RIL and ONGC ready to talk to Enron for stake
Mumbai: With the Houston-based, Enron Corporation, withdrawing from the Panna-Mukta oil exploration venture, the remaining partners, Reliance Industries and ONGC, are said to have begun negotiations with the American energy major for the purchase of its share in the unincorporated venture.

It is understood that the process of valuing Enron’s equity in the venture has begun. ONGC is said to hold 40 per cent of the venture, with the balance being equally divided between Reliance and Enron. The total investment that has gone into the venture so far has been around Rs 3,400 crore, and Enron’s total investment till date would be around Rs 1,000 crore.

Enron is understood to be seeking a higher valuation, with the increase in oil prices. According to industry sources, a higher valuation of the Enron stake could pose to be a problem for ONGC, as the public sector major has historically always opted for a competitive bidding process before taking such investment decisions.

With recoverable reserves at Panna-Mukta having increased by 28 per cent, the venture was looking at increasing crude oil production to 30,000 barrels a day and gas production from 2.5 million cubic metres a day to 3 million cubic metre a day.
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RPG talks to Warner, EMI for digital delivery of music
Calcutta: The Goenka-family controlled, Gramaphone Company of India, is said to be in talks with Warner-EMI to work out a licensing arrangement for digital delivery of their music catalogue in India, against payment of a suitable royalty.

The digital delivery of music is likely to be spearheaded by the group’s New Jersey-based offshore subsidiary, Hamara-CD.

Gramaphone Company, which is in the process of being re-christened Saregama India, is understood to be holding 70 per cent equity in Hamara-CD. The balance 30 per cent will be held by the company’s UK arm, Saregama.

However, officials in the group were of the opinion that the discussions could only make headway once the bitter duel between the Big Five music labels and digital software outfits like MP3 and Napster eased.

To begin with, the company has taken the plunge in the domestic digital music domain. It plans to become the first company to offer "liquid music through customised CD manufacturing" at its fully-computerised manufacuring facility in Chennai.

Under this concept, any person can log on to hamdard.com and order their own collection of favourite Indian music titles available in HMV’s formidable archives. By registering on the website, a surfer can now pre-order a 60-minute CD with disparate song titles of his choice, choosing from the gamut of Indian music available in HMV’s repertoire.
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PowerGen to remain in India
Mumbai: The UK power giant, PowerGen, which is increasingly reducing its presence in the country, has confirmed that it will remained committed to the Rosa power project coming up in Uttar Pradesh. The 565-mw, Rs 2,906-crore coal-based Rosa power project is currently in the middle of tying up funds. It is expected to achieve financial closure by the fiscal-end.

The project in partnership with the Birla group is planning to offload 49 per cent stake to strategic investors like EPC/O&M contractors and financial institutions. The power giant will, however, not increase its exposure in the project.

PowerGen is close to selling its 665-mw power plant in Paguthan (Gujarat) to Tata Electric Companies. PowerGen had earlier bought all the stake from other stakeholders including the initial promoters Torrent Group.

It followed parent company PowerGen UK plc’s decision to sell off assets in India, the UK and some other countries to finance its $3.2 billion takeover deal with LG&E Energy Corp of the US.
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karROX sells 23.5 per cent to Godrej, Enam, Birla Sun
Mumbai: karRox Technologies, an unlisted IT training firm, is understood to have sold 23.5 per cent of its stake to the Adi Godrej group, Enam Financial and Birla Sun Life for an estimated Rs. 4 crore.

It is understood that the Godrej group has acquired an 8 per cent stake, Enam Securities had acquired 11 per cent stake and Birla Sun Life picked up 4.5 per cent.

Post placement, the promoters group led by Darshan Shah will own 72 per cent stake in karROX’s Rs 3.50 crore equity capital and 4.5 per cent is owned by staff and promoters’ associates.
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Madura Garments to venture overseas
Pune: The Aditya Birla-controlled, Madura Garments, a subsidiary of Indian Rayon, is venturing into the overseas market and is planning to set up concept showrooms, Planet Fashion, will be set up, targeting west Asian countries.

Its first Planet Fashion mega store was opened in Dubai, and this is to be followed another five in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

While major part of the investment for the mega stores will be raised through franchises, Madura Garments will provide the advertisement support, concept promotion and garment stock.

Another benefit of mega stores is that it enables us to conduct a reality-check vis-a-vis the foreign brands, besides selling them ," Nedungadi said.
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Bajaj Auto, Allianz in insurance talks
Pune: Two-wheeler giant, Bajaj Auto, is said to be at an advanced stage of talks with German insurance giant, Allianz, for a joint venture in the insurance business. BAL is looking at both the life insurance business and the non-life sector.

According to Mr. Rahul Bajaj, chairman, a decision is likely to be taken by the end of November.

Allianz had earlier set up a joint venture agreement with Alpic Finance to set up a non-life insurance company. The two companies have, however, recently parted ways.

The company has decided to concentrate more on distribution of financial service products than the actual underwriting business.
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