Coal India in talks for 10-year contracts with overseas suppliers to rein in price volatility

Coal India (CIL) - the world’s largest coal miner is negotiating 10-year contracts with overseas suppliers in an attempt to protect Indian consumers from any volatility in global coal prices. The company is in advanced talks with suppliers in Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and the US for securing coal at 10% discount to the global benchmark price.

CIL is aiming to import at least 30 million tonnes of coal in fiscal 2011-12. The company is in negotiations with global firms such as Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Anglo American, Peabody, Massey Energy, Arch Coal, Murray Energy and Sinarmas since the state owned company did not get adequate confirmed responses from domestic consumers.

Further, the company now plans to import larger quantity of the fossil fuel as its expansion plans have been severely hit by factors such as new pollution norms and law and order issues at some of its mines.

Union Bank inks pact with Nokia

Union Bank of India (UBI) has launched Union Bank Money powered by Nokia across India, starting with the National Capital Region in partnership with Nokia. The service is already available to consumers in Gurgaon, and will be soon go live in Delhi, Faridabad and Noida. This will be followed by a nationwide roll-out over the next few months. The unique service specifically targets users, who do not have a bank account, by providing access to financial services through their mobile phones and driving financial inclusion.
Union Bank Money powered by Nokia operates across all handsets in India. Making the service ubiquitous, highly accessible and user-friendly, Nokia is pre-installing the application in a wide range of Nokia mobile handsets across price points. The application can also be installed nearly on all already existing Nokia handsets in the country.
The Financial Inclusion plan will aim at bringing banking services to over 10 million customers across 32,000 villages by 2013. Nokia will supplement the existing 3000 UBI branches across the country with its unparalleled network of retail outlets spread across the country.
Union Bank of India reported a surge of 8.51% in net profit to Rs 579.57 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 against Rs 534.13 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 4,693 crore, up 24.88% over Rs 3,758 crore for the year ago period.

7Seas gets nomination for FICCI (BAF) Awards -2011

7Seas Entertainment, a Hyderabad based independent IP based games development company have been nominated for the prestigious FICCI (Best animated frames-BAF) Awards 2011.The FICCI nominated one of 7 Seas’ mobile games (The fight 3D) and online games (The dark man) under best mobile game category and best online game category respectively.
FICCI (The Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) frames Asia’s largest convention on the business of entertainment held in Mumbai annually, draws 2500 attendees from India and abroad every year.
7Seas is India’s first independent IP-based games development company certified by ISO: 9001-2008. The company with its head quarters at Hyderabad focuses on developing PC Games, Mobile Games, Console Games and Online Games.

Lenders and promoters to acquire stake in Kingfisher Airlines at 64% premium

Both lenders and promoters of Kingfisher Airlines will pick up equity in the debt-laden airlines at a substantial 64% premium to its current market price by March 31 if the company keeps its commitment on timelines earlier agreed upon. However, the company is yet to decide the date and share conversion price based on SEBI formula.
If this plan goes ahead, all the 18 lenders will own over 12 crore shares of the airline, which could be around 19% of the expanded equity base, without considering further equity dilution via the proposed GDR issue. However, the only catch is that all these banks would have to report mark-to-market losses and accordingly make provisions for it since the stock will be trading at a discount to its acquisition price.
At the end of the third quarter, 66.27% shares in Kingfisher Airlines were held by the promoter group (with UB holdings having 30.57% stake). Kingfisher plans to reduce its debt to Rs 6,000 crore from Rs 7,650 crore after the restructuring exercise.

Indian Oil Corp may defer shutdown of its unit

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) may consider deferring shutdown of units at some of its refineries to meet local demand. IOC has to re-look at their shutdown plans when Indian fuel demand is rising at a fast face along with international fuel prices, company officials quoted.
Indian refiners are struggling to get a good response to their diesel import tenders as traders are expecting that they could get better price by selling the cargoes to Japan than India. Due to this IOC had called off its award for diesel tender.
Recently, IOC had announced its plans to close some of its secondary units and a naphtha cracker plant at northern Panipat refinery. The company’s biggest refinery is reportedly having a capacity to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) crude, while its giant naphtha cracker can annually produce 850,000 tonne of ethylene and 600,000 tonne of propylene in the next fiscal.
The company’s net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 has zoomed by 134.68% at Rs 1634.76 crore as compared to Rs 696.59 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009.

Santowin Corporation inks MoU for gold mine exploring in Ghana

Santowin Corporation has executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a party in Ghana for mining of gold in Ghana. The transaction of the business was informed at its board meeting held on March 19, 2011.

The board has empowered the managing director to take all necessary steps towards implementation of the project in Ghana and elsewhere and also empower to execute Power of Attorney agreement, etc in the interest of the company.

It has also approved that, if necessary, it will open a subsidiary in West Africa and seek listing of company at the Ghana Stock Exchange. The board has also approved to open the bank account in Ghana and remit the money so required for fulfillment of terms and conditions of agreement as and when the same is required.

Further, the company has approved to raise loan for the fulfillment of future commitment if necessary.

DLF to launch its luxury homes project 'Bay View' at Marine Drive today

The country's largest real estate company - DLF will be launching its luxury homes project 'Bay View' at Marine Drive today. The project which comprises exclusive air-conditioned apartments have prices ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2.8 crore developed in 3.78 acres of land.

The project is in close proximity to the Vallarpadam International Container Terminal and the new Express Highway which connects the container terminal with NH47. The apartments in the complex are in the range of 1300 sq.ft to 2700 sq.ft, approximately and a few exclusive town houses have also been included to cater to very exclusive clients.

The apartments are airy and most of them have east facing entrances to make them Vaastu compliant. The property overlooks the backwaters, harbour and the Bolgatty Island. It also has a 20,000 sq.ft clubhouse with swimming pool, three tier security system with video surveillance, air-conditioned lobbies with lounge seating, convenience store for daily needs, etc. The company is also planning to open an exclusive boutique shopping arcade in the complex.

DLF is primarily in the business of real estate development. It operates in all aspects of real estate development, ranging from acquisition of land, to planning, executing, constructing and marketing of project. The company has reported a net profit of Rs 204.84 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to a net profit of Rs 224.43 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, down by 8.73%.

Monnet Ispat’s subsidiary completes acquisitions of Indonesian Coal Company

Monnet Ispat and Energy’s wholly owned subsidiary -- Monnet Global (MGL) -- has completed the acquisition of Indonesian Coal Company -- PT Sarwa Sembada Karya Bumi -- at a price of $24 million in Jambi, Indonesia.
The acquisition gives MGL access to one of the largest thermal coal mine spreading over an area of 25,000 hectares. Presently, only 1500 hectares, out of the entire 25,000 hectres, have been explored and the company has been able to establish 65 million tonne of the coal reserves in the mine and expects these reserves to go up substantially after completing exploration of the total land area.
The prestigious Coal Contract of Works (CCOW), also called Peranjinan Karya Pengusahaan Pertambangan Batubara) PKP2B, which was awarded to  PT Sarwa by the Government of Indonesia, subsequent to the acquisition, gets transferred to MGL making it to the amongst the very few Indian companies to have CCOW.
MGL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monnet Ispat, has offices in Dubai, Jakarta and Johannesburg (South Africa) and does all the global acquisition and mergers for the group.

Sadbhav Engineering bags two orders worth Rs 869.23 crore

Sadbhav Engineering has bagged two projects/ works worth aggregating Rs 869.23 crore from the Executive Engineer, Narmada Development Division 20, Mandleshwar, M. P. in joint venture with GKC Projects - Hyderabad.
The first contract worth Rs 349.30 crore comprises execution of Omkareshwar right bank lift canal including its distribution network up 40 Ha, Chak for culturable command area (CCA) of about 29947 Ha, on turn key basis from RD 51.281 Km to 125.00 Km (excluding VRB at RD 51.281 Km Wasvi- Sirsodia Road). The company will lead the joint venture with 60% participation share.
The second contract worth Rs 519.93 crore comprises execution of Omkareshwar right bank lift canal including its distribution network up 40 Ha, Chak for culturable command area (CCA) of about 28073 Ha, on turn key basis from RD 0.00 Km to 51.281Km (including VRB at RD 51.281 Km Wasvi- Sirsodia Road). The company will lead the joint venture with 40% participation share.
Recently, the company had announced that it is all set to commission 3 of its toll road projects 9 - 12 months in advance, against the original completion date of March 2013. The 97 km Bijapur Hungund toll road will be commissioned by Dec 2011.

HPCL may delay 15-day shutdown of Mumbai refinery

To meet fuel demand from local industry, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) may defer the planned 15-day shutdown of its 60,000 barrels per day crude unit at Mumbai refinery to September.
However, the company has no plans to change a 45-day maintenance shutdown of a 60,000 bpd crude unit, a visbreaker unit and a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at Vizag refinery. The shutdown will begin in November. HPCL runs a 130,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in Mumbai and a 166,000 bpd plant at Vizag, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Recently, the refinery was planning to add new facilities at its Vizag refinery to convert low-value heavy oils into premium products which will significantly increase refining margins, company officials stated. The refinery is also likely to merge Prize Petroleum (PPCL) with itself after attempts to seek for a 50% stake in its oil exploration firm did not yield favorable response. The company will take a final decision on March 25, when the representatives of PPCL will meet the HPCL board.

Most Asian equities climb in Monday morning trade

Majority of Asian equities climbed in the Monday morning trade as investors tracked the positive cues from the US markets which climbed on Friday while Japan’s progress in battling radiation leaks at a nuclear complex too spurred optimism in the region. However, the surge in crude oil prices on the back of lingering upheaval in Libya, where the US and allied forces launched a military campaign over the weekend in support of a UN resolution, threatening to jeopardize the market's fragile confidence. Stock markets in China remained very volatile in morning trade as oil stocks advanced due to spike in crude prices while copper producers receded on fears that the Chinese central bank may take measures to tame inflation.
Hang Seng surged 234.16 points or 1.05% to 22,534.39, Jakarta Composite advanced 10.51 points or 0.30% to 3,504.58, KLSE Composite added 0.56 points or 0.04% to 1,504.45, Straits Times climbed 25.65 points or 0.87% to 2,961.43, Seoul Composite soared 17.89 points or 0.90% to 1,999.02, Taiwan Weighted jumped 85.86 points or 1.02% to 8,480.61.
On the other hand only Shanghai Composite traded in the negative zone after shedding 4.92 points or 0.17% to 2,901.96.
Stock markets in Japan remained shut on account of Spring Equinox Day holiday.

Tata Steel rises on launching Perpetual Hybrid Securities

Tata Steel is currently trading at Rs 599.00, up by 2.70 points or 0.45% from its previous closing of Rs 596.30 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 600.35 and has touched a high and low of Rs 602.90 and Rs 596.55 respectively. So far 264725 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs 737.00 on 26-Mar-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs 448.65 on 26-Jul-2010.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs 607.00 and Rs 577.15 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs 57441.88 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 32.53% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 42.37% and 23.90% respectively. 

Tata Steel has successfully completed the issuance of perpetual hybrid securities worth Rs 1,500 crore. With the issuance of this bond the company became the first Indian corporate to issue securities of such kind. ICICI Bank and J.P. Morgan Securities India were the mandated lead arrangers for the issuance.

The unique features of the securities are that they are perpetual in nature with no maturity or redemption and are callable only at the option of the company. The distribution rate (which may be deferred at the company’s option) on the securities is set at 11.8 percent, with a step up provision if the securities aren’t called after 10 years.

These securities rank senior only to share capital of the company. This provides equity characteristic to these hybrid securities.

Recently, Tata Steel has signed a binding agreement with Canadian iron ore miner New Millennium Capital Corp (NML) for joint development of the taconite iron ore deposit in Canada, 30 kilometers northwest of Schefferville.

Also in a bid to strengthen its downstream capability to serve the automotive sector, the company is planning to set up a new line to double the slitting capacity of its service centre at Gelsenkirchen, in Germany.

Sesa Goa mulls to buy iron ore mine in Kolha-Roida, Orissa: Report

Sesa Goa is reportedly looking to buy iron ore mines in Kolha-Roida, Orissa. The mine is owned by Orissa Minerals Development (OMDC), a company under the ministry of steel and a subsidiary of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam. Sesa Goa is one of the eleven companies and the biggest of the lot to have bid for development of Kolha-Roida mine which was tendered by OMDC in January 2011.
Kolha-Roida mine is spread over nearly 255 hectares (ha). It is the third-biggest mine in the company’s portfolio in terms of area covered. The other bidders include companies like Hyderabad-based Ramky Infrastructure and the mining arm of Kolkata-based Adhunik Metaliks. Sesa Goa had failed to renew a mining contract for Thakurani mine in Orissa in November last year.
Recently Sesa Goa had announced that the Honorable Supreme Court of India has, vide order dated February 07, 2011, upheld the order of single judge of high court of Bombay dated December 18, 2008 approving the Scheme of amalgamation of Sesa Industries with Sesa Goa with appointed date of April 01, 2005.

Info Edge to invest Rs 1 crore in Nogle Technologies

Info Edge (India) has approved an investment of up to Rs 1 crore in Nogle Technologies, an online information sharing portal.
Recently, the company had announced that it is planning to buy multiple internet businesses and build a portfolio of web properties that could be a significant revenue contributor in five years for the company. The company will spend part of its Rs 400 crore cash reserve for these buyouts.
Info Edge (India) owns one of the leading job portals naukri.com. The company is a leading provider of various portals related to online recruitment, matrimonial, real estate and education classifieds and related services in India. The company has a network of 67 offices spread across in 41 cities in India.

BF Utilities trades in green as subsidiary completes FDI process

BF Utilities is currently trading at Rs 753.75, up by 10.00 points or 1.34% from its previous closing of Rs 743.75 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs 755.00 and has touched a high and low of Rs 769.90 and Rs 752.00 respectively. So far 74,000 shares were traded on the counter.

The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1143.90 on 24-Aug-2010 and a 52 week low of Rs. 649.20 on 10-Feb-2011.

Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 789.90 and Rs. 678.15 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 2876.49 crore.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 66.13% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 2.80% and 31.07% respectively.

BF Utilities’ all transactions in relation to the FDI in Nandi Economic Corridor Enterprises (NECE) have been recently completed by NECE. NECE is a company incorporated for and undertaking the implementation of Phase I of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project and an indirect subsidiary of BF Utilities.

The board of directors of BF Utilities, the promoter and indirect holding company of NECE has approved the proposal for, and signing of definitive agreements in relation to, foreign direct investment of a sum of Rs 500 crore. The approval was granted at its meeting held on December 24, 2010.

BF Utilities is engaged in power generation through wind mill technology. The company was set up to satiate the power requirements of the Kalyani Group companies, which have business interests in the areas of steel making, forging, machining, etc.

Call rates surge in the second week of the reporting cycle; tax outflows skew liquidity conditions

The Inter-bank call money rates were at 7.55/60% almost steady compared to its previous close of 7.50 /60% on strong demand at the first day of second week of the reporting fortnight. The call rates are well above the repo level since tax outflows have caused cash crunch leading banks to borrow more in order to cover their mandated requirements. The call rates closed at 7.50/60 in an illiquid market on Saturday.

Banks via Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) borrowed Rs 87,095 crore through repo window on March 16, 2011. While banks via Second Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) borrowed Rs 53,375 crore through repo window and parked Rs 300 crore via reverse repo window on the same day.

The overnight borrowing rates has touched a high of 7.75% and a low of 7.55%, so far.

According to the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), the weighted average rate (WAR) in the call money market was 6.99% on Friday and total volume stood at Rs 1631 crore on the same day.

As per CCIL data, WAR in the CBLO (Collateralized Borrowing and Lending Obligation) market was 2.84% on Friday and total volume stood at Rs 6395 crore on the same day. 

India Securities Group Company exercise its options

India Securities has been informed by Essar Telecommunications Holdings (ETHPL) that its wholly owned subsidiary, ETHL Communications Holdings (ETHL CHL), has exercised its prepayment option in relation to the Series A and Series B Non Convertible Debentures (in accordance with the terms of issue). The payment towards the redemption would be made on March 29, 2011.
Accordingly, post payment the 10.97% stake in Vodafone Essar held by ETHL CHL will be free from all encumbrances.
India Securities is promoted by Essar (Ruia) group and is a subsidiary of Essar Investments. It is into the business of finance, corporate advisory services, project finance, intermediation services project money and foreign exchange markets.
ETHPL holds 11 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar, while the remaining 22 per cent is held through Essar Telecom. Vodafone owns the rest. Vodafone paid $11.1 billion in 2007 for a 67% stake in the firm.
The deal gave Essar the option to sell its entire 33% stake for $5 billion by May 2011, or part of it at a market-determined price. Vodafone has an agreement with Essar that gives it first option to buy out the Indian company’s stake if some or all of the holding is put up for sale. The decision to exercise either put option on or before 8 May, 2011, is entirely the choice of both companies.
Last year in June India Securities (ISL) had said that its board had approved the merger of Essar Telecommunications, which owns an indirect 11 percent stake in Vodafone Essar. Vodafone objected to Essar Telecommunications Holdings' reverse listing into India Securities (ISL) saying ISL's value may be inaccurately used to calculate the value of its Indian telecom joint venture Vodafone Essar.

Bharati Shipyard expects Rs 2,000-crore of orders from offshore and defence segment

Bharati Shipyard is planning to concentrate strongly on the offshore and defence segments and expects over Rs 2,000-crore of orders over the next one year as the offshore and defence segments hold immense potential.

Offshore and defence both the segments are presently growing exponentially and presently, the company's order-book of Rs 5,000-crore has a huge component of off-shore orders at around Rs 3,000-crore and defence orders of around Rs 500-crore. The company expects that there would be a huge demand for defense vessels and it is well-positioned to exploit these opportunities as presently, around 50 ships are under construction at its shipyards due for deliveries by mid-2013.

Recently, Bharati Shipyard was looking to acquire majority 51% stake and management control in Tebma Shipyards for a total consideration of Rs 75.75 crore. The company will infuse fresh equity capital into south-based firm at a price of Rs 19.20 per share of face value of Rs 10 each. Following this acquisition, Tebma’s equity capital base will expand to Rs 77.36 crore from current Rs 7.78 crore.

Tricom Fruit Products to raise Rs 70 crore through issue of equity shares

Tricom Fruit Products has received its borad’s approval for raising of funds to the extent of Rs 70 crore through issue of equity shares of the company, and has appointed merchant bankers for the same.
The board has further approved increasing the authorised share capital of the company to Rs 25 crore divided into 2,50,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each from the existing Rs 17,50,00,000 divided into 1,75,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each.
Tricom Fruit Products is engaged in the processing of wide range of fruits encompassing Mango, Pomegranate, Guava, Papaya, Tomato and Gooseberry (Amla). Supplied in the form of pulp, puree, juice, concentrate they are exclusively customised and processed as aseptic or, frozen based on the customer's requirement.

Voltas inks agreement with KION Group Gmbh for a JV

Voltas has approved the proposal for formation of a joint venture with Linde Material Handling GmbH (LMH), an affiliate of KION Group, Germany for Materials Handling (MH) business of the company. Voltas’s material handling operations will be integrated into a new joint venture company where the KION group will hold a majority share.

The JV Company will be named Voltas Materials Handling (VMH) and is expected to start operations in April 2011. VMH will be KION Group’s sixth brand and will use Voltas to focus on the Indian market with a product range that includes diesel/LPG and electric trucks with load capacities of 1.5 to 16 tons. VMH will have twenty-five branches and dealership all over India.

Voltas would also enter into a supply agreement with the VMH for forklifts to be manufactured at Thane Plant and grant license for use of 'Voltas' brand for forklifts for a period of 5 years on certain conditions.

Voltas is one of the world's premier engineering solutions providers and project specialists. The company offers engineering solutions for a wide spectrum of industries in areas such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning, refrigeration, electro-mechanical projects, textile machinery, mining and construction equipment, materials handling equipment, water management & treatment, cold chain solutions, building management systems, and indoor air quality.

The company reported a decrease of 2.59% in net profit after tax to Rs 67.01 crore for the quarter ended December 2010 from Rs 68.79 crore in the same quarter last year.