L&T revises plans in new cement company
Mumbai: Engineering giant, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has revised its strategy with respect to its restructuring program of its cement division. It is now willing to offer the strategic investor in the proposed cement company, L&T Cement, that will hold the assets of its current cement division, an equal 37.5 per cent over a period of time.

Initially, the strategic investor would take 24 per cent as compared to L&T’s 51 per cent. But in two to three years, the partner would be allowed to increase its stake to 37.5 per cent through a preferential allotment of equity shares. Consequently, L&T’s stake in L&T Cement would decline to 37.5 per cent, the same as that of the strategic investor. It is understood that six leading cement multinationals made a bid for the stake on offer.

In the first stage of the cement division restructuring, Narmada Cement, the 90 per cent subsidiary of L&T, would be merged with L&T Cement. With this, L&T Cement would be the single largest cement company in the country, with an estimated capacity of 14 million tons.
Back to News Review index page 

Marriott and Ansals to get together again
New Delhi: After having divorced once before, the US hotel chain, Marriott International and the Delhi-based, Ansal group, are coming together again.

In a recent out-of-court settlement reached between the two companies, all pending litigation have been dropped and the new five-star deluxe hotel being constructed by the Ansal group will be able to use the Marriott name for a fee. The hotel is to be managed by ITC.

The 222-suite hotel is estimated to cost about Rs 198 crore. Earlier, Marriott had earlier moved the court against Ansals when the latter signed an agreement with ITC for the hotel project.

It was reported that while Marriott International was keen to invest in the project, the Ansals were not willing to give it any equity holding because they wanted to retain the option of changing the franchise and managing partner.
Back to News Review index page 

Hindustan Lever sends shivers down agency spines
New Delhi: Affected by flat sales and low profitability, the country’s largest ad spender, Hindustan Lever Limited, has decided to slash its ad-spend for the fourth quarter ending December by 35 per cent. This would translate to approximately Rs. 60 crore for this quarter.

The company used to spend on the average, Rs 175-crore every quarter, but this does not seem to have translated into a healthy growth of the top line, leading many in the company to complain that it is spending more than necessary on advertising.

The slash in the ad-spend would mean significant reduction in billings for its top agencies, that include O&M, HTA and Lowe Lintas & Partners.
Back to News Review index page 

Mahindra Realty and Punjab government form JV for knowledge park
Mumbai: Mahindra group company, Mahindra Realty, formed a joint venture with the Punjab government to set up a knowledge park on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Mahindras will hold 89 per cent of the equity and the Punjab government the balance.

The 15 lakh sq. ft. park near Mohali costing Rs 260 crore will be financed through equity and debt at a 1:1 ratio. IT is expected to attract IT-enabled and software services firms into the state. The Mahindra company has chosen Nikken Sekkei International, a Japanese architecture firm for master planning and architectural design, for the project.

MRIDL is also executing a commercial complex at Chennai with a project size of Rs 24 crore. Among the privatisation opportunities that the company has bagged are Tirupur Water project a greenfield project to supply quality water for the industrial and domestic users in the textile township of Tirupur.
Back to News Review index page 

BSES Telecom to offload 5-10 per cent to foreign players
Mumbai: BSES Telecom is seeking to offload 5 – 10 per cent of its equity to a global player in exchange for technological know-how and expertise that would help it set up a broadband network in the city of Mumbai.

It is understood that global telecom majors Cable & Wireless (C&W) and MCI Worldcom are in the race to pick up this equity. While discussions with both parties are said to be at an advanced stage, it is understood that C&W may be ahead in the race.

Once the alliance is complete, BSES TeleCom is planning to increase its bandwidth capacity to 655 mbps from the present 8 mbps. The company has already started plans to lay optic fibre cable in the city with a view to achieving a one-lakh customer-base by the end of March 2002 and another three lakh in three years.

BSES Telecom proposes to use the higher bandwidth to offer multimedia services, video-on-demand, e-application, e-services, broadband services, web-hosting, lease line and web-designing in addition to its Internet service provider (ISP) activities.

Further, it has also entered into an agreement with a domestic company to set up around 1,000 Internet kiosks in the city on its optic fibre backbone.
Back to News Review index page