Currently, the public sector major has an inventory of 20,000 tonnes as against the usual level of 5,000 tonnes. Analysts expect the inventory to reach 25,000 tonnes by March-end. "We expect aluminium prices to remain below the cost of production for the next six to nine months," said Vipul Shah, an analyst with Mumbai-based brokerage K R Choksey Shares. "The outlook for aluminium is grim," he said.
India's largest refiner, Reliance Industries Ltd, is in talks with public sector oil marketer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation for a tie-up to run the former's fuel retail outlets, closed a year earlier.HPCL has issued a limited tender to five merchant bankers to advise it on the deal.Last year, RIL closed 1,400 petrol pumps -- 900 owned by the company and the rest managed by dealers.
The debt came with covenants, which require borrowers to meet certain conditions such as a mandated debt to EBITDA ratio. A failure to meet the conditions may result in an increase in interest rates. The company reported EBITDA (operating profit) of $69 million in the quarter ended December 31, down from $151 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Aban offshore has a Rs 13,000 crore debt on its books and a market cap of only Rs 1,645 crore, down 90 per cent from its peak on May 23 last year. The huge debt is a result of the company, earlier known as Aban Lloyd, buying a 33.7 per cent stake in Sinvest ASA, a Norwegian drilling company, for Rs 5,200 crore. The acquisition gave Aban access to eight premium jack-up rigs with contracts, but it also increased its debt substantially.
The retailer, which runs a supermarket chain under the More brand, is targeting annual sales of $4.5 billion (Rs 22,000 crore or Rs 220 billion) by March 2014 from Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) in the current financial year. The retailer clocked sales of Rs 500 in the previous year. In 2007, the company had talked about a Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) investment plan.
The Reserve Bank of India is formulating guidelines that would allow government-owned banks get into the private equity business.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, on Wednesday made it compulsory for promoters of listed companies to disclose the details of their pledged shares, but clarified that there would be no need to disclose pledged shares of the holding company. Legal and accountancy experts say this may lead to a restructuring of the shareholding pattern in many companies.
Falling oil rates have made rigs available for hire at a cheaper rate. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation planned to foray into building rigs in June 2008 owing to its short supply as crude oil prices zoomed northwards.
Tata Motors, which is announcing its results January 30, is likely to end 2008-09 with around Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) less cash mainly because sales of commercial vehicles, which account for about 60 per cent of its revenues, have dropped sharply.
The company is still short of over Rs 4500 crore (Rs 45 billion) to refinance the debt which is due before June 2 this year. The company had planned to raise the fund for refinancing through three routes. It planned to raise about Rs 4200 crore through rights issues which it managed after the issue devolved on underwriters in October as the stock prices were tumbling globally following the economic crisis.
While the Tatas are looking for PE deals of about $50 million or less, the A V Birla Group is eyeing deals worth not more than $25 million. Tata Capital is banking on its ability to source deals by exploiting the existing Tata ecosystem of suppliers and customers. The Birla group, which has committed 40 per cent of the $250-million corpus it planned to raise for its PE fund, is looking to leverage its strength to source and evaluate deals.
The freight rate for the very large crude carriers in the spot market has declined to an average $46,426 a day for the quarter ending December 31, about 21 per cent lower than the corresponding period of the previous year. In the same period, smaller crude carriers such as Suezmax rose by about 9 per cent to an average of $42,801 a day. Freight rate for Aframax, a carrier smaller than Suezmax, rose by 25 per cent to an average of $28,628 a day.
After signing the agreement documents on Tuesday night, the Shishir and Rahul Bajaj factions submitted the consent terms of the settlement to the Company Law Board on Wednesday and withdrew the petition.
The Bajaj family dispute is set to end, finally. Shishir Bajaj today sold his 25 per cent holding in the primary group investment firm Bajaj Sevashram to his brother Rahul Bajaj in an off-market deal. This was after Rahul Bajaj transferred his group's entire 29.62 per cent shareholding in Bajaj Hindusthan.
A day before the settlement of the six-year-old Bajaj family dispute, the Bombay High Court has asked Rahul Bajaj, the family patriarch and chairman of Bajaj Auto, to compensate the Pittie family, a minority shareholder in group investment firm Bachhraj & Company.
In the two weeks since the terror attacks in Mumbai, most of the large Indian business groups in the city have been conspicuous by their absence in offering help to terror victims.
GE Shipping, the country's largest private sector shipping company, is bringing down its exposure to the dry bulk segment to withstand the 93 per cent downfall in freight rate for such vessels.
In a wide-ranging interview with Abhineet Kumar, SCI chairman and managing director S Hajara discusses the problems facing the shipping industry.
Indian shipping companies' reluctance to take piracy insurance is probably linked to sky-rocketing costs. According to the site of London-based corporate security firm BGN Risk, piracy in the Gulf of Aden could increase insurance and transport costs by $400 million. Special risk insurance for crossing the Gulf has soared from $500 a voyage last year to $20,000 now, the company said.
With recession threat looming large, Indian corporate houses may be forced to rethink their projects, which have been stalled following problems in land acquisitions, industry analysts said.
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