Clause to curb asset stripping in Modern deal
New Delhi: The government has incorporated a clause in the shareholders’ agreement with Hindustan Lever for the strategic sale of equity in Modern Foods India, which will prevent any attempt to strip assets. The government has retained the veto power to stop any proposal to sell land attached to the production units of Modern Foods India, according to government officials. This is in response to fears expressed by workers’ unions of the company. The shareholders’ agreement will become a model for similar agreements in future divestments, the officials said.

ANZ Grindlays Bank had advised the government on this deal, while ICICI Securities handled the deal on behalf of Hindustan Lever. The brand, Modern Bread, has been valued at around Rs 80 crore in the Rs 105.45 crore deal, according to the officials.
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Enron into IT sector
Ahmedabad: Power company Enron is planning a major entry into information technology. Its subsidiary Enron Communications India is setting up a number of data centres in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, and Ahmedabad. These centres will facilitate internet-related applications. The company is also exploring possibilities of owning, leasing and sharing fibre optic networks. The company is also planning an Enron Intelligent Network in India, which will essentially be a fibre optic national communications backbone.
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Unitech group enters entertainment sector
New Delhi: Construction group Unitech is entering the entertainment sector through a chain of amusement parks and urban entertainment centres on the lines of Disney World. The amusement centres will be located in metro cities, each one of them developed with an investment of Rs 150 crore, says Unitech’s managing director Ramesh Chandra. The first such centre will be built in Delhi, followed by one at Bangalore. The entertainment centres will have rides, games, and multiplexes, shopping arcades, hotels and commercial space.

The Rs 400-crore Unitech group has set up a joint venture hospitality management service with Radisson International -- RHW HM Services Ltd -- which runs a hotel in Delhi and is planning to build hotels in Varanasi and Bangalore.
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Goodyear for more investments in India
New Delhi: US tyre major Goodyear is infusing funds into its Indian subsidiary, Goodyear India. Hugh Pace, Goodyear Asia-Pacific president, said in Delhi while launching a new tyre, that India is a part of the company’s Asia investment plans. According to Mr Pace, the company has expanded its truck tyre production capacity and is expecting to produce 1 lakh truck tyres at its plants in Aurangabad in Maharashtra and Ballabgarh in Haryana. The plants make both radial and 'bias' truck tyres.

The company’s new product, Eagle NCT3 tyre, is claimed to be India’s first 13-inch tyre. The tyre is suited for mid-size cars.
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Castrol plans exclusive products for Telco, LML
New Delhi: Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company and LML are tying up with Castrol India for sourcing customised lubricants for various vehicles manufactured by these companies. Castrol India will act as an OEM supplier of its two new lube products, Castrol GTX and GTD Indica, for Telco’s Indica petrol and diesel cars. Castrol’s products will also become the recommended lubricants for LML's entire range of two-wheelers.

Mr. Naveen Kshatriya, director, consumer division, Castrol India, says the alliances will provide consumers with a Castrol brand that is customised to their vehicles' specific lubrication needs.
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PortalPlayer’s design unit opened
Hyderabad: PortalPlayer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Santa Clara-based PortalPlayer Inc, has opened its design and development centre in Hyderabad to provide hardware and software product engineering and corporate support functions to various customers. PortalPlayer has some 10 major consumer electronics products and is poised to enter the $38 billion pre-recorded music market in a big way, according to John Mallard, president and chief executive officer of the company.
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Infosys, Aon Corp in tie-up
Bangalore: Infosys Technologies has entered a strategic alliance with US-based Aon Corporation to build and develop the latter’s core US commercial brokerage policy management system and risk management system for global risk managers. The $6.5-billion Aon is a leading risk management and consulting organisation, with offices in more than 100 countries.
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Union Transport bags Suzlon contract
Bangalore: Union Transport India, a subsidiary of the Los Angeles-based logistics major Union Transport, has bagged a contract from Suzlon to transport 600 tonnes of windmill equipment from Germany to Mumbai. The company intends to utilise the services of major European carriers for the work, which is considered one of the largest air transportation tasks in India.

The company has recently tied up with LG for its courier business on the Korea-India circuit, with Molex to import raw material for connectors, and with Motorola’s Personal Communication Systems for inbound movement of ancillary equipment.
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Intel to use large silicon wafers
Palo Alto (California): Intel is spending $2 billion to build its first chip plant that will use larger, dinner-plate-sized silicon wafers. The plant will be built at Chandler, Arizona, where it has existing facilities, and it will create 1,000 new jobs during the next five to eight years. Intel said the chip industry is gradually moving to larger wafers, which are 300 mm, or about 12 inches, in diameter, from the now-prevalent salad-plate-sized wafers, which are 200 mm in diameter. Using larger silicon wafers allows for the production of more than three times as many individual chips and cuts costs by more than 30 per cent, says Intel. 
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Sun to launch Solaris update before Windows 2000
San Francisco: Sun Microsystems is all set to unveil a major upgrade of its Solaris operating system, as a pre-emptive strike ahead of rival Microsoft’s Windows 2000. Sun will debut Solaris 8.0, an upgrade of Solaris, Sun’s version of the Unix system used in servers and high performance computers and workstations. The Solaris 8.0 launch comes a few weeks ahead of Microsoft’s February 17 plan for Windows 2000 launch.
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NEC develops encryption technology
Tokyo: NEC Corporation says it has developed a new encryption technology to prevent hackers from tapping into business-to-consumer exchanges on the Internet and other networks. The new technology, Cipherunicorn-A, creates several false keys in addition to the true encryption key, making it especially difficult to crack. The technology also features a dynamic encryption code that can use key lengths of 128, 192 or 256 bits, offering higher levels of security than conventional methods with a fixed length of 128 bits, says the company.
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Vivendi calls off talks with Mannesmann
Paris: French company Vivendi has suspended its ongoing talks with Mannesmann. The talks have reportedly been suspended as Vivendi is becoming "increasingly sensitive" to offers from British mobile phone operator Vodafone AirTouch and British Telecom. Mannesmann. Mannesmann, which has launched talks with several groups in its efforts to escape Vodafone’s hostile takeover bid, has been referring to its talks with Vivendi, but never got down to serious business, it is believed.
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Honda beats Nissan to No 2 position
Tokyo: Honda Motor Company claims it has become Japan’s second-largest automaker, as car sales in the US market pushed its global output past Nissan Motor Company in 1999 for the first time. Honda’s Accord sedan has become a popular car in the US, while Nissan could not gain any edge over its rival mainly because of its unimaginative cars, say auto analysts. Honda’s 1999 domestic and overseas production totalled 2.42 million vehicles, up 3.7 per cent from a year earlier, while struggling Nissan’s output slid 7.1 per cent to 2.37 million vehicles, company figures showed.

Analysts expect Honda to hold on to the number-two spot for the next few years, although the balance may eventually swing again in Nissan’s favour once its association with French car maker Renault starts showing results.

Toyota Motor Corp remained the largest Japanese automaker, producing almost as many vehicles as its two nearest rivals combined. Toyota’s 1999 global output totalled 4.73 million vehicles, up 2.1 per cent from a year earlier. If production by mini-vehicle subsidiary Daihatsu Motor is included, Toyota’s production rose 4.0 per cent last year to 5.4 million vehicles. Toyota, the world’s third-largest automaker, owns 51.1 per cent of Daihatsu.
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