COMPANIES
BPCL-Oman
Oil joint venture to raise Rs1,200 crore for Bina
refinery
Mumbai: Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd, a joint venture
between BPCL and Oman Oil Corp, will raise Rs1,200
crore via an initial public offer (IPO) for setting
up its 6 million tonne per year capacity refinery
at Bina in Madhya Pradesh.
"While
the debt portion of the project cost of Rs10,378 crore, amounting to Rs6,387 crore,
has already been tied up, work has been initiated for closing the equity portion,"
BPCL chairman and managing director Ashok Sinha said.
BPCL
and Oman Oil Corp will jointly hold a 52 per cent stake and the remaining 48 per
cent will be allotted to private investors and the public, Sinha said.
"The
implementation of the project for setting up the refinery is progressing smoothly.
Bharat Oman Refineries, the joint venture vehicle implementing the project, has
assumed a challenging target of December 2009 for mechanical completion of the
refinery," he said.
"The
cumulative commitments made on the project have crossed Rs7,000 crore and 26 per
cent progress has been achieved by end-August," Sinha added.
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Bear
Stearns net plunges 61 per cent
Mumbai: US investment bank Bear Stearns Cos Inc
has reported a 61 per cent drop in quarterly profit,
the lowest level in five years, amidst rising bad
debts from subprime mortgages and disrupted fixed-income
trading.
The
company's profit plummeted after the collapse of two hedge funds triggered about
$200 million in losses and expenses.
Bear
Stearns, a leader in packaging home loans into mortgage-backed bonds, bread-and-butter
business, fixed-income, saw its revenue plunge 88 per cent to $118 million. Revenue
from trades with Bear Stearns' money fell nearly $800 million in the quarter.
Net
income was $171.3 million, or $1.16 a share, in the third quarter ended August
31, down from $438 million, or $3.02 a share, in the year-earlier period.
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PTC
buys 26 per cent in Indian Energy Exchange
Mumbai: PTC India (formerly Power Trading Corporation
of India), the country's largest power trading firm,
has taken 26 per cent stake in the country's first
power exchange Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), which
recently got regulatory approval.
IEX
has been set up by Financial Technologies (India) and Multi Commodity Exchange
(MCX) for trading electricity.
Tata
Power (TPC), Reliance Energy (REL), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), a
consortium of Adani Enterprises (AEL) and IDFC are other stakeholders in IEX.
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Britannia
moves Singapore court against Danone over Tiger brand
Mumbai: Britannia Industries has moved a Singapore
court seeking legal action against French food giant
Danone over the Tiger brand of biscuits.
"Based
on legal advice and under the direction of its IPR committee, Britannia has initiated
legal action against Groupe Danone in Singapore pertaining to Tiger IPR,'' Britannia
said in a statement.
Britannia
said its chairman Nusli Wadia resigned from the IPR panel to ensure there was
no conflict of interest in dealing with Tiger IPR matter and talks between Wadia
Group and Danone over shareholder issues.
The
IPR committee will now be headed by Vijay Kelkar, an independent director. It
will consist of Britannia managing director Vinita Bali and two other independent
directors Nimesh Kampani and Keki Dadiseth.
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GENERAL
HC
stays consumer commission`s order against telecom
firms
Mumbai: The Delhi high court has stayed an interim
order of the Delhi state consumer commission restraining
mobile service providers from holding contests or
lotteries as part of their promotional activities.
The
order was delivered after hearing the contention of telecom major Vodafone Essar
and the Cellular Operators Association of India, who had jointly filed a petition
in the court.
"The
operation of the impugned interim order of the consumer commission is suspended
till the final order is passed by the commission on the complaint filed by an
NGO," Justice S Ravinder Bhatt said in his order.
The
court also said the telecom companies can approach it for relief against the final
order of the commission.
The
commission is to hear the case on September 25.
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NDC
to clear 11th Five-year plan at next meeting
Mumbai: The National Development Council (NDC)
will meet on December 9 to clear the 11th five-year
plan, which seeks to accelerate economic growth to
9 per cent from 7.2 per cent in the previous plan.
The
11th plan is expected to focus on agriculture with a view to arrest declining
productivity and increase the farm sector growth rate to four per cent from about
2.8 per cent recorded in the previous plan.
The
plan would also focus on the education sector with the overall objective of substantially
increasing the enrolment ratio during the plan period - 2007-12. In the health
sector, the plan would endeavour to improve the access and availability of quality
healthcare, sanitation and nutrition besides strengthening the national rural
health mission. The country would require over $450 billion to upgrade infrastructure
including roads, ports and airports.
Once
the plan document is ready it would be placed before the union cabinet for its
approval. Thereafter, it would be discussed at the NDC meeting.
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MARKETS
DLF's
Singh pips Anil Ambani to 2nd richest
Mumbai: Real estate tycoon K P Singh of DLF has
overtaken Anil Ambani to become the second richest
Indian after Mukesh Ambani, as the stock market rally
changed the sweepstakes of the country's rich club.
While
the stock market continued its upward march today with a modest gain of 25 points,
a relatively stronger rally in real estate sector, the day's best performer, helped
Singh become India's second richest person in terms of the value of promoter group
shares on the bourses.
Bharti
group's Sunil Mittal retained his fourth position, followed by Wipro's Azim Premji
at the fifth slot.
The
collective wealth of the top five richest stood at about Rs 5,43,500 crore ($136
billion). This is nearly 11 per cent of the total investor wealth in the country.
The cumulative market cap of all the companies listed at the BSE today soared
to Rs49,56,946 crore.
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INTERNATIONAL
