RIL inches closer to mega JV with Dow

There’s yet another big global deal brewing and this might turn out to be a real blockbuster. It’s actually a global petrochem powerhouse in the making. Reliance Industries, which has been talking to the $49-billion Dow Chemicals-the world’s second-largest chemicals company-has inched closer to signing an MoU with the US company.

According to sources, talks are at an advanced stage and the two sides are expected to make a formal announcement by this weekend. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani, along with a top-level team, including Nikhil Meswani, Kamal P Nanavaty, Alok Agarwal and Haresh Shah, is scheduled to meet Dow CEO Andrew N Liveris and the rest of the senior team for the final round of negotiations.

The Reliance official spokesperson, however, denied that a deal like this was in the offing. Even an email to Reliance failed to elicit any response. Dow Chemical’s media relations leader Andrew Wood expressed his inability to answer ET’s queries, stating that it is Dow’s policy not to comment on rumours about the company or its activities.

Read more at Economic Times

Orbit Corp to raise Rs 106 cr from IPO

Real estate company Orbit Corporation plans to raise up to Rs 106 crore from its initial public offering (IPO) opening on March 20 to part fund its existing and new projects.

"We expect to raise between Rs 100-110 crore from our IPO and would use the proceeds to part fund our existing and proposed projects in Mumbai," Orbit Corporation Head Finance and Strategies Ramashrya Yadav told reporters here today.

Based on the upper-end of its price band the company would raise around Rs 106.47 crore.

The company is offering 91 lakh equity shares of face value Rs 10 each with a price band of Rs 108-117. The offer would open on March 20 and would close on March 23.

Orbit would also issue one detachable warrant with each equity share and the investor would have the option of converting the warrant into an equity share after 18 months of the issue date, Yadav said.

Read more at Economic Times

Lehman sees GDP growth at 10% in '07-08

India's economic growth rate will touch nearly 10 per cent in the next fiscal year ending in March 2008, driven by robust investments and exports, a senior Lehman Brothers economist said.

"You have got rising incomes, very strong credit growth still, positive wealth and confidence effects from the high asset prices, that is countering what is happening on the monetary policy front," Rob Subbaraman, Lehman's chief economist for Asia, excluding Japan, said in an interview this week.

The US investment bank forecasts the Indian economy to grow at 9.9 per cent in the fiscal year that starts on April 1.

Subbaraman said expansion would be boosted by manufacturing.

Data on Monday showed industrial production rose an annual 10.9 per cent in January and manufacturing, which represents more than three-quarters of industrial output, grew 11.6 per cent.

Read more at Financial Express

RIL opts out of Super Bazar race

Reliance Industries Ltd said on Thursday it was withdrawing its bid for ailing cooperative retail chain Super Bazar over the government's refusal to hand over management and control.

"We would like to withdraw our offer in view of the government's refusal to change the law," Soli Sorabjee, a senior counsel for Reliance, told the Supreme Court of India.

Reliance, which recently forayed into retail, had bid Rs 2.88 billion for the chain.

Reliance had said at the previous hearing it would not want to invest a huge amount of money unless it had effective management and control over Super Bazar, which would require a change in the existing law for cooperatives.

Read more at Financial Express

Vodafone, Essar sign deal

British giant Vodafone and Indian conglomerate Essar group on Thursday reached an agreement for jointly running India's fourth largest mobile firm - Hutch-Essar, which would be rechristened as Vodafone Essar.

The two companies said in a joint statement that they have agreed on partnership terms for Hutchison Essar, in which Vodafone is acquiring 67 per cent stake from Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecom International Ltd while Essar would continue to retain its 33 per cent stake.

"The partners have agreed that Hutchison Essar will be renamed Vodafone Essar and in due course the business will market its products and services under the Vodafone brand," it said.

Under the terms of the partnership, Vodafone will have operational control of Vodafone Essar and Essar will have rights consistent with its shareholding, including proportionate Board representation.

Ravi Ruia will be appointed as Chairman of Vodafone Essar and Arun Sarin will be Vice Chairman.

Read more at Financial Express

Ranbaxy, Cipla in bids for Merck`s generic biz

Leading Indian drug makers Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and Cipla Ltd have submitted bids to acquire the generic drugs business, estimated to be worth $6 billion, of German pharma major Merck KGaA.

Ranbaxy is approaching the bidding race on its own and Cipla is part of a consortium of private equity partners. Cipla’s safe play seems to have impressed the market as its scrip rose 1.57 per cent to Rs 236.35 at the close of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange today. The Ranbaxy scrip declined one per cent to Rs 320.65.

Confirming the development, Amar Lulla, joint managing director, Cipla, said the company is not planning any investments in the deal but would be the technical partner to a consortium. He declined to provide further details.

Ranbaxy confirmed that it “has made a non-binding bid for the asset, at a value it considers fair and reasonable.” Malvinder Singh, CEO and MD, said, “We are looking to evaluate the asset and are going to be practical about it. We are not in a rat race for acquisitions but are focused on creating value for our shareholders.” Read more in Business Standard

Enam, JP Morgan in talks for alliance

Vallabh Bhansali-controlled Enam Financial Consultants, one of the leading home-grown investment banks in India, is learnt to be in talks with JP Morgan for a strategic alliance.

Sources close to the developments said that the alliance with JP Morgan might also include acquisition of equity in Enam. Talks were at an advanced stage, they said.

Lehman Brothers, which had also expressed interest in Enam earlier, is learnt to be out of the race, making JP Morgan the sole candidate for a strategic tieup.

When contacted, an official spokesperson for Enam said: "We do keep getting offers for a strategic alliance. It is a continuous evolution process. Presently, we are solo." An official spokesperson for JP Morgan said: "As a policy we don't comment on market speculations."The sources, however, said the JP Morgan was looking at buying 50 per cent stake in Enam. Read more in Business Standard

SAIL plans JV with Manganese Ore

To ensure long-term security of critical raw materials, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which has earmarked Rs 40,000 crore for capacity expansion, has proposed to form a JV with Manganese Ore India (MOIL) besides picking up stake in an SPV to be floated for acquisition of coal mines abroad.

The proposed joint venture with MOIL, also a unit under the steel ministry, would produce ferro-manganese and ferro silicon with installation of three furnaces at Bhilai and a total proposed capital outlay of Rs 225 crore, SAIL chairman S K Roongta said yesterday.

He said SAIL has decided to pick up stake in a proposed special purpose vehicle to be floated by five PSUs including Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Coal India, National Thermal Power Corporation and National Mineral Development Corporation for acquisition of coal mines abroad. He, however, did not give details of the proposed SPV.

Reports said the five PSUs would invest Rs 4,000 crore in the proposed SPV, and SAIL is expected to contribute Rs 1,000 as equity.

Roongta said that besides the Rs 40,000 crore capacity expansion programme, SAIL has decided to set up a greenfield plant with a capacity of 6 million tonne in Jharkhand in lieu of the renewal of leases of iron ore mines at Chiria, which have reserves of two billion tonne. SAIL has already communicated its decision to the Jharkhand government, which wanted value-addition to iron ore sourced from the state.

RIL sharpens teeth to bite into Carrefour chunk

RIL wants a bite of retail giant Carrefour. The company is in preliminary talks to pick up one or two of Carrefour subsidiaries. A deal could be likely by June, reports CNBC-TV18.It is the season for big-ticket acquisitions and Mukesh Ambani is keen to join the party. RIL is going retail shopping and wants a piece of the world's third-largest retailer Carrefour.

Currently, Carrefour operates across 29 different countries and has a chain of 12,000 stores and saw sales of 93 billion euros last year. So that should explain why RIL couldn’t go after Carrefour itself. What is however possible and likely is RIL picking up one or two of Carrefour’s many subsidiaries.

RIL could look at picking up the supply-chain and commodities trading subsidiaries. Talks are said to be in preliminary stages but a final agreement is likely before June. This move is expected to strengthen RIL's supply-chain management and also help improve its sourcing abilities.That is not all - RIL is also said to be eyeing, an international tier-II retail chain.

Names doing the rounds are UK's Sainsburys and Marks and Spencer’s foods. While the names get bigger, so does the war chest. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Mukesh Ambani is getting ready to go shopping with a whopping USD 50 billion. That is enough to buy Corus eight times over! While the Ambanis are known to think big, this may be more than even they can chew.