Tata Tea buys 25.74 pc stake in Mt Everest
Mumbai: Tata Tea has announced the acquisition of 25 per cent stake in Mount Everest Mineral Water for Rs115 crore. A week ago Tata Tea announced pulling out of the American beverage market by selling its stake in Glaceau to Coca Cola.

The acquisition will be done through direct purchase of 10 per cent stake from the promoters of Mount Everest and picking up 15 per cent stake through subscription of fresh shares. Subsequently, Tata Tea will launch a 20 per cent mandatory open offer. All the offers will be priced at Rs140 a share, seven per cent higher than Mount Everest's closing of Rs130.90 on the BSE.

Tata Tea will have to pay up Rs95 crore if the open offer is fully subscribed, which will increase the acquisition cost to Rs220 crore for 45 per cent stake.

The acquisition will give Tata Tea entry into India's Rs1600 crore beverages market growing at 30 pc per annum which is dominated by Parle Bisleri, Pepsi and Coke.

Mount Everest sells mineral water under the Himalayan brand. It has a strong franchise network and one of the largest natural mineral water units in Asia. The company claims that its product is graded equivalent to Groupe Danone's Evian and Nestle's Vittel water brands.
Back to News Review index page  

Sail signs JV with two companies for Chhattisgarh unit
Mumbai: Steel Authority of India (Sail) plans to set up a steel plant in Chhattisgarh in a joint venture with equity participation with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) and National Mineral Development Corporation (MNDC).

Sail's board of directors has given 'in principle' approval for setting up the steel plant with an initial capacity of four million tonne per annum. The board also reiterated that the action required for setting up of a green field plant in Jharkhand linked to iron ore lease, may be taken by the company.
Back to News Review index page  

DLF Fortis enter into JV
New Delhi: Real estate giant DLF has signed an agreement for floating a joint venture with Ranbaxy group company Fortis Healthcare to set up hospitals across the country with about Rs 6,200 crore of investments.

Fortis Healthcare will have a majority holding with 74 pc stake and the rest will be with DLF in the proposed joint venture. The JV plans to set up a chain of 200-450 bed hospitals in 31 cities in India within three to five years, the sources added.

While the joint venture will mark DLF's foray into the healthcare segment, for Fortis the move is a part of its strategy to become a pan-India player in the healthcare segment. The planned investment of Rs6,200 crore would go towards meeting cost of land, construction and medical equipments, the sources said.

The JV would build hospitals in cities where DLF has a presence. DLF has a land reserve of 10,255 acres in 31 cities.
Back to News Review index page  

Tata Tea FY07 net Rs443cr, Q4 net falls 80 pc
Mumbai: Tata Tea has announced a consolidated net profit of Rs443.35 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007 (FY07) against Rs299.15 crore in FY06.

According to the company total income for FY07 stood at Rs4,103.22 crore against Rs3,150.86 crore in FY06.

The company said the previous period's figures have been regrouped to conform to the current period's figures. These figures are not strictly comparable with figures reported for the current year, due to business acquisitions in the current year.

On a stand alone basis, the company has posted a profit after tax of Rs306.57 crore in FY07 against Rs186.93 crore in the preceding financial year. Total income stood at Rs1,146.11 crore, against Rs1,040.010 crore in FY06.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2007 (Q4FY07), the company posted a profit after tax of Rs3.89 crore against Rs19.32 crore in Q4FY06 a fall of about 80 percent. Total income stood at Rs259.03 crore against Rs243.53 crore in Q4FY06.

The Tata Tea board of directors, which met today, has recommended a dividend of Rs15/- per equity share of 10 each, for FY07.
Back to News Review index page  

Car sales slow down in May
Mumbai: Car sales slowed down in May which industry experts attribute to Malmas, the supposedly inauspicious month included in the Hindu lunar calendar.

Maruti Udyog has reported a single digit growth in sales at 9.9 pc to 55,952 units during the month. The company had registered a scorching 26 pc growth in sales in May 2006, and a 17 pc growth in April this year despite rising interest rates.

Tata Motors the largest commercial vehicles maker and second largest passenger vehicles maker has reported a 4 pc decline in sales. The company had recorded 45 pc rise in sales in May 2006 and 11 pc in April this year.

Contrary to this General Motors India has registered a 56 pc growth in sales in May this

year and Mahindra and Mahindra of 49.5 pc mainly on the back of new car launches compact car Spark and Logan, a sedan, respectively.

Skoda India reported a decline of 23 pc in sales in May against the previous year's figures.

Two wheeler makers Hero Honda and Bajaj, fared no better. The sales of Bajaj Auto's two-wheelers declined 15 pc to 167,008 units – its fourth straight decline in monthly sales.

Hero Honda's sales declined 6 pc to 285,109 units. The company says it has 50 pc share of the market even as the two-wheeler market has shrunk at a double digit rate.

TVS Motor, the third-biggest motorcycle maker, said sales in May fell 13 pc to 108,151.
Back to News Review index page  

RCom scraps roaming, PSUs follow with cuts
New Delhi: Reliance Communications (RCom ) has done away with national roaming charges. Lats month RCom had slashed roaming tariffs by as much as 70 pc. The rates then fell to Re1 from Rs1.75 per minute for all incoming calls for post-paid customers and 40 paise a minute for pre-paid customers. Reliance's new roaming plan offers 200 free incoming minutes and outgoing calls at Re 1 for a monthly rental of Rs390. Another plan with a rental of Rs990, offers 1,300 minutes of free talk time, including 400 minutes of local calling.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam have also upped the ante and introduced new plans, which will allow their mobile users to get roaming charges of only Re1 per minute compared to Rs2.40 per minute in existing tariff plans. Subscribers availing BSNL's scheme will get free incoming calls for 300 minutes a month but will have to pay a monthly rental of Rs550. Outgoing calls within BSNL's network will cost only 40 paise a minute. All other outgoing calls and incoming calls beyond 300 minutes will be charged at Re1 a minute. MTNL will ride on BSNL's nationwide network to offer similar tariffs to its subscribers in Delhi and Mumbai. STD rates for outgoing calls will be Re1 per minute, which will add up to the roaming charge every time you make an STD call while roaming.

While existing mobile subscribers of the two PSUs can shift to the new scheme without paying any additional charges, new subscribers will have to pay a one time activation and registration charge of Rs700.

BSNL said that the scheme will not have any revenue implications for the company as the volumes are expected to increase by 20-25 per cent.
Back to News Review index page  

DLF lines up Rs5,000 cr investment plan in AP over five years
Hyderabad: Real estate development major DLF plans to invest Rs5,000 crore in various ventures in Andhra Pradesh over the next five years.

The company said that some investments in the state had already been made.

DLF is developing a special economic zone for information technology in a 26.3-acre plot in Gachibowli in Hyderabad. The company said the SEZ had already been notified and it was investing over 750 crore in it.

The company is also in the process of forming a joint venture with the State Government to develop an integrated retail and entertainment complex in the old Gandhi Medical College premises at Basheerbagh in the heart of the city. To be developed with over Rs1,000 crore, the complex would be a combination of heritage, retail and entertainment.

Eyeing the residential sector DLF is developing service apartments in 25 acres in Puppal Guda on the outskirts of the city.
Back to News Review index page  

Sterling plans Rs400 cr investment for expansion
Mumbai: Chennai-based, Sterling Holiday Resorts (India), is planning to invest Rs400 crore towards expansion in the next one-and-a-half years, which would be partially funded through sale of timeshares and the rest through term loans, venture capitalist route or individual investments. The company would decide about the same by June-end.

The company has been making losses of between Rs3-4 crore every month between 1996 and 2004. Its total liabilities touched Rs207 crore by 2004.

However in the recent past the company was able to sell surplus land in Chennai and Goa for Rs100 crore and made minor profits through operation of its existing 1,200 rooms.

Now it says a small part of the debt remains to be cleared and it would be able to break even and make an estimated profit of Rs1.5 crore in June 2007 and by July touch Rs3.5 crore.

The expansion plans include sale of timeshares worth Rs200 crore in the next one year, setting up of 1,000 apartment hotels of three-star category in 20 cities, setting up of minimum of 10 rooms under three-star category in around 40 pilgrim centres in India and 10 rooms each of similar status in 17 international locations. Sterling Resorts has assets worth Rs450 crore with properties in Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar, Shirdi, Goa (plans to build one more), Gangtok, Chel, Corbett National Park, Yelagiri, Tehri, Munnar, Yercaud, Puri, Darjeeling and others.
Back to News Review index page