Schneider buys S&S Power’s MCB unit
Mumbai: Schneider Electric India, the 100 per cent subsidiary of Schneider Electric of France, has acquired the miniature circuit breaker business of Chennai-based S&S Power Switchgear. Schneider makes the Merlin Gerin range of miniature circuit breakers at its Faridabad plant.

The acquisition is expected to complement and enlarge Schneider's product range in India. The miniature circuit breaker business of S&S Power Switchgear has sales of Rs 11 crore annually. The Indian company is selling the unit as part of a restructuring programme under which its future focus will be on the high voltage business.
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Hyundai plans sports vehicle
Hyderabad: Hyundai Motor India is launching a sports utility vehicle and a new model in 2001, according to president of the company, A.P. Gandhi. The company will first undertake a market survey for the SUV and then the product will be tried out in Indian conditions. There will be a high level of indigenisation, Mr Gandhi said.

He said Hyundai Motor India expects to sell 66,000 Santro cars and 12,000 Accent cars in 2000 and one lakh units in 2001.
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ICICI Venture puts funds in Bangalore Labs
Bangalore: ICICI Venture Funds is investing $ 4 million in Bangalore Labs, an infotech start-up. The investment is being made through a cumulative convertible preference share purchase. The size of equity allotted to ICICI Venture will be proportional to the mutually agreed upon performance benchmark. If the company meets the performance benchmark in two years, ICICI Venture will hold 20 per of the equity in the company. If the performance level is below the benchmark, it will hold additional levels of equity -- up to 50 per cent.

Bangalore Labs will utilise the funds to set up an office in Bangalore and for operations abroad – network operating centres in the US, Middle and Far East and Europe. The company focuses on offering networking services and network-related software. It is developing an e-mail and voice mail integration product.
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US company to buy share in HCL Holdings
New Delhi: HCL Holdings, a Mauritius-based overseas corporate body promoted by Shiv Nadar, is likely to get foreign investments from Priceline Dot Com, a US-based company. Nearly 49,000 shares held in the company by another group company, HCL Technologies, will be transferred to Priceline Dot Com and other US investors, who are business associates in HCL Technologies.

The transfer of shares will be at a price of $13.5 per share of Rs four each. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has recently approved the proposal.
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Mobile Telecom buys Access
Mumbai: Mobile Telecommunications has acquired city-based Access Information Systems for some Rs 6 - 8 crore. Mobile, a trading company in electronic components, will merge Access, located in Seepz, the export-processing zone in Mumbai, in order to consolidate its infotech services. The transaction is understood to involve the issue of about 8 million shares to the promoter of Access, B. Rangarajan. Mobile may consider changing its name to Access Information.

Access has estimated revenues of Rs 2 crore annually. Vipin Gandhi, managing director of Mobile, says his company is on the lookout for more acquisitions. Post-merger, Mr Rangarajan, who will have 7 - 8 per cent holding in the company, will take over as managing director. Mobile is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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Royal Dutch/Shell proposal approved
New Delhi: The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared the extension sought by the Royal Dutch/Shell Group for its foreign collaboration validity approval by another two years. The petroleum and natural gas ministry had objected to this application. The FIPB stated that the Royal Dutch/Shell Group was designated as the most-preferred bidder by the Gujarat government for the $540 million LNG project at Hazira in November 1999 and the company needs time to implement the proposal.

The company had been granted approval to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary for LNG import, a regassification terminal and other related activities. The petroleum and natural gas ministry had recommended rejection of the proposal for extension as the company had not made substantial progress.
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Unigraphics win HAL contract
New Delhi: Unigraphics Solutions, a leading US software company, has signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to provide the Indian public sector company with advanced solutions to reduce product development time while maintaining quality standards. The contract has been finalised through Tata Consultancy Services, the US company's distributors in India.

Unigraphcs will provide advanced three-dimensional CAD/CAM, product data management software, and system implementation and support services. The contract is said to be worth around $1 million.
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Walden plans investment in Asian tech ventures
Mumbai: Walden International Investment Group is planning to invest only in Internet companies in 2000. The group intends to raise about $200 to $250 million annually for investments in Asian and US technology ventures.

The group has earmarked $60 million for India during the year, Walden International’s general partner Somshankar Das said at a seminar. The venture capital firm is looking at start-ups that define themselves as global in nature.
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Five Indiana group companies to merge
Mumbai: The Indiana group is planning to merge its five associate companies and go in for a maiden public issue. D.M. Bhatia, managing director of the flagship company Indiana Gratings, says the merger is meant to reduce operating costs.

The companies that will merge are Indiana Engineering Works, Indiana Conveyors, Indiana Cable Trays Corporation, Indiana International, and Indiana Gratings. The companies have manufacturing facilities at Jejuri near Pune and Vasai in Thane, near Mumbai. The group is in the business of making bulk material handling systems and projects.
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Cityman Clothings buys holding in IT cos
Bangalore: Apparels maker Cityman Clothings India has acquired a 70 per cent holding in the US-based Mediscription for $800,000. Mediscription is in the information technology-enabled services business. Cityman Clothings has also picked up a 90 per cent holding in Bangalore-based Meridian Information Technologies through a stock swap. Meridian will be merged with Cityman.

Cityman plans a major foray into information technology, especially remote processing operations like insurance claims processing, document imaging and indexing, data conversion, and medical transcription, besides the Internet.
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EMI, Warner in music union
London: EMI Group of Britain and Time Warner’s music arm Warner Music Group are merging to create what the world’s biggest record company with a big presence on the Internet. Industry sources say the unified entity will be worth $20 billion, and make EMI a unit of Time Warner. Time Warner is set to become a part of America Online, which has agreed to buy it in a stock-swap worth $163 billion.

The AOL-Time Warner combine will give the EMI-Warner an unprecedented presence on the Internet, which will open up vast distribution channels for its music. The merger will bring together some of the greatest in the field of music – EMI has the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Spice Girls on its menu, while Warner’s stars include Eric Clapton, Cher, and Madonna. Some of the world’s well known record labels like Virgin, Atlantic, WEA and HMV, will also come together following the merger.
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Endesa, Telecom Italia in Spanish merger
Madrid: Spanish power company Endesa, and Telecom Italia are planning to pool their Internet and telecommunication interests in Spain with those of Union Fenosa, third-ranked utility group in that country. The three companies will bundle their holdings to create the second largest telecom, new technology and Internet-linked business in Spain.

Terra Networks, 70-per cent owned by Telefonica, the former monopoly, will continue to be No 1. The new entity, in which Spanish savings banks will also have holdings, will be listed later.
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Daewoo creditors agree to debt clearance plan
Seoul: Major foreign creditors of the Daewoo group have agreed to take cash from South Korean creditors amounting to around 40 per cent of debt owed to them by four Daewoo affiliates. The plan is expected to help clear uncertainty in financial markets, say analysts, but they also see obstacles in dismembering the troubled group.

The plan to buy loans for cash will apply to $4.84 billion in non-secured loans out of the total foreign debt of $6.7 billion of the group. Analysts say this is one of the several obstacles that need to be cleared for a restructuring of the ailing conglomerate. The group has combined liabilities of $78.9 billion against assets worth much less.
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Lloyds selling insurance venture
London: British banking group Lloyds TSB Group is selling its insurance subsidiary Abbey Life for 1 billion.
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