The diversified steel-to-telecom Essar Group, with revenues of $ 15 billion, is readying to consolidate its retail initiatives under one roof to maximise synergies and explore new avenues of growth. To shape its plans, Essar is forming a centralised retail think-tank at a group level to strategise the conglomerate's future course of action.
Formally throwing its hat in the Reliance Communications said it was looking to acquire its rival Hutch-Essar and has received funding support for the proposed deal.
This delay was a result of controversies over a 15 per cent holding by Hutchison-Essar Managing Director Asim Ghosh, healthcare major Max's Analjit Singh and financial institution IDFC.
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.
Essar Global on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Minnesota Steel, a US-based privately held company with iron ore reserves of 1.4 billion tonne, for an undisclosed amount.
Besides Ruias, the CBI charged Essar Group director (strategy and Planning) Vikas Saraf, Loop Telecom promoters Kiran Khaitan and her husband I P Khaitan.
The earlier resolution allowing these developers to charge higher power tariffs, now stands cancelled.
Essar Group has bid $150 million for taking over an Australian coal firm, Rocklands Richfields Ltd, bettering an earlier offer from Jindal Steel and Power Ltd.
The Department of Telecommunications has suggested forfeiture of the performance bank guarantee given by Hutchison-Essar and imposed a penalty of Rs 50 crore
The board of Hutch Essar, India's fourth-largest mobile firm that is believed to have generated interest among domestic and global players, met in Mumbai on Friday.
The spat between Essar and Hutchison for the acquisition of BPL (Mumbai) circle is far from over with the Indian corporate maintaining that the Department of Telecom approval for acquisition of BPL shares is yet to come.
Essar Energy chairman Ravi Ruia on Wednesday announced his decision to step down from the post amid the Central Bureau of Investigation claiming that the Essar Group had suppressed facts related to its equity holding in Loop Telecom, an allegation denied by the conglomerate.
In a major outsourcing deal, Nokia has bagged an order to manage Hutch-Essar's mobile network in nine circles for five years
The Oil Ministry has been trying since July to get an Empowered Committee of Secretaries to vet the separate price proposals of RIL and Essar but the panel has so far not decided to take up the issue.
Hutchison Telecom International Limited, which recently sold its 67 per cent control in mobile service provider Hutchison Essar to Vodafone, has filed a caveat in the Bombay high court requesting that it be made a party to any suit by the Ruias.
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
Ruia's-owned Essar Group is among four consortia in race to buy Royal Dutch Shell Plc's stake in four Nigerian oil fields.
Ruias-controlled Essar Oil is close to acquiring two oil and gas blocks in Australia. The company has emerged as the preferred bidder for developing the blocks amidst international competition. The ruias will hold 100 per cent equity in the blocks.
"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 cable said the Maoists pose a real threat to development and security in the region and efforts to bring these areas back into the orbit of the government is warranted.
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.
Rosneft bought a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil's refinery port and petrol pumps, while Netherlands-based Trafigura Group Pte, one of the world's biggest commodity trading companies, and Russian investment fund United Capital Partners split another 49 per cent equity equally.
The report said that out of them, six are generation companies, 11 distribution firms and one transmission entity. The process of privatisation is being handled by Nigeria's Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
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.
Essar Steel's 4.6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) at Hazira generates 20-24 per cent slag and less than one per cent dust, both are waste products. Essar Steel uses electric arc furnaces to produce the commodity in its lone domestic steel-making facility at Hazira in Gujarat. It is also setting up additional 4.9 mtpa facility adjoining to the existing plant.
Essar group is in talks with international bankers to raise about $5 billion (over Rs 20,000 crore) by leveraging its 33 per cent stake in Hutch-Essar, the country's fourth-largest mobile player in which UK's Vodafone recently acquired majority stake
A PIL had sought probe into the Essar e-mail leak case.
Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin is expected to visit India next month to reconstitute the board of Hutch Essar, which would be renamed as Vodafone Essar.
The ongoing arguments in the case remained inconclusive and would continue on August 5
The survey would take 6-8 months and as part of the concession, Essar would be able to conduct exploratory mining for iron ore, manganese ore, chrome ore or any other available mineral. The area, that Essar has earmarked for exploration, measures 7,851.69 hectares and is one of the larger deposits. The mining concession was granted by departmento nacional de producao mineral, government of Brazil, in response to Essar's application.
Consolidating its position in the Hutchison-Essar telecom venture, Ruias' Essar Teleholding have increased their stake to 30.42 per cent in the JV by buying out 3.43 per cent stake held by a Hutch's subsidiary Usha Martin Telemetics for Rs 267 crore
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