PowerGen in possession of Torrent stake
Mumbai: PowerGen India has finally acquired the entire Torrent group stake in Gujarat Torrent Energy Corporation for a total consideration of Rs 1,065 crore. PowerGen will now have 74.1 per cent holding in the company.

The offer was held up following the refusal of financial institutions led by ICICI Ltd to guarantee any domestic funding for the company until a Torrent group company, Torrent Cables, cleared its dues to the institutions.

The other equity holders in Gujarat Torrent Energy Corporation are Siemens (14 per cent) and Gujarat Power Corporation (12 per cent). The company owns a 655 MW dual fuel-fired power station in Gujarat.

PowerGen's deal surpasses in size the proposed Rs 720 crore acquisition of Essar Power by Marathon Power.
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Cargill in deal with Punjab government
New Delhi: Cargill, the American foods group, has signed a three-year agreement with the Punjab government for direct procurement of wheat and rice, developing grain handling and storage methods in cooperation with Punjab Agro-Exports and eventually beginning contract farming of wheat with farmers in the state.

Cargill will be the first multinational to procure wheat directly from farmers for its own milling and export operations. The company has its own jetty at Jamnagar and exports protein meal.
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Timex, Titan parting final
Bangalore: Timex Watches, the joint venture between Timex of the US and Titan of the Tata group are finally parting ways. The two entities are understood to have concluded an agreement by which Timex will buy the 29 per cent Titan and Tata stakes in the venture.

The two are, however, yet to fix a price for the stake. Timex and Titan had announced their split in December 1997, but the separation has been protracted.
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Essar finally reconciled to rollover
Mumbai: After deliberating on the $250-million floating rate notes, the Essar Steel board has said the company will issue an appropriate notice to its FRN holders. It, however, refused to acknowledge moves towards a roll-over of the FRNs. The board is to meet again on 19 July. The FRNs are due for redemption on 20 July.

Board sources said the meeting authorised the management to start the process towards seeking a rollover. The board was forced to take the decision after its attempts failed to convince the financial institutions to finance the redemption value of the FRNs, equal to Rs 1,100 crore.
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Maruti forcing dealers to give up Indica dealerships
Mumbai: Maruti Udyog is understood to have directed its dealers not to take up dealership of the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company's Indica car. The company is also reported to have advised the dealers that even their relatives should not opt for Indica dealerships.

Telco officials admitted that Indica dealers are under pressure from Maruti and said some of the dealers are confused on how to retain their Indica dealerships.
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Reliance seeks Rs 4,405 crore loan
New Delhi: Reliance Petroleum has approached a consortium of banks for a Rs 4,405-crore loan to meet its working capital requirement for two years.

Of this sum, Rs 1,185 crore will be utilised in the current financial year and the remaining in the next financial year.
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Bates to take over Clarion
Mumbai: Bates Worldwide of the US, is all set to take over Clarion Advertising. Jean Yturbe, chairman of Bates Europe, will double as chairman of the Indian agency. Sudipta Sarkar, present chairman of Clarion, will be chairman-emeritus.

Clarion, with billings of Rs 70 crore, is one of the oldest ad agencies in India. It tied up with Bates in 1997.

Bates is learnt to have picked up some 37,000 shares of Clarion at face value, unlike other agencies, where shareholders have been offered huge sum per share. The shareholding employees of the company were persuaded to give up their shares.
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Exide signs up with APC
Calcutta: Exide Industries, the batteries major, has been identified as global sourcing agent for APC, the US-based manufacturer of uninterruptible power supply systems.

Exide is also in talks with a German company for technical collaboration in the manufacture of high-end batteries for European cars and with an American company for manufacture of industrial batteries.
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Siemens in alliance with ITI
Calcutta: Siemens India has finalised a strategic alliance with ITI Ltd, the public sector telephone equipment manufacturer for marketing Siemens' Hicom (300E and Office Pro) range of multi-media communication systems. The system integrates telecommunications, information and computer telephony.

Siemens will leverage ITI's reach to tap public sector enterprises, defence, railways and government institutions.
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Telco reports net loss
Mumbai: The Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company has reported a net loss of Rs 33.5 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 1999. The loss is marginally lower than the loss of Rs 35.6 crore incurred in the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

The company's foray into cars has apparently taken a toll on its performance. The company reported a 25 per cent year-on-year growth in total income to Rs 1,595.9 crore, while the operating profit went up to Rs 121.6 crore against Rs 103.5 crore last year.
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Exide net up 21%
Calcutta: Exide Industries announced a 21 per cent increase in its pre-tax profit for the first quarter of 1999-200 against the corresponding period last year. It rose from Rs 5.4 crore to Rs 6.5 crore.

The company has recorded net sales of Rs 156.6 crore (Rs 132 crore) and an operating profit of Rs 30.7 crore (Rs 26.6 crore).   
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AgrEvo net Rs 4.8 crore
Mumbai: AgrEvo India has posted a net profit of Rs 4.8 crore in the first quarter ended 30 June of the current financial year ending March 2000. This reflects a 20 per cent increase from the figure for the corresponding previous year's quarter.

The company's sales rose 11 per cent to Rs 63.6 per cent.
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Cyprus Amax, Asarco to merge
New York: Cyprus Amax Minerals Co and Asarco Inc said they had agreed to merge, creating the world's largest publicly-traded copper company.

The new company, Asarco Cyprus Inc, is set to be next only to Chile's government-owned Codelco in world ranking. The new company's annual copper production is estimated at about 2 billion, about 8 per cent of the world's copper output.
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France Telecom to aid NTL
Paris: France Telecom has come to the aid of Britain's cable operator NTL with a $1 billion investment to spur consolidation in the UK cable industry.

France Telecom said it would take a 10 per cent stake in NTL and raise it if NTL bought the consumer division of the UK's Cable & Wireless Communication. The deal could upset merger talks between Cable & Wireless and Britain's No. 2 telecom firm,  Telewest Communications, analysts said. 
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Iridium gets 30-day grace period
Washington: Iridium said it exercised a 30-day grace period on interest due on its $1.45 billion outstanding senior notes, as the company continued towards restructuring its debt.

John Richardson, chief executive officer of the global satellite phone company, said it will take time to reach consensus among players in any restructuring effort. The grace period allowed under the terms of the senior notes, along with the extension on bank facility, gives the company time to concentrate on reaching a suitable arrangement for the ongoing commercial operations.
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