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L&T wants
institutions’ view on recast
Mumbai: The management of Larsen & Toubro will make a full
presentation of its proposed restructuring plan to financial institutions having holdings
in the company. The plan, prepared by management consulting firm Boston Consultancy
Group, was discussed by the company’s board, which finally decided it will be
implemented only after the institutions it. The board is to meet again on 14 January. Unit
Trust of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India and the General Insurance Corporation
of India are the largest shareholders of the company.
The consulting firm is understood to have identified non-profitable
businesses of the company affecting its growth. It has recommended that the company should
concentrate on its core strengths.
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MTNL plans big prior to
NYSE listing
New Delhi: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. will become a multi-media
company and it plans to enter telecom software development, content providing, value-added
services and e-commerce. A business plan developed by the public sector telecom major just
prior to its plan for the New York Stock Exchange listing outlines the above sectors as
thrust areas. The company will create a separate software division to develop
multimedia skills. The focus will be on telecom software. It will also have alliances with
content providers to strengthen content for Internet services. The strategic tie-up with
Sun TV in the south is seen as a starting point in this direction. The company also
intends to acquire holdings in software companies, especially those in the telecom sector.
MTNL is floating 19 million American depository recipes in
February 2000.
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Polaris plans tie-up
for banking software
Chennai: Polaris Software is about to finalise a deal with an
international software company for a strategic alliance. Under the proposed plan, the
company and its partner will work on banking software products.
The company has also plans to consolidate its activities
in the insurance sector. It has clients in this area abroad. Polaris will set up new
development centres both in India and abroad to carry out its development work.
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Electric scooters
from Kinetic
New Delhi: Kinetic Engineering has developed an electric scooter, which
it proposes to market in 2001. The environment-friendly vehicle will be priced between Rs
30,000 and Rs 35,000, the company’s chairman Arun Firodia announced. He said the
government should offer tax and duty reliefs so that the vehicle could be made
price-competitive. The vehicle is noise-free and runs on long-life batteries imported from
the US. The batteries can be charged at home overnight through an ordinary plug point.
Kinetic is also introducing two motorcycle models, both
with four-stroke engines, Mr Firodia said. The 125-cc, GF-125, made in technical
collaboration with Hyosung of Korea, will be priced around Rs 50,000 and will be available
in the market in June 2000. Its 150-cc variant will be introduced three months later. The
second model is the indigenously developed 100-cc Challenger with a price tag of Rs
40,000.
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Kinetic to merge
finance companies
New Delhi: The Kinetic group is planning to merge its three finance
companies – Kinetic Finance Capital and Kinetic Capital Finance (both listed
companies) and Kinetic Lease & Finance. The group will seek shareholders’
approval for the merger soon. Kinetic Finance Capital, which has assets worth Rs 200
crore, was a joint venture between Kinetic and Twentieth Century Finance. Kinetic has
bought Twentieth Century Finance’s holding in the company. Similarly Kinetic Lease
& Finance has been a joint venture between Kinetic and the Integrated group before
Kinetic bought Integrated’s holding.
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GE Caps to invest in Indus
Soft
New Delhi: GE Caps is acquiring 40 per cent equity holding in Indus
Software, a Pune-based information technology company. The equity will be acquired through
GE Caps’ Mauritius-based investment arm, GE Cap Mauritius Equity Investments. Indus
Software has a 100 per cent-owned subsidiary in the US, Indus Software Inc. This will be
GE Caps’ second major investment in the information technology sector in India. It
has already set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in the country to carry out work of
processing billing and call activities of its credit card business in a number of overseas
countries.
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Lupin wants Glaxo to
market its drug
Mumbai: Lupin Laboratories is understood to
have offered its anti-TB formulation to Glaxo India for co-marketing with the
latter’s own anti-TB drug as an extension of brand. Lupin has suggested that the
product should be marketed as a Glaxo brand. The arrangement will be similar to the one
Glaxo has with Ranbaxy for cephalexin.
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Sony plans stake in CNBC
India
Mumbai: Sony Entertainment Television is all set to pick up a holding in
CNBC India, the joint venture between CNBC Asia and TV-18. Negotiations are going on for
the deal and only the extent of the holding as well as price for this are to be decided,
sources close to the company said. TV-18 holds 49 per cent equity in the company and it is
likely to divest a part of this equity in favour of Sony.
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2 new variants of Lancer
New Delhi: Two new variants of Mitsubishi Lancer have been launched
– the SFX and SLX.These two variants will be in addition to the existing GLX model.
The SLX offers perforated leather upholstery, alloy wheels and tail lamp cluster. The SFX
will have extra wide tyres, anti-skid pads, special gearshift knob and rear spoilers. The
petrol version of SLX will be priced at Rs 8,28,127, while the diesel version carries a
price tag of Rs 9,29,598 (ex-showroom, Delhi). The SFX, available only in the petrol
version, will cost Rs 8,47,125.
The new models were announced by Hindustan Motors chairman
C.K. Birla, who said the company expects to sell 10,000 units of the Lancer in 1999-2000.
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Infosys seeks okay for
overseas takeovers
Mumbai: Infosys Technologies has sought a blanket permission from the
government under the revised norms set for overseas acquisitions by software companies.
The company is learnt to have filed its application with the Reserve Bank of India. Under
the revised rules, special permission is required on a case-to-case basis if the
acquisition value exceeds $100 million. RBI is the determining agency in these cases.
Infosys Technologies had announced at the time of its ADR
issue in 1999 that a major part of the funds raised will be used for overseas
acquisitions. The company is seeking a blanket permission to avoid last minute delays when
a deal is about to be concluded.
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4 cell companies get tax
benefit
New Delhi: Four cellular phone service projects have been offered tax
benefits by the government under section 10(23)(G) of the Income Tax Act. The companies
who will get tax benefit are BPL Mobile, Usha Martin Telecom, Bharti Cellular and Hexacom
India. The government is offering tax benefits under this section for promoting investment
in infrastructure. The section provides for exemption from tax for dividend income as well
as for long-term capital gains and interest on loans. The other companies, which have been
given the tax benefits under this section, are the Panipat thermal power project of
Haryana Power Generation Corporation, Kirloskar Power Supply Company , NCC Power
Corporation and the power plant of Gautami Power in Andhra Pradesh.
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Hind Lever plans Prestige
Club
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever has launched a customer loyalty programme in the
fast moving consumer goods segment. It has set up a Personal Products Prestige Club, which
will develop the relationship between the company and key accounts that have a strong
consumer base. Under the scheme, Citibank and Hindustan Lever will promote a co-branded
Citibank-HLL card. Retail outlets will be issued the card and will get credit in terms of
prestige points against activities undertaken. The points can be redeemed against their
credit card purchases. The club members will also be given certain special benefits.
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Granada to intervene
in Carlton-United merger plan
London: British media and entertainment company Granada Group says it is
planning to bid for either Carlton Communications or United News and Media. Carlton
Communications and United News and Media are into a merger under a $12.9 billion deal.
Granada feels the merger will create an entity in the commercial television industry in
Britain, which will relegate it to a lesser important position. At present it is the third
major player in the sector. Granada’s chairman Gerry Robinson, however, said the bid
will not merely be bid to spoil the merger.
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Ford not to respond to
GM’s discounts
Detroit: Ford Motor says it has no plan to alter its incentive programme
to match the $500 per vehicle discount offered by General Motors. Ford’s chief
executive officer Jacques Nasser ruled out any further changes in Ford’s plans.
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