RPL avails largest LC facility in Asia
Mumbai: Anything that the Reliance Group touches, has to be big. Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) is slated to sign a $550 million letter of credit (LC) facility today with a consortium of bankers. According to bankers, this deal, when signed, will be the largest LC facility availed by any Asian corporate entity. RPL will use the letter of credit facility to support the import of crude oil for its 27-million tonne refinery at Jamnagar, the largest grassroots refinery in the world.

The core size of the facility was $450 million, with a greenshoe option of another $100 million.

Given the fact that the issue has been oversubscribed to the extent of $100 million, RPL is exercising the greenshoe option to retain the entire subscribed amount of $550 million.

Reflecting the confidence of the banking system in the fundamentals of the company, RPL has secured the facility at an all-in cost price of below 35 basis points. This is an exceptional achievement considering the fact that RPL started its commercial production just six months back.

The list of participants in this facility reads like a who’s who of the banking industry and includes major foreign banks like ABN Amro, Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Toronto Dominion, besides a raft of public sector banks like Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and Syndicate Bank.

RPL’s import bill at the end of the current fiscal year is estimated to be $6 billion on the back of rising oil prices.
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Mercedez to launch original jeep in the country
New Delhi: Having successfully launched the super-premium S-class Mercedez model, Mercedez Benz India in now said to be working hard on the second phase of its production strategy involving a range of Chrysler models.

MBIL is said to be looking at a whole range of MUV products from the Chrysler stable, including the Grand Cherokee, "Jeep products" as well as the Chrysler Voyager. What isnot clear is whether these models will be locally produced or imported in CBU form. The company is said to be in the midst of conducting a study on the volume and possible pricing levels, before deciding to produce locally.
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Tata Group appoints new heads for Consolidated Coffee and Tata Tea
Calcutta: As an immediate succession plan for group companies, Consolidated Coffee and Tata Tea, the Tata Group management is understood to have zeroed in on the appointees for these companies.

According to sources, Mr. Percy T Siganporia, who was recently inducted into the Tata Tea board and made a wholetime director, is slated to takeover as the Tata Tea managing director. He will replace Mr. Rasheed Kidwai, who retired from the company on September 30.

Simultaneously, Mr. M H Ashraf, a whole time director on the Tata Tea board is slated to move to Consolidated Coffee as its CEO.
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Reliance expects its non-life insurance foray to breakeven in 2 years
Mumbai: According to Reliance Industries, it expects its Rs 200 crore general insurance venture will breakeven in the very second year of its operations and that it has decided to go alone in the greenfield financial sector. This was announced by Mr. S. Narayanan, who is slated to head the Reliance group’s non-life insurance foray.

The group has filed application with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for both life and non-life venture with an initial investment of Rs 200 crore each.

The insurance company is expected to set up offices in 11 cities including Delhi and Mumbai for the general insurance business, once the IRDA gives the necessary clearances to start the venture. The group is expected to invest Rs. 25 crore in the proposed new offices. Apart from the GIC arms, no company has so far announced to setting up of such a huge network in the first year itself. It is expected that most of the new outfits would use offices of the group companies to operate their insurance ventures.

The Reliance insurance is expected to come out with all the existing products that Life Insurance Corporation and GIC offers today.
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Hindujas firm up plan to enter life, risk ventures
Mumbai: The Hinduja group is understood to be putting in place an elaborate business and organisation plan to support its plans to enter the life and non-life insurance segments. The group is said to be planning to file the necessary applications before the insurance regulator shortly. It is also said to be in discussions with some foreign players for this purpose.

Official spokespersons however said that would take about five to six months for a clear picture to emerge before a formal application could be made to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda).

The group's hire-purchase and leasing firm Ashok Leyland Finance, which has a wide network of offices and regional tie-ups for commercial vehicle finance across the country, is expected to hold a majority stake in both the insurance ventures.
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BPL likely to end tech tie-up with Sanyo
Mumbai: Leading consumer durable company, BPL, may end its technology tie-up with Sanyo in areas where it is proving to be expensive to import components from Japan and pay the royalty fees. The company plans to go in for sub-contracting with multinationals with huge manufacturing facilities, in product categories where volumes are small and import the finished product.

BPL chairman and managing director Ajit Nambiar, however, strongly denied that the company was taking a relook at its technology partners, Sanyo.

Despite the fact that the tie-up has endured for so long, and Sanyo has taken an equity stake in two group companies, in the changed market scenario where exchange of technologies is much easier and cheaper, BPL is discovering cheaper alternatives to many of its existing arrangements.
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Fiat to roll out new Siena for power-hungry Indians
Mumbai: In its bid to respond to the Indian consumer’s need for greater power, Fiat India is planning to introduce another version of its Sienna model with a 1.6 litre petrol engine. While the company believes that the current 1.2 litre engine is ideal for Indian conditions, the market response to the current engine configuration has been lukewarm.

The petrol version of the Siena sports a 1.2 litre engine, while the diesel version is powered by a 1.7 litre turbo-charged engine. The new petrol version, which will sport the same engine that powers Fiat’s just-introduced stationwagon, Siena Weekend, will come with a 1598 cc, 16-valve dohc engine which produces 87 bhp at 5,500 rpm and 132Nm of torque.
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Microsoft takes a strategic stake in Corel
Seattle: In what can be termed as a rare case of co-optetion, software giant, Microsoft, is said to be taking a $135 million stake in Corel, the Canadian firm that makes WordPerfect and other software for the competing Linux operating system.

Under the deal, Microsoft will buy 24 million Corel nonvoting convertible preferred shares at $5.63 each for a total of $135 million. With this purchase, Microsoft will become one of Corel's largest shareholders with a 24.6 per cent non-voting stake.

In a new found spirit of co-operation, the two companies, once rivals in the market for word-processing software and operating systems, will also settle unspecified legal issues between them and work together to develop applications based on Microsoft's internet-based .NET initiative.

Corel’s interim president and chief executive, Mr. Derek Burney stated that with Corel’s main focus being in moving applications to the Web, the company was impressed with Microsoft’s new .Net strategy and agreed to work together instantly.

The Microsoft.NET initiative will make Microsoft's most popular software - including elements of the Windows operating system - available over the internet, freeing it from the hard drives of personal computers. When accomplished, this will enable people to access their personal data, games and Web sites from any computer or mobile device, such as cell phones and handhelds.

Corel has been struggling to find financing since a merger deal with software developer Inprise fell through in May.
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Nearly 63 per cent of HDFC in foreign hands
Mumbai: It is understood that nearly 63 per cent of the equity in India’s leading housing finance company, Housing Development Finance Corporation, is now in foreign hands. The development at HDFC is being closely watched, as no other entity in the entire financial sector has over 50 per cent foreign holding.

Ever since the government relaxed the rules for foreign investment, foreign institutional investors during the past few months have gradually hiked their stake in HDFC to 36 per cent. Simultaneously, two other overseas investors — Warburg Pincus and Standard Life — are understood to have picked up 10 per cent stake through open market purchases during the same period. Both these foreign investors have received approval from the FIPB to acquire equity in the housing finance major.

FIIs are permitted to increase their holding up to 38 per cent, beyond which all open market purchases by them will need the permission of the Reserve Bank of India.

The equity-holding of resident individuals is 9 per cent, 16 per cent for banks, financial institutions and insurance companies, 7 per cent for domestic companies and 5 per cent for mutual funds.
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