Wipro board approves issue of ADRs
Bangalore: After more than a year of contemplation, the board of directors of Wipro today approved the resolution to raise equity overseas in the form of American Depository Receipts (ADRs) or Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). While no figure for the overseas issue was mentioned, the official press release stated that the issue size is not likely to exceed $500m. The company is also likely to issue ADR linked stock options to employees upto a limit of $150m.

In addition, the board also authorised the company to apply to the Reserve Bank of India for a blanket permission to spend upto $500m on overseas acquisitions before the equity issue overseas, and to spend on acquisitions upto $10 billion after the issue.

While the exact timing of the issue was not decided, it is likely that the company would go in for the overseas issue in the next 6-12 months with Morgan Stanley, who earlier advised the company on its financial restructuring, as the lead manager.
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Dabur and Nestle S.A. heading for divorce
New Delhi: The joint venture between Dabur India Limited and the Swiss chocolate and foods major, Nestle S.A, is heading for a bitter end. A battle royal seems to have erupted at Excelcia Foods, the joint venture, with Dabur filing a petition with the Company Law Board against Nestle for oppression and mismanagement. The joint venture, in which Dabur holds 40 per cent and the Swiss major the balance, was established to do business in the biscuit market.

Dabur has alleged in its petition that the Swiss company is deliberately taking steps to ensure the closure of Excelcia so that it can pursue its own agenda in the biscuit market through its subsidiary, Nestle India. The Indian partner feels that the multi-national is trying to wriggle out of the technological assistance commitment it had given the joint venture.

While Nestle has offered to sell its 60 per cent stake in the venture back to Dabur, the latter has appealed to the CLB to direct the Swiss company to discharge its obligations under the joint venture contract. Dabur is ready to buy over the multi-national’s holding only if the latter is agreeable to honouring a ‘no compete clause’ in the agreement and continues to provide Excelcia with technical assistance as was originally envisaged.
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Bajaj Auto board approves share buy-back
Pune: The board of directors of Bajaj Auto, the largest two wheeler company in the country, has finally approved the buy-back of its shares upto 15 per cent of its paid up equity capital at a maximum price of Rs. 480 per share.

The company, which is flushed with funds, will use these funds for the buy-back process. Mr. Rahul Bajaj, chairman of the company, stated that the objective of the buy-back was not merely to use the idle funds of the company, but to send a message to the shareholders that the scrip is highly undervalued. He expressed a belief that the majority of the shareholders knew that the intrinsic value of the share was in excess of Rs. 600, but the buy-back at Rs. 450 was for those shareholders who want to exit the scrip.

Of the three methods prescribed by Sebi for buy-back – the tendering process, the book building process and open market purchases – the company is said to be in favour of the tendering process. All shareholder approvals for the implementation of this resolution will be taken at the annual general meeting of the company scheduled for July.
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Ingersoll Rand sells off compressor unit
Mumbai: India’s leading compressor company, Ingersoll Rand, has sold off its gas compressor unit for an estimated Rs .74 crore to Dresser Rand India. The company decided to divest its business since it felt that it would not get the support of its overseas, US based, parent company which had globally got out of the cyclical compressor business.

According to the company chairman, Mr. Daljit Mirchandani, the loss of revenues from the sale of this division would be more than adequately made up by the increased revenues from the other divisions of the company, notably the centrifugal, rotary-screw and portable compressor divisions.
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Samsung India develops web applications for customer service
Mumbai: The Indian subsidiary of Korean electronics giant, Samsung, has reportedly developed the ‘first ever’ web based application that addresses customer after sales service.

The call-logging feature will direct customer complaints to the nearest after-sales centre. There are several layers of escalation provided in the event of the calls not being attended to, with the highest level being the head of service, to whom the complaints are directed if not attended to in seven days.

Having invested nearly Rs. 12 crore in this centre, this network will connect over 120 service centers to the head office.
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JCT to sell polyester unit to Reliance
New Delhi: Yet another competitor bites the dust! Cash strapped JCT Limited, the flagship company of the MM Thapar group, is said to be in the final stages of negotiations with Reliance Industries for the latter to take over its ailing polyester fibre division.

The company, reeling under a severe debt burden, is currently finalising a restructuring package in consultation with the financial institutions and the deal with Reliance is expected to give it the much needed cash for the restructuring. The company also has plans to sell off its excess land at Phagwara in Punjab.
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BSES launches its internet service
Mumbai: Mumbai city-based power utility major, BSES Limited, became the first utility company in the country to successfully branch out into internet services. The company today launched its Powersurfer brand of services through BSES TeleCom, its wholly owned subsidiary.

The company is laying a 1,200 kms fibre optic cable network for this purpose. The advantage that such a network will possess will be less interference, less transmission loss, greater bandwidth and the ability to carry voice, video and data traffic.

The company has also formed a 51:49 joint venture with Hyderabad based, Sriven Multi-tech, for the setting up of a portal and installing over 1,000 information kiosks in the city of Mumbai.
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Eveready acquires yet another tea estate
Calcutta: In what is the company’s fourth acquisition, the B.M. Khaitan controlled Eveready Industries has acquired yet another tea estate at Dooars for an estimated Rs. 9 crore.

The Chuniajhora tea estate with a capacity of 5 lakh kgs of tea is to be merged with another tea estate of the group, the Jainti estate which has a capacity of 9 lakh kgs of tea. The company will now have 25 tea estates spread over Assam and West Bengal.
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Videocon incorporates TeleCruz technology in its TVs
Mumbai: Consumer electronics company, Videocon International, in an attempt to make its televisions internet friendly, has decided to install the TeleCruz 701 chips and Cruzer software in its new range of television sets being manufactured.

This technology will enable viewers to have access as well as browse the internet on the television sets. The TV with the software, which has been jointly developed by the company with the US based TeleCruz, will cost Rs. 4,000-6,000 more than the current prices. For existing TV sets, the company will make available a converter box with the new technology that will enable the old TV sets to be converted to an interactive net-ready TV set.

TeleCruz has similar tie-ups with leading European and Japanese TV manufacturers for the supply of this chip which features an in-built support for interactive program guides with embedded universal resource links, internet access and e-mail and graphic processor.
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