Hero Motors may offer stake to Chinese companies
New Delhi: If you cannot beat them, co-opt them. This seems to be the mantra two-wheeler major, Hero Motors, is adopting.

According to reports the company is apparently negotiating with some two-wheeler companies in China with a view to offer them some equity in Hero Motors. This, the company feels, will effectively shield the company from Chinese threats in the low-end two wheeler scooterettes segment. Company managing director, Pankaj Munjal, is understood to have visited China in this regard last week.

Among those being shortlisted include Zong Shen, one of the top three bike makers in China which rolls out a million bikes and two million engines a year.

For Hero Motors, which manufactures Hero Winner and Hero Puch, the most compelling reason to go in for this equity offer is to flank itself in the event that cheaper Chinese bikes will swamp the Indian market. It is not known what kind of bikes Hero Motors will manufacture in partnership with the Chinese company.

The company is looking at a potential market of some 100 million cycle users, especially in the north, who could graduate to motorised two-wheelers. The southern market is already considered to be reaching a saturation point for mopeds.
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Zee enters Asian Age in a quiet move
New Delhi: Coming close on heels of the controversy created by its alleged acquisition of shares in B4U and Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, the country’s leading television network, Zee Telefilms, is understood to have picked up a 15 per cent stake in the newspaper chain, Asian Age.

This is reportedly part of the group’s drive to pick up equity in rival and media companies.

Zee’s move, which has been confirmed by Asian Age, is seen by industry sources as a strategy to enter various television and media companies in a bid to consolidate its position.

The acquisition spree comes at a time when Zee has slipped behind rival STAR TV and Sony Entertainment Television in terms of both television ratings and audience share.
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Rediff faces two more class action suits
Mumbai: India’s leading general portal, Rediff.com, which listed last year on the Nasdaq, is said to be facing two more class action suits brought about by shareholders in the US.

These come close on the heels of the first lawsuit filed last week by shareholder Suresh Khanna. The company is scheduled to announce its fourth quarter financial results on Thursday.

As compared to its 52-week high of $28, the Rediff stock closed on the Nasdaq on Wednesday at $2.73 after hitting a low of $2.72.

The two new lawsuits are understood to have been filed against the company by law firms Charles J Piven and Brodsky & Smith on behalf of Rediff's shareholders in the US.

Suresh Khanna, who filed the first class action lawsuit against Rediff, alleges mis-statement and omissions in the sale of Rediff ADS and has filed this lawsuit on behalf of all persons and entities who purchased the shares between June 14, 2000, and April 4, 2001.

The company listed its $75 million ADS on the Nasdaq exchange in June 2000 at $21 per share. Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston and General Electric's GE Capital Services were appointed to lead manage the issue.
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Zee plans new ideation unit
New Delhi: With a view to developing a new genre of programming that can relate to the future needs of the channel’s viewers, Zee Network has decided to create a new ideation unit.

According to Zee Network chairman, Subhash Chandra, the unit will conceptualise the programming needs of the future, besides investing additional resources in audience research to understand viewer tastes better.

Given the recent turmoil in the industry, the company chairman has stated that its plans for an ADR are off and the group’s satellite project has been toned down. The company also plans to strengthen the access business through its subsidiary Siticable.
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Satyam may partner Microsoft in Asia-Pacific
Mumbai: India’s leading computer software company, Satyam Computer, has announced that it would be working with global software giant, Microsoft, in the latter’s ambitious .Net program.

Under the joint program, Satyam would help Microsoft develop solutions for the US giant's .NET strategy to turn its software into Web-based services that can be accessed on different devices.

Satyam already works with Microsoft on its .NET platform in the United States and also has a dedicated research, consulting and development centre for all Microsoft technologies in southern Madras city.
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Ranbaxy faces exodus of senior management
New Delhi: With three senior level executives leaving in a span of one-and-a-half month, leading domestic pharma major, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is facing a serious problem. To aggravate the issue are rumours that several more senior people are likely to follow suit.

Among those who have left are Sandip Sahni, vice-president (pharma division), who is reportedly joining rival Nicholas Piramal; Rajinder Singh, vice-president who is learnt to have joined HFCL and Vasant Kumar vice-president, strategy planning, who is likely to start something on his own.

In the meanwhile Ranbaxy has roped in Atul Malhotra from the FMCG major HLL. Malhotra has joined as Vice-President, OTC (over the counter) products. This move has been made in the belief that somebody with serious marketing experience in the consumer goods sector will be better equipped tohandle the marketing of OTC products.

Ranbaxy’s problems on the HR front comes at a time when market analysts and investment banks have been indicating a dip in the company’s performances in the current year.
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Ranbaxy estimates Rs 42 crore loss on stock market operations
Mumbai: It is understood that domestic pharma major, Ranbaxy Laboratories, has estimated the loss through its wholly-owned finance subsidiary Vidyut Investments as a result of the stockmarket crash, to be to the tune of Rs 42 crore.

It said it had lent about Rs 90 crore in all against shares, whose current market value was about Rs 48 crore. So, if all debtors defaulted on payments, the company would have to take a hit of Rs 42 crore.

Ranbaxy hopes that, in the event this loss occurs, it can be covered by an inflow of about Rs 80 crore from selling Ranbaxy's equity in a joint venture with US drug firm Eli Lilly on which it will make a capital gain of about Rs 50 crore.

Ranbaxy's exposure to the badla market is reportedly betweet Rs 35 to 40 crore.
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Kirloskars to use Copeland to expand overseas sales
New Delhi: Kirloskar Copeland, one of the country’s largest compressor manufacturers, is planning to use its partner, the Copeland Group, to help it market its compressors in the Middle-East and Asia. The company was earlier exporting either through Kirloskar Brothers or on their own, which did not prove that effective in boosting Kirloskar Copeland’s export figures.

The company hopes that this association will provide a wider market for its products given that Copeland’s market share in Asian compressor market at 30-33 per cent levels.

The company is also understood to have picked up individual R&D projects and design work for many of the global products of Copeland.

The current strategy involves using Copeland group’s wellspread sales personnel to make a pitch for Kirloskar Copeland products to their clients. The company’s latest CR6 compressor will feature prominently on the company’s exports list.

The company at present has no plans to export compressors to the US or European markets.
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Novo Nordisk plans big investment in DRL drugs
Bangalore: Danish pharmaceutical giant, Novo Nordisk A/S is said to be pumping in as much as $500 million for commercialising each of the two drugs from Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for which it had received license in 1997. The two molecules to fight diabetes have been licensed to the Danish major for undertaking clinical trails.

Novo Nordisk vice-president Borge Diderichsen confirmed that they would be spendnig this amount for the drugs which are undergoing the clinical trials at present.

The final launch of the products will happen after the drugs pass through various other phases of clinical trials.

The three phases of clinical trials include: phase 1 - testing of drug on 20-30 healthy volunteers for checking safety and dosage; phase 2 - testing on 100-300 patient volunteers for checking efficacy and side effects; and phase 3 - testing on 1,000-5,000 patient volunteers for monitoring reactions to long-term drug use.
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Global majors in race for L&T stake
Mumbai: According to persons involved closely with the Larsen & Toubro divestment in its cement division, three of the world’s largest cement companies have been shortlisted as potential buyers of the company’s equity.

The three are Lafarge of France, the world's leading producer, Switzerland's Holderbank and Cemex CPO of Mexico.

It is understood that the three companies are conducting due diligence by examining L&Ts financial records and inspecting its cement plants prior to submitting actual bids.

An L&T spokesman denied that a deadline had been set, and would not comment on whether the list of partnership candidates had been whittled down to just three.

This follows L&T’s decision last year to hive off its poorly-performing cement unit into a new company, and to sell a 25 per cent stake in it to a strategic partner.
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Bajaj-Allianz insruance venture to be operational in July
New Delhi: Two-wheeler major, Bajaj Auto, has already received the mandatory R1 and R2 approvals from the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority for its nono-life insurance venture with German insurance giant, Allianz, is planning to start operations by July 2001. In light of this the company has already started recruiting manpower for its insurance venture.

In the insurance joint venture, the chief executive officer (CEO) will be appointed from Allianz while the chief financial officer (CFO) will be an official from Bajaj Auto. This is being done to cash in on the German insurer’s expertise in the sector.

The two-wheeler major is also getting into life insurance for which the venture is likely to receive the R1 approval from the IRDA shortly.

Bajaj Auto had formed a joint venture with Allianz for both life and non-life ventures with the Indian Auto major holding 74 per cent and Allianz taking the maximum IRDA stipulated 26 per cent.
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PowerGen may buy out Gujarat holding in GPEC
Mumbai: The 12 per cent stake of the Gujarat government in Gujarat PowerGen Energy Corporation is likely to be bought out by the UK energy major, PowerGen. The two sides are presently said to be negotiating. PowerGen, as well as sources close to the Gujarat government, were tightlipped on the price of the deal.

If the deal goes through, Gujarat PowerGen Energy Corporation will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK major, PowerGen.

The move is surprising coming as it does at a time when PowerGen has decided scale down its operations in India apart from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia. It is planning to focus on the developed markets.

Gujarat PowerGen is at present operating a 655 mw gas\naphtha-based plant at Paguthan in Gujarat. The company which has permission to double its capacity has seen many changes in equity structure.
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Compaq in race for CMC
Mumbai: US computer major, Compaq, is understood to be participating in the disinvestment of public sector company, CMC.

The Government of India, which currently controls 83.31 per cent of CMC’s equity capital, intends to disinvest 57.31 per cent of its holding to a strategic partner with an appropriate role in management.

Industry sources say that Compaq is being advised by JP Morgan Chase on the CMC deal, though it is unclear whether the American multinational is among those shortlisted for the next stage in the proposed disinvestment.

No official confirmation could, however, be obtained from Compaq. KPMG India is advising the Government for the disinvestment of its holding in CMC.

Other who are understood to have been bidding for the stake are Wipro and Tata Group company, TCS.

Compaq, which commenced its domestic operations in March 1994, established its own Indian subsidiary in 1997. It has since vigorously expanded its channel to establish a two-tier distribution network comprising more than 550 Reseller Partners. Compaq has appointed BFL software as its only offshore development partner outside its facilities in Houston, USA.
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Reliance mulls foray into films, TV software
Mumbai: India’s largest private sector company, Reliance Industries, is said to be planning to get into television software and also actively enter film production to complete its presence in all areas of convergence.

The new activities are said to be contemplated will be done through Group company Mudra VideoTech. For film production, sources said Reliance may enter into joint ventures.

Mudra VideoTech will be producing television software in several languages and it plans to pre-sell these to channels. A decision to this effect will be taken within a month.

The company is in the process of recruiting a production team in Calcutta, Chennai and Hyderabad. It has already recruited staff in Mumbai and is in the process of producing in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Hindi and English.

Reliance Entertainment has already been floated to create broadband content while Reliance Infocom is laying fibre to wire up the cities spread across the country. Mudra VideoTech is in talks with production houses and directors for producing TV software.

The concept and marketing will be with Reliance and they will use the resources of production companies. The focus will be on family-oriented programmes with a strong element of humour. There will also be work on non-fiction shows, particularly in English.
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Microland restructures to create new division
New Delhi: The Microland group has gone into a restructuring phase to survive the tech slowdown and has created a new division, Innerframe.

The newly-spun entity has been carved of the Microland Group in such a way that it now has a staff strength of 531, and over 125 clients such as Crisil, Ashok Leyland, GE Corporate Information Management, Mindtrac, eGain, Yodlee. The new company is expected to focus on the five key geographies of USA, India, Asia Pacific, Europe and Middle East.

According to Mr. Pratip Kar, chairman of the group, the new division is expected to bring in revenues of Rs 72 crore in the current financial year. Of this 30-35 per cent will come from India, 40 per cent from the US market and the remaining from the other markets.

Mr. Kar also stated that the new company would be complementary to the existing services company Planetasia, which handles the applications and services area. The new company would focus on building, managing and safeguarding the technology infrastructure.
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Computer equipment giant to axe 3,000 management jobs
Palo Alto: Computer equipment giant, Hewlett-Packard, announced plans to axe up to 3,000 management jobs in its bid to pare down costs and shore up its bottom line. This drastic moves comes in the backdrop of a worldwide decline in consumer spending in the IT sector.

The computer company also said it expects a revenue decline of up to 4 per cent for the second quarter.

The company also said that it will not defer salary increases beyond the 90-day delay instituted during the first quarter. Instead, the company will try other ways to reduce expenses, including maintaining tight control of discretionary spending, requiring employees to take incremental days off, besides the elimination of up to 3,000 management positions.
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