Bajaj reorganizes auto business
Mumbai: More than a month after chairman of the Bajaj Group, Rahul Bajaj announced the demerger of the two wheeler maker between his two sons by separating the auto business from financial services Bajaj Auto (BAL) is now reorganizing its auto business into five strategic units. BAL's revamped structure will comprise research and development, engineering, two-wheeler business unit, commercial vehicles business unit and the international business unit. It will be supported by functions of finance, MIS, human resource, business development and commercial, besides having three chief executive officers. The transition would be completed by August 1.

Post the reorganization S. Sridhar, who is the VP, marketing and sales for two-wheelers at present, will head the two-wheeler business unit, with manufacturing operations at Waluj and Akurdi also reporting to him. R.C. Maheshwari has joined Bajaj Auto as CEO, commercial vehicles. The company is also in the process of identifying a CEO for its international business. Abraham Joseph will continue to lead research and development a note from the company said.

The three CEOs will be responsible for topline, business growth and profitability of their respective businesses.
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Suzlon extends contract with PPM Energy
Pune: Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation, the US-based subsidiary of Suzlon Energy A/S of Denmark, has extended its contract with PPM Energy to add 300 MW of wind turbine capacity. An official release from the company said the original agreement was for delivery of 300 MW of turbine capacity in 2008 and 100 MW in 2009. It has now been extended to include an additional 300 MW in 2009 for a total of 700 MW over two years. It said that Suzlon's S88-2.1 MW wind turbine is the featured machine of the agreement and would be delivered to various ready-to-build sites across the US starting in the summer of 2008. The agreement includes the total supply of 143 units of the S88-2.1 MW in 2008 and 191 units in 2009.
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Unitech to develop world class complex at Noida
New Delhi: Unitech is investing close to Rs6,000 crore for developing a residential project of 5,300 apartments in Noida that will be world-class.

Named Unitech Grande, the project is being developed over 347 acres. Out of this, Unitech purchased 300 acres for Rs1,582 crore in the country's most expensive land deal, ousting archrival DLF. Unitech added another seven acres to the project later.

The company expects the project to generate revenues of Rs15,000 crore. The total land investment is Rs1,750 crore, and another Rs4,200 crore is required for construction.

Unitech Grande, to be funded by internal accruals and debt, will be developed over four phases in the next seven years.

Unitech is planning to target NRIs, and is going on a roadshow to San Fransisco later this month to market the complex.
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Reliance KG gas allocation to be decided on July 12
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court will give the final order on the allocation of Reliance Industries's (RIL) gas from the D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin on July 12. RIL is expected to start gas production from the block in June 2008 with around 26 million cubic metres a day (mcmd), and hike it up to a peak rate of 80 mcmd by mid-2009.

The 80 mcmd of gas from the block would be enough to meet the country's current demand of around 170 mcmd. Currently only half of the demand is met.

The High Court, in its interim order on June 20, had restricted RIL from selling its gas from the D6 block to any buyer other than Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) and NTPC for eight years. Of the 80 mcmd production, 12 mcmd is tied-up with NTPC for the company's Kawas-Gandhar power plant, while 28 mcmd is contracted with Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) for Reliance Energy's (REL) power plant at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh.

RIL wants to be allowed to sell gas to a third party while RNRL lawyers said the gas was meant solely for REL's 7,000 MW Dadri power project. Typically, constructing a power plant takes around three years, while production of the gas from the K-G basin is expected to begin in a year.

The government too is waiting for the court's final order as it has yet to decide on whether it will take its share of the gas in cash or in kind. The government is expected to decide by the end of this month.
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Posco rejects proposal for tie-up with PSU
New Delhi: South Korean steel major Posco is sticking to its demand for captive mines and has rejected the Centre's initiative for forging a joint venture with state-run Kudremukh Iron Ore Co Ltd (KIOCL) to break the deadlock over access to Orissa's Khandahar mines.

Along with this the mines ministry is not too keen on the proposal either.

The Centre had made this suggestion last month in order to remove the roadblock in the way of Posco's Orissa plans. According to the proposal, KIOCL would do the mining while Posco would get supplies on commercial terms.

The mines have become a bone of contention with Posco and KIOCL basing their claim on the fact that they have done the prospecting work in the area. Posco, which will need around 18 million tonnes iron ore annually once its plant starts, is optimistic that the state government will help it secure raw material.

The state government supports the Posco project on the ground that it has scope for value addition and downstream investments.

The deadlock over mining lease is one of the two impediments for the project, the other being land acquisition. The company has got approval for its port and is expecting the environmental nod soon.
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M&M hikes stake in Punjab Tractors to 64.6 per cent
Mumbai: Mahindra and Mahindra has hiked its stake in Punjab Tractors to 64.6 per cent following the completion of an open offer to acquire an additional 20 per cent in the company.

M&M acquired 12,151,140 shares of Punjab Tractors at Rs360 per share and now holds 38,476,510 shares (63.3 per cent) in the company. In addition, Mahindra Holdings & Finance has 793,655 shares (1.3 per cent) taking M&M's total shareholding to 64.4 per cent. The total valid shares tendered under the offer were 15,948,911 and the total shares accepted under the offer are 12,151,140 amounting to an acceptance ratio of 76.19 per cent, said M&M. The above percentages were calculated based on the voting equity capital comprising 60,755,700 shares as on the date of the public announcement, M&M said.

M&M had also proposed to acquire a 20 per cent stake in Swaraj Engines. According to an announcement on the BSE, the M&M along with Mahindra Holdings & Finance managed to acquire just 7,417 shares against the plan to purchase 2,483,964 shares.
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TVS to manufacture premium bike Apache RTR in Indonesia
Bangalore: TVS Motor Company, is planning to begin manufacturing its latest premium segment bike, Apache RTR 160, in Indonesia. The company has set up a manufacturing unit in Indonesia for TVS Neo, a step-through bike which will be launched there during this month.

The company said it would begin by exporting TVS Apache from India to Indonesia and depending on the market demand it would start manufacturing the bike there.

TVS Apache RTR 160 is the latest bike developed by the in-house R&D wing of TVS. The bike combines TVS Racing's technology with R&D know-how. The bike has 15.2 brake horse power and delivers a top speed of 118 kph. In India, this new model has been priced at close to Rs58,000.

The company targets to sell around 20,000 units of Apache RTR 160 a month in India and is taking this step in the face of increasing competition from Hero Honda, Bajaj and Honda India in the premium segment. The market for this segment is 65,000 units a month, in which TVS holds 15 per cent share. TVS with this new launch is hoping to increase this share to 25 per cent by the end of this financial year.
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Indus Fila acquires majority stake in Indus Garments
Bangalore: Bangalore-based fully integrated textile apparel company Indus Fila has acquired a 51 per cent stake in Indus Garments (India) for Rs9.35 crore also a Bangalore-based company.

This move will give both the companies a competitive edge and synergy of each others experiences and relationships in the market place.

Indus Fila, a part of Indus Mandhana enterprise, closed the last year financial with a turnover Rs273.64 crore.

Indus Garments has been in the textile business for over eight decades and its products are exported to American and European customers. The turnover of the company for financial year 07 was Rs89.9 crore. The installed capacity of the company is 3.60 million garments per annum.
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Café Coffee Day to expand to Pak, Austria
Mumbai: The Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company, known by the Café Coffee Day brand name, plans to open 50 outlets in Pakistan and Austria in the next 15 months. With an investment requirement of Rs25-30 lakh per outlet, the coffee house is expected to pump in Rs15 crore for the expansion.

Café Coffee Day currently has two outlets each in Karachi and Vienna.

In India the company plans to take the number of outlets in India from 435 in 82 cities to 700 in 100 cities by the year end. The bulk of the stores will be opened in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.
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L&T to invest Rs2,000 cr in greenfield shipbuilding venture
Mumbai: Infrastructure and engineering company Larson and Turbo (L&T) will invest between Rs1,500 crore and Rs2,000 crore in a new greenfield shipbuilding venture. The company is looking at the coastline of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat for setting up the shipbuilding unit. L&T has a shipbuilding yard at Hazira in Gujarat. The company is scouting around for a different location as there is little scope for expansion of the Hazira unit. It requires about 1,000 acres along the coastline with adequate depth close to the shore.

L&T recently bagged a Rs440-crore order from Rotterdam-based Zadeko Ship Management CV to build four ships. Zadeko caters to special purpose cargo movement.

L&T also has plans to build ships for the Navy and Coast Guard.

The new shipbuilding unit will have capability to make all types of vessels, including high-tech ones such as CNG, LNG carriers and containers of up to 3 lakh deadweight tonnes (DWT).
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Nestle to take inorganic route for growth
New Delhi: Foods major Nestle India is looking at acquiring companies as an inorganic route to growth. Officials said the company is on the lookout for acquisitions which are a strategic and cultural fit with its existing portfolio.

The company recently bought out Novartis Medical Nutrition for $2.5 billion, which significantly strengthened its health and nutrition portfolio. Other buyouts included Jenny Craig, a weight loss management company which it acquired for $600 million, and Australian nutrition and cereal maker Uncle Tobys for $670 million.

Market grapevine has it that Nestle is considering re-entering the packaged water business though the company has no immediate plans to introduce Movenpick ice-cream in India.

The company is bullish on the dairy sector in India and is now looking at introducing value added SKUs for liquid milk in the country. It has relaunched flavoured dahi under the Milkmaid brand franchise.

Nestle has been posting over 10 per cent growth for the past four years and has made a series of organisational changes recently.
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Pantaloon Retail to open small local stores
Mumbai: Kishore Biyani chairman Pantaloon Retail will soon launch new small sized stores branded as Fairprice Value Stores (KBFVS), a no-frills, deep discount format, sometime in August this year. The stores built on the lines of Subhiksha, a convenience store format will look to address the daily shopping needs of customers.

Sources say KBFVS is a radically different concept and services model which is based on a German no-frills discount format, LIDL (owned by Schwarz). Pantaloon will open a cluster of stores in a particular area and would set up 1,500 stores over 18 months across top cities.

The non-AC, basic format stores will offer limited stock-keeping units with massive discounts, but will not compete with kiranas. The company has already tied up the real estate for the formats, sources said. Food Bazaar, Pantaloon's large food format did not get the kind of volumes needed to be successful in the low-margin foods business since consumers visit the store for their monthly purchases and not for daily requirements.

The first cluster of stores is understood to have been test-marketed in Delhi. The launch is also the result of consumer learning that Indians prefer fresh supplies and proximity of stores in residential areas to make frequent purchases.

The project is based on the research that, Indian consumers do not have access to good roads, cheap fuel or large storage space to stock up the big volume purchases.
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