Telco launches Indica V2
Mumbai: Tata Engineering has announced the launch of Indica V2, the improved diesel version of its passenger car model. The company has also launched two new power steering versions of the Indica -- DLS model in the diesel Indica V2 range and the LSi model in the Indica 2000 range. Mr. Rajiv Dube, Telco general manager (commercial) announcing the launch said that under the V2 badging, Telco has brought together the improvements and refinements that have been carried out on the Indica, since its launch.

Telco has also decided to offer a 3-year extended warranty programme for its entire passenger car range with effect from February 1, 2000.
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Coke to launch more Maaza flavours
New Delhi: Soft drinks major Coca-Cola is planning to launch more flavours under the Maaza brand name. Mr. Alex Von Behr, Coca-Cola India chief executive officer (CEO) is reported to have said that company was presently conducting a consumer research to test the market for various flavours before a commercial launch. Mr. Behr has however, not disclosed names of the exact flavours being tested. The reports of the consumer research is expected by the end of February, 2001, subsequent to which the company would decide on the exact flavours to be launched.
Coca-Cola would however not launch more brands in the country owing to the high costs involved and new products would be launched under existing brand names. Coke is also toying with the idea of launching the Limca Book of Records in Indian languages, including Hindi.
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Lupin Labs merged into Lupin Chemicals
Mumbai: Lupin Laboratories has been merged into Lupin Chemicals, following the approval of the scheme by the board meeting which recommended a swap ratio of 12 shares of Lupin Chemicals for every one share of Lupin Laboratories.

The newly merged entity will be called Lupin Ltd. with an equity capital of Rs 40.14 crore and will have registered office in Mumbai. Post merger, the promoter's stake in the new entity would go down marginally by 0.4 per cent to 65 per cent, with institutional investors and high-networth individuals taking 14 per cent, while the rest will be with the public.

The restructuring is being undertaken to ensure that the emerging equity capital of the amalgamated entity remains at serviceable levels. This restructuring will not affect the proportion of the shareholders in Lupin Chemicals.
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Birlas plan to acquire PowerGen stake in two JVs
Mumbai: The AV Birla Group is set to buy PowerGen's stake in two power projects -- Rosa Power, located in Uttar Pradesh, and Bina Power in Madhya Pradesh, jointly promoted by the two companies. Both the projects have a similar stake-holding pattern, with Birlas holding the majority of 37 per cent stake, while PowerGen has 36 per cent. The Indian financial institutions claim the remaining 27 per cent.

Birla group has reportedly come to an understanding with PowerGen to pick up the latter's stake in both Rosa and Bina projects after they achieve financial closure.

PowerGen had earlier sold off some its assets in India in December 2000 to a joint-venture company floated with CLP-Power International, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based power giant CLP Holdings, as part of its sale of non-UK assets. CLP-PI holds 80 per cent in the joint venture and PowerGen, the remaining 20 per cent.
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Indian Hotels to cut down subsidiaries
Mumbai: Indian Hotels Corporation Limited (IHCL), part of the Taj group of hotels, is planning to bring down its number of subsidiaries from seven to three, through a series of possible mergers. The restructuring exercise, follows adoption of a new strategy focussed on international acquisitions as well as domestic expansion.

Several of group's hotels are currently owned by subsidiaries. The Taj President in Mumbai is owned by Piem Hotels, the Radisson acquisition in Chennai was done Oriental Hotels, both subsidiaries. Among international properties, St James Court in London owns Taj International, while Taj Asia is the holding company for a new South East Asia venture. The subsidiaries were earlier created for tax benefits.

As a part of the restructuring plan, The Taj group has already initiated the process of consolidating its accounts under Indian Hotels. According to Mr. L Krishna Kumar, vice president (finance), IHCL has started using Indian GAAP this year and will next fiscal lay down adopting accounting procedures by US GAAP.
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J&N hives off auto refinish business
Kolkata: Jenson & Nicholson (India) Ltd. has hived off Heberts Jenson & Nicholson (HJ&N), a joint venture project into a wholly owned subsidiary without any operations, following the international acquisition of Herberts by DuPont. J&N has acquired 100 per cent stake in the joint venture, and renamed it J&N Refinish Ltd.

The JV has been divested in favour of EI DuPont India, a fully owned subsidiary of world's largest chemicals company, EI DuPont de Nemours, US. In exchange, J&N bought out all the shares in HJ&N from DuPont. Since DuPont ended up with had two subsidiaries in India in the same line of business, following the Herberts acquisition, it decided to exit the joint venture with J&N in favour of its own Indian subsidiary.
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RPG gets set for restructuring its entertainment business
Kolkata: The RP Goenka group has decided to engage the services of a international consultant to work out the business model for its Rs 500-crore plus entertainment business being built up by group companies Saregama India, Saregama Plc., RPG Global Music and Hamara CD Inc.

Mr. Abhik Mitra managing director, Saregama India and chief of the group's entertainment business has reportedly stated that the consultant would start working by February-end and the group would begin implementing consultant's suggestion in the next financial year.

The move forms part of the exercise aimed at corporatising the group's music business, spread over both film and non-film segments. The restructuring plan, subject to consultant's review, is expected to bring together RPG Global Music with Saregama Plc under one umbrella.
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Raymond acquires AV Birla division
Mumbai: Raymond Ltd. has acquired the files division of the A.V. Birla group company, HGI Industries. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the transfer of HGI's plant in Kolkata to Raymond for a consideration of Rs 17.5 crore has been signed by the two companies.

HGI plant has a manufacturing capacity of 12 lakh dozen files per annum and a turnover of Rs 20 crore. JK Files & Tools, Rs 135-crore division of Raymond currently has a 30 per cent global market share and with the latest acquisition, Raymond has emerged to be the largest player in the world with a 35 per cent market share in files.
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Dr Reddy's Labs to set up biotech foray
Hyderabad: Dr Reddy's Laboratories has decided to promote a new 100 per cent subsidiary company christened Zenovus Biotech Ltd. The company's board of directors at their recent meeting has approved to incorporate the new company, whose focus is to develop and commercialise a new technology platform in the biotechnology area.

Zenovus plans to focus on the development of monoclonal antibodies, which acts specifically against a particular antigen, the target site on the surface of a foreign invader and found useful in treating cancer decease. Though the present investment for the biotech company is relatively less, Dr Reddy's Lab has decided to move aggressively in the biotech area as part of its future expansion plans.
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