Corporate News – Industry trends
* A day after SAIL reduced flat steel prices, private steel makers JSW
Steel, Essar Steel and Ispat Industries — have followed. Ispat has
cut prices by Rs 1,000 a tonne, while Essar Steel has reduced by Rs
700-1,000 a tonne (BS)
* Consumer durables major Videocon Industries said its board had
approved of raising Rs 12.4bn by issuing shares on rights and
preferential basis (BS)
* Tata Consultancy Services, has been chosen strategic IT partner by
the City Council of Cardiff in Britain for 15 years; the contract value is
close to £150 mn; the other contenders were IBM and BT Global
Services (BL)
* Mahindra Satyam announced its plans to collaborate with defence
and security company Saab to develop its operations in India for the
global defence and homeland security market; While the company did
not give any official figure, the “ongoing-MoU” deal is reportedly worth
US$400 mn over a five-year period (BS)
* The company RIL and the RNRL joined hands to oppose the plea of
a shareholder in both the companies to be made party in their ongoing
dispute in the Supreme Court over the gas price to be supplied from
the K-G basin (BS)
* Construction firm Unity Infra projects said its joint venture with
IVRCL Infrastructure & Projects has bagged an order worth Rs 11.4bn
from Municipal Corporation of Mumbai. The JV received the contract for
the construction of tunnel, which is to be completed within 60 months
(BS)
* Balrampur Chini has called off the deal it was looking to enter into
with Bajaj Hindusthan after initial talks. In a communication to the
stock exchanges, Balrampur Chini said “some discussions were held
with Bajaj Hindusthan on future business strategies”. It said the
promoters had not entered into any agreement with any party for sale
of their stake (BS)
* Larsen & Toubro Ltd has bagged a Rs 68.9 bn contract from
Maharashtra State Power Generation Co Ltd for three 660 Mw supercritical
Boiler Turbine Generator (BTG) units (BS)
* Fueled by high performance in first half of this fiscal, country's largest
two-wheeler maker Hero Honda revised upwards its sales target for
FY'10 and said it will exceed the 40 lakh units mark announced earlier
(ET)
* The government ordered a safety audit of all oil and gas installations
across the country after the massive fire at Indian Oil Corp fuel depot
at Jaipur (Mint)
Economic/Regulatory development
* The Reserve Bank of India has purchased 200 tonnes of gold valued
at Rs 314bn from the International Monetary Fund under the latters’s
limited gold sales programme (BL)
* Even as the country’s export decline decelerated in September to
13.8% in dollar terms, the decline in import growth has been
increasing with the numbers for the month dropping a hefty 31.3%
(BS)
* THE RESERVE Bank of India has untangled a knot which could have
jeopardised the ownership of the insurance business of home loan
major HDFC and the country’s largest private lender ICICI Bank; the
RBI has told the government that control of a company, not just its
ownership, should be taken into account while determining foreign
investment, particularly in the financial services sector (BS)
International trends
* Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc will pay US$26 bn to
buy out railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp in what the
billionaire investor called a bet on the US economy; The deal, Buffett’s
biggest-ever acquisition, is priced at a premium of 31.5% over BNSF’s
closing stock price on Monday and values the railroad at US$34 bn
(BS)
* Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc
will receive 31.3 bn pounds in a second bailout from the UK taxpayer
as the two banks agreed to cap bonuses (BS)
* A day after SAIL reduced flat steel prices, private steel makers JSW
Steel, Essar Steel and Ispat Industries — have followed. Ispat has
cut prices by Rs 1,000 a tonne, while Essar Steel has reduced by Rs
700-1,000 a tonne (BS)
* Consumer durables major Videocon Industries said its board had
approved of raising Rs 12.4bn by issuing shares on rights and
preferential basis (BS)
* Tata Consultancy Services, has been chosen strategic IT partner by
the City Council of Cardiff in Britain for 15 years; the contract value is
close to £150 mn; the other contenders were IBM and BT Global
Services (BL)
* Mahindra Satyam announced its plans to collaborate with defence
and security company Saab to develop its operations in India for the
global defence and homeland security market; While the company did
not give any official figure, the “ongoing-MoU” deal is reportedly worth
US$400 mn over a five-year period (BS)
* The company RIL and the RNRL joined hands to oppose the plea of
a shareholder in both the companies to be made party in their ongoing
dispute in the Supreme Court over the gas price to be supplied from
the K-G basin (BS)
* Construction firm Unity Infra projects said its joint venture with
IVRCL Infrastructure & Projects has bagged an order worth Rs 11.4bn
from Municipal Corporation of Mumbai. The JV received the contract for
the construction of tunnel, which is to be completed within 60 months
(BS)
* Balrampur Chini has called off the deal it was looking to enter into
with Bajaj Hindusthan after initial talks. In a communication to the
stock exchanges, Balrampur Chini said “some discussions were held
with Bajaj Hindusthan on future business strategies”. It said the
promoters had not entered into any agreement with any party for sale
of their stake (BS)
* Larsen & Toubro Ltd has bagged a Rs 68.9 bn contract from
Maharashtra State Power Generation Co Ltd for three 660 Mw supercritical
Boiler Turbine Generator (BTG) units (BS)
* Fueled by high performance in first half of this fiscal, country's largest
two-wheeler maker Hero Honda revised upwards its sales target for
FY'10 and said it will exceed the 40 lakh units mark announced earlier
(ET)
* The government ordered a safety audit of all oil and gas installations
across the country after the massive fire at Indian Oil Corp fuel depot
at Jaipur (Mint)
Economic/Regulatory development
* The Reserve Bank of India has purchased 200 tonnes of gold valued
at Rs 314bn from the International Monetary Fund under the latters’s
limited gold sales programme (BL)
* Even as the country’s export decline decelerated in September to
13.8% in dollar terms, the decline in import growth has been
increasing with the numbers for the month dropping a hefty 31.3%
(BS)
* THE RESERVE Bank of India has untangled a knot which could have
jeopardised the ownership of the insurance business of home loan
major HDFC and the country’s largest private lender ICICI Bank; the
RBI has told the government that control of a company, not just its
ownership, should be taken into account while determining foreign
investment, particularly in the financial services sector (BS)
International trends
* Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc will pay US$26 bn to
buy out railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp in what the
billionaire investor called a bet on the US economy; The deal, Buffett’s
biggest-ever acquisition, is priced at a premium of 31.5% over BNSF’s
closing stock price on Monday and values the railroad at US$34 bn
(BS)
* Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc
will receive 31.3 bn pounds in a second bailout from the UK taxpayer
as the two banks agreed to cap bonuses (BS)
