ICICI Bank to offload stake in Crisil
New Delhi: ICICI Bank has decided to sell its stake in Crisil in response to the open offer made by the rating agency S&P.

According to reports, the bank will sell 10.77 per cent. Kalpana Morparia, Deputy MD of ICICI Bank, has said that the price offered by S&P at Rs775 was attractive.
he also maintained that Crisil would not be delisted.
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Essel Propack buys Telcon Packaging
New Delhi: Packaging major Essel Propack, a manufacturer of laminated tubes, has acquired UK-based Telcon Packaging picking up 100 per cent stake through its wholly owned subsidiary Lamitube Technologies Ltd, Mauritius.

According to the company, this strategic move will strengthen the company's position in bidding for major contracts in UK and Europe. The acquisition is also a major move towards the company's consolidation in the European market.
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Helios & Matheson buyout vMoksha
Chennai: Chennai based software firm Helios & Matheson will acquire vMoksha, a Bangalore-based software company, in a $19-million (Rs85.5 crore) deal.

The purchase includes $17 million in cash and $2 million earn-out for achieving targeted financial milestones over a two-year period. PricewaterhouseCoopers acted as advisors to the deal for Helios. As per the deal, Helios & Matheson will acquire vMoksha's three profit making entities in Bangalore, Singapore and the US.

While Pawan Kumar, vMoksha's founder, will continue to be the company's CEO, the 510 employees of vMoksha will also become part of Helios & Matheson, officials said.

vMoksha reported a net profit of $1.7 million on revenues of $15 million last year, and expects a profit of $3.25 million on revenues of $22 million this year. It brings with it 25 clients, including IBM, PeopleSoft, AIG and American Express.

vMoksha has a strong presence in healthcare, which fits well with Helios & Matheson's focus. Healthcare contributes about 35 per cent of Helios & Matheson's revenue, which was Rs85.86 crore for the nine months ended December 31, 2004, and is likely to be Rs120 crore for the fiscal ending March 31, 2005, officials said.

vMoksha has a strong client relationship with European majors. Europe is an important market for Helios & Matheson. For the next two years, vMoksha would retain its brand, operate as a stand-alone entity, but could be integrated with Helios & Matheson at a later date, officials indicated.

Helios & Matheson officials said that the company hopes to achieve revenues of $100 million in the next 24-36 months through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. The company plans to have about 2,000 employees by 2006-end, from the current 728.
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BEL targets Rs3,600 crore turnover for the fiscal
Bangalore: Defence electronics major, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), is targeting a turnover of Rs3,600 crore this year. Based on a strong Rs6,010 crore order position, BEL is expecting a 12 to 13 per cent growth on last year's figure of Rs3,223 crore.

Profit after tax for the year surged 36 per cent at Rs429.1 crore as compared to Rs315.1 crore in the previous year. The order book at the end of reporting fiscal was at Rs6,600 crore as against Rs2,500 crore in the previous year period.

According to company officials, the defence sector would continue to be the mainstay, contributing 85 per cent of the total sales.
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Tata Coffee mulls facility in Uganda
Bangalore: In line with the group strategy, Tata Coffee is looking at expanding its operations overseas and may set up an instant coffee manufacturing facility in Uganda.

Tata Coffee's Managing Director, M.H. Ashraff, recently led an official delegation to Uganda on the invitation of the Government there to study investment climate, the labour scene and the cost of production amongst others.

The delegation also held discussions with the Ugandan Coffee Development Authority and the Government officials. According to company officials, if all goes well, the company may invest Rs20-25 crore in setting up a 3,600 tonne instant coffee making unit. They have not given any indication of the timeframe in which the investment may be made.

As Uganda is one the most backward countries, its exports enjoy a special status from countries such as the US, the European Union, Russia, Japan among others and the company plans to capitalise on that. Tata Coffee may also leverage its Ugandan operations to foray into the Chinese market. Further, the company is also exploring growth opportunities in other African countries, Vietnam and even in India, he said.

Tata Coffee's instant coffee exports for 2004-05 stood at 4,900 tonnes, up from 3,700 tonnes in the previous year.
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Tata Steel plans capacity expansion at units in China
New Delhi: Tata Steel intends to expand the capacity of its value-added products at its three units located in China. These units (two long-product units and one wire drawing unit) have come under the fold of Tata Steel, following the acquisition of NatSteel Asia's steel business. Company officials said that though the specifics of what the type of value addition would be the broad strategy is finalised.

The company will be manufacturing semi-finished steel in India to take advantage of the lower cost of production here, and then take it to its facilities in China for further value addition. These could be galvanised sheets, rebars, wire rods and wires, the sources said.

The sources said the cost of production is around $50 per tonne cheaper in India as compared to China. The three units of NatSteel in China have a combined capacity of 7.96 lakh tonnes. The long product plant located at Xiamen has a rolling capacity of four lakh tonnes annually.

The second plant located in Wugin has a rolling capacity of 3.1 lakh tonnes and the wire-drawing unit at Wuxi has an annual capacity of 86,000 tonnes.

In February, Tata Steel acquired a 100 per cent stake in NatSteel Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned special purpose vehicle created by the NatSteel group to hive off its entire steel business. The deal was valued at 486.4 million Singapore dollars (approximately Rs1,313 crore) subject to certain adjustments, including those for net debt, minority interest, other liabilities and working capital variance relative to 225 million Singapore dollars.
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Ascendas buys Tata's stake in ITPL
Bangalore: The Singapore-based Ascendas Pte Ltd has acquired Tata Group's 47 per cent stake in the International Technology Park Ltd, Bangalore, for an undisclosed sum. The other shareholder, Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board, continues to hold its stake of about six per cent in ITPL, the release said.

The acquisition of Tata's stake in ITPL marks a significant step in Ascendas' strategy to build up a portfolio of business space in India following the recent acquisition of Vanenburg IT park in Hyderabad. It also makes Ascendas the largest foreign IT park player in India, the release said.

K.A. Chaukar, Managing Director, Tata Industries, said the divestment of Tata's stake was in line with the group's strategy to exit non-core areas of interest. However, the Tata Group will continue its business relationship with ITPL as hitherto, he said.
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IOC pilot project: Reva to develop fuel cell cars
Bangalore: The Reva Electric Car Company Pvt Ltd (RECC) has signed an agreement with Canadian-based Hydrogenics Corporation to develop fuel cell hydrogen cars for a future pilot project by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

RECC will use its electric vehicle technology to develop fuel cell hydrogen cars with fuel cell stacks to be supplied by Hydrogenics Corporation. In the first phase, two fuel cell hydrogen-powered cars will be developed, after which a fleet of 10-20 cars will be rolled out at other heritage destinations.

According to company officials, the cars are part of a pilot project that will be launched by Indian Oil Corp to promote eco-tourism in India. The cars will be used for the hydrogen clean technology project in New Delhi and at the Taj Mahal, in Agra.

The statement said RECC has been working on future technologies since the company launched its operations in 2001. Fuel cell systems offer a promising engine technology for the future, with advantages that include zero emissions, high efficiency and minimal noise. The hydrogen needed to fuel these vehicles can be produced by means that lower India's reliance on foreign oil supplies and increase energy security, the statement said.
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Rs165 crore order for L&T from Bangalore water supply board
Mumbai: L&T has been awarded a Rs165-crore order by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for providing a water supply system under the Greater Bangalore Water Supply Project (GBWSP) scheme.

The BWSSB is extending the Cauvery water supply facility to Greater Bangalore, an area of 240 sq km encompassing seven city municipalities and one town municipality.

According to an official release, L&T will provide a water supply system to almost all the municipalities. The work, to be completed in 12 months, involves laying of a ductile iron pipeline network of 1,600 km and about one lakh house connections.
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Quarterly Results: Hero Honda, PFC, Ashok Leyland, Mphasis BFL
Hero Honda net up 11 per cent
New Delhi: Hero Honda has reported a 11 per cent rise in net profit to Rs810 crore for the fiscal ended March 2005 against Rs728 crore in 2003-04. It has also declared a dividend of 1000 per cent.

The company saw a 26 per cent growth in turnover to Rs7163 crore against Rs5997 crore in the previous fiscal. The dividend of 1000 per cent, that is Rs20 on each share of Rs2, would entail an outgo of Rs399.38 crore excluding withholding tax.

Total sales of the company, which contributes 50 per cent in the total bike market, saw a 27 per cent jump to 26.2 lakh units against 20.7 lakh units.

PFC net down 39 per cent
New Delhi: The Power Finance Corporation has announced a 39 per cent dip in net profit at Rs980 crore in 2004-05. The corporation's net profit in 2003-04 was Rs1,606.99 crore.

During the year gone by, PFC disbursed Rs9,405 crore as against Rs8,974 crore. This was mainly due to change in the accounting policy in respect of loans from cash to accrual basis.

The corporation is also planning to raise its equity by up to 10 per cent through an Initial Public Offer in the current fiscal.

Ashok Leyland sales at all-time high
Chennai: Ashok Leyland has reported all-time high sales of 54,740 vehicles for 2004-05, 12.5-per cent higher than the previous year's sales of 48,654 vehicles.

Exports have also nearly doubled to 6,812 vehicles, compared with 3,782 vehicles in the previous year. Of the total domestic sales of 47,928 vehicles, the goods segment contributed 37,137 units, up 10.9 per cent from 33,471 last fiscal. Sales in the passenger segment were 10,469 as against 11,025 last fiscal.
Total production during the year grew 10.9 per cent, from 49,148 to 54,524 vehicles.

Mphasis BFL Q4 net up 23 per cent
Bangalore: Software services Mphasis BFL has beaten street expectations announcing a consolidated fourth-quarter net profit rise of 23 per cent.

The net profit rose to Rs30.9 crore in the January-March quarter from Rs25.1 crore a year earlier. The company's revenue rose 30 per cent to Rs205 crore from Rs158 crore.

The company has announced a final dividend of 30 per cent or Rs3 per share for the financial year ended March 31, 2005. This is in addition to the interim dividend of Rs1.5 per share. The Board of Directors has also recommended a bonus issue of one equity share for every existing equity share (1:1).

The Bangalore based company also announced that it has added 12 new clients in the reporting quarter.
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