Sterlite acquires India Foils
Mumbai: The Sterlite group has acquired the Calcutta-based India Foils. Sterlite is taking a 55 per cent stake in the company, promoted by the Deepak Khaitan-owned Williamson Magor group, at a consideration of Rs 50 crore. India Foils is expected to issue fresh equity to Sterlite, which will bring down the holding of the promoters from 60 per cent to 27 per cent, holdings of the public from 25 per cent to 11 per cent and mutual funds and financial institutions from 15 per ent to seven per cent.

Anil Agarwal, Sterlite's chairman and managing director, will be a director on the board of India Foils. The acquisition makes Sterlite the No 1 player in the aluminium foils market in the country with a 60 per cent market share, ahead of Indian Aluminium Company.

The deal involves an upfront payment of Rs 28 crore by Sterlite, its associate company Malco, and some investment firms, and a payment of nearly Rs 22 crore over 18 months. Earlier, Aditya Vikram Birla group company Hindalco had shown interest in acquiring India Foils, and the negotiations had moved to the stage of due diligence.

Sterlite has a capacity of 33,000 tonnes per annum of aluminium conductors and 20,000 tpa of aluminium cold rolled products. India Foils has an installed foil capacity of 15,000 tonnes per annum and flexible packaging units capacity of 2,600 tonnes per annum.
Back to News Review index page

Khaitans to restructure Eveready
Calcutta: The Khaitans of the Williamson Magor group will use the earnings from the sale of India Foils to Sterlite to restructure the debts of group company Eveready Industries and to consolidate their activities in batteries and tea. The group is in the process of focusing on core business areas, its senior officials say. The group had earlier sold Standard Batteries to the Rahejas, McNeil International to a Hong Kong-based company, and wound up Dewerance McNeil.

The restructuring is being done on the basis of advice by McKinsey and Co. The group has no intention to reduce equity interest in Eveready Industries or its tea companies, Bishunauth Tea, and George Williamson Tea Company.
Back to News Review index page

Pfizer proposal gets second FIPB nod
New Delhi: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared the proposal of Pfizer Inc of the US to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India. The FIPB is referring the proposal to industry and commerce minister Murasoli Maran for final approval.

The FIPB had cleared the proposal earlier, but the industry ministry had sent it back for reconsideration following opposition from shareholders of the existing listed Pfizer company, Pfizer India. The shareholders contended that the new subsidiary will marginalise the role of the existing company. Pfizer has now clarified to the department of industrial policy and promotion that the operations of the two companies are intended to be different and not competitive.
Back to News Review index page

Jet Airways plans foreign currency loan
Mumbai: Jet Airways is planning to raise a loan of $408 million overseas to fund its purchase of 10 Boeing 737 aircraft. The 10-year loan will be supported by the US-Exim Bank. The airline has mandated Standard Chartered Bank to arrange for the loan. The loan is being raised without any government guarantee.

With the acquisition of new aircraft, Jet Airways will have a fleet strength of 30 aircraft.
Back to News Review index page

Owens Corning takes equity in Siro Plast
Mumbai: Owens Corning Corporation of the US is picking up 25 per cent of the equity of Siro Plast, a Pune-based Mahindra & Mahindra group company. Siro Plast has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Owens Corning with the intention to explore the possibility of technical and financial collaboration. The Mahindra group, through a subsidiary, Roplas (India), holds 41 per cent equity in Siro Plast. The other shareholders are financial institutions and the public. It has not decided on the methodology of pricing and other terms for the issue of equity to Owens Corning.

The $4.5-billion US glass composites and building materials company wants to consolidate its relations with the Mahindra group. The two have jointly floated Owens Corning (India) recently.
Back to News Review index page

Wagon R at Rs 3.5 lakh
New Delhi: Maruti Udyog is likely to price its new offer, Wagon R, at Rs 3.5 lakh. The vehicle will be launched later in December when Suzuki Motor Corporation chairman Osamu Suzuki visits India. Wagon R will have a 1,000-cc engine.

Maruti Udyog is investing Rs 1,200 crore in three new car models -- the Baleno, the Wagon R and the Alto. It has already launched the Baleno in the mid-size luxury segment while two variants of the Alto will be in the market by May 2000.
Back to News Review index page

Ashok Leyland plans JVs
New Delhi: Ashok Leyland is planning joint ventures to secure access to new technologies and to expand the company’s product range. The company’s managing director R. Seshasayee said the company will get into arrangements for joint ventures or supply arrangements by which technology access will be available to it on a continuous basis.

Ashok Leyland is the country’s second largest truck maker. It expects to have a 25 to 30 per cent volume growth in 1999-2000, Mr Seshasayee said.
Back to News Review index page

Shaw Wallace says no to McDowell
Calcutta: Manu Chhabria’s Shaw Wallace and Company has refused to transfer 5,100 shares of the company lodged with it by McDowell and Co. Shaw Wallace feels the share purchase by the UB group company has ulterior motives. McDowell has filed a case in this regard before the Calcutta High Court.
Back to News Review index page

IBM plans new super computer
New York: IBM says it is earmarking $100 million to build a supercomputer, which will be faster than any existing machine – more than one quadrillion operations a second. It will be put to use in research in life sciences, especially in finding out how proteins are formed and their role in human disease, the company says.

IBM’s senior vice president in charge of its research division, Paul Horn, said the company is laying the foundations for  life sciences-related work. He announced the plan for the Blue Gene Computer, which he said will be a thousand times more powerful than Deep Blue, the machine that beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
Back to News Review index page

Daewoo’s secret deal alienates creditors
Seoul: Daewoo Corporation, the flagship company of the disintegrating Daewoo group, has now revealed that  a secretive London-based entity had funnelled some $7.5 billion into overseas subsidiaries over 18 years. The creditors of the group, who are breaking their heads to put up a restructuring plan, reacted saying the revelation makes it virtually impossible to accept any plans. Daewoo said although the transactions were not properly accounted for, it should not hamper the work of Daewoo companies.

A senior Daewoo official had told the group’s bankers that Daewoo Corporation had funnelled the amount through British Financial Centre, a. formerly unknown entity in the group’s transactions. Daewoo later said it will come clean with creditors by having the transactions reflected in the debt sheets of Daewoo Corporation.
Back to News Review index page

Telstra develops new Internet protocol
Sydney: Telstra Corporation is introducing a new Internet technology that will give customers access to websites through mobile phones. The company has developed Wireless Application Protocol, which will enable customers to tap into the Telstra site and send e-mail, check news headlines and other information.
Back to News Review index page

NTT, IBM, Tivoli in tie-up
Tokyo: NTT Communications, IBM and Tivoli Systems are in a tie-up in electronics business-related services. NTT Communications, a unit of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, will offer services under the partnership. The services include corporate clients consulting, design and implementation of computer systems and outsourcing through intranet, extranet and Internet services.
Back to News Review index page