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OVL to invest $450 mn in Venezuela

Mumbai, April 05: OVL will be investing around USD 450 million in Venezuela where the company has picked up a 40 percent stake in an oil gas block, Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.

Deora said he would be going to Venezuela tomorrow to sign an agreement to this effect with PDBSA, which holds the remaining 60 percent in the block.

Production is expected to start in about three years time, the Minister said

i am responsible: Samsung chief

Seoul, April 05: Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-Hee admitted his partial responsibility for at least one of the allegations on corruption on Saturday after a special prosecutor questioned him for about 11 hours for the high-profile probe.

South Korea launched the probe in January in response to accusations made by a former top legal executive at Samsung that the company kept a war chest of over USD 200 million to bribe officials in order to squash investigations into its management practices.

"I am responsible for all of this. It is my responsibility and I will take responsibility. That is what I know. Thank you," said Lee, who was surrounded by dozens of journalists.

When he was asked whether he admitted to key allegations, he said, "It depends on the case. I am not admitting for 100 percent of them."

Samsung has denied any wrongdoing and called the accusations groundless. A group spokesman said it has refrained from making statements about specifics of the special investigation.

"I deeply apologise to the people for causing this disturbance. I will humbly accept the results of the special probe," Lee added.

Under his rein, Samsung grew to a giant group with about 60 affiliates, accounting for about one fifth of the country`s exports.

On Wednesday (April 2), the special counsel questioned Lee`s wife.

Prosecutors have so far raided and searched various locations belonging to the Samsung Group, including Chairman Lee`s private residence and offices of its flagship Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

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Pakistan to ensure level playing field for exports

Karachi, April 05: The Pakistan government will ensure a level playing field for exports so that they can compete with countries like China and India even as it adopts measures to increase the confidence of foreign investors, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani said on Saturday.

"We will try and ensure that a level playing field is provided to all our exporters in order to compete with countries such as China, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," he said during an interaction with a delegation of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry at the Governor House here.

"We shall also make all possible efforts to bolster our exports and all necessary steps shall be taken to facilitate the exporter community. Also, concrete measures shall be adopted to increase the confidence of foreign investors," he said.

Gillani outlined several steps his government intended to take to resolve the problems of the business community, including the need for a "significant improvement in law and order", the issue of multiplicity of control by various government agencies and a comprehensive policy to ensure the setting up of new industries to generate employment.

"It should also be your top-most priority to make Pakistan an attractive market for foreign investors. The government shall make all possible efforts to provide help in this regard in the shape of infrastructure and facilities," he said.

Gillani said the current energy crisis faced by Pakistan will be addressed as a "top priority", adding that the government will build small dams in the short term and large dams in the long term to overcome an impending shortage of water.

Cautious approach needed on FTA with China: Assocham

New Delhi, April 05: India should be cautious while signing free trade agreements (FTAs), specially with China as it could affect the interest domestic industry, a report released by industry chamber Assocham said on Saturday.

According to the report titled 'India's FTAs and the Indian Industry', India Inc should be taken into confidence before the government went ahead with FTA with China.

"Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) should first be concluded before FTAs are finalised to protect interests of Indian Inc. Trade and comprehensive economic agreements have been signed in the past with various countries and regional blocks that have resulted into a few fallacies and hurt economic interest of domestic industry," Assocham President Venugopal Dhoot said while releasing the report here.

He said the mistake should not be repeated in case of the proposed FTA with China.

"Since India's tariff levels are much higher than China, any reduction in tariff will open the floodgate of cheaper imports from China. Also, a large share of Singapore's exports is in form of re-exports of the products from other countries," he added.

"The high tariff regime in India at about 12.5 per cent and low tariff regime of China of less than 6 per cent, and FTA between India and China might affect the economic efficiency between these countries as they would exclude and discriminate other counties," Dhoot said.

This discrimination will work against India because of high tariff barriers. When India gives duty free access to China, tariff revenue previously collected on import from China turns into export revenues for export firm from China.

Sri Lankan Highways Minister killed in suspected LTTE blast

Colombo, April 06: Sri Lanka`s Highways Minister and at least nine other people were killed on Sunday by a blast near Colombo that was blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels, a security official said.

"Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle is dead from the explosion," Laksman Hulugalla, Director General of the Media Centre for National Security, said.

The military said 10 people were killed and 25 injured by the explosion in the western district of Gampaha, where Fernandopulle was attending a public function.

Military officials said they suspected that Tamil Tigers were responsible for the blast in the town of Weliveriya, 30 km from the capital, Colombo.

The attack came as the Sri Lankan military presses on with an offensive to retake the Tigers` northern stronghold. Nearly 60 rebels were killed in two days of gunbattles along the northern frontier, the government said earlier this week.

The Tigers have been fighting for an independent state in the north and east of the war-scarred island in a 25-year civil war that has killed an estimated 70,000 people.

In January the government called off a tattered 2002 ceasefire, accusing the rebels of using it to regroup and re-arm, and vowed to fight them militarily.

Microsoft sets deadline for ***** deal

San Francisco, April 06: ***** Inc has three weeks to accept Microsoft Corp`s USD31 per share cash-and-stock offer or Microsoft will mount a proxy battle to win investor support for the takeover, Microsoft said on Saturday.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in a letter dated April 5 and addressed to *****`s board of directors that "now is the time" to negotiate final terms of a deal, one which would mark the biggest takeover yet in the high-tech industry.

"If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors," Ballmer wrote.

A ***** spokeswoman was not aware of the letter and would not immediately comment on *****`s reaction to the move.

Ballmer said Microsoft is growing impatient more than two months after the Redmond, Washington-based software behemoth made its unsolicited takeover offer for *****. At that time, the bid represented a 62 percent premium to *****`s share price.

"While there has been some limited interaction between management of our two companies, there has been no meaningful negotiation to conclude an agreement," Ballmer wrote.

The Microsoft letter argues that the economy and the market for Internet stocks have deteriorated in the intervening period, and that *****`s share of Web search and online advertising business has declined, referring to industry market reports.

"During these two months of inactivity, the Internet has continued to march on, while the public equity markets and overall economic conditions have weakened considerably," Ballmer wrote.

Meanwhile, ***** has adopted measures that make a merger with Microsoft more costly, Ballmer complained.

Religare buys London's oldest stockbroker Hichens
5 Apr, 2008, 2205 hrs IST, AGENCIES

LONDON: The oldest stockbroker in the city of London has become the latest British institution to be acquired by an Indian company, snapped up in a 55 million pounds ($100 million) deal by a Delhi-based brokerage firm.

Hichens Harrison, which has been trading for 205 years, was taken over Friday by Religare Enterprises, which is controlled by Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh, owners of the drug company Ranbaxy.

The acquisition of Hichens Harrison, considered a bastion of Britishness, is expected to help Religare boost its investment banking operations and extend its geographical reach in emerging markets.

Hichens Harrison is said to be the only London stockbroking firm to have survived more than 200 years almost in its original form.

The deal was struck at a multiple of 13.1 times Hichens' 2007 basic earnings per share
Adam Wilson, the chief executive of Hichens, will make 4.3 million pounds from the deal, with fellow director Brian Rowbotham receiving just under two million pounds. The pair own about 13 percent of the firm between them and both will remain with the company.

Shachindra Nath, director of Religare Capital Markets, a Religare subsidiary formed to acquire Hichens, said: "Our objective is to build our company into India's biggest financial institution and, having looked at other brokers in the UK, we came to the conclusion that Hichens, with its strong presence in emerging markets, would be the best fit for us."

While Hichens' core business has traditionally been in British broking, it has in recent years expanded its presence on the international stage and now makes 60 percent of its income from overseas markets, mainly in emerging markets.

Religare is also expected to use Hichens' status as a nominated adviser to introduce more Indian companies to the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), a global market for smaller international companies.

Religare, which has a retail presence in 400 Indian cities and became a member of India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) in 1994, made clear that it plans to use Hichens's bases in South Africa, Argentina and Indonesia as a platform for its global ambitions.

"With the continued growth in the Indian economy, it is likely that a large number of investment opportunities to global institutional investors will be generated," Nath said.

Religare, which employs 8,000 and has a market capitalisation of about 350 million pounds, will run Hichens Harrison under its historic name.

Parsvnath to increase land bank to 350 million sq ft
5 Apr, 2008, 2040 hrs IST,

CHANDIGARH: Realty firm Parsvnath Developers on Saturday said that it will increase its land bank by almost 141 million square feet to 350 million sq ft for special economic zones development by the end of current fiscal.

Besides, the company has also decided to spend Rs 20,000 crore on developing its present area of 209.75 million square feet within next three to five years.

"Definitely, we are looking to raise our land bank from 209.75 million sq ft to 350 million sq ft primarily for the purpose of developing SEZs," Parsvnath Developers Chairman Pradeep Jain told reporters here.

The company has 17 SEZ projects in hand dedicated to sectors like IT, ITeS, bio-technology, gems and jewellery, handicrafts etc. "Seven SEZs can be developed out of our present land bank and rest of 10 SEZs could only developed with the acquisition of new land," he said.

The company would invest Rs 20,000 crore in next 3-5 years on developing the current land bank for SEZs, IT parks, residential and commercial projects, hotels, integrated townships across the country, he said.

When asked about the status of its retail foray, Jain said that the talks with partners are in advanced stage for venturing into retail hypermarket.

About its ongoing integrated township project 'Pride Asia', being developed in collaboration with Chandigarh Housing Board here, he said that the company had booked orders worth Rs 250 crore in the first phase, which includes villas and apartments etc.

Having a realisation value of Rs 4,000 crore, the Pride Asia project would have 1,314 units comprising one to five room bedroom apartments ranging between Rs 52 lakh to Rs 3.8 crore.

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