VSNL may review investment in Agrani
Mumbai: Just when everyone thought that media mogul, Subash Chandra had hit the right notes by getting the country’s monopoly international telephony services provider, VSNL, to invest in his satphone project, things seem falling apart.

It is said that VSNL is having second thoughts about its decision to invest $50 million in the project. According to Mr. S. K. Gupta, having burnt its fingers in the Iridium and ICO Global satphone projects, which necessitated the provision of Rs. 500 crore in its financials, any decision to invest in a similar project is likely to raise many issues.

He made this statement at a press conference soon after launching VSNL new internet plans, in response to the competition being faced from the private players.

Interestingly, the Agrani project is trying to position itself differently, by stating that it is not merely a satphone project, but one which will use satellites to provide internet-on-the-skies products. Moreover, the project is expected to complement the activities of the Teledesic-ICO combine, which is being carved out by Craig McCaw, which revived ICO in partnership with Subhash Chandra.
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Bharat Petroleum likely to take IBP’s stake in Numaligarh
Mumbai: Like in telecom, the waves of consolidation seem to be touching the oil industry. In the first of such moves, Bharat Petroleum Corporation has decided to pick up IBP’s 19 per cent stake in the Assam-based Numaligarh Refineries, where it already has a 32 per cent stake. The acquisition of the IBP stake will push up the Bharat Petro’s stake to 51 per cent.

The equity transfer was likely to take place at par and BPCL would have to shell out about Rs 173 crore for the equity. It is said that the the ministry of petroleum, BPCL and IBP have come to an understanding and details are being worked out.

The 3-million tonne Numaligarh refinery, which was set up as part of the Assam accord signed by former prime minister, Mr .Rajiv Gandhi, has two units which are already operational and the hydrocracker (based on technology from Chevron), which will be commissioned on June 15.

The company had earlier planned to offload a 19 per cent stake to the public, but has put its plans on hold in light of the lukewarm stockmarket.
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De Beers goes on $400-m expansion spree
New Delhi: The global diamond monopoly, De Beers, is on a major expansion spree in India. After having acquired a 50 per cent stake in Hindustan Diamond Company, it is setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary to conduct large-scale mining operations for gold and silver, apart from diamonds. Hindustan Diamond was promoted by the Indian government in 1978 to ensure guaranteed supply of rough diamonds of diverse qualities to meet the demand of the trade in India, including the small traders and artisans with a view to develop the Indian diamond industry.

The company plans to pump in $30 million as an initial investment during prospecting, evaluation and trial mining phases. It is said that a large part of its prospecting activities will be concentrated in Maharashtra. Company officials said that if De Beers located deposits of minerals reserved for public sector such as gold and silver while prospecting, then the subsidiary proposes to engage in prospecting for such minerals through itself or through joint ventures.

De Beers, the world’s largest producer and marketers of rough diamonds, plans to enhance its investment to $400 million after five years in its Indian arm, making it one of the largest investments in the mining sector.
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Fortis Healthcare zeroes in on three US centres for heart school
New Delhi: Fortis Healthcare, a healthcare project promoted by Ranbaxy’s late chairman Dr. Parvinder Singh’s family, has zeroed in on three leading US medical institutes — John Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic and Partners — for its super speciality heart institute at Mohali.

It is said that the company is in advanced stage of negotiations with top US medical institutes for a collaboration for transfer of technology, medical practices and telemedicine link ups for its heart institute.

Fortis is also said to be holding negotiations with insurance giant, Cigna, to set up a processing facility for their global back office operations.

According to family sources, their foray into insurance will happen under the Fortis umbrella in partnership Cigna which will hold 26 per cent stake as per the insurance guidelines. The family is evaluating whether or not a third partner needs to be involved as 74 per cent equity has to be held by Indian entities.
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NIIT to take up investment in US-based net solution company
New Delhi: As part of its overall strategic alliance program, India’s software major, NIIT Limited, announced its decision to make strategic investments in the US-based internet solutions company, Oneweb Systems. According to company sources, the alliance is aimed to provide Oneweb access into NIIT’s systems integration expertise, global customer base and the SEI-CMM Level 5 assessed processes and software development facility.

Oneweb’s software is amongst the first scaleable Web applications development solutions that is completely managed through a Web-browser.

NIIT hopes to build up a significant lead in solutions delivery, through this strategic alliance. It believes that this will help customers get their new e-business projects to market in record time. These user-friendly software used by NIIT for rapid deployment of solutions can also be used by the customers to manage the solution, providing a smooth ramp-up to production, significantly lower costs and minimising downtime.
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Telstra buyout deal this week
Calcutta: The deal by the BK Modi family to buyout Telstra International's 49 per cent stake in Modi Telstra, through its holding company, ModiCorp Ltd, is expected to be signed by the weekend. With Telstra's exit, efforts would be on to position a new brand for the cellular service provider.

The family is stated to have roped in US-based AIG Infrastructure and Distacom of Hong Kong, as partners in its buyout deal. What is not clear, however ,is the financial details of the deal.

With ModiCorp and its associates now holding 100 per cent of the equity in the company, a new branding strategy would have to be worked upon, since brand plays a critical role in this line of business.

In keeping with the deal, Mr. Barry Cooney, a Telstra nominee, would shortly lay down office as its chief executive officer. Pending the appointment of a new chief executive officer, the management team of the company would function under the overall directions of Mr. Dilip Modi, chairman of ModiCorp Ltd.

Telstra's decision to offload its stake in the joint venture follows the Australian telecom major's strategy to shift from cellular services to offering global connectivity to corporates. On its part, ModiCorp has been focussing on telecommunications, information technology and Internet as strategic thrust areas.
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Daewoo to double service network
New Delhi: As a first step towards increasing its customer base, Daewoo Motors India Ltd (DMIL) is in the process of doubling its service network for the company's entire product range.

It is reportedly adding 100 additional authorised service centres (ASCs) to take the total number to 200. In addition to this, the company is also said to be appointing 30 more exclusive dealers in various cities across the country to take the total number of Daewoo dealerships to 140. This was announced by Mr. B. S. Min, deputy managing director, DMIL.

The company believes that it should have the maximum number of satisfied customers before the launch of any new product. It is of the opinion that what is of utmost concern to a customer is how much care his car will receive after the purchase. The feel-good factor is very important, assuring customers of a long lasting relationship with the company.

DMIL is planning to launch a new car on a bigger platform in the latter half of the current fiscal. It will either be `Nubira' or `Leganza', completing the company's portfolio in the Indian market.

Leganza is a 1998 cc vehicle with 16 valves and a maximum speed of 206 kms per hour.

Mr. Min refused to comment on the timing of launch of the new vehicle. However, he confirmed that market studies for the new car are going on and the final decision on its launch will be taken shortly.
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Tisco may ask Thyssen to partner it for Raymond steel arm
Mumbai: Tata Steel is said to have initiated negotiations with the German Steel conglomerate Thyssen to form a 50:50 alliance to bid for the 2 million tonne Raymond steel unit, which manufactures special grade steel applicable to the electrical and related industries.

While industry sources said the new alliance will bid for the steel unit for around Rs 180 crore in all cash deal and has agreed to transfer around Rs 60-70 crore debt of Raymond steel to the books of the new alliance, Tisco officials state that a final decision has yet been taken about the deal or price or mode of funding for the acquisition of steel unit.

Tisco interest on Raymond Steel is part of the company’s plan to have a complete range of value added steel products from its stable.

The bid by Thyssen is the second in the last two years. Earlier Thyssen after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Raymond Steel walked out of the deal due to the high price it offered to buy the unit. Thyssen veered to the view that against the falling steel prices the price was too higher, sources familiar with Thyssen said.

Industry sources said if the deal fructifies, then Raymond steel management has to amicably settle the technological tie up with the Allegheny Ludlum, with whom currently technological inputs are being supplied.

Tisco’s association with Thyssen goes back to ages.Thyssen offered technological inputs for setting up the second blast furnace for the Hot rolled Coil plant at Jamshedpur.
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AT&T acquires IBM's local network buyout
Mumbai: US-based communications major, AT&T, has completed the acquisition of IBM's global network business in India. This is in keeping with the global $5 billion acquisition, which has been going on in phases through 1999. The entire buyout is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The acquisition of the business and assets and the transfer of employees in the US was completed on April 30, 1999.

This acquisition brings to AT&T, IBM global network's assets, management and employees based in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

AT&T feels that the strong global reach, local implementation support and managed network services expertise of this valuable new acquisition, will enable the company to execute its strategy for growth and superior quality.

In Asia, about 800 employees, located in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, HongKong, Japan, New Zealand, Phillipines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan, have been transferred to AT&T.

Specific services offered in India include managed data network services offered through Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), in addition to traditional services such as network outsourcing, network management and remote access providing secure IP dial access to global multinational customers.

The company serves the networking needs of several large global companies, tens of thousands of mid-sized companies and over 1.2 million individual corporate Internet use
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Ashok Leyland in front for CNG buses order
New Delhi: Ashok Leyland Limited has emerged as a strong contender for the contract for supplying 1,000 buses run on compressed natural gas (CNG) to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), that is cumulatively valued at Rs. 100 crore. DTC has been under pressure from the Supreme Court to convert its entire fleet to CNG buses, in an attempt to contain pollution.

In addition to Leyland, the Tata group through Telco, has also submitted an engine design (lean-burn) to DTC for the CNG buses. The DTC however asked for ‘stiochiometric’ engine which both Ashok Leyland and the Tatas can manufacture. Both have also obtained the mandatory certificates from ARAI, Pune.

Since the Tata engine has not been tested on-road by the DTC as yet and given the fact that before taking a decision on who to award the contract the DTC tests all engines designs submitted to it, Ashok Leyland – whose engines are tried and tested -- is likely to the get the order.

The Supreme Court had issued a directive on March 31, according to which commercial vehicles, which were more than eight years old were banned from the roads of the national capital region.
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Glenmark Pharma ties up with Brazilian firm
Mumbai: The Rs 140-crore Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, which recently went public, has tied up with Brazilian company Haller Group, a $ 50 million pharmaceuticals company, to market Glenmark's generic and branded formulations in that country.

The company proposes to register 12 products in Brazil initially. These products, in the therapeutic segments of dermatology, gynaecology, paediatrics, internal medicine and ear-nose-throat infections, will be manufactured in finished dosage form and exported to Haller in Brazil, which will market the products through its 150 strong field force.

The new products will be developed by Glenmark's research and development team, not products that Glenmark is marketing domestically.

A company statement said that Brazil was one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in the world.
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LG Electronics plans to launch audio systems
New Delhi: After having successfully launched its televisions, washing machines and air-conditiners, LG Electronics India, the fully owned subsidiary of Korean chaebol LG, has taken a decision to launch its audio systems within this year.

According to Mr .Ajay Kapila, the company is going through an internal study and should be out with the products before the year ends. This is the second new product beig introduced by the company this year, after it launched computer monitors.

LG's line-up includes audio VCDs, audio compact disc (CD) recordables which allow for CD to CD recording, systems with MP3 players which helps download music from the Internet and audio digital versatile disks. Incidentally, LG is one of the three companies in the world that make audio CD recordables.

The current size of the audio systems market is estimated at around Rs 1,200 crore. High-end systems account for some 40 per cent of the market. This segment is said to be growing at a rate of 30-40 per cent per annum.
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Ranbaxy ranked 11th largest generics player by Warburg
Mumbai: In what is clearly a feather in its cap, Swiss merchant banker Warburg Dillon Read has ranked New Delhi-based Ranbaxy Laboratories as the eleventh largest company in the international generics market. This is also confirmed by Ranbaxy’s latest annual report. The global generics market is approximately valued at $30 billion.

Capturing market share in the international generics market is a conscious strategy followed by Ranbaxy for the past several years. Currently the company exports to over 40 countries and has operations in around 22 countries.

In 1999, Ranbaxy filed six abbreviated new drug applications with the United States Food & Drug Administration. It also entered into a co-marketing arrangement with Purepac Pharmaceuticals for co-marketing amoxycillin a largely prescribed antibiotic in the US.
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Hyundai Motor’s Chung refuses to step down
Seoul: A day after South Korea’s leading business family relinquished control of the Hyundai group, Hyundai Motor Co chairman, Mr. Chung Mong-ku, defied his father’s decision and refused to step down today, raising serious questions about decision-making at the conglomerate. On Wednesday, Mr. Chung Ju-yung, founder and honorary chairman of Hyundai Group, in a surprise move, announced the retirement of himself and his two sons — Mong-ku and Mong-hun — from Hyundai management posts.

But Mong-ku refused to accept the decision and Hyundai Motor’s board of directors announced Thursday that its chairman will retain his post. According to a board notice, the announcement by the group head was an "invalid procedure" and the board of Hyundai Motor had not been consulted before the announcement had been made.

However, it is inevitable that Mr. Mong-ku would eventually step down, given the increasing pressure from creditor banks and the government. Financial analysts, however, are not sure whether the family would continue to control the business remotely by selecting a pliable replacement for the family head.
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