IOC board clears merger and exploration initiatives
New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), the State-owned petroleum refining and marketing major, board has approved plans to merge with itself its subsidiary, IBP Ltd, and also set up a new exploration company with a war chest of $2 billion.

IOC holds a 53.58 per cent equity stake in IBP following disinvestments and open offer of the oil retailing company in 2002. The move would enable the two companies to avoid direct competition with each other. IOC with 9,500 retail outlets and IBP with 2,700, would post their merger have over 12,000 outlets.

The IOC board has also agreed in-principle for the setting up of an oil exploration subsidiary, which would spearhead the company's foray into the upstream sector. The exploration subsidiary would have funds of $2 billion and would look to acquire a medium-sized foreign firm in the upstream business. Reportedly IOC has identified firms such as Niko Resources of Canada, Cairn Energy, Tullow Oil and Premier Oil (all of the UK) as possible targets.
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ONGC to get into power generation
New Delhi: ONGC, India's exploration and production major may enter the field of power generation by setting up power plants close to its gas fields. It would however, not be interested in transmission and distribution of power.

As of now, ONGC already has developed captive power capacity of over 1,000 MW of which only about 100 MW is fed into the grid. The company says that it will sell generated power to trading companies like PTC and even directly to consumers through contracts.

ONGC has awarded six of its small oil fields in Assam and Gujarat for development and production to private firms. ONGC will, however, retain full ownership of the fields and the produce and will pay the firms a fee for putting them into production.
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GSK sells Worli property
Mumbai: GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Worli factory has been sold after a 18-month bidding process to a partnership consisting of ICICI Venture Fund and Oberoi Constructions. The buyers have paid Rs 107.6 crore for the five-acre property on the arterial Annie Beasant Road.

With an FSI (floor space index) of 2.0, the property allows a developable option of 450,000 sq ft. Glaxo has realised a price of Rs 5,400 per sq ft for the 20,000 square yard property. The company has separated and retained 9,375 sq yards of the factory plot for its own operations.
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BSNL initiates asset valuation exercise
Kolkata: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has kicked off a valuation exercise of its countrywide telecom assets. According to reports the asset valuation exercise is aimed at regularising BSNL's accounts in line with audit requirements and right-sizing its balance sheet by making it more transparent to reflect the true shareholder value.
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