Essar-Marathon deal may be called off
Mumbai: The agreement of sale between Essar Power and Marathon for the 515 megawatt power plant in Gujarat may be called off. The Business Standard said in a report that the government of Gujarat has denied permission for third-party sale of electricity in the state.

Marathon had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Essar group to acquire the latter’s stake in Essar Power  for $170 million, in one of the largest acquisition deals in the making in India. While Essar Steel holds 42 per cent in Essar Power, Essar Oil holds 9 per cent and the Mauritius-based Prime Hazira the remaining 49 per cent. Essar sources said the group has offered an equity stake in Essar Power to Marathon. The company is to respond to this offer.
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Essar Steel told not to sell power company
Mumbai: Domestic banks holding Essar Steel’s floating rate notes have asked the company not to sell off Essar Power as it is related to the group’s core business. The banks have directed Essar Steel to provide them with an independent valuation of its total assets before considering the possibility of rolling over the FRNs on a secured basis. The State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Uco Bank hold some $40 million worth of the FRNs.
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Computer Associates plans centre in Mumbai
Calcutta: Computer Associates is setting up a virtual enterprise centre at Worli in Mumbai to allow customers to see their infotech infrastructure being replicated and to give them a feel of what CA software can do for their enterprise. The 12,000 sq.ft. centre is to be inaugurated by Sanjay Kumar, president and chief operating officer of Computer Associates, on 18 November.

The centre will offer different hardware platforms and software support and information technology and non-information technology infrastructure to allow a client to be shown a simulation of CA’s software.
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DuPont sale of unit stayed
Chennai: A Chennai city civil court has restrained DuPont Fibres from selling its assets, including its shares, to Shriram Fibres. The court granted an interim injunction till 22 November in a case filed by 10 employees of DuPont Fibres questioning the sale of its nylon fibre unit at Gummidipoondi near Chennai to Shriram Fibres for an allegedly lowly Rs 20 crore. The court also appointed a lawyer as advocate commissioner to inspect the plant, note the value of its assets and help file a report on its fixed and current assets by 18 January 2000.
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Usha Martin, IBM in pact
Calcutta: Usha Martin group has teamed up with IBM to globalise its telecom software business. UshaComm, a Portland-based telecom software arm of the group, has signed an independent software vendor agreement with IBM, under which UshaComm will offer its billing and customer care solutions to small and mid-sized telecom operators. The two companies will undertake turnkey projects in North America and the Asia Pacific. They will enter Latin American and European markets later.
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IOC to hike Koyali unit capacity
Mumbai: The Indian Oil Corporation has decided to expand the capacity of its Koyali refinery in Baroda from 12.5 million tonne per annum to 18 million tpa. The expansion will be carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 4,300 crore. The company has decided to install a residue desulphurisation unit and a residue fluidised catalytic cracking unit at the refinery. The additional capacity will be commissioned in 36 months.
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India Cements to prepay debt
Mumbai: India Cements will prepay a part of its Rs 350-crore debt, mostly borrowings from financial institutions. It will also repay another Rs 100 crore of debt from its cash flows for the financial year 1999-2000.

The company has also announced private placement of equity of Rs 140 crore at the prevailing market price to finance its acquisition of Shri Vishnu Cement. Company officials say that by repaying old debt, restructuring its institutional loans and raising fresh equity, the company should improve its debt-to-equity ratio from 2:1 to 1.5 :1 for the financial year ending March 2000.
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MTNL plans to seek tax holiday
New Delhi: The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd may seek a tax holiday under the Income Tax Act. If the government approves the plan, the public sector telecom company will not have to pay tax for five years. In 1998-99, MTNL paid Rs 602 crore as income tax. The public sector telecomunications  company's profit dropped by Rs 27 crore during the first half of the current fiscal year 1999-2000 or by four per cent compared to last year.

MTNL will seek the tax holiday under section 80 IA of the Income Tax Act. according to S. Sundaresan, finance director of the company.
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Pfizer wins case against Dr Reddy's
Moscow: US drug major Pfizer has won a case in Russia against Indian drug company Dr Reddy’s Laboratories over the issues of patent violation. Pfizer claimed that the cardio-vascular drug Stamlo, marketed by Dr Reddy’s, is similar to its Norvask.

Pfizer took Dr Reddy’s  to court last year, alleging that the Indian company was using its patent without a licence for producing the particular medicine. Dr Reddy’s had argued that it is using its own production method, which is different from that of Pfizer’s. Stamlo is a low-priced drug.

While the Russian Federal Arbitration Tribunal has ruled in favour of Pfizer, Dr Reddy’s has the right to appeal in Russia's Supreme Arbitration Tribunal.
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GM may end Firebird, Camaro production
Detroit: General Motors is building special editions of its Pontiac Firebird and Chevrolet Camaro vehicles in 2002, which analysts feel may be the beginning of the end of these classic American muscle cars. During their heyday, these models were two of the most sought-after cars. General Motors has, however, denied any plans to end production of the Camaro and the Firebird next year, and said that the news reports on this subject are inaccurate.
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IBM, Oracle to collaborate
New York: Rivals International Business Machines and Oracle said they will collaborate on an IBM-led effort to standardise the Unix operating system. The companies said they would work together to unify IBM’s version of Unix with Monterey/64, a project backed by IBM, Unix software maker Santa Cruz Operation and chipmaker Intel to make a mass-market version of Unix.
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Vodafone, BT, Bell in fray for Mannesmann
London: Vodafone AirTouch, British Telecommunications and Bell Atlantic have made separate proposals to acquire Mannesmann of Germany. The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph said Vodafone’s chief executive Chris Gent is leaving for Dusseldorf to ask Mannesmann’s chief executive officer Klaus Esser to accept his offer. The papers said Mannesmann’s board is likely to spurn the offer.

Vodafone’s offer for the German telecom and engineering group is triggered by Mannesmann’s plan to acquire British mobile phone company Orange, thwarting Vodafone’s aim to become Europe’s leading mobile phone group. Vodafone is planning to make an offer of almost $121.4 billion valuing Mannesmann at some 215 euros per share.

The Sunday Telegraph said British Telecom had made a friendly offer to Mannesmann, as it is eager to extend its reach into Europe. Bell Atlantic, which is Vodafone’s partner in the eastern region of the US, has also made a friendly offer to Mannesmann because it is unhappy about Vodafone establishing such a dominant position in Europe.
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Novartis is not bidding for AHP
New York: Swiss drug and chemicals company Novartis has clarified that it has no plan for a hostile bid on American Home Products. The company’s chairman Daniel Vasella said he does not have any intention currently of making a hostile bid for any company. He said that Novartis does not rule out acquisitions to achieve growth, but will not rush into any merger.
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No decision on MCI-Sprint merger decision
Washington: US regulators are yet to take a decision on the planned $115 billion merger of telecom companies MCI WorldCom and Sprint Corporation.

The Federal Communications Commission said no decision has been taken in this matter, and the justice department is not leaning one way or the other on this transaction, the Washington Post said in a report, quoting knowledgeable sources. The paper said the regulators are unlikely to approve MCI’s record-breaking bid for Sprint, a deal which would be the largest-ever corporate merger.
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