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Fianchetto
The week’s strategic moves and the movers who made them
02 Jan 2009
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| (Bloomberg) |
Idea’s New Home
Mumbai-based Idea Cellular, which recently entered the Karnataka market by acquiring Spice Communications, is planning to invest Rs 300 crore in the state over the next year. The Aditya Birla Group also plans to hike its 40 per cent coverage of the 57.3 million population in the State to 78 per cent by March 2010, says Sanjeev Aga, managing director of Idea.
Human touch
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has acquired ECS, an operations and human resources consultancy firm, from Eicher Goodearth. “With ECS’s operations and HR skills and capabilities, PwC can enhance its offering to clients and continue to distinguish our consulting services,” says PwC chairman Ramesh Rajan in a statement. ECS, formerly known as Eicher Consulting, provides operations and HR consulting services for companies in the manufacturing and financial services sectors.
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| (Bloomberg) |
Power Plans
Tata Power Trading Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power Company, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Chennai-based Spice Energy group to purchase the entire output from its upcoming 2,000-MW power project in Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. “We are setting up a coal-based thermal power plant and have concluded the PPA with Tata Power,” says D. Sundararajan, CEO of SRM Energy, a Spice Energy group company.
Ripple Effects
Anticipating a further reduction in interest rates by the central bank, Punjab National Bank has announced a 50 basis points cut in its benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR), from 12.5 per cent to 12 per cent, with effect from 1 January 2009. This will result in a reduction in all loans linked to BPLR, including retail, agriculture and micro, small and medium enterprises loans. With this, PNB’s lending rates will be the lowest among its peer banks.
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| (Pic by Bivash Banerjee) |
Cementing Future
Singapore-based Stansen Holding has picked up a 9.1 per cent stake in Binani Cement, a subsidiary of the Binani group. Stansen bought the stake from Ganesha Prime Holdings, the Mauritius-based private equity arm of Credit Suisse.
Learning Curve
Mumbai-based Core Projects & Technologies has acquired the K-12 division of US education firm The Princeton Review for $20 million, through the company’s US subsidiary, Core Education & Consulting Solutions Inc. The buyout will add $24 million to the global revenues of Core Projects & Technologies. The deal includes the acquisition of products and solutions, along with management team of The Princeton Review.
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| (Bloomberg) |
African Find
Italian oil and gas company Eni has signed an agreement with the government of Gabon to explore oil and gas in the central African country. Eni has bagged six high-potential licences (two offshore and four onshore), covering a surface area of more than 8,000 sq. km. Gabon produces 240,000 barrels of oil per day.
New Honcho
Optical storage device maker Moser Baer has appointed Rajiv Arya as the CEO of its solar photovoltaic business. Arya was the chief operating officer in the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary — Moser Baer Photovoltaic.
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| (Pic by Satheesh Nair) |
Lowering Fare
Jet Airways has reduced fares by 15-40 per cent in response to the steep fall in aviation turbine fuel prices. “The fare cut will be across all domestic sectors,” says a company spokesperson. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had repeatedly asked private airlines to pass on the benefit of the sharp drop in aviation fuel prices to passengers. State-owned Air India announced a nominal fare cut a few days ago. Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines has also announced a fare cut from next month but has not indicated by what percentage the reduction will be.
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| (Pic by Bivash Banerjee) |
Premium Demand
Hyundai Motors India has launched i20, its second sedan in the compact segment after i10. “The high-end compact segment will grow more rapidly than other segments in the coming years,” says Heung Soo Lheem, managing director of Hyundai Motors India. i20, which will be available in three variants, is priced between Rs 4.80 lakh and Rs 5.80 lakh
BW-THOMSON REUTERS M&A DEAL TRACKER
December: The Asian M&A market saw 7,952 deals worth $303.95 billion as on December 2008. China emerged as the largest market in the region with 2,913 deals worth $99.30 billion.
Top Indian Deals
Top Asian Markets
India Financial Advisory Rankings
Top Asian Deals
Click here to view complete list
(Businessworld Issue 06-12 Jan 2009)
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Sensex rises 61 points in opening trade 
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