Global Steel owns 70 per cent stakes in iron ore mine in Brazil and two coal mines in Columbia and Mozambique. The company is setting up three special purpose vehicles for isolating financial and regulatory risks. Ispat will purchase the stakes in these SPVs, which are held by Global Steel. The iron ore mine has an estimated reserve of 500 million tonne while the coal mines hold reserves of 120 million tonne.
Mahindra & Mahindra, the world's fourth largest tractor maker, has deferred its plan to build a Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) tractor facility in Chennai on apprehensions that tractor sales may slow, a top company executive has said.
Speaking to Business Standard a day after the company announced indifferent results for 2007-08, Kant said this year is going to be the toughest for the auto industry in a long time because of soaring input costs and crude oil prices. But the credit squeeze could have a far-reaching impact on the industry's fortunes.
Vijay Mallya has ensured that his brands do not fall out of Indian Premier League (IPL) viewership, though his team Royal Challengers Bangalore bowed out of the tournament. After RC's series of defeats, the UB Group chairman decided to cash in on his smaller investments in rival teams such as Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Daredevils, Chennai Superkings and Mumbai Indians.
"The factories need consolidation and control as they operate independently with different human resource (HR) and logistic policies. The segmented operations cannot have power and focus on quality," K R Kim, vice-chairman and CEO (global operations), Videocon, who steered LG to market leadership in his earlier stint, told Business Standard.
The Singapore government-controlled Temasek Holdings, which controls over 90 per cent of power generation and distribution in Singapore, will soon call for bids to privatise the two companies. The Indian companies are exploring various options to bid for these assets, said sources familar with the developments. Spokespersons of both Reliance Power and GMR Infrastructure declined to comment.
Despite a general slowdown, Audi India has posted a dizzying growth figure of 123 per cent, selling 321 units in January-April 2008. All set to launch the new A4 sedan in July, Benoit Tiers, managing director, Audi India, tells Business Standard about the company's objectives.
Videcocon Industries plans a major consumer electronics retail foray across West Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America under the brand name "VC" to raise global revenue shares from the current 2 per cent to 50 per cent by 2011.
Indian firms, including Tata Steel, in the past have formed SPVs to acquire foreign companies to protect local operations and also to avoid legal hindrances. The SPV may be registered in a tax-haven country, like Mauritius or Bahamas, the sources said. The move to float an SPV will help Bharti Airtel to continue being listed on Indian stock exchanges, while MTN's promoters will be given a stake in the SPV.
The auto sector is doing well in India, despite stock market meltdown, emerging signals of industrial slowdown and rising costs.
Now Delhi-based Sona Koyo, which is supplying steering systems for the Nano, and Minda Group, which supplies electrical switches, have confirmed that they and other component suppliers have suggested a price rise to Tata Motors.
Honda Siel Cars India President and CEO Masahiro Takedagawa, in an interview with Business Standard, shares the company's India strategy, including the launch of hybrid technology (a first on Indian roads), small cars and outlook on diesel technology, an area where the company is losing ground to other auto majors. The company launched its 8th generation Accord today in Mumbai.
To up stakes in 'globally active' firms by 3 to 4% this year.
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's biggest firm by market capitalisation, is drawing up plans to convert its fuel retail outlets, which were recently closed owing to unviable operations, into malls and multiplexes.
Home-grown automotive players like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, TVS Motors and Maruti Suzuki are augmenting the use of plastics in engine components in an ambitious effort to reduce dependence on key metals like steel and aluminium, all of which have witnessed stupendous rise of 35-50 per cent in the past 5 months.
Tata Steel, the world's sixth-largest steel maker, is looking to acquire Brazilian iron ore assets of the United Kingdom-based London Mining, which will help ensure raw material supply for its Anglo-Dutch subsidiary, Corus. The valuation of the asset is yet to be completed, but analysts said that it would be in the range of $2 billion.
Engineering giant Larsen and Toubro and Aditya Birla group firm Grasim Industries are set to settle their long-standing dispute over the sale of cross-holdings out of court. Both the companies are believed to be in consultation with Chennai-based chartered accountant S Gurumurthy to act as arbitrator.
Skoda Auto is considering shifting the production of the Fabia, its compact hatchback, to parent company Volkswagen's Chakan plant in Pune. At present, Skoda is manufacturing cars at its Aurangabad plant. The surge in demand has pushed the waiting period for the car to more than 2 months.
The bikes will be imported as completely built units on which there is a 60 per cent import duty. Each bike will cost more than Rs 10 lakh. Ducati's Global Chief Executive Gabriel Deltorchio will be flying to India on the day of the formal launch in Delhi.
The auto sector in Pune, which houses production centres of the most prominent auto manufacturers in the country, says that 60-70 per cent of its labour is already local. They were reponding to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's call yesterday urging companies to reserve 80 per cent of all industrial jobs created for local Maharashtrians.
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