Hindalco acquires Indal
Mumbai: The AV Birla group’s Hindalco Industries Ltd has bought out Canadian aluminium major Alcan’s 54.6 per cent stake to acquire rival Indian Aluminium for Rs 738 crore in cash. It will buy a further 20 per cent of Indal from the market, taking the acquisition cost to around Rs 1,008 crore.

The price works out to Rs 190 per Alcan share, reflecting a premium of around Rs 70 per share on the price of Rs 123 on 23 March 2000.

Although the new Indal board has not been announced, AV Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has said today that Indal’s top management and other employees would be untouched by the changes. Hindalco’s president and whole-time director A K Agarwala will head the combined entity.
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Hughes Escorts bags huge V-Sat order
Mumbai: It is reported that Skumars.com has placed an order for 50,000 V-Sats with Hughes Escorts. Gilat of Israel has also been in the running for this contract.

Skumars.com plans to build a network of franchisees across the country who will be connected by V-Sat. It is not known how the purchase will be financed.
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Bombay Dyeing can’t close Jamnagar unit
Ahmedabad: The government of Gujarat has turned down the Bombay Dyeing management’s application for permission to close down the company’s spinning unit at Jamnagar, which it had acquired a decade ago. The company had filed the application on 12 January as required by the Industrial Disputes Act.

While the company sees the unit as unviable, the state government is not convinced that it should be closed down so.
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Hutchison Telecom may buy stake in Fascel
Mumbai: Hutchison Telecom, the cellular phone company, is reported to be in negotiations to acquire a stake in the Hinduja group’s Fascel, which has a cellular licence in Gujarat state.

Hutchison recently took over Delhi's Sterling Cellular from the Ruias.

Fascel is 33 per cent owned by Shinawatra of Thailand. That holding may go to Hutchison.
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ICICI Infotech plans overseas subsidiaries
Mumbai: ICICI Infotech Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICICI Ltd, will invest Rs 40-50 crore over the next one year to create overseas subsidiaries and acquire companies abroad. The company is adopting this route to expand its exports aggressively.
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$750 million for Hughes Ispat
New Delhi: Hughes Network Systems will raise $750 million for Hughes Ispat Ltd through various offerings, including equity. Hughes Ispat, a basic telecom services licensee in Maharashtra and Goa, has launched its services in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, and Pune.

Hughes owns 43 per cent of Hughes Ispat, Alltel 15 per cent, and India’s Ispat group 51 per cent.
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Hindustan Lever ties up mushroom unit
Hyderabad: Hindustan Lever has signed up Premier Explosives Ltd for a ‘wet lease’ of its mushroom canning facility at Kalakal near Hyderabad. Hindustan Lever will buy the entire mushroom output of the plant and sell it under its own brand name. The agreement will be valid for five years.

Premier Explosives, which has been incurring losses on its mushroom operations, has a 32-acre mushroom farm that can produce 160 to 180 tonnes of mushrooms a year.
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Mitsubishi Chem unit starting
Calcutta: Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation's pure terephthalic acid plant at Haldia, near Calcutta, will start commercial production on 1 April 2000, it is reported. The company will export 20-30 per cent of the PTA produced.
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LG Engineering’s expansion plans
New Delhi: LG Engineering & Construction Corporation is reportedly targeting additional projects in India worth Rs 1,000 crore in 2000-2001. About 20 to 30 per cent of the projects are likely to be in the road sector, where it has already established a presence. In the new fiscal year it will also aim to enter the construction of hydro electric projects and refineries.

LG Engineering & Construction has been involved with the Karnal-Ambala section of national highway number 1, and has pre-qualified for some other road projects.
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Siel plans joint venture with Daikin
New Delhi: Siel Ltd is planning a joint venture with Japanese air conditioning company Daikin. But before it can act on this plan, it must get permission from the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. The reason: group company Siel Aircon, which is the candidate for participating in the joint venture, has been under the BIFR’s purview.

Siel’s plans involve a joint venture company, Daikin Shriram Air Conditioning Ltd, in which Daikin will hold a 80 per cent equity stake and Siel 20 per cent. Siel group company Usha International will market the Daikin products.
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Lupin global TB drug research effort
Mumbai: India’s Lupin Laboratories has joined a recently-created global alliance for TB drug development whose participants include Glaxo Wellcome, SmithKline Beecham and Aventis, besides academia, international agencies, NGOs and donors.

The alliance will work to develop of new drugs to shorten TB treatment, and will compile a report on the pharmaco-economics of TB drug development.
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Bell Labs centre in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: Bell Laboratories, a part of Lucent Technologies of the US will build a development centre in Hyderabad with 200 professionals. The team will work on third generation telecom applications.
Bell Labs already has a development centre in Pune, and Lucent has development teams working in other centres in India.
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Pentasoft creating offshore centre for Ford
Chennai: It is reported that 3CRC Technologies, a division of Pentasoft Technologies Ltd, will build an offshore development centre for Ford Motor Co of the US. Currently about 20 3CRC software engineers are doing work for Ford at its headquarters in the US.
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Karnataka power company privatisation
Bangalore: The Karnataka state government is likely to offer a 51 per cent stake in Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd to a private sector partner and 15 per cent to the employees of the company. Financial institutions may get the rest.

The state government wants to privatise power distribution in the state by 2001. Towards this end, it is planning to separate transmission and distribution operations by December 2000.
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