Bharti in deal with JT Mobile to enter south
New Delhi: Telecom major Bharti Enterprises has stuck a deal with JT Mobile, a cellular operator for Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, to enter the south Indian telecom scene. The deal involves acquisition of SC Cellular, a Sanmar group company, by the Mittals' Bharti group. SC Cellular holds an 18 per cent stake in JT Mobile. Bharti will bring in funds worth Rs 400 crore into the company to expand the service in the two circles.

Bharti Enterprises is the largest telecom service provider in the private sector in India with cellular telephone licences for Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, and a basic telephone service licence for Madhya Pradesh. JT mobile is a joint venture between the Sanmar group (20 per cent), United Telecom (31 per cent), Telia of Sweden (26 per cent) and Jasmine of Thailand (23 per cent). It has invested some Rs 600 crore in creating a cellular infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. While Telia will retain its present stake, the other partners are exepected to restructure their stakes to allow Bharti to come in.
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Cipla cuts AIDS drugs prices
Mumbai: Cipla has reduced the prices of its anti-AIDS drugs, Zidovir and Stavir, by 20 and 27 per cent respectively. The move is in time for observing World AIDS Day on 1 December. The two drugs are important components in a combination therapy that is the mainstay for AIDS patients.

Cipla has thus voluntarily reduced the prices of the anti-AIDS drugs for the third time. The price of a 100-mg capsule of Zidovir will now be Rs 10, against Rs 12.50 earlier, while that of a 300-mg tablet will be Rs 25.50, against Rs 31.67. In the case of Stavir, the price of a 30-mg capsule will be down to Rs 30, while a 40-mg capsule will be priced at Rs 36.50.
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ICICI announces second VRS
Mumbai: ICICI has announced a voluntary retirement scheme that aims to shed around 150 employees. The company has a present staff strength of 1,100. This will be ICICI’s second VRS in three years. In the earlier scheme offered in 1996-97, some 117 officers and other employees left the organisation.

The scheme will remain open from 1 December to 31 December 1999. It will be available to officers and employees who have put in 10 years of service or are above 40 years of age with at least five years of service.

In September 1999 ICICI transferred 110 employees in its information technology operations to ICICI Infotech.
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Govt plans 10% divestment in Indian Oil
New Delhi: The government is considering divesting 10 per cent of its equity in Indian Oil Corporation through a global depository receipt issue. It will also exercise the right to retain the oversubscribed portion up to five per cent. The proposal is now under the consideration of the finance ministry.

The issue, which was planned in 1998, was postponed due to bad market conditions. The government owns 82 per cent of Indianoil's equity.
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Eicon offers bank network solutions
Mumbai: Eicon Technology, the Canada-based wide area networking solutions provider, is offering public sector banks enabling technologies for 'anywhere banking'. The company’s sole distributor for India, Apcom Computers, will handle the projects.

Eicon’s products enable connectivity between various branches without the need to create any centralised database.
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Jindal Strip’s new plan
New Delhi: Jindal Strips has drawn up a new restructuring plan to be submitted to the financial institutions. The plan envisages hiving off its Vasind division into a separate company and deferment of payment by Jindal Iron and Steel Company to Jindal Strips till the time the former is in a position to make such payment.

Financial institutions and banks had raised objections to an earlier scheme of arrangement between Jindal Strips and Jindal Iron and Steel, which planned the demerger of the Vasind division from Jindal Strips and a later merger with Jindal Iron and Steel. The institutions had directed Jindal Strips to submit a new restructuring plan, which allows Jindal Iron and Steel to defer payments by a year.
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Zett Media sets up units
Pune: Norway's Zett Media group has set up two wholly-owned subsidiaries in India, Zett Media, which will be a global software solutions provider, and Zett Interactive, which will concentrate on e-commerce solutions. The Indian companies will form strategic alliances with other Indian software developers and provide solutions for Zett’s global clients.

The Norwegian company specialises in educational software, credit rating and appraisal systems, and e-commerce solutions.
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Wockhardt merges vet company
Mumbai: Wockhardt is merging its animal health business, Wockhardt Veterinary, a closely held company, into itself. Shareholders of Wockhardt Veterinary will be offered one Wockhardt share for every share they hold in the company. Wockhardt Veterinary has sales of Rs 25 crore.
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WorldTel venture cleared
New Delhi: WorldTel will invest Rs 282 crore to provide information technology-based services, e-commerce, Internet and other related services in India. WorldTel’s proposal to set up a joint venture has been cleared by the industry ministry on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. WorldTel will have a 49 per cent stake in the venture.

The ministry also cleared the proposals of Duracell, and Zurich Insurance. While Duracell has been allowed to increase its stake in its Indian subsidiary from 93 per cent to 96 per cent by bringing in investment of Rs 43 crore, Zurich Insurance has been allowed to increase its stake in its Indian asset management company from 50 per cent to 100 per cent with an investment of Rs 31.87 crore.

The other approvals include that of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. to tap overseas markets through a global depository receipt issue, Microland’s plan to bring in foreign equity of Rs 28.27 crore and Escorts Yamaha’s to issue preference shares worth Rs 12 crore to a foreign partner.
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Warner-Lambert to call off Lipitor deal
New York: Warner-Lambert has hit back at Pfizer for its unsolicited bid. It has filed a case seeking a judgement that it is entitled to end its agreement with Pfizer to jointly market the blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor.

Warner-Lambert, which earlier in November agreed on a friendly merger with American Home Products Corporation, cited a standstill agreement that restricted Pfizer from making a takeover offer. It says Pfizer has violated the agreement by making a bid for it. Pfizer, therefore, should not continue to benefit from the Lipitor marketing agreement, said Warner-Lambert. Lipitor is expected to notch up sales of more than $3.6 billion in 1999.

Pfizer claims the agreement had ended once Warner-Lambert received or solicited a merger proposal and that Warner-Lambert broke the terms of the agreement failing to inform Pfizer that it had received a proposal from AHP.
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Boeing plant to be inspected
Washington: The Federal Aviation Administration of the US will conduct a special inspection of Boeing Company after a series of problems, including improperly tightened bolts, and parts that failed federal flame tests. The regulator said the inspection will begin on 2 December at the company's production lines in Seattle. The regulator said, however, none of the faults poses any safety problem.
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Nissan to merge finance companies
Tokyo: Nissan Motor Company is merging four automobile sales finance subsidiaries into one company. The four companies, Nissan Credit Corporation, Nissan Car Leasing Company, Nissan Finance Company and Nissan Car Life Network, will merge in July 2000, said Nissan, as part of a revival plan.

Nissan has formed an alliance with Renault of France under which Renault has picked up a 36.8 per cent stake in the company.
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Honda not for equity tie-up with GM
Tokyo: Honda Motor Company has ruled out a Honda-General Motors alliance, saying General Motors is one of many possible business partners for the company. A Japanese business publication said Honda will supply low emission gasoline engines to General Motors, while Isuzu Motors, 49 per cent owned by General Motors, will provide Honda with fuel-efficient diesel engines. The paper said Honda has clarified that it does not envisage an equity tie-up with any automaker.
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Dell to launch new PCs
New York: Dell Computer Corporation, the No 2 computer maker in the world, is bringing out a new generation of small and stylish PCs, called Webpc. Dell said they will be small in size, occupying less than a third of the deskspace occupied by conventional PCs, will and come in five designer colours.

Prices will start from $1,000 for a complete package with a Celeron 433-megahertz chip, a standard 15-inch monitor with built-in speakers, a printer, and one year of Dellnet Internet access.
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Cisco has a new net access device
San Francisco: Cisco Systems is devising a method to connect hard-to-reach locations to the Internet using wireless microwave technology. The new product will be in the market by the end of next year, the company said.

The alternative technology will enable connectivity in areas where the current high-speed cable modem or telephone-based lines are not able to reach. Cisco plans to work on this project in partnership with subscriber line service providers.
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Athlon launched
California: As expected, Advanced Micro Devices has introduced its 750-megahertz processor Athlon, leaving Intel behind in processing speed. The new Athlon chip gives AMD a temporary advantage over Intel, whose Pentium III chips run at 733 megahertz. AMD said the Athlon processors will be used by Compaq Computer, International Business Machines and other large computer companies. The Athlon chip improves performances on PCs running data intensive three-dimensional graphics, audio, web content development and standard office applications.
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