After the rechristening of Telco to Tata Motors in 2003, one of the auto-maker's earliest decision was to settle its high-cost debts of around Rs 500 crore with the proceeds from foreign currency convertible bonds, or FCCBs. The company had raised $100 million and repaid the debt.
Reliance Retail has added 485 stores in the last one year, taking the total count to 950 and the footprint is now spread across 77 cities (58 in the last one year) across India. While his critics say Ambani may have lost the plot as the progress of his retail plans are nowhere near what he had sought to achieve, others feel the Reliance chief is just being pragmatic given the not-so-conducive environment for expansion in retail.
A company executive said that the Anil Ambani group is still keen on foraying into television broadcasting business. The top-line of broadcasters was shrinking in the December-ended quarter on the back of economic slowdown and the consequent slowdown in advertising revenues, said the latest Ficci & KPMG report.
Chevron CEO David O'Reilly told analysts the company has pulled out of some unprofitable refining markets, and will continue to do so. However, he had said that Chevron is continuing talks with its refining joint venture partner RIL that would determine whether it keeps a foothold in Indian refining. Chevron has not yet signed a crude supply and product off-take agreement with RIL to take forward its plans to increase its stake in RPL beyond the existing 5 per cent.
This follows a letter written by eight US Congressmen to that country's Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) asking it to immediately suspend all financial assistance to RIL until the company agrees to stop selling gasoline to Iran.
Tata Power Company, the largest private sector power player in the country, plans to divest part of its stake in group companies Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) to raise about Rs 2,000 crore for funding its ongoing projects, said informed sources.
The Wadia group is looking to renegotiate the price of Groupe Danone's stake in Britannia Industries following the market slump and the credit squeeze in the global markets.
Sterlite's revised offer to acquire Asarco may see fresh rival bids as the valuation of the bankrupt US copper miner fell in line with the commodity prices.
Tata Steel's $5 billion steel project in Vietnam has hit a roadblock, thanks to a delay in land allocation.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared a proposal by German plastic moulding major Ralf Schneider to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India, setting aside objections raised by its former Indian partner Larsen & Toubro under Press Note 1 of the Foreign Direct Investment policy.
The retail arm of the Mukesh Ambani-led group had almost halted its expansion plans as a credit crunch roiled markets across the globe forcing companies to withhold new projects. The company also froze fresh recruitment.
To be the first firm to take advantage of new RBI ruling.
In the termination letters, RIL mentioned that the business has been impacted by the slowdown and the company was not in a position to continue with their employment. Employees who would resign will get one month's salary as compensation. When contacted, an RIL spokesperson declined to comment on the development.
Leading power players Reliance Infrastructure and GMR Energy believe this will help ensure coal availability for their mega projects in the pipeline. "They have various proposals on their table, which are relatively cheaper when compared to the scene before the beginning of the financial crisis. However, the acquisitions will depend on the ability of the acquirers to raise funds as the banks have stopped lending at cheaper rates," said a source.
The steel plant will be closed down in 25 days unless an investor takes it over, operative executive director of the Bulgarian metallurgic enterprise Plamen Stoyanov told the Bulgarian media. Bulgaria's biggest steel plant has already shut down some of its production facilities, including two of its blast furnaces, and plans to stop operations completely by the end of this month.
The move, which comes in the backdrop of a global slowdown, aims to improve profit margin amid falling demand for polyester products worldwide. "The company has shut down plants for manufacturing polyester filament yarn, polyester staple fibre, paraxylene, purified terephthalic acid and linear alkyl benzene. However, it is yet to close down the second units of PSF and PFY," sources said.
The promoter group companies controlled by Anil Ambani are expected to buy R-Infra shares from the open market. "The promoters want to control the majority stake in the company to ward off any hostile attack, when corporate rivalry heightens in the country. As the share price of R-Infra is cheaper around Rs 400, the promoters feel that the purchase of shares from the open market would be profitable, boosting the confidence of the shareholders in turn," said sources.
Apart from the embarrassment, these "crazy blogs" - as companies term them - force India Inc to spend crores of rupees to repair the damage.
Reliance's Jamnagar units, including the existing refinery and the second one that will begin work by mid-November, will be the world's largest single-location refining facility. The entire refinery complex will have a total processing capacity of 1.24 million barrels a day. The current production of the existing unit is 0.66 million barrels a day.
Real estate companies such as Unitech, Peninsula Land, HDIL and Future Capital, the financial services arm of Future Group, are in talks with investors including some leading private equity funds for raising investments for their projects, after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, whose third party fund had promised investments in these property companies' projects, according to industry sources.
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