Essar Energy's $350-million deal to buy Shell UK's oil refinery and associated assets at Stanlow, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, has hit a road block. The employee union has rejected the deal in its current form due to differences over pension payout and other issues.
Loop got licences to offer mobile services in 21 circles by the telecom ministry run by Raja, now in jail, in 2008. Essar has investment in Loop; it also holds 33 per cent equity in Vodafone Essar, a big player in the sector.
Essar Shipping Ports & Logistics on Thursday said Ravi Ruia, who is also the Vice-Chairman of Essar Group, has resigned from the company's board with immediate effect due to other commitments.
Continuing its inorganic growth strategy, Aegis, the Essar group's business process outsourcing arm, has signed a deal to acquire UCMS Group, an Australian firm, through an all-cash transaction worth AUD 54 million (around Rs 203 crore).
Under the 2007 agreement between Vodafone and Essar, the latter has a put option of divesting its stake in the telecom venture.
The acquisition of iron mines in Madagascar by Chinese companies is unlikely to affect Indian ore exports to China, as the bulk of Indian exports consist of high quality ore, which is only available in Australia and Brazil, besides India.
The high court's order came on a plea by acquitted individual and Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd director Asif Balwa that the CBI has not placed on record the mandatory authority under the provisions of the CrPC.
Loop Telecom has been looking for a strategic investor for some time now and people close to the development said the telecom operator was willing to sell up to 45 per cent stake in the firm.
Mobile Telecommunications Company (Zain), the third largest telecom operator in West Asia and a leading operator in Africa, has initiated talks with several Indian telecom service providers to buy stakes.
Already with a presence in Kenya's telecom sector through a brand called 'Yu', Essar is looking to strengthening its foothold in the rapidly growing African market.
Announcing the intention to go with the public offer, Essar Energy vice chairman Prashant Ruia said that offering of 20-25 per cent shares in the entity would be to institutional investors in the UK for which it has sought regulatory approvals.
The Essar Group is close to buying Trinity Coal, one of the top 10 coal producers in the US, in a deal worth $550-600 million (Rs 2,500-2,735 crore). Trinity is owned by private equity investment firm Denham Capital Management.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has asked the Department of Telecommunications to reconsider its decision to issue Mumbai-based Loop Telecom an all-India mobile services licence, suggesting the company had links with Essar Group that violate restrictions on telecom cross-holdings by groups.
The world's largest mobile operator by revenue, Vodafone, which operates in India with a joint venture with Essar Group, on Monday said it will invest more in India as it sees more opportunities in the country.
Mumbai-based infrastructure conglomerate Essar group has withdrawn its plans to build a 1,125 hectare Special Economic Zone in Jamnagar because of the adverse economic environment, a commerce ministry official said. The proposal was to set up a 16-20-million-metric-tonne-a-year petrochemical refinery at an investment of Rs 15,000 crore, one of the largest SEZ proposals, according to information available on the company's website.
The broad idea is to help freshers and high-potential employees develop soft skills not generally taught at universities, and simultaneously increase retention rates in an industry that has attrition rates between 30 and 50 per cent. The industry, according to Nasscom estimates, accounts for almost $11 billion and employs slightly over 700,000 professionals (in terms of direct employment).
GTL Infrastructure (GIL), a subsidiary of telecom network major GTL, has acquired Essar Group's tower company Essar Telecom Infrastructure (ETIPL) for an estimated $1.5 billion (Rs 6,000 crore), according to sources.
Moscow-based OAO Rosneft Chairman Igor Ivanovich Sechin said the agreement was to ship by sea as much as 10 million tons of oil per year to Essar Group.
This follows the expiry of its brand-use agreement with the BPL Group. The company, which faces an ownership battle between the Ruias of the Essar Group and the UK-based Vodafone, does not expect 'any issues' to arise from the change. "Loop is an extension of an ongoing campaign, Get in the Loop, and it will be easy for our subscribers to identify with this new brand name," said BPL Mobile Director and CEO Sanjeev Chachondia.
"The most prominent suitors continue to be Russian producers, although India's Essar Group also has been mentioned prominently, according to market sources," the Metal Bulletin (MB) reported, adding that Essar has been the most recent company to express interest and has begun negotiations with Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal.
The dispute between Vodafone and the Ruia-owned Essar Group, its 33 per cent partners in Vodafone-Essar, over ownership of BPL Mobile deepened this week after the UK-based telecom major alleged that Essar had altered the share structure of the Mumbai service provider in violation of a 2006 agreement
Over a year after the judgement was reserved, a bench of justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya rejected the pleas of the telecom companies which pleaded that they be tried in a magisterial court unlike other accused in 2G cases as they have not been charged under Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
"We are seriously looking at launching our own mobile brand, offering a complete range of handsets to bring better value to our customers. We are currently negotiating with a couple of original equipment manufacturers (OEM)," Rajiv Agarwal, chief executive officer and director, The MobileStore, said, while refusing to give details.
The Group of Elders include world leaders like -- Desmond Tutu, former UN Secretary Kofi Annan, Former US President Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson, Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, Graca Machel, Gro Harlem Brundtland et al.
With oil flowing past $145 a barrel, leading companies in the country have lined up plans to explore opportunities in jatropha cultivation and prospects of biofuel. The companies are flocking to Gujarat, which has earmarked 1,900,000 acres in the Narmada region for the crop cultivation.
The company plans to hire 1,000 people every month in India and across United States, Philippines, Costa Rica and Africa where it currently has operations. US President Barack Obama had last month announced end to years of tax incentives to those US companies, which create jobs overseas in places like Bangalore.
The Ruia-promoted Indian conglomerate Essar Group has got close to Rs 200 crore (over $45 million) for withdrawing its bid for American steel firm Esmark and the payment is coming from succesful suitor Severstal of Russia.
These service centres will be set up across India, North America and the Middle East to cater to specific steel requirements of the auto, white goods and SME sectors. Essar intends to set up about 15-20 such centres with a cumulative capacity of 4.2 million tonnes per annum as against the present 2.5 MTPA. The Rs 1,000 crore proposed for the project would include the costs incurred on expansion of the company's existing service centres, Essar Steel Group CEO J Mehra said.
It is not clear, however, whether the two players are considering a majority stake or would be content as investors with 26 per cent.
"Levi & Korsinsky usually investigates a deal when any of the clients complain about chances of fraud in the transaction. In Aegis's acquisition of PeopleSupport, we received a complaint from a client who is a shareholder of PeopleSupport. After our investigation, if we find any fraud, we will take up the issue before the court. At this point of time, we can not disclose the name of the client," said Juan E Monteverde, associate, Levi & Korsinsky.
Essar group-owned Aegis BPO on Monday said it will acquire Philippines-based BPO, PeopleSupport, for $250 million (around Rs 1,050 crore) in an all-cash deal.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday refused to grant early hearing on the Central Bureau of Investigation's appeal challenging the acquittal of former Union telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case.
Vodafone said on Wednesday it has completed the acquisition of controlling stake in Hutchisson-Essar Ltd while paying a less amount at $10.9 billion as against $11.8 billion announced earlier.
Joining the list of nations that are keen to have the Nano ply on their roads, Cuba today said the world's cheapest car from the house of Tatas has huge potential in the Caribbean nation.
The ED, in its chargesheet, had alleged that Rs 200 crore was paid by Swan Telecom (P) Ltd promoters to DMK-run Kalaignar TV.
The clarification comes a day after Vodafone signed a shareholders' agreement with the Essar group.
British giant Vodafone and Indian conglomerate Essar group reached an agreement on Thursday for jointly running India's fourth largest mobile firm -- Hutch-Essar, which would be rechristened Vodafone Essar.
Profit taking in index heavweights RIL and HDFC weighed on sentiment while ICICI Bank surged 7%.
Essar Communications mandates four international banks to arrange a fully-underwritten $3.59 billion term loan
Vodafone recently bought the 67 per cent stake held by Hutchison. The remaining equity is held by the Ruias.
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