Thermax Software offers on-site consultancy, software project development, conversion and maintenance, and databases administration services. It had a revenue of Rs 6.6 crore in 1998-99.  While Thermax Systems owns 40 per cent of the Rs 18 lakh equity of the company, the rest is with the promoters and associates of Thermax Systems. NovaSoft will purchase the equity from Thermax Systems and its associates. The Thermax group is divesting its stake in the company as it is planning to focus on its core business area of energy and environment.
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Zee quits FM race
New Delhi: Zee Telefilms has withdrawn its bids for FM circles. However, an associate company, New Media, will be in the field. Zee is said to have taken the decision in view of the government insistence that the NRI equity in the company be considered as foreign equity. Nearly 60 per cent of Zee Telefilms' equity is owned by NRIs. 

In the meanwhile, the government is proceeding with verifying the applications for FM bids, and a decision will be taken sometime in February 2000.
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A LPG version of Spectra
New Delhi: TVS Suzuki is all set to make an LPG version of its popular 150cc scooter Spectra. The vehicle will hold an LPG cylinder in place of the fuel tank. The company feels that easy availability of LPG in various parts of the country makes its new product viable. The model will be launched after necessary approvals and also possible amendments in the Motor Vehicles Act, as there is no provision in the act now to use LPG in scooters.
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Octavia launch in July
New Delhi: Czech auto major Skoda Auto, a unit of Germany's Volkswagen, is entering Indian car market with its Octavia range. The company will first introduce a diesel version, followed by a petrol version. The price of the car will be around Rs 9 lakh. In another two years, the company’s luxury cars Fabia and Felicia will also be launched in India.

Skoda Auto’s vice chairman Detlef Wittig said the Octavia will be on Indian roads in July 2000.
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Kawasaki to pick up 20% in Bajaj unit
New Delhi: Japanese motorcycle maker Kawasaki is likely to take a 20 per cent equity stake in Bajaj Auto's proposed motorcycle company. An understanding to this effect has been reached between the two companies. Kawasaki is already a technological collaborator with Bajaj Auto, which is now proposing to to hive off its motorcycle division into a separate company.
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Indian Hotels appoint advisors for buys
Mumbai: The Indian Hotels Company has appointed Dresdner Kleinwort Benson to advise it on acquiring hotel properties owned by the India Tourism Development Corporation. The consultants will also advise the Tata group on acquiring additional equity in ITDC when the government comes out with a divestment plan. The company has a 10 per cent holding now in ITDC.
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Mascon acquiring US companies
Mumbai: Software services company Mascon Global is about to take over three software firms in the US – Synergy Soft Solutions, Pondarosa Technologies and International Software Consulting. The company is paying nearly $37 million for the acquisitions. Mascon Global’s president and chief executive officer Nandu Thondavadi says the company will finance the acquisitions through an initial public offer of its shares or a private placement. The acquisitions, according to Mr Thondavadi, will enhance the company’s presence in the US market.
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Neilsoft gets first Sicom venture finance
Pune: Neilsoft, a Pune graphics and Internet software company, has received Rs 2.25 crore venture capital finance from Sicom Capital Management, the venture capital arm of Sicom.  This is the first venture capital finance provided by the company. The funds will be used to promote research and development and to create a new facility for the company at the Info Tech Park in Pune. While accepting the finance, Neilsoft said its first product, Diedifice, a dye-design software package for the automobile, electrical and plumbing industries, will be ready soon.
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Citicorp takes equity in Servion
Bangalore: Citicorp has picked up an undisclosed holding in the equity of Servion Global Solutions of Chennai, which provides software solutions in the realm of business response and voicemail. Servion has wholly-owned subsidiaries in Australia, Dubai, Singapore and the US. It plans to set up two subsidiaries in the UK and Japan. 

The company wants to make investments in infrastructure, including new product lines, unified messaging solutions and voice enabling portals. It has an important project on hand for the Financial Services Portal Network of San Diego, which is implementing a banking portal for 40 banks in the California region.

The company is also planning an initial public offering.
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Intel picks up equity in Banyan
Chennai: Intel has picked up a minority equity holding in Banyan Networks, an information technology start-up created by former students of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Intel, according to the company’s managing director Vijay K. Raghavan, is interested, besides return on its investments, in technology development by the company. The company has been working on Internet access systems at the user-end and its products are targeted at emerging markets to improve data transmission using existing communication networks.
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SSI-Nasdaq tie-up to develop web-trading systems
Mumbai: SSI is developing software and taking up maintenance and training services for IndigoMarkets, the joint venture company between one of its divisions, SSI Technologies, and the US infotech stock market Nasdaq. SSI had acquired Indigo International of Delaware, US in August 1999 and the present tie-up with Nasdaq is on account of the acquisition of the technology developed by Indigo for Nasdaq.

Indigo has a partnership with US-based Tandem Computers in developing a fixed income product.  IndigoMarkets has been set up to create Internet-based trading and market systems for Nasdaq’s proposed stock market-related activities in Europe and Japan.
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US government for Microsoft break-up
Washington: The US government is understood to be in favour of breaking up Microsoft Corporation to settle the company’s anti-trust case, according to sources connected with the mediation talks now going on in Chicago. They said while the details are not immediately available, it is emerging that the justice department and the 19 states involved in the case are favouring a break-up. Newspapers in the US published reports saying the justice department is likely to make an offer to the company to break itself into three separate companies to settle the lawsuit.
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Corel to buy stake in Linux start-up
Ottawa: Corel Corporation is buying a 30 per cent holding in a start-up Linux venture, Newlix Corporation. Newlix has developed a software-based Linux operating system that allows a network server connecting up to 50 computers to handle printing, e-mail, and Internet connections. Newlix, with only eight full-time staffers, was founded in 1999.

Corel, best known for its office and graphics software, has staged a market revival on its Linux efforts. Corel believes that its easy-to-use desktop version of Linux, launched in November 1999, will move the operating system into a wide market. The company has already made investments in three other Linux firms.
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C&W buys 8 ISPs in Europe
London: British telecom company Cable & Wireless has bought eight top business Internet service providers in Europe as part of a $1 billion investment in the Internet market. With these acquisitions, the company has already invested $ 500 million in European business ISPs.

The company said the eight ISPs, with $130 million in combined annualized revenues, are Austria’s Xpoint, Belgium’s Online Internet, France’s ISDnet, UNIDATA and DSLogic-DSNet of Italy, agri.ch and Petrel Communications in Switzerland, and Spain’s Grupo Intercom.
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IBM, Auto Data plan website
New York: International Business Machines and Automatic Data Processing are launching an online service for auto dealers by which they will be able to offer customers personalised web pages to track their car history and maintenance details. The service will be available at myautogarage.com. The dealers and manufacturers, who will engage the service, will in turn offer free service to individuals buying or leasing new vehicles and to existing customers. The service will provide a web site for each vehicle a customer will own or operate. The customers can make service appointments, track their car history, such as oil changes, and obtain manufacturing information.
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