L&T to spin off cement, IPO for IT unit
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro has announced its much-awaited restructuring plan. It will spin off the cement business into a subsidiary, and get its infotech unit, L&T Information Technology, listed on the bourses with an initial public offering. The plan, according to managing director and chief executive officer A.M. Naik, will enable the engineering and construction conglomerate to notch up a turnover of Rs 25,000 crore in about five years against the current Rs 8,000 crore.

The company’s board, which met on 14 January, approved the restructuring plan and decided to set up L&T Telecom as a subsidiary, which will herald the company’s formal entry into Internet-related businesses, possibly as an internet service provider. The venture will require an initial investment of Rs 450 crore, and the company sees it as a thrust area with a projected revenue of Rs 2,000 crore by 2005-2006.

The core businesses of the company will continue to be construction, E&C projects, heavy engineering, and electrical and electronics. The company will set up a new corporate structure. The restructuring exercise has been recommended by consultants Boston Consulting Group.
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Tata group exits JV with Lucent
Mumbai: The Tata group has decided to exit from one of its joint ventures with Lucent Technologies. The US-based communications company will buy out Tata Industries’ 49 per cent holding of in Tata Lucent Technologies, leaving a token one per cent for the group. The decision stems from the group’s overall business plan to focus on chosen areas of business.

Tata Industries’ managing director Kishore Chaukar, who announced the decision, did not spell out the financial terms of the deal. He reiterated the Tata group’s intention not to be in the equipment supply part of the telecom business but to be a service provider. Tata Lucent Technologies has an equity capital of Rs 207 crore.

The Tatas and Lucent Technologies will continue to be partners in another joint venture, Tata Telecom.
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Godrej Soaps wipes out losses, posts profit
Mumbai: Godrej Soaps is finally into the black. The company made a net profit of Rs 12.98 crore for the third quarter ended 31 December 1999 against a net loss of 12.58 crore for the previous corresponding period. The company has taken a decision to discontinue oil trading and to become a consumer products company.

Adi Godrej, managing director, says that in about 12 months Godrej Soaps will be a purely fast moving consumer goods company. All future launches and acquisitions of brands will be in the personal care and household care segments.
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E-com training course devised
Mumbai: A training programme for company executives who want to take their organisations on an e-business trail is now available. Software training institution Aptech has devised such a training programme for corporate executives. The programme will be launched on 20 January through its subsidiary Asset International. Asset International has tied up with IBM and Microsoft to set up four training centres in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Bangalore at a cost of Rs 20 crore. It is also tying up with Lotus Corporation for this purpose.

The training programmes will familiarise participants with the whole concept of e-commerce and enable them to chart a particular course for their organisations in this realm, says Asset International.
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Chrysler cars could be in India
New Delhi: Mercedes Benz India may at last consider bringing  Chrysler cars into India. Managing director and chief executive officer of the company, Jurgen Ziegler, thinks it is necessary to look at strong brands for the company’s Indian operations. The probable Chrysler models for India are the Neon small car and the Jeep multi-utility vehicle. Mr Ziegler said the company is assessing the preferences of Indian customers and a final decision will be taken after a proper analysis of the feedback.
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A cheaper Sienna planned
New Delhi: Fiat India Auto is planning a stripped down version of the Sienna for the Indian market with a price tag lower than the current entry level Rs 5.25 lakh. The proposed variant may do away with power steering, which will bring down costs, says Giovanni Ravina, managing director of the company.

Mr Ravina also said Fiat is considering a larger engine variant of the car in addition to the station wagon Weekend and the CNG versions of the car, which are now on display at the Auto Expo.
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M&M sets up 2 JVs
New Delhi: Mahindra & Mahindra has set up two joint ventures, one in information technology, and the other in advanced research and development. The first is Avigna Netroit, a joint venture with Chennai-based Internet content developer Avigna Technologies, for web content development for its tractor and other automotive businesses. The second one is Jayem Automotives, a joint venture with Coimbatore-based Jaya Automotives, for increased research and development efforts, and to take up independent research projects. In Avigna Netroit, Mahindra & Mahindra will hold a 49 per cent equity, while in Jayem Automotives, a newly set up wholly-owned subsidiary of the group, Mahindra Auto Specialities, will have a 55 per cent holding.
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Apollo’s radial tyres for trucks
New Delhi: Apollo Tyres will make radial tyres for trucks and tractors. The radial tractor tyres will be available by end-2000 and those for trucks by end-2001. Apollo has a 25 per cent market share in the truck tyre segment.

The company has commissioned its radial plant at Linda near Baroda recently and its passenger radial tyre capacity has increased to one lakh units per month from 30,000 units. It has recently cut down the prices of passenger radial tyres.

Apollo Tyres’ head, manufacturing, Neeraj Kumar, said the company is in negotiations with Continental for an equity participation in Apollo Tyres and a final decision will be taken soon.
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Indian Shaving to examine restructuring plans
New Delhi: The Indian Shaving Products’ board has formed a committee of directors to consider options and possibilities for restructuring the company. The committee will examine the scope of bringing together the grooming and battery businesses of Gillette in India. It will also consider whether to merge the wholly-owned subsidiary of Gillette in India, Wilkinson Sword India, with Indian Shaving Products or with another subsidiary, Duracell India. S.K. Poddar, chairman, Zubair Ahmed, managing director, V.N. Mathur and G.S. Gill, directors, are members of the committee.
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IBP seeks government nod for restructuring
Calcutta: Joint sector petroleum company IBP has sought the government's permission to restructure so that it can improve its debt-equity ratio. The company has been facing difficulties in raising debt in view of the limited equity capital of Rs 22 crore, 60 per cent of which is held by the government. IBP has a potential to raise nearly Rs 200 crore by way of equity, according to its chairman and managing director S.N. Mathur. The company requires funds for reducing its debt burden and to meet capital expenditure.
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Ballarpur Industries, IBM in IT tie-up
New Delhi: Thapar group company Ballarpur Industries is aligning with IBM for its e-commerce foray and to meet the information technology requirements of the company as well as other group units. The two companies have signed an agreement under which IBM will provide Ballarpur Industries and its associate companies all their information technology related needs.

This will cover operating multi-location data centres, providing application management services and network services. The company intends to formulate its e-commerce plans over the next two or three months.
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Glaxo, SmithKline renew merger talks
London: Confirming earlier rumours, Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham say they have reopened their merger talks. If a merger deal is stuck, it will create the world’s biggest pharmaceutical company, worth around $189 billion. The merger will create the world’s biggest producer of prescription drugs, with a market share of around 7.5 per cent, pharma analysts said. This will exceed the shares of current leaders Novartis of Switzerland and Merck & Co of the US.

The two British drug companies said in a statement that they are in discussions, which may or may not lead to a merger of equals. The two had been in talks two years ago and the plans were abandoned due to a personality clash between Glaxo executive chairman Richard Sykes and SmithKline chief executive Jan Leschly over who should run the combined entity.
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Hughes sells satellite business to Boeing
Seattle: Hughes Electronics Corporation has sold its satellite making business to Boeing Company and realised $3.75 billion, which it says will be used in funding promising ventures in communication services. Hughes hopes its friend and ally Boeing will develop the satellite business, which at a future stage can be of use to Hughes in enlarging its communications activities. General Motors owns 68 per cent of Hughes’ tracking stocks and 100 per cent of the corporation.
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General Motors, NetZero in deal
Detroit: General Motors has signed a four-year deal with NetZero, an Internet service provider, to gain access to personal information given by more than three million registered users of NetZero in exchange for free Internet access. The information will include details of vehicles they own, hire, and drive. The aim is to help GM channel information about its products.

NetZero will get nearly $68 million in revenue over the four year contract period. General Motors can buy up to an additional $35 million in services and it will also receive a warrant that allows it to buy up to 575,000 NetZero shares.
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Mannesmann plans web business
Dusseldorf: Mannesmann, fighting a hostile bid by mobile phone company Vodafone AirTouch, is floating an Internet business to help realise growth that cannot be matched by the predator. Klaus Esser, chief executive of Mannesmann, said Mannesmann will become Europe’s leading telephone company on its own. Mr Esser said his company’s shares had a potential value of more than 350 euros, well over the 270 euro per share offer by Vodafone.
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BT, Telenor in agreement
London: British Telecommunications and Telenor have reached amicable terms over Esat, Ireland’s telecom company, which British Telecom has managed to get from the Norwegian group’s hold. Under the deal, Telenor can opt to either take a holding of up to 49.9 per cent in Esat or sell its holding in Esat’s mobile phone company Digifone for $1.24 billion.

Telenor said it is satisfied with this settlement.
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Talisman a takeover target
London: Former HSBC investment banking head Keith Harris is talking to stockbroking firm Talisman House for a possible takeover to convert it into an Internet and media investment unit. A London newspaper said Mr Harris will offer advice on investment banking and broking to Internet groups as well as target sports and leisure related deals.
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