Alok Ind To Raise Rs 300 cr from PE
Alok Industries is planning to rope in private equity funds for its Peninsula project in the Lower Parel suburb of Mumbai by the end of the current financial year. Alok Industries is a textile firm and has recently diversified into real estate. Its in talks with two to three private equity firms and is expected to raise around Rs 300 crore.
Vedanta To Buyback 10% Stake
NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources Plc will buy back shares worth $250 million, representing a 10% stake in the company, from the open market. The company said in a filing to the London Stock Exchange the board of Vedanta believes that such a buyback programme
would be value-enhancing for its shareholders. Vedanta would use only a small part of its substantial cash balances of over $5 billion and the group would remain well-capitalised to fund its organic growth programme.
Credit Suisse, HSBC To Layoff 1150
Financial service major Credit Suisse and HSBC are planning to cut an additional 1,150 jobs. While Credit Suisse will be trimming its workforce by 10% leading to job loss for 650 employees, while HSBC said it was slashing 500 jobs. A majority of the jobs at Credit Suisse would be cut in the investment banking and the support functions segment. HSBC is planning to reduce its UK workforce by more than 5% at its headquarters in Canary Wharf.
RCom Raises $150 Mn Debt
Reliance Communications is expected to get a $150 million loan from Canada's export credit agency, Export Development Canada (EDC). The money is being raised to purchase telecom technology and services from Canadian suppliers. One such firm, TenXc Wireless, has been roped in to increase the efficiency of spectrum allotted to RCom for its GSM network. RCom has a market share of only 4% in the GSM space as bulk of RCom's current subscriber base is on the CDMA platform. EDC has previously made equity investments in India in the second SME fund of an Indian private equity firm, Avigo Group.
Govt To Announce Stimulus Pacakge
A major stimulus package is expected to be announced on Saturday this week by the Indian government. The package will include a special infrastructure fund, interest subsidy for housing and export-dependent sectors like textiles, handicrafts and leather and monetary measures,
such as interest rate cuts. Both repo rate and CRR rate are expected to be cut by 150 basis points.
Wadia Postpones Buyout of Danone 's Stake
The Wadia group's plans to buy out its joint venture (JV) partner Groupe Danone's stake in Britannia Industries has been put on hold due to lack of funds. The decision has been postponed to its next board meeting in March 2009. Wadia has asked for a revaluation of the deal in the wake of falling stock markets. Danone holds a 25.5% stake in the JV and Wadia was supposed to buy it by the end of 2008.
MCX Promoters May take NSE To Court
National Stock Exchange (NSE) has written to some of its member brokers that Financial Technologies (FT), the market's leading technology provider, is on its 'watch list' due to 'systems and performance' issues on 'multiple occasions'. NSE's decision has blocked FT's sale of software to brokers for enabling internet trading and direct market access to institutional investors in equity. FT is also the promoter of MCX and several other exchanges. FT is now preparing for a legal battle and has already sent a legal notice to this effect to NSE.
GE May Buyout Indo Tech Transformers
US-headquartered global power major General Electric may be be interested in buying out Chennai-based transformer manufacturer Indo Tech Transformer. A report quoting market sources says GE may already be in advanced stages of negotiation with Indo Tech Transformers to buy out the promoter stake. The Indo Tech scrip has appreciated a smart 35% in this bear market, over the past one month.
