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November 2008
Back to his roots
Ratan Tata has decided to make his Nano, the world's cheapest car, in Gujarat, the state where the Tata clan, of Parsi faith, made their first home in India after their ancestors fled Persia (now Iran). If all goes well Tata Motors will be given a 1,000 acre site near Sanand, 26 km from the western fringes of Ahmedabad, to build the first Nano plant. Completed cars, which seat four, would be sold around US$2,500. Tata Motors has pulled out of a planned plant in West Bengal due to protest by farmers and other residents.
And to America Tata Consultancy Services will buy Citigroup's India back office unit for US$505 million and expects revenue to start flowing in from the acquisition as soon as the first quarter of next year, says TCS Chief Operating Officer N. Chandrasekaran.
Nomura in, Lehman out Japan's Nomura will buy over the defunct Lehman Brothers' India operations, a move that would expand its workforce in India by 3,000, including 1,200 IT professionals.
Invest in Malaysia Chennai-based Malladi Drugs and Pharmaceutical says it would invest up to US$300 million over the next three to five years to set up its global "one-stop shop" in Malaysia.
JV rejected The Indian government has rejected a proposal by Mahindra & Mahindra to form a 51/49 joint venture with BAE Systems of Britain to make land mine protected vehicles.
Cement maker going green India's leading cement maker ACC has secured technological support from Switzerland's Holcim to develop an alternative business based on alternative fuels, raw materials and waste management, says managing director Sumit Banerjee.
Wipro chief's new investment Premji Invest, the investment fund floated by chairman of the Wipro group, Azim Premji, has picked up 3% in the National Stock Exchange for around US$100 million (Rs 480 crore.). Some of the current shareholders of NSE have been selling down their stake to conform to a government rule prohibiting ownership of the stock exchange exceeding 5%. Premji Invest manages about US$ 1 billion.
GSK's new plant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the second largest drug maker in the world, is to set up a new manufacturing production line in Nashik, Maharashtra to manufacture 300 million tablets of albendazole per year for the treatment of Lymphatic Filariasis. This will double GSK's global albendazole capacity after production begins in late 2008.
Guar cash Farmers in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab are finding a new cash crop in guar, a former cattle fodder now discovered by western companies to be perfect for a wide varieties of uses from food processing and skincare products to use as gum for oil wells. Demand for guar is growing on a compound rate of 15% annually.
Jaguar powers into India After it is acquired by Tata of India, Jaguar Land Rover plans to expand its single outlet in the country and raise sales there to counter the slowdown in demand in the western world.
CLP Hldg in India The Hong Kong listed power generator controlled by the Jewish Kadoorie family has successfully bid to build and operate a coal-fired power generator in the northern state of Haryana which involves an investment of at least US$1.2 billion.
New York predator Recap Partners LLC, based in New York, is making a US$202 million offer to buy all the assets of HOV Services, a business process outsourcing firm based in Chennai, along with two HOV operating units in Beijing and Hong Kong. Last February HOV bought US-based Lason for US$148 million.
Nano demands Demand for Tata Motors' super-cheap car (US$2,500), the Nano, is expected to exceed supply, says chairman Ratan Tata while raising US$1.7 billion for the production of the Nano and for the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.
Pfizer buys time The American drugmaker has settled most of its worldwide litigations with Ranbaxy Laboratories in the sale of its blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (US$12.7 billion sale in 2007) in an arrangement that called for Ranbaxy to sell the generic versions in 2011 rather than 2010 as earlier planned.
Bottom feeder US distress hunter Wilbur Ross has invested US$80 million in India budget airline SpiceJet on the belief that the current oil price "is a bubble and will not last". Ross keeps his stake below 15% to avoid making a general offer.
More British listings Six more Indian firms are likely to be listed on the London Stock Exchange, bringing 20% to the current 30 listed, says financial adviser Grant Thornton.
No overseas listing The Indian government has firmly refused to allow unlisted Indian companies to seek listing in the US and elsewhere by issuing American and global depository receipts.
One stop investment The Hatton National Bank, Sri Lanka and the Development Finance Corporation of Ceylon have push forward a joint venture called Acuity to offer a range of investment banking services in Sri Lanka, South India and Bangladesh.
ONGC departed stage left After failing to get the tax incentive it wanted, giant Oil and National Gas Corporation will exit the huge refinery and petrochemical project at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, with its 51% stake likely to be picked up by power generator GMR.
And entered stage right ONGC has offered to buy the London-listed Imperial Energy Corp, a Russian oil firm, to fan its overseas expansion. Imperial has previously rebuffed offer by Russian state firm Gazprom to buy a 25% stake.
Nomura rising The Japanese broker is expanding its presence in India by adding stock trading and asset management as part of the move to double revenue from Asian markets outside of Japan in the next five years.
All that glitters Rio Tinto has lodged mining lease application for its Bunder diamond project in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, which is estimated to have up to 70 million tonnes of hard rock of between 0.3 to 0.7 carats per tonne.
Zee's advice Zee News is branching into the consulting business to help entrepreneurs to build and operate regional news channels.
Oz drugs Cipla of Mumbai has inked an agreement to supply more than 100 over-the-counter drugs to Sigma Pharmaceuticals of Australia as its first foray into Down Under.
Volvo JV Volvo of Sweden will form a new venture with Eicher of Delhi to make commercial vehicles. The venture will subsume the truck and bus divisions of both Eicher and Volvo India. Volvo will own 45.6% the new company.
Malaysia spice India's fifth largest mobile operator Idea Cellular will buy 40.8% of Spice Communication and will acquire additional 20% of Spice with Telekom Malaysia which owns just below 40% of Spice.
And to America Tata Consultancy Services will buy Citigroup's India back office unit for US$505 million and expects revenue to start flowing in from the acquisition as soon as the first quarter of next year, says TCS Chief Operating Officer N. Chandrasekaran.
Nomura in, Lehman out Japan's Nomura will buy over the defunct Lehman Brothers' India operations, a move that would expand its workforce in India by 3,000, including 1,200 IT professionals.
Invest in Malaysia Chennai-based Malladi Drugs and Pharmaceutical says it would invest up to US$300 million over the next three to five years to set up its global "one-stop shop" in Malaysia.
JV rejected The Indian government has rejected a proposal by Mahindra & Mahindra to form a 51/49 joint venture with BAE Systems of Britain to make land mine protected vehicles.
Cement maker going green India's leading cement maker ACC has secured technological support from Switzerland's Holcim to develop an alternative business based on alternative fuels, raw materials and waste management, says managing director Sumit Banerjee.
Wipro chief's new investment Premji Invest, the investment fund floated by chairman of the Wipro group, Azim Premji, has picked up 3% in the National Stock Exchange for around US$100 million (Rs 480 crore.). Some of the current shareholders of NSE have been selling down their stake to conform to a government rule prohibiting ownership of the stock exchange exceeding 5%. Premji Invest manages about US$ 1 billion.
GSK's new plant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the second largest drug maker in the world, is to set up a new manufacturing production line in Nashik, Maharashtra to manufacture 300 million tablets of albendazole per year for the treatment of Lymphatic Filariasis. This will double GSK's global albendazole capacity after production begins in late 2008.
Guar cash Farmers in Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab are finding a new cash crop in guar, a former cattle fodder now discovered by western companies to be perfect for a wide varieties of uses from food processing and skincare products to use as gum for oil wells. Demand for guar is growing on a compound rate of 15% annually.
Jaguar powers into India After it is acquired by Tata of India, Jaguar Land Rover plans to expand its single outlet in the country and raise sales there to counter the slowdown in demand in the western world.
CLP Hldg in India The Hong Kong listed power generator controlled by the Jewish Kadoorie family has successfully bid to build and operate a coal-fired power generator in the northern state of Haryana which involves an investment of at least US$1.2 billion.
New York predator Recap Partners LLC, based in New York, is making a US$202 million offer to buy all the assets of HOV Services, a business process outsourcing firm based in Chennai, along with two HOV operating units in Beijing and Hong Kong. Last February HOV bought US-based Lason for US$148 million.
Nano demands Demand for Tata Motors' super-cheap car (US$2,500), the Nano, is expected to exceed supply, says chairman Ratan Tata while raising US$1.7 billion for the production of the Nano and for the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.
Pfizer buys time The American drugmaker has settled most of its worldwide litigations with Ranbaxy Laboratories in the sale of its blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor (US$12.7 billion sale in 2007) in an arrangement that called for Ranbaxy to sell the generic versions in 2011 rather than 2010 as earlier planned.
Bottom feeder US distress hunter Wilbur Ross has invested US$80 million in India budget airline SpiceJet on the belief that the current oil price "is a bubble and will not last". Ross keeps his stake below 15% to avoid making a general offer.
More British listings Six more Indian firms are likely to be listed on the London Stock Exchange, bringing 20% to the current 30 listed, says financial adviser Grant Thornton.
No overseas listing The Indian government has firmly refused to allow unlisted Indian companies to seek listing in the US and elsewhere by issuing American and global depository receipts.
One stop investment The Hatton National Bank, Sri Lanka and the Development Finance Corporation of Ceylon have push forward a joint venture called Acuity to offer a range of investment banking services in Sri Lanka, South India and Bangladesh.
ONGC departed stage left After failing to get the tax incentive it wanted, giant Oil and National Gas Corporation will exit the huge refinery and petrochemical project at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, with its 51% stake likely to be picked up by power generator GMR.
And entered stage right ONGC has offered to buy the London-listed Imperial Energy Corp, a Russian oil firm, to fan its overseas expansion. Imperial has previously rebuffed offer by Russian state firm Gazprom to buy a 25% stake.
Nomura rising The Japanese broker is expanding its presence in India by adding stock trading and asset management as part of the move to double revenue from Asian markets outside of Japan in the next five years.
All that glitters Rio Tinto has lodged mining lease application for its Bunder diamond project in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, which is estimated to have up to 70 million tonnes of hard rock of between 0.3 to 0.7 carats per tonne.
Zee's advice Zee News is branching into the consulting business to help entrepreneurs to build and operate regional news channels.
Oz drugs Cipla of Mumbai has inked an agreement to supply more than 100 over-the-counter drugs to Sigma Pharmaceuticals of Australia as its first foray into Down Under.
Volvo JV Volvo of Sweden will form a new venture with Eicher of Delhi to make commercial vehicles. The venture will subsume the truck and bus divisions of both Eicher and Volvo India. Volvo will own 45.6% the new company.
Malaysia spice India's fifth largest mobile operator Idea Cellular will buy 40.8% of Spice Communication and will acquire additional 20% of Spice with Telekom Malaysia which owns just below 40% of Spice.
First Published:
November 2008
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Lee Han Shih is the founder, publisher and editor of asia! Magazine.
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An imaginary factual blog of General David Petraeus, Commander, United States Central Command
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