Gujarat Ambuja to hike stake in ACC by further 4 per cent
Mumbai: In an agreement signed last week between the two companies, Gujarat Ambuja Cements (GAC) is said to have acquired a further 4 per cent of equity in ACC from the Tata group. This will result in the holding of GAC in the erstwhile Tata company, increase to 11.2 per cent, while that of the Tata group will reduce to 3 per cent.

The additional 4 per cent that is to be acquired will be done by GAC's newly formed subsidiary, Ambuja Cements India Limited. This deal will make GAC the second largest shareholder in ACC, after the financial institutions which hold around 22 per cent.
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Bengal Ambuja plans large real estate projects in Bengal
Calcutta: Bengal Ambuja Housing Development Limited, a joint sector company promoted by the Neotia family and the West Bengal government, has planned real estate projects to the tune of Rs. 400 crore in and around Calcutta. The project is expected to be executed over a period of five years. The Neotia family are co-promoters of the cement major, Gujarat Ambuja Cement Limited.

In the immediate future, the company plans to execute a mass housing project in Durgapur and Burdwan. Within Calcutta, the company has three projects underway, including a commercial complex. The company also plans to take up large projects in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka, but will do so only after it finalises its marketing strategy for the states.
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Modi group company launches new office products
New Delhi: Modi General Binding Corporation Limited, a Modi group company, has launched a new product that is likely to revolutionise board room meetings.

The product, branded "Mimio", is an alternative to conventional whiteboards and converts ordinary whiteboards into an electronic board giving it the power of a computer. This will eliminate the use of paper in meetings as what is being posted on the board will be automatically saved in the computer.

Currently, there are over 1.2 million whiteboard users in the country, and the company is initially planning to tap just 5 per cent of this market. The company is planning a sale of 4,000 units in the first year of operations.
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Orange to launch WAP enabled services soon
Mumbai: Orange, called Maxtouch in its previous avataar, today announced that it will shortly launch WAP-enabled services shortly. This will mean that people can get their favourite stock quotations, news, weather reports on an almost real-time basis on their mobile phones. The company has entered into an understanding with New Delhi-based NDTV for the provision of real time news to its subscribers.

What is more, these services would enable users to access their internet accounts from their mobile phones. Wireless application protocol (WAP) enables presenting of data without heavy graphics on mobile receivers such as mobile phones using the wireless mark-up language.

Leading handset manufacturers, Nokia and Ericsson, are investing heavily into the manufacture of handsets that will have WAP enabled access.
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Alembic sets up new cephalosporin plant
New Delhi: Alembic Chemical Works, has set up a new Cephalosporin-C plant at Baroda in Gujarat, at an investment of Rs. 30-crore. This will be the only operating Cephalosporin-C plant in the country.

The company plans to manufacture both Cephalosporin-C and its intermediary, the 7-ACA, at the facility. Cephalosporin-C is the base for a series of new generation antibiotics. India is currently dependent on imports for both the above mentioned products, and this plant is definitely likely to improve the supply situation in the country.
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Leading Edge to hive off products to separate companies
New Delhi : Leading Edge Solutions Limited, a software company promoted by former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, Mr. Suresh Rajpal, is adopting a different business model after having acquired two companies in the recent past. The company had recently acquired eCapital Solutions and the US-based Applisoft, after which it has decided to hive off its software products into separate companies.

The company would then raise money separately for marketing these products globally. This money would be raised by divesting equity in these companies to strategic investors. These subsidiary companies will have global chief executive officers and marketing teams, with their R&D efforts concentrated in the country.
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