HCL Infosys acquires Singapore company
New Delhi: HCL Infosystems has acquired a systems development and integration firm, FEC Singapore, for a price of Rs 6.78 crore. The takeover is expected to boost HCL Infosystems' turnover by Rs 50 crore over the next 12 months.

FEC Singapore is engaged in turnkey projects in systems integration and software development and a major part of its turnover is derived from high-value specialised IT services. It operates in Singapore and Malaysia.
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Hazira contract for Shell-Essar
Ahmedabad: The Shell-Essar consortium has been awarded the $500 million Hazira multi-purpose greenfield port project in Gujarat. The contract is on a build, own, operate and transfer basis.

The Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board approved the contract today and decided to issue a formal letter to Shell. The other bidder was the Reliance-Elf Gaz Aquitaine-Tractabel consortium.

Though Essar is a partner in the consortium, the entire project will be funded by Shell, which has received a clearance from the Foreign Investments Promotion Board for 100 per cent investment in the project.
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Govt to give up control of 24 PSUs
New Delhi: The government is proposing to give up control of 24 public sector undertakings, including Scooters India and the Cycle Corporation of India. These companies will be converted into joint ventures, and the government will reduce its stake to 49 per cent.

Announcing this, Manohar Joshi,  the new heavy industries and public enterprises minister, said the government will also give more autonomy to public sector undertakings, including the navratnas and the mini-navratnas.
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Philips staff plans review petition
Calcutta: Some employee-shareholders of Philips India are understood to be in the process of filing a review petition in the Supreme Court against the dismissal of their special leave petition seeking a stay on the Rs 9-crore sale of the company's land at Salt Lake in Calcutta.

Kiron Mehta, president of Philips Employees Union, said even if the employees are not able to block the sale, they will see to it that the company follows the ruling of the division bench of the Calcutta high court on the transfer of employees. The high court had said the company should seek employees' consent before transferring them.
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Bechtel to advise Gujarat govt in gas grid
Surat: The Gujarat government is planning to engage Bechtel Corporation to conduct a techno-feasibility study for its Rs 3,600-crore, 1,500-km long Gujarat Gas Grid project. ICICI will prepare the financial aspects of the project.

The project will have 40 per cent equity participation by the private sector. It is being set up for transportation and and distribution of liquefied natural gas in the state. The government has incorporated Gujarat State Petronet under the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation to manage the project.
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British Borneo plans exit
Calcutta: British Borneo Oil & Gas is likely to sell its exploration interests in India to its joint venture partners -- either the Tatas or the Hindustan Oil Exploration Corporation or the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. The UK-based company is understood to be planning to shift its focus on oil and gas exploration and production in Brazil.

British Borneo holds 18 per cent of the equity in PY3 and three other small oil and gas fields near Cambay in western India in a joint venture with the Tatas, HOEC and ONGC.
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Doshis told to sell land to pay dues
Mumbai: Financial institutions, which have stakes in  Premier Automobiles, have asked the promoters, the Doshis, to sell their surplus land at Kurla to pay debenture holders. The Doshis own about 300 acres of land at their plants in Kurla and Kalyan in Mumbai.

In a report on restructuring the company, ICICI, one of the institutions, has asked the company to either lease or sell its press shop to raise fresh funds. The Doshis are negotiating with the institutions to settle their debts and get a working capital loan to restart operations at their PAL-Peugeot factory at Kalyan. The company owes around Rs 100 crore to the financial institutions.
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Indo Gulf plan for jetty not approved
Baroda: The Gujarat Maritime Board has not cleared the proposal of the Aditya Vikram Birla group company Indo Gulf Fertilisers to float a subsidiary and create a joint venture with French port developer Aiges so that it can operate its captive jetty at Dahej on a commercial basis. The board has already ruled out the possibility of selling the jetty to any outsider.

Indo Gulf Fertilisers wanted to float a separate subsidiary, Dahej Harbour and Infrastructure Development, to convert the Rs 300-crore jetty into a commercial one, which can handle commercial loads of other companies located nearby. The jetty handles ships of 43,000 DWT.
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Cisco, IBM to work together on net software
California: Cisco Systems and IBM Corporation say they will work together to develop the market for the next generation of internet services that deliver corporate software over the web. Cisco, the world's largest internet equipment maker, and IBM, the largest computer manufacturer, said they will work together to assist software companies that create internet-based applications that they in turn rent to businesses and consumers via the web.
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Nissan plans massive job cut
Tokyo: Nissan Motor Company says it is slashing its workforce by 14 per cent, or nearly 21,000 people, and cutting its domestic output capacity by 30 per cent under a cost-cutting scheme in order to stay in business. The company's chief operating officer Carlos Ghosn says the company will shut down two Nissan plants by March 2001.

Nissan, Japan's second largest automaker, which has became the world's fourth largest auto group following an alliance with Renault, has said it aims to return to profit in the next financial year starting April 2000 after posting losses for six of the last seven years.

The job cuts include 4,000 in manufacturing, 6,500 at Japanese dealers and 6,000 in sales and administrative operations.
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Mattel seen as takeover target
New York: Toymaker Mattel, the name behind Barbie dolls, may be a takeover target, Barron's reported in its 18 October edition. Entertainment company Walt Disney and the entertainment divisions of Sony Corporation and News Corporation could be the potential acquirers. Besides these companies, Time Warner and Sega Enterprises are also in the field.
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NiSource hikes offer for Columbia
New York: NiSource, the utility holding company, said it has raised it hostile bid price for natural gas firm Columbia Energy Group by 7 per cent to $6.1 billion. The new all-cash bid, which values Herndon, Va-based Columbia at $74 a share, is considered to be a more viable bid than the original $68 per share. Columbia had rejected the earlier offer.
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NEC gets Nintendo game chip order
Tokyo: NEC Corporation has received a $2.86 billion order to supply semiconductor chips to Nintendo Company for graphics use in its next generation game machine, Dolphin.

NEC said it will set up a plant in Kyushu in southern Japan to produce graphic and memory chips to supply to Nintendo. The plant will use 0.13-micron process technology.
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