Birla Consultancy plans 4 overseas IT acquisitions
Mumbai: After people had written off the group having missed the IT bus, the Aditya Birla group has firmed up plans to create a mega IT company.

This it plans to do so through, Birla Consultancy and Software the software division of flagship Grasim Industries. A string of acquisitions and strategic alliances are being planned, the first four of which have already been shortlisted. While two of them are US-based, one is based in the UK. The fourth is operating out of central Europe. Each of these acquisitions is expected to cost Grasim between $10-50 million.

With ambitious plans to grow the business into a Rs .1,000-crore business, the group plans to look at building expertise in financial services, insurance and web-enabled services, among other areas.
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Lawyer family sells controlling interest in Associated Breweries
Mumbai: After many years of resisting a sell-off, the closely held Associated Breweries & Distillers, owned by Zeenia Lawyer and family, sold a 65 per controlling interest to liquor baron Vijay Mallya for an estimated Rs 50 crore. Mallya’s investment will be routed through United Breweries (Holdings), a wholly owned subsidiary of flagship United Breweries.

With leading brands, like London Pilsner, London Diet, Maharaja Premium, in its fold, this acquisition is likely to further strengthen Mallya’s leader position in the beer segment, which has seen the entry of several multinationals over the last two years.

Associated Breweries also has the license to manufacture the San Miguel beer brand, the only other international brand made in India, apart from Fosters.
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Deedless ITDC hotels to be leased out
New Delhi: As part of its privatisation move, the government has decided to lease out three of the ITDC properties to which it does not have title deeds.

Out of the 26 hotels of the India Tourism Development Corporation, the Ashoka Hotel, Delhi, Ashoka Hotel, Bangalore and Lalit Mahal Palace, Mysore do not have title deeds.

According to top government officials, title deeds were never prepared for these hotels. However, given the landmark location of these hotels, the government does not consider it appropriate to dispose off the properties.

In the case of the remaining 23 hotels, the government will divest its entire 100 per cent stake to private parties through a competitive bidding process. The inter-ministerial group has also decided to carry out disinvestment of the properties in phases.
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Exports to be the thrust at Ceat
Mumbai: According to Mr. S. Samuel, managing director of Ceat Limited, the company, which already is a large exporter of cross-ply tyres to the US, has decided to focus on the exports market to deal with the slump in the domestic markets. The company also plans to double radial capacity at its Nashik plant to cater to the demands of the neighbouring countries.

The capacity expansion, which will require an investment of Rs 40 crore, will double the company’s radial capacity to 60,000 units.

Ceat, which exports cross-ply tyres to the US market, is planning to make a foray into theLatin American countries.
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Skoda’s Octavia may not see the light of the day
New Delhi: The much awaited launch of the Octavia, from the Czech auto major, Skoda, may never happen! The company has decided to put its project on the backburner, pending a clear understanding of the auto policy.

The company’s MoU with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, which is restricted to a single model only, covers the import of 50,000 kits over the next five years for the much-delayed Octavia.

Apart from rentals on its plant — taken from Siemens — and some small investment in engine adjustments etc, Skoda has not spent too much on its Indian project.

The decision to freeze the Octavia project will also enable the company to figure out whether to "make or buy" cars in India. If the CBU route is cheaper for the models and target volumes that the company has in mind, setting up a manufacturing unit would have been a costly mistake.
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Lupin appoints consultants for merger
Mumbai: Pharmaceuticals major, Lupin Laboratories, has appointed Morgan Stanley as merchant banker, Delloite, Touche & Haskins as valuer and law firm Crawford Bayley as legal advisors for its merger with Lupin Chemicals.

According to the chairman, Mr D. B. Gupta, once the formal valuation process is through, the company would approach the Mumbai High Court for a merger approval. Lupin management has already sought institutional approval for the same.

According to analysts the proposed merger made tremendous business sense even while giving the group an opportunity to clean its balance sheet. Lupin Chem, essentially manufactures rifampicin which goes into a host of anti-TB drugs, while Lupin Labs leads in the ethambutol segment and is a prominent player in cephalosporins.

The company’s research facility at Pune will be commissioned by mid-2001. The research centre would concentrate more on thrust areas such as novel chemical entities, process generics, new drug delivery systems and herbal.
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Grasim to spin off Mavoor unit
Mumbai: The Aditya Birla group flagship company, Grasim Industries, has decided to hive off its ailing viscose staple fibre (VSF) unit in Mavoor near Kozhikode, Kerala, to a separate company. The new company is to be floated by a group of independent investors.

The unit has been a major drag on Grasim's bottomline with the company forced to absorb losses of around Rs 39 crore on an annualised basis. With the hive-off of the division, the amount saved will add to Grasim's bottomline.

The Mavoor unit has been grappling with environment-related problems for many years now, and has remained closed since May last year.

The VSF business has been giving Grasim operating margins of 32 per cent, the highest from any of its other existing businesses.

The company commands a 90 per cent plus capacity in VSF in India, and a 13 per cent market share worldwide. The business contributed 39 per cent of Grasim's turnover last fiscal.
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