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Unilever-Rossell deal hits
a roadblock
New Delhi: The department of economic affairs is understood to have
raised objections to the proposed acquisition, by Unilever, of tea company Rossell
Industries citing foreign companies are not desirable in agriculture and plantation
business. The department is said to have appraised the Foreign Investment Promotion Board
(FIPB) on this issue. The FIPB is considering Unilver’s application for the Rossell
deal. Earlier, the commerce ministry had sought deferment of a decision in the matter and
the FIPB had acceded to this request. Unilever is proposing to acquire Rossell in a
three-stage deal, and partly through its Indian subsidiary Hindustan Lever at a
consideration of Rs 175 crore.
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Kale Consultants,
Technology One in tie-up
Mumbai: Software company Kale Consultants is
into a three-way alliance with Technology One, a leading Australia-based software
provider. The alliance will give Kale Consultants exclusive marketing and distribution
rights for the Australian company’s products in India, and later in the Middle East.
The company has software products with applications in accounting, retail distribution and
education. The alliance also envisages setting up of offshore software development cell
for Technology One. At a later date, possibilities will be explored to integrate Kale
Consultants’ existing range of products with Technology One.
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Godrej Soaps plans net
marketing
Mumbai: Godrej Soaps is planning an
Internet-based strategy for its retail marketing. The company is considering a big thrust
into the web by linking up its retailing network to promote its own products or even
setting up a portal which can be made use of by other manufacturers in the segment.
Hoshedar K. Press, president, consumer products division of the company, says the company
hopes to have a major web presence by 2001. Initially, the emphasis will be brand
promotions through the net for the newly-launched brand Fair Glow. This may be done
through creating a website on fairness and beauty, Mr Press said.
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Gramophone Company
to buy music outfit in south
Calcutta: RPG group company, Gramophone
Company of India, is all set to acquire a music company in the south. According to the
company’s president, K. Krishnan, the acquisition, which will be sealed within two
months, is to add its presence in south India and to bridge a gap in its portfolio.
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Siemens not to hive
off Nashik plant
Mumbai: Siemens is reconsidering its earlier
plan to hive off its Nashik plant into a separate company. The company had already secured
shareholders’ approval for creating a separate entity. J. Schubert, managing director
of the company, said, at the annual general meeting, that the company could open
some avenues for making the business viable and it is hopeful of finding a workable
solution in the near future.
Meanwhile, Siemens has decided to maintain status quo on
the shareholding pattern in Siemens Public Communication Networks, where it holds 30 per
cent of the equity capital. The German parent Siemens is holding the balance. Under the
shareholding agreement, each has the option of buying out the other’s stake.
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Gujarat Ambuja has Rs
2000 cr investment plans
Mumbai: Gujarat Ambuja Cement has planned a
total Rs 2,000-crore investment in the next three years. Out of this, the company has
already invested Rs 555 crore in the acquisition of DLF Cement and in the purchase of a
holding in ACC. Company sources say it will now concentrate on capacity expansion and its
plans include setting up of two cement plants of two million tonnes each in Andhra Pradesh
and Maharashtra for Rs 1,000 crore, expansion of existing cement units in Himachal
Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and establishing a one million tonne cement terminal
cum grinding unit in Sri Lanka at a cost of Rs 105 crore. A major portion of these
investment commitments will be financed from the company’s internal accruals and fund
flow.
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Khaitans sell JP
Morgan stake
New Delhi: The Khaitans of the Williamson
Magor group have sold their 25 per cent holding in JP Morgan Securities India, a
non-banking finance company joint venture, to an India-registered trustee company formed
by employees of JP Morgan. The Khaitans held the stake in the company through Vaishakh
Fintrade, while international financial major JP Morgan had routed its investment through
Morgan Guaranty International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary based in Delaware, US. The
sale proposal is awaiting approval from the department economic affairs, which is
understood to have some reservations regarding the stake acquisition by the employees
through a trust.
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Cadila in search of OTC
brands
Mumbai: Pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila
is in search of anti-cold over-the-counter brands. The company wants to build a Rs
50-crore OTC business from this year. Besides the anti-cold brand, it will also develop a
digestive OTC brand, according to Pankaj R. Patel, managing director.
The company has recently filed a patent application for a
novel class of compounds among lipid lowering agents. These compounds have the effect of
reducing levels of cholesterol and triglyceride, fatty components in the blood leading to
heart attacks. It will take some two years for the product to be available for clinical
trials, Mr Patel said.
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Equiytmaster
plans finance portal
Mumbai: A finance sector portal,
equitymaster.com, founded by a former director of Jardine Fleming India, Ajit Dayal, has
attracted investments from international financial wizards like former Templeton Worldwide
co-founder and chief executive officer, Thomas Hansberger and a former Chase Economic
Associates hand, David Dale Nixon. These two, along with some Indian investors, are
planning to take a 12 per cent holding in the portal, which offers among other services, a
facility to trade on the stockmarket via a tie-up with a National Stock Exchange
stockbroking firm, Practical Financial Services.
Mr Dayal says equitymaster.com will give investors
information and research data on Indian stocks with the ability to trade once the module
is ready in March 2000. A research firm, also owned by Mr Dayal, Quantum Information
Services, will provide the backup information for the portal.
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Enron, Sun in deal
New York: Enron Corporation’s
communications unit is buying some 18,000 computer servers from Sun Microsystems under a
$350 million deal that will see Enron launch a five-year expansion plan and build its own
Internet-based fibre and satellite communications network. Under the deal, the unit, Enron
Broadband Services, will be provided with data storage facility besides the computer
systems. The proposed network will cover 2,000 locations worldwide and will be called
Enron Intelligent Network. The service is expected to afford uninterrupted and delay-free
data transfer and Internet services to large companies, software developers and Internet
service providers.
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Concord buys
FirstSense
Marlboro, Massachusetts: Concord
Communications, a maker of software used to analyse and improve the performance of an
organisation’s Internet business operations, says it has bought FirstSense Software
for $101.4 million in stock. The buyout extends Concord’s reach into managing the
performance of applications, which is a speciality of FirstSense. Applications are
programmes designed for specific functions ranging from databases to electronic commerce
to e-mail.
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Roche not concerned over
pharma mergers
Brussels: Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche
is waiting for the right moment and right opportunities for its merger plans. The
company’s chief executive officer Franz B. Humer says the company is not concerned
over the spate of mergers that has rocked the pharma industry. Roche has the necessary
critical mass in terms of research and development investment and the financial strength
to put resources where it has to compete effectively. He says when the right opportunities
arise it will take a look at them.
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