5bn and will be made to the LIC, GIC and its subsidiaries and the UTI. The domestic issue aggregates Rs2.75bn with a green-shoe option of 10%.American International Group (AIG) and DSP Merrill Lynch are talking to Tatas for acquiring 20% stake in Tata Finance Ltd. While AIG will buy out shares from the Tatas, DSP Merrill will be issued preferential shares. The price at which these shares would be issued is not known as the negotiations are in progress. BHEL to financial institutions. The government currently holds 67.7% equity in the company while the rest is held by financial institutions, public, banks and insurance companies and mutual funds. Indian Hotels Company Ltd , owner of the Taj group of hotels, is scouting for acquisition of properties in South-East Asia but is not hopeful of getting it cheap. Mr.Ratan Tata said that he hasn't come across sound bargains. Tata Donnelley Ltd is holding talks with its American partner on their future relations. The two principal shareholders are likely to discuss the future role of R.R. Donnelley in Tata Donnelley. Tata Group and the U.S. firm each own 25 percent of the equity. Bayer AG will pay US$65mn upfront to Ranbaxy as milestone payment for a novel drug delivery system modification of ciprofloxacin. Neither RBI nor Ranbaxy has confirmed the deal. This apart, Ranbaxy is likely to receive royalties of about 8% for a period of 20 years on the sale of new single daily dose form of ciprofloxacin.(Courtesy:Probity Research)
