In December 2019, the India arm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu surprised many with its ultra-competitive bid to become the transaction advisor for the country's largest strategic divestment in Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL). The multinational major quoted just Rs 1; the second-highest bidder, SBI Caps, reportedly quoted Rs 15-17 crore. For Deloitte, the motivation was to bag a prestigious deal adding a national energy company to its portfolio. No doubt, it expected BPCL to go to a marquee buyer in quick time.
FB deal puts RIL on course to be debt-free next year; Reliance Retail biggest gainer from WhatsApp, JioMart arrangement.
With the government reducing the net worth for new entities in fuel-marketing space to Rs 250 crore, the market is open for new players like Total, Adani, and Saudi Aramco -- and even supermarkets - to open fuel outlets.
'If UAV technology is used by the adversary to target VIPs or strategic targets it would be a different ball game altogether,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
The proposed reorganisation plan by Reliance Industries Ltd to transfer its refining, marketing and petrochemical (oil-to-chemicals) businesses to a wholly-owned subsidiary is a step towards facilitating participation by strategic investors in the unit, Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday. The reorganisation of the business in Reliance O2C Limited (O2C) "will have a neutral impact on RIL's credit metrics and rating," it said in a statement. The transfer will be on a "slump sale basis", subject to attaining the requisite approvals.
India may see a structural shift in supplies of crude oil with Russia emerging as a key source of fuels, a development that reduces New Delhi's dependence on West Asian oil, gives Indian refiners better bargaining power with price-setter Saudi Arabia, and improves overall energy security. The unexpected surge in supplies of Russian crude in the last few months, unthinkable until the war in Ukraine, may also deliver other unforeseen gains such as boosting exports of refined fuels to Europe, which historically has counted on Russian shipments. India has jumped on to the bandwagon of opportunistic buying of Russian crude but if calibrated carefully, Urals crude can be a long-term asset for India refiners.
Petrol and diesel prices were on Wednesday hiked by 24-25 paise per litre, the steepest increase since July 5 Union Budget, as a fallout of turmoil in global oil markets following drone attacks on Saudi Arabian crude oil facilities.
Though the NDA government had been trying to privatise 20 companies, a decision for which was taken in 2017, and included national carrier Air India, the investor community evinced little enthusiasm for any of them. Now, with an in-principle approval for privatisation of BPCL, CCI and SCI, the government has taken the plunge again.
After monetising Jio Platforms -- which houses the firm's telecom arm and digital ventures, richest Indian Mukesh Ambani is looking to rope in investors in the retail business.
RIL, however, remains miles ahead of TCS in other financial parameters such as total revenue, operating profit, net worth, assets, and market capitalisation.
FutureBrand, which is a global brand transformation company, said part of Reliance's success could be attributed to Mukesh Ambani's recasting of the firm as a one-stop-shop for Indians.
Sena also said that laying a brick for the $44 billion (Rs 3 lakh crore) mega refinery project at Nanar in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra would be akin to laying the foundation stone for a cancer hospital there.
Despite a massive underperformance at the bourses since the last six months, analysts are turning optimistic on Reliance Industries (RIL). Those at Jefferies, for instance, say that the company is a proxy play for India's consumption growth story. The key catalysts for the stock, according to a Jeffries note, include faster-than-expected market share gain in retail, oil-to-chemicals (O2C) stake sale, recovery in gross refining margins (GRM), potential public listing of Jio and even a possible banking licence going ahead. That apart, analysts feel any tariff hike in Reliance Jio (RJio) - its telecom venture - will also aid performance. With balance sheet adequately de-levered, proceeds from a strategic stake sale in the O2C business will create a sizeable war chest for the company, analysts say.
At market close, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate's market capitalisation (m-cap) zoomed to Rs 10,01,555.42 crore on BSE.
Bucking the overall downtrend, shares of RIL rallied nearly 10 per cent, capping the Sensex loss to a large extent.
'The surge of Saudi nationalism is the last thing Washington wants,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
More than a year of Covid-19 has pushed most businesses into gloom but Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) managed to reduce its gross debt 25 per cent, enabling it to turn towards its next phase of capital expenditure that has come in the form of a Rs 75,000-crore plan for green energy and power storage. The company managed to stay afloat during the pandemic because of its large presence in the consumer-centric businesses of retail and telecommunication (see chart: "A new Reliance"). These two businesses constituted 45 per cent of its EBITDA during FY21 from 36 per cent in FY20.
Reliance Industries shareholders will have to pay only 25 per cent for subscribing to the company's mega Rs 53,125-crore rights issue, and the balance will have to be paid in two instalments in May and November next year, the company said.
RIL and Shell ceased production from the fields in 2016, and ONGC has already been using Tapti infrastructure for its other fields for better optimisation.
If the reforms are implemented, multi-brand retail majors such as Future Group and Reliance Retail might enter the fuel retail space.
The Orwellian surveillance State is here. And here to stay, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
The company expects net proceeds of Rs 53,036.13 crore from the rights issue that opens on May 20 and closes on June 3.
Oil prices jumped nearly $3 a barrel and gold and safe-haven bonds rallied on Friday after the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike by the US in Baghdad.
If attendance is any yardstick, the Jeddah meet was a resounding success
In the rights issue, the company is offering one share for every 15 shares held at Rs 1,257. The rights shares are expected to be listed on the BSE and NSE on or around June 12.
The deal follows Facebook picking up a 9.99 per cent stake in the firm that houses India's youngest but largest telecom firm on April 22 for Rs 43,574 crore. Within days of that deal, Silver Lake -- the world's largest tech investor -- bought a 1.15 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 5,665.75 crore. On May 8, US-based Vista Equity Partners bought 2.32 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 11,367 crore.
Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon came first in the CEOWORLD magazine's global ranking of the best chief executives across all industries for 2019.
N Chandrasekaran, managing director and chief executive officer of Tata Consultancy Services, has consistently said he wishes to take the company beyond mature economies such as America and Europe, into emerging markets.
Dhirubhai may or may not have owned the government; it would seem his son wants to own the market, notes T N Ninan.
The Vedanta group on Wednesday confirmed putting in a preliminary expression of interest (EoI) for buying the government's stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL).
Saudi Arabia-based Jazira Enterprises has sought marketing rights to retail petrol and diesel in all major districts in the country.
Surajeet Das Gupta explains why Mukesh Ambani's target is by no means impossible.
'India needs offensive and defensive security measures to protect itself.'
According to The Sun, the US owners of the Anfield giants, Fenway Sports Group, have become disillusioned with the club, as they have not managed to reach the top of the Premier League.
Reliance Industries on Friday announced the sale of 2.32 per cent stake in its digital unit to US-based Vista Equity Partners for Rs 11,367 crore, the third deal in a little over two weeks that will inject a combined Rs 60,596.37 crore in the oil-to-telecom conglomerate to help it pare debt. The US-based private equity firm will buy a stake in Jio Platforms, which houses the country's youngest but biggest telecom firm Jio, at an equity value of Rs 4.91 crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 crore.
Older workers are headed for the VRS exit in larger-than-expected numbers even as unrest stirs over unrevised wage settlements.
Prime Minister Modi arrived in Riyadh late Monday night on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia to participate in the high-profile financial summit Future Investment Initiative, dubbed "Davos in the desert", an initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Fernandes wanted Coca-Cola Company to not just transfer 60 per cent of the shares of its Indian firm but also the formula for its concentrate to Indian shareholders.
