T. Rowe Price To Hike Stake In UTI AMC - US money manager T. Rowe Price has planned to increase its stake beyond 26% in UTI Asset Management. The company has bought 26% stake in UTI AMC in October 2009. It sees emerging markets are now rising to become the global investment hot-spots, and India is one of them. It also sees more American retail investments would start going overseas and the home bias to investment would change. T. Rowe is currently the single largest shareholder in the fund. (CNBC TV18)
Srei To Pick Up 30% In Bhaskar Solar - Srei Infrastructure Finance is close to picking up between 15% and 30% stakes in Bhaskar Silicon, which is putting up the world's first and the largest integrated Solar Power Plant and India's first Polysilicon-Solar Plant in Haldia, West Bengal. The company will spend Rs 5000 crore to buy the stake. Srei Infrastructure Finance and Bhaskar Silicon had already participated in a consortium called India Power Corporation (IPCL) to pick up a controlling 57.17% stake in power utility DPSC. (FC)
Essar BPO Arm Aegis Plans IPO - Aegis, part of the Essar group and one of the country's top business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, is planning its initial public offering (IPO) to raise about Rs 700 crore. This would be the first IPO from the group in 15 years. Group company Essar Oil was the last to hit the market in 1995. Apart from unlocking value through the Aegis IPO, the company plans to use this proceeds for future mergers and acquisitions. (TOI)
Reliance Faces Setback In Lyondell Buy - Reliance Industries (RIL) suffered a setback in its attempt to take over Luxembourg-based LyondellBasell Industries after a US court dismissed a creditors’ petition seeking a bigger role for potential investors such as RIL in rescuing the bankrupt company. The move has put a stop to efforts to put together an alternate takeover plan involving RIL by Lyondell creditors. If RIL wants to take over Lyondell, it will require the unlikely scenario of the Lyondell management amending its plan of reorganisation and giving a role to the Indian company. (DNA)
Government To Relax FDI Norms - The government of India proposes to ease the norms for foreign direct investment (FDI) approval. At present, projects worth more than Rs 600 crore require the final approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) has proposed that this ceiling be raised to anywhere between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 1,500 crore. The new norms are likely to be notified after the introduction of a consolidated FDI policy framework on April 1 this year. (BS)
Buffett Doubts On Kraft’s Cadbury Buy - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett came out against Kraft Foods Inc's proposed $19.6 billion acquisition of Cadbury Plc. Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway is Kraft's largest shareholder, says he had a lot of doubts about the deal. Apart from the price Kraft would pay for Cadbury, Buffett also questioned Kraft selling its pizza business to Nestle SA in a move that raised cash for the Cadbury deal. (DNA)
Schneider Electric To Invest In Indian Start-ups - Schneider Electric, a French electrical equipment major which has launched a venture capital fund of 70 million euro jointly with Alstom, a power equipment and high-speed train maker, plans to invest in start-ups in India. The company is present in India through its wholly owned subsidiary Schneider Electric India (SEI). In August last year, SEI has acquired Bangalore-based Meher Capacitors for an undisclosed sum. (Reuters)
LIC Cautions L&T To Keep Off Its Territory - Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro’s plans to enter the life insurance business has been opposed by its single largest shareholder, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). LIC, which owns 18% in L&T, feels that the company should not compete with its dominant shareholder. L&T and its subsidiary L&T Finance had made detailed plans to get into every financial services vertical, including life and general insurance. While its general insurance foray was approved by the institutional shareholders, they are yet to back its entry into life insurance. (ET)
Cabinet Panel Approves Alstom, Bharat Forge JVs - A cabinet panel on today approved setting up of joint ventures by a consortium of France's Alstom and Bharat Forge Ltd to manufacture super critical and sub-critical power plant equipment in India. Alstom's subsidiaries Alstom Power Holding and Alstom Technology Ltd would also hold stake in the two joint ventures that would bring in 4.9 billion rupees ($107 million) in foreign investment, the government said in a statement. (Reuters)
Jubilant FoodWorks IPO Subscribed Over 31 Times - Indian fast food chain Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd's initial public offering of shares was subscribed over 31 times. The portion of the IPO allotted for institutions was subscribed 9.89 times, but retail investors took only 24% of their allotment. Retail investors, who are allotted 30% of Indian IPOs, have shown lower interest than institutions in recent listings. (Reuters)
Decision On IFCI Bond Conversion After Review - The government of India plans to review the business model of IFCI, the Delhi-based finance company, before taking a decision on converting the debentures it holds into shares. It had played a key role in bailing out IFCI in 2000-01 by giving assistance of Rs 523 crore through zero-coupon, optionally-convertible debentures with a maturity of 20 years. Given the rapidly changing business landscape in the financial sector, the government wants to have comfort on the roadmap for IFCI. (BS)
Dubai World Unit Appoints Andy Watson As New CEO - State-owned investment company Dubai World has replaced the chief executive of its Istithmar World with the unit's chief investment officer, as the group focuses on managing its investments rather than making new acquisitions. David Jackson, who had spearheaded Istithmar's aggressive overseas expansion strategy, including the purchase of luxury US retailer Barney's New York and a stake in Standard Chartered, has been replaced by Andy Watson, Dubai World. Istithmar is one of the flagship companies of Dubai World, which has been hit hard by the global financial crisis, and is in the process of restructuring some $22 billion of debt. (DNA)
Company Law Board Nixes Gold Tobacco Land Sale - In a major jolt to Sanjay Dalmia promoted Golden Tobacco Ltd, the Company Law Board (CLB) has put a stay on the resolutions passed by the company’s board to jointly develop or sell its land banks in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Guntur. Now, the company cannot sell its 7.5 acre prime property in Vile Parle and Marol areas in Mumbai, valued at around Rs 800 crore. Dalmia was keen to sell the property to clear liabilities towards Indiabulls Financial Services. Reports suggest that Golden Tobacco has already signed a memorandum of association with another company to develop the land. (DNA)
