Category Archives: Business

Business, Finance, Healthcare

Fortis Healthcare plans 2-for-5 rights share issue

Fortis Healthcare, the hospital-chain, is coming up with a 2-for-5 rights share issue. And the subscribers will also be entitled to two detachable warrants.

Announcement Date 24-12-2008
Rights Ratio 2:5
Face Value Rs 10
Premium Rs 100
Record Date 20-08-2009
Ex-Rights Date 18-08-2009

Fortis will price its rights issue at Rs 110 per share, to raise Rs 9.97 billion excluding the warrants, it said in a statement to the stock exchange.

The funds will be used mainly to fund greenfield projects (Medicity Gurgaon), redemption of preference shares, repayment of short-term debt, and for M&A and investment opportunities.

Business, Energy, Infrastructure, Real Estate

Scheme of Arrangement between Reliance Infrastructure and its Subsidiaries

Reliance Infrastructure Limited has informed the Exchange that the equity shareholders of Reliance Infrastructure Limited, at their meeting convened pursuant to the Order of the Honble High Court of Judicature at Bombay, held on June 09, 2009 have approved the Scheme of Arrangement between the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries Reliance Energy Generation Limited , Reliance Goa and Samalkot Power Limited, Reliance Power Transmission Limited, Reliance Energy Limited, Reliance Infraventures Limited and Reliance Property Developers Limited and their respective shareholders and creditors under Sections 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956.

The votes cast in favour of the resolution approving the Scheme were 99.9993% of the total votes cast at the meeting. Further, the Company has submitted to the Exchange the Media Release dated June 09, 2009 titled “Shareholders of Reliance Infrastructure Limited approve the Scheme of Arrangement for Demerger of the following divisions of the Company:

i. Dahanu Thermal Power Station

ii. Goa and Samalkot Power Stations

iii. Power Transmission

iv. Power Distribution

v. Toll Roads

vi. Real Estate to the respective wholly owned resulting companies”.

Business, Energy, World

ONGC Videsh updates from Middle East

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), is likely to invest .45 billion in an oil block in Iraq that was awarded to it by the erstwhile Saddam Hussein regime.

“The service exploration and production contract for Block-8 have been concluded and the agreement is likely to be signed in the next couple of months,” an official said.

Block-8, located in the western desert in southern Iraq bordering Saudi Arabia, was awarded to OVL in November 2000 by the then Saddam Hussein government. However, the government formed after the US invasion of the oil-rich country, sought re-negotiation of the contract which has now been concluded. The block already has a discovery and is estimated to hold 645 million barrels of reserves, of which 54 million are recoverable, he said adding OVL has committed investing million in two phases of explo ration and .45 billion in development of the reserves thereafter.

The contract would be a service contract wherein OVL will be paid about 18 per cent rate of return on its investment. The official said OVL was also considering bidding for the six producing oilfields Iraq has put on offer in its first licensing auction.

The official said Iraqi law allows foreign firms to hold a maximum of 75 per cent stake in the oilfields put on offer. The six producing oil fields on offer are: Kirkuk and Bai Hassan in the north, North and South Rumaila, West Qurna-I, Zubair and the three Meissan fields in the south. Besides, two gas fields — Akas in the western Anbar desert and the Mansooriya field in northeast of Baghdad, are also on offer.

Business

Reliance Communications Results: Q4 FY2009

Reliance Communications (RCOM) Q4 FY09 Results and Highlights

  • consolidated net profit went up 3.12% at Rs 1,454.3 crore from Rs 1,410.3 crore (QoQ).
  • consolidated net sales increased 1.5% to Rs 5,522.8 crore vs Rs 5,441.5 crore (QoQ).
  • Q4 other income up at Rs 325.9 crore vs Rs 178.42 crore.
  • RCOM added 11 million subscribers in Q4.
  • RCOM now has total subscriber base at 73 million (second behind 94 million of Bharti Airtel)
  • Low cost service will help margin despite competitive tariffs.
  • Wireless market share has increased from 18% to 19% in Q4.
  • Communication Towers (Passive Infrastructure) : RCOM added 5,000 towers in Q4; total tower base is 48,000
  • RCOM launched Net Connect broadband programme with speed at 3.1 mbps
  • Capex intensity is to reduce substantially in FY10.
  • FY10 capex guidance at Rs 10,000 crore; lesser than preliminary guidance of Rs 15,000 crore.

We believe RCOM offers a good long term India investment opportunity despite near term problems in revenues, because it has been building an infrastructure with latest technologies, for economies of scale, and has lined-up diverse services for stability in revenue sources, and actively acquired other companies where RCOM did not have depth. Therefore, we believe in the growth potential of RCOM, and the buisness will generate cash flows in the coming years.

Business, Finance

ICICI Bank needs to raise $1bn for FY2010 liabilities: Chanda Kochhar

ICICI Bank needs to raise $1 billion to meet the liabilities at the bank’s global operations due this year, said new CEO Chanda Kochhar. Out of the total $2 billion due to repay, half of the amount will be met through the assets maturities while the rest could be through deposits. ICICI will fund growth in the overseas businesses through raising retail deposits and avoid sales of bonds and interbank borrowing, said Kochhar.

“The rate of growth of that business is definitely going to be very different; in the past, that business has grown 50-60% for us,”‘ said Kochhar. “In the coming year, the growth rate is going to be very moderated” as Indian companies pare back their plans of overseas expansion as well as acquisition, she said. [source : Asian Cerc]