Consolidating For Growth
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Consolidating For Growth
According to some reports, Bharti Airtel has acquired the Mumbai operations of Loop Mobile for Rs 700 crore. This would involve acquisition of both the assets (tower, equipment's, fiber optic network, etc) and customers of Loop. The acquisition apparently seems to be positive for Bharti from both strategic and financial perspectives. It has already secured bandwidth in the present auctions and will further fortify its position on renewals of the existing spectrum it holds in CY15.
Big Bang Capex Plans
The Finance Minister has been quite positive on the capex plans of public sector undertakings. This is probably the start of it. Power Grid Corporation is planning to invest more than Rs 61000 crore in capex over the next three financial years. A significant chunk of funds for the purpose is to be raised by way of bonds and debentures. Out of the total amount, Rs 37641 crore would be raised through bonds/debentures while Rs 7770 crore would be through multilateral funding/ECB/supplier's credit.
Diluting Stake
Promoters of Muthoot Finance are looking at diluting their stake once their application for a bank licence is cleared by the Reserve Bank of India. The management is expecting a decision on this front by the end of this month. if the license comes its way, promoters would approach SEBI for completing the formalities in this regard. If it doesn’t, well, we stay where we are.
Funding Developers
Piramal Enterprises has formed a strategic alliance with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to provide rupee-debt financing to residential projects in Indian cities. Piramal and CPPIB will initially invest USD 250 million each in the venture, which will focus on providing project-level debt to local developers across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune and Chennai.
Production Ramp Up
Eicher Motors plans to invest Rs 600 crore in the coming two years to ramp up production capacity of its motorcycle division Royal Enfield. The firm is also planning to develop new global platforms for launching new bikes starting 2016. Royal Enfield is looking to complete work at its Oragadam facility in the next two years thereby taking the total capacity across the two plants to over five lakh units per annum by 2016. In the year 2013, it had produced a total of 1.78 lakh bikes.
Foreign Interest On The Rise
The Reserve Bank has allowed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to purchase shares in Dabur India up to 30 per cent of the firm's paid up capital. FIIs have been allowed to buy more shares in Dabur as the company has passed a special resolution to enhance the limit for purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by FIIs. As of December 31, 2013 FIIs held a 19.94 per cent stake in the company.
Accounting Concerns
The Corporate Affairs Ministry is said to be examining a report on the accounting practices of telecom major Reliance Communications. This report was called for by the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Mumbai.
A Good African Safari
Mahindra & Mahindra’s operations in South Africa have had its best annual sales in a decade since it began operating in the country. Bolstered primarily due to some government tenders, 2013 seems to have shaped well for the company. The company sold 4056 units of the range that it offers in South Africa, maintaining a consistent upward sales trend with a four per cent increase over the previous year sales.