Lakshmi Mittal hardly has any business interests in India. Therefore, to eulogise him as some did after his successful takeover of Arcelor was an attempt at "appropriating" him.

In a country starved of real life heroes other than some of our armed forces personnel and intrepid social activists, such attempts are always spearheaded by intellectually bankrupt political leaders who are forever looking for a respectable straw to clutch on to. The real coming of age of corporate India has happened only this week with the homegrown Tatas’ acquisition of European steel maker Corus.

Everything about the Tatas represents Indian ambition and gumption. From nowhere, Tata Motors is now the third largest car maker in India riding on the success of the Indica which was summarily dismissed as a ‘mini truck’ by detractors when it was launched.

If Ratan Tata can pull off his dream venture of the Rs one lakh car, such a feat would be an equivalent of an Indian on the moon. TCS employs close to 75,000 people which makes this Tata company the biggest employer in the Indian software industry.

Whilst the Tatas probably contribute more to social causes than any other Indian business group, Mr Lakshmi Mittal has recently gone on record saying that he is perhaps "too young to consider charity". Jharkhand would have been no different from Bihar were it not for the Tatas’ virtual adoption of Jamshedpur.

Yet the Tatas face flak from the likes of Mamata Banerjee whose sense of economics is obviously rather hazy. Successive central governments have also denied the Tatas’ re-entry into the civil aviation sector to protect the narrow interests of relatively unknown business groups who are beneficiaries of crony capitalism.

Mr Kamal Nath did all he could to influence the European Union prior to Mr Mittal’s takeover of Arcelor but he did not ostensibly lobby for Ratan Tata.

The transformational acquisition of Corus signals several things to upright Indians. For one, it brings hope to incorruptible Indian entrepreneurs to succeed without government "intervention" and at another level it fosters a spirit of nationalism as the Tatas are an integral part of India’s business fabric with an exemplary track record in corporate social responsibility though they are not exactly "media darlings" like Mr Narayan Murthy or Mr Azim Premji.


Courtesy : www.asianage.com

Alembic Ltd., a pharmaceutical company, on Thursday announced the acquisition of the entire domestic non-oncology formulation business of Dabur Pharma Ltd. The consideration for the acquisition is Rs 159 crores plus the actual net working capital on the closing date.

The transaction is likely to be completed in about two months, the company said.

The non-oncology formulations business of Dabur Pharma focuses on segments like ardiovascular, diabetic and gastrointestinal, gynaecology, etc.

"This acquisition will be funded through a combination of internal accruals and debt. The option of dilution of small equity is also not ruled out. We will be leveraging the company’s strong financial position for fuelling further growth," said Mr R. K. Baheti, director and president, finance, Alembic.

The business had net sales of Rs 62 crores for the nine months ended December 31, 2006 and is expected to post sales of Rs 80 crores for the full year, the company said.

According to Mr Chirayu Amin, chairman and MD, Alembic, "This strategic acquisition is to enhance our domestic market share by entering prospective therapy segments. Alembic will aggressively pursue its strategic goals through organic and inorganic initiatives in the near future."

The company plans to ramp up this business significantly by introducing new products and aggressive growth of existing products in a short period of one to two years, it said.


Courtesy : www.asianage.com

Reliance Energy Ltd. is among the shortlisted companies in the bid to buy 30 per cent stake in two Indonesian coal mines, an industry official told on Thursday.

The coal mines — Kaltum Prima Cola and Arutmin Coal Mines — belong to Indonesia’s PT Bumi Resources Tbk. Besides Reliance Energy, other shortlisted companies are Tata Power, Switzerland’s Glencore International AG, Korea’s KEPCO and Japan’s Mitsubishi. Bumi Resources has 95 per cent stake in KPC and 100 per cent in Artumin.

Reliance Energy is also in the race to buy 30 per cent in another Bumi-owned company, IndoCoal Resources.

IndoCoal purchases coal from the two coal mines bid for and sells to customers through global marketing customers.

KPC’s total coal production in 2005 was 28.3 million tonnes, while Arutmin output during the year was 17.4 mt.

Reliance Energy and Tata Power’s bids to acquire these mines are part of their strategy to tie up coal requirements for their ambitious growth plans.

Tata Power recently won a mandate to build a 4,000 MW ultra mega power project at Mundra, Gujarat, to be run on imported coal. The company also plans to build a 2,000 MW coal-based power plant in coastal Maharashtra.

Reliance Energy, besides setting up a 1,200 MW Rosa power project in Uttar Pradesh, is bidding aggressively for ultra mega power projects, six of which are yet to be awarded.


Courtesy : www.asianage.com