The Rs 6,700-crore (Rs 67 billion) deal likely in a fortnight. News of the likely transaction first broke a few weeks ago. Investment banking sources now suggest that the deal will be announced in a fortnight, if not earlier. A Tata Teleservices spokesperson refused to comment, saying: "As a policy in the Tata group, we do not comment on speculative queries."
The government is believed to be pushing the institution to rope in a strategic partner to strengthen its balance sheet. The process is expected to start in the next quarter, starting October.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has approved The Walt Disney Company's deal to increase stake in Ronnie Screwvala-promoted UTV Software Communications beyond 15 per cent, six months after the deal was initially signed. Sebi, the market regulator, has also okayed the US-based company to launch an open offer.
ONGC Videsh Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has put in a bid to buy stake in a discovered oil block in Angola, after a consortium of two Chinese companies has already reported to have bid $1.5 billion last month, confirmed a top official of OVL on condition of anonymity.
To raise funds for Imperial buy, create 'acquisition currency'.
The government's showcase Indian Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd has run into trouble with two leading global banks - Standard Chartered Bank and Calyon Credit Agricole - suggesting that they may not fulfil collective contractual funding commitments of $250 million
India Inc's creamy layer - executive directors and above - rewarded themselves handsomely with a 36 per cent pay rise in 2007-08.
Delhi-based Great Eastern Energy Corporation is planning a public issue, part of which will be "sponsored", meaning foreign shareholders will also tender their shares for sale, a first for the Indian markets.
ONGC Videsh Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, announced that it has acquired 15 per cent in UK-listed Imperial Energy and formally launched a negotiated takeover bid for the company at $2.6 billion (equivalent to around Rs 11,500 crore), which the company's board has approved.
In an effort to stem a possible counter-bid by China's Sinopec and others, ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas exploration subsidiary of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has through its advisor Deutsche Bank approached the large institutional investors of Imperial Energy to acquire their holdings.
The promoters of East India Hotels Ltd, owners of the Oberoi brand and the largest hotel chain after the Tata-owned Indian Hotels and ITC Welcome Group, are in advanced discussions with leading corporate houses and private equity firms to divest a strategic stake, possibly 26 per cent.
Foreign institutional investors were the major sellers on the Indian bourses in the last six months, accounting for total outflows of Rs 62,000 crore (Rs 620 billion).
More than 42 per cent of the funds mobilised through initial public offers in the last one year are idling away either in banks or debt schemes.
The Tata group companies increased their dividend payout to 28.3 per cent in the financial year ended March 2008 from 27.3 per cent a year earlier, while the corporate sector (1,121 dividend paying companies) pruned the dividend payout from 25.22 per cent to 23.04 per cent.
India Inc's order-books swelled to Rs 37,666 crore (Rs 376.66 billion) in the first quarter of the financial year 2008-2009, up 93 per cent from Rs 19,520 crore (Rs 195.2 billion) for the same period last year. In the fourth quarter of 2007-08, the order-book had increased by 121 per cent to Rs 42,545 crore
The super-rich club is shrinking at a dizzying pace. Over 100 billionaires (net worth of Rs 100 crore and above) have turned millionaires courtesy the decline in share prices over the last six months.
The payout declined to 22 per cent in 2007-08 from more than 24 per cent in each of the last four years, an analysis of the 657 companies, which announced dividends in the financial year ended March, showed. The sample is from the list of 2,000 companies, which have declared results, though only 657 companies announced dividends as of June 6.
The slowdown is showing on the balance-sheet. During the quarter ended March 2008, India Inc reported the lowest net profit growth in the last nine quarters, after the state-owned oil marketing and power companies declared poor results.
Companies post the slowest sales growth in four years, profits low, too. The last financial year has been the slowest year in four years for corporate India, according to the financial results for 1,354 companies released so far. Cumulative net sales grew by 18.2 per cent in fiscal 2007-08, in contrast to the 29.3 per cent growth in the previous financial year, 21.1 per cent in FY06 and a rapid 31.5 per cent in FY05.
Numbers collated by the Business Standard Research Bureau show that in the last three years, leading cement manufacturers have multiplied their nine-month profits manifold and mining and paper companies have more than doubled it.
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