Corporate News

Corporate News

Reliance Industries sends letter to MTN; says it has the first right of refusal to buy the controlling interest in Reliance Communications.(FE)
JSW Steel plans to invest Rs800bn to add 20mn tonne capacity.(BL)
Idea Cellular to buy Spice Comm. in a three stage deal in which minority shareholders of latter can swap their shares for Idea’s shares or sell them in an open offer.(BS)
Goldman Sachs to pay Rs7bn for a minority stake in M&M.(TOI)
Hindalco Industries considering various options including rights issue to repay a US$3bn bridge loan it took to finance the acquisition of Novelis Inc.(BL)
Telekom Malaysia is understood to have picked up ~15% stake in Idea Cellular at a price of Rs158 a share.(DNA)
Videocon to roll out its GSM services from Chennai on August 15th of current year.(ET)
Vedanta Resources bid for US copper firm Asarco faces a roadblock.(Mint)
Hinduja Group to finalise a strategic investor to offload 15% stake in the 1,040MW coal fired project at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh.(FE)
Wipro Technologies pulls out of its JV with Motorola.(ET)
SBI decides against raising interest rates for the time being.(BS)
ONGC Videsh, Indian Oil and Oil India together expect to spend US$3bn if they get the right to develop the Farsi block in Iran.(BS)
The New York Times Company in discussion to acquire a 5% equity stake in Sieger Solutions, a 100% subsidiary of Deccan Chronicle Holdings.(BL)
Reliance Power emerges as the lowest bidder to build two power projects in the Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh.(BS)
3i Infotech completes the acquisition of US based Regulus Group for US$100mn.(DNA)
TPG Newbridge may invest US$150mn for a 49% stake in a company that will hold 100% equity capital of Shriram City Union Finance.(BL)
Pipe manufacturer PSL secures Rs 1.2bn order from BPCL.(BL)
Spice Comm. promoter B K Modi in negotiations to acquire 39% stake in Sony Entertainment Television.(BS)
Reliance Retail will soon enter into a 51:49 JV with US-based Avery Dennison Corp.(ET)
Philips Electronics India decides to buy back shares for Rs1.8bn at Rs260 per share.(DNA)
Maharashtra government decides to allot 25 acres of land in Nagpur to Mahindra Lifespace Developers.(ET)
Ultra mega power project in Tilaiya, Jharkhand to be awarded in November; eleven companies short listed for the project.(BS)
MAN Infraprojects, subsidiary of MAN Industries, to invest Rs10bn in real estate (DNA).
Indo Asian Fusegear forms JV with a Spanish firm to manufacture wiring devices for home automation.(Mint)
Lehman Brothers to invest Rs7.5bn in Unitech’s 97 acre project in North Mumbai.(ET)
JK Tyres to set up a greenfield site for passenger car tyres.(ET)
Sarswat Cooperative Bank has made a fresh application to the RBI to acquire the ailing South Indian Cooperative Bank.(ET)

Economic News

Inflation rises to 8.75%, a seven year high on dearer primary goods for week ended May 31st.(BL)
State governments are planning to cap sales tax on jet fuel at 12.5%.(ET)
Government raises export duty on iron ore and long steel products; imposes fresh excise duty on large cars and SUVs.(BS)
Cement output in May 2008 fell marginally to 14.89mt against 15.02mt in April according to Cement Manufacturers’ Association.(BL)
Drug price regulator has introduced pro rata pricing for injectibles in addition to oral liquids, tablets and ointments.(ET)
Due to slowdown in passenger traffic and high ATF costs, airline companies are canceling or cutting deliveries due this year or sub-leasing them to other carriers globally.(BS)
Government withdraws 5-15% export cess imposed on variety of steel products including hot and cold rolled coils, steel pipes and tubes and galvanized sheets.(ET)
DoT may impose eligibility conditions for 3G spectrum auction.(BL)
Cable operators may be allowed to build an optical fibre infrastructure.(ET)
Government approves 13 FDI proposals worth Rs 15bn including one by steel major ArcelorMittal for its operations in India.(FE)
Mining ministry to buy a Rs4.5bn deep-sea research vessel for seaboard mapping.(ET)
Government is contemplating ban on maize exports to reduce price in the domestic markets.(ET)
Empowered group of state finance ministers likely to discuss today Center’s proposal to reduce sales tax on petrol, diesel, cooking gas and jet fuel.(ET)