Coke gets FIPB nod for restructuring
New Delhi: Coca-Cola India has received approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to bring all its bottling operations under one entity. The proposal is to merge its subsidiary units into the existing holding company, Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings. At present,  besides Coca-Cola India, there are two holding companies, Hindustan Coca Cola Holdings and Bharat Coca Cola Holding. These companies have two subsidiaries each, Hindustan Coca-Cola Bottling North-West, Hindustan Coca-Cola Bottling South-West, Bharat Coca Cola Bottling North-East, and Bharat Coca Cola Bottling South-West. Another subsidiary is Britco Foods.

The company has recently taken over 34 bottling units, out of 54 operating in India. The acquired units will function as company-owned bottling units.
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FIs meeting to decide on Essar package
Mumbai: Financial institutions with an exposure in Essar Steel are meeting to discuss basically a package of assistance to the company. The heads of these institutions will meet on 9 December to finalise an agreement for a $104-loan so that the embattled company can meet shortfalls in the repayment of its floating rate notes.

Essar Steel defaulted on the repayment of its $250 million FRNs. Indian banks, which hold nearly $40 million of these FRNs, have already committed themselves to convert these holdings into term loans. The institutions are likely to seek an undertaking from the promoters of the company that they will pledge 51 per cent of their holdings in the company to the institutions. The institutions together have a loan exposure of Rs 2,006 crore in Essar Steel and an overdue interest of Rs 325 crore.
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Standard Life, Warburg allowed to hike equity in HDFC
New Delhi: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared the proposal of Standard Life and Warburg Pincus to acquire a 10 per cent equity holding in HDFC through the secondary market. HDFC’s board, while refusing to issue additional equity to these investors, had suggested they use the secondary market route. The UK-based insurance major Standard Life and private equity fund Warburg Pincus are planning to hike their holdings in HDFC to 10 per cent each from the present 5 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.

Sun Life has already announced that it will take 26 per cent of the mutual fund being planned by HDFC. It already has a joint venture with HDFC for insurance.
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ICF Ventues takes equity in MatexNet
Chennai: US-based fund ICF Ventures has picked up a stake in MatexNet of Bangalore. MatexNet is engaged in the business of helping companies liquidate their inventories and capital goods like steel, chemicals and plastic. The company says it has estimated that nearly Rs 20,000 crore worth of unusable inventory and capital goods are lying idle in India.

ICF Ventures is owned by insurance companies, pension funds and venture capitalists in the US. MatexNet positions itself as a link between companies of all sizes to come together to transact business, including selling surplus inventories, finished products or sharing spare capacities. All its transactions are on the Internet and it runs what it calls a B-to-B manufacturers' portal.
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More Knorr brand items planned
Mumbai: International Best Foods is launching a number of non-Indian, ready-to-make food products. It will develop the Knorr brand of its parent, Best Foods, as a mother brand. The company also plans to make its other brands -- Brown & Polson, Skippy, Tex, Captain Cook, Glucovita and Tarla Dalal -- more popular and enter the tetrapak drinks segment to launch its international brand, Ades, in India, chairman of International Best Foods Salil Punoose said.

The company will launch Indian cuisine-based products under the Tarla Dalal brand, which the company has acquired recently. International Best Foods is a subsidiary of Best Foods, a global leader in the consumer foods category. Best Foods has a 73.19 per cent holding in International Best Foods.
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CCG Munich picks up 10% in Advent
Mumbai: CCG Munich has picked up a 10 per cent stake in Advent Computer Services of Chennai. Advent Computer Services will also become a technology cum marketing partner for marketing CCG Munich’s ADS 400 software product for supply chain execution.

CCG Munich is investing Rs 1 core in the Indian company, Michael Arul, managing director of Advent Computer Services, said. CCG Munich will also provide offshore project development and onsite consulting contracts to the Indian company.
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ACeS plans satellite launch in January
New Delhi: The Lockheed Martin-promoted ACeS International is planning to launch its first satellite in January 2000. The $700-million satellite project plans to offer its mobile phone services in the whole of Asia by mid-2000 at a competitive price – an airtime tariff of less than a dollar per minute for international calls. The handsets will be pried around $900 to $1000.
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TCS has no plans for IPO
New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services is not planning any initial public offering of shares. TCS deputy chairman F.C. Kohli said the company has no immediate plans for an IPO.

TCS had recently launched a media campaign, which triggered speculations about an IPO. A Tata Sons division, TCS employs more than 10,000 people. Its sales in 1998-99 were Rs 1,652 crore.
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Banquit, Aplab in tie-up
New Delhi: Swedish company Banquit AB will collaborate with Aplab to sell its retail banking solutions in India. Computer major Compaq has a minority holding in Banquit

The first product to be introduced will be a cash dispenser for indoor and outdoor banking installations. Later the venture will introduce financial business systems to aid customer-operated self-service points and direct service points. Banquit's systems cover banking, payments and transfers.
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Phone product from Microsoft
New York: Microsoft has introduced its Microsoft Mobile Explorer, an open software that will power Internet-enabled mobile telephones. The product will allow handset makers and wireless carriers to provide their customers with services on data-enabled telephones. The product will be commercially available in the first quarter of 2000, Microsoft said.
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Ericsson, Microsoft in tie-up
Stockholm: Ericsson has forged a strategic partnership with Microsoft in a project that will help people stay in touch via the Internet and mobile phones while on the move. The joint venture will market "end-to-end solutions for the wireless Internet", Ericsson said. Ericsson will own a majority holding in the new company that will market and deliver mobile e-mail solutions for network operators. The product will be based on Microsoft's Exchange Server and Ericsson’s wireless infrastructure products.
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GM may pick up 20% in Fuji Heavy
Detroit: General Motors is completing a deal to pick up a 20 per cent stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, maker of Subaru cars. General Motors has acknowledged that it is in discussions with Fuji Heavy, but declined to elaborate on the matter. A Japanese newspaper said General Motors may invest up to 100 billion yen in the Japanese company.
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Sonic Foundry joins Microsoft programme
San Francisco: Sonic Foundry, maker of software tools for digitising media, is joining a Microsoft programme to broaden the availability of streaming media, that is, video or audio, delivered over the Internet. Sonic Foundry develops tools for content producers, allowing them to digitise, manipulate and compress audio and video files.
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Cendant to pay $3 bn to settle case
New York: Cendant Corporation, a franchising and marketing company, is paying $2.83 billion to settle a shareholder class action law suit over accounting irregularities. The suit concerned accounting problems at CUC International, which merged with HFS Inc in 1997 to form Cendant. The lead plaintiffs are the California Public Employee Retirement System, the New York State Retirement Fund and five other pension funds.
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