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Niraj Cement Structurals IPO to open on May 26
22 May, 2008, 1637 hrs IST,

MUMBAI: The initial public offer of Niraj Cement Structurals Ltd will hit the capital market on May 26 and close on May 30. The engineering and construction company will offer 32,50,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each in the price band of Rs 175-190 per share through the book building process.

Out of the total share offering, 3,25,000 shares are reserved for the employees. The net issue to the public will be 29,25,000 shares. The issue will constitute 31.42 per cent of the post issue paid up capital.

CARE has assigned IPO Grade 1 to the issue, which is being managed by Allbank Finance.

Niraj Cement Structurals plans to utilize the IPO proceeds to acquire capital equipment, for long-term working capital needs, and general purposes. The company will bid for road related infrastructure projects—leveraging its strength in this segment for projects on BOOT and BOT basis.

Triveni Infrastructure plans 8 mn share IPO
20 May, 2008, 1624 hrs IST,

NEW DELHI: Triveni Infrastructure Development Co Ltd has sought approval from the markets regulator for an initial public offering of 8 million shares, the real-estate developer said in a statement on Tuesday.

The proceeds from the offer will be used to finance land purchases and for development and construction of residential and commercial projects, among others, it said.

The firm has developed about 5.28 million square feet of residential and commercial properties, and is developing a further 8.55 million square feet in north India. It has, singly or in jointly, land reserves of about 544 acres, it said in the statement.

Triveni did not provide the size of the offering, saying it would determine the premium to the shares, which have a face value of 10 rupees each, through a book-building process.

India Infoline Ltd is the lead manager to the issue, the statement added.

Bafna Pharma IPO to open on May 27
20 May, 2008, 1619 hrs IST,

MUMBAI: Bafna Pharmaceuticals Ltd is entering the capital market with an offering of 64,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each for cash at premium of Rs 30 per share. The initial public offer opens on May 27 and closes on May 30. The issue to the public would constitute 40.05 per cent of the post issue paid-up capital.

The Chennai-based company is engaged in the manufacturing of Betalactum and non- Betalactum pharmaceutical formulations in tablets, capsules and liquid forms. Bafna manufactures 126 formulations under various therapeutic segments such as anti-infectiv, cholesterol lowering agents, analgesic and antipyretic, antihelmintics, appetite stimulants, cough and cold preparations, anti-ulcerants and anti diabetic, vitamins.

The company has a WHO-GMP certified manufacturing facility at Madhavaram, which is a 100 per cent export oriented unit that caters to the markets of Sri Lanka, Ghana and Ukraine. Bafna has obtained 336 product licenses and has 65 products registered in various countries such as Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Ghana and Lao.

Proceeds from the IPO would be utilized towards brand building in the domestic and international markets. Bafna would also strengthen its R&D facility at Grantlayon plant, besides getting MHRA certification. It also proposes to retire high-cost debts.

IT stocks brave market as rupee falls to 43 vs $
22 May, 2008, 1231 hrs IST,


MUMBAI: After lamenting over the dollar's fall against the rupee for over a year, information technology companies are now a much better lot with the trend reversing.

This is also reflected in the share prices of these stocks Thursday. At 11:20 am, BSE IT Index was up 0.24 per cent while the BSE Sensex was down 1.49 per cent at 16,986.69.

The IT Index was the only one in the green while all other sectoral indices were reeling under selling pressure.

The major gainer in the index was NIIT Technologies, up 4.12 per cent. NIIT gained 3.06 per cent, I-Flex Technologies advanced 2.48 per cent and Patni Computers was up 1.54 per cent.

IT companies rely heavily on the dollar’s movement, as major chunk of their revenue comes from US based clients. Any appreciation in the rupee is a concern to them.

The sharp 10 per cent rise in the Indian unit since January 2007 to Rs 39.58 in December that year had led to a sharp fall in the share of IT companies and they remained laggards since then. Today the Indian rupee opened at Rs 43 to the dollar and slid to Rs 43.10.

The rupee's fall can be attributed to dollar purchases by Indian oil marketing companies from the forex market to buy crude oil from the overseas market.

Crude was at an all time high of $135 a barrel today as data showed a sudden fall in oil inventories in the US and dollar's fall against the global currencies.

Bajaj Auto posts Q4 net at Rs 120.79 cr

New Delhi, May 22: Country's second largest two wheeler maker Bajaj Auto on Thursday reported a net profit of Rs 120.79 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31.

The company's total income for the quarter stood at Rs 2,094.89 crore, BAL said in a statement.

The financial figures are not comparable with corresponding period's results as the Bajaj Group was split into three different entities last year, it said.

Bajaj's net profit for 2007-08 was recorded at Rs 755.78 crore, while the total income during the period was Rs 9,168.84 crore, it added.

Essar offers fuel to wipe out deficit in the country

New Delhi, May 22: Essar Oil Ltd, India's newest refiner, has offered to wipe out most of the fuel deficit in the country by supplying the entire output from its Vadinar refinery, where production has been raised to 12.5 million tons.

Effective May, Thruput at Essar's Vadinar refinery in Gujarat has been raised to 12.5 million tons a year from 10.5 million tons earlier, company Managing Director Naresh Nayyar wrote to Petroleum Secretary MS Srinivasan on May 5.

Though India is surplus in refining capacity, it is short in LPG and kerosene production. This year, it may even have to import diesel due to double-digit demand growth.

Currently, Essar supplies all of the 0.47 million tons of LPG, 0.65 million tons of kerosene, 4.44 million tons of diesel and most of 1.95 million tons of petrol to state-run Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

At higher Thruput, LPG production would rise to 0.54 million tons, petrol to 2.23 million tons, kerosene to 0.75 million tons and diesel to 5.07 million tons.

"We are ready to offer the whole of our production of LPG, petrol, diesel and kerosene to meet the shortfall in the country and replace imports," he wrote.

Essar's Vadinar refinery started operation in November 2006 at 7.5 million tons a year capacity. This is slowly ramped up and now the refinery is operating at 12.5 million tons capacity.

"We take pleasure in confirming that EOL has been supporting the PSU oil retailers effectively by supplying products in the domestic market, thereby substituting equivalent quantity of products import resulting in substantial savings in production procurement cost and valuable foreign exchange for the country," Nayyar wrote.

At higher capacity, Essar will also produce 0.46 million tons of naphtha (0.40 million tons earlier), 2.03 million tons of fuel oil (1.78 million tons) and 0.06 million tons of sulphur (0.05 million tons earlier).

"We are pleased to inform you that post commissioning of our refinery at Vadinar, Gujarat in November 2006, we have now integrated all primary and secondary processing units, including Fluidised Catalytic Cracker (FCC) unit and Diesel Hydro Desulphurisation Unit (DHDS) and the operations are stabilised," Nayyar wrote.

Vadinar is the only private refinery in the country, other than reliance industries that runs a 33 million tons unit at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

ITC Q4 net up 13%

Kolkata, May 23: ITC Ltd on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 735.64 crore during the quarter ended March 2008, up by 13 percent over the corresponding period last year.

Sales was at Rs 3,934.39 crore during the period under review as against Rs 3,466.34 crore registered during the same period last year.

The company also recommended a dividend of Rs 3.5 per share of Re 1 each for 2007-08.

Videocon studying GE`s appliance business for probable bid

New Delhi, May 23: Videocon, which is present in various sectors, on Friday said it is studying General Electric's invitation for bid for its appliances division, which is being put on the block.

"We have received a memorandum from GE and are studying the proposal," Videocon industries chairman and managing director Venugopal Dhoot said on the sidelines of a conference here.

Dhoot, however, declined to give a timeline by when he would be responding to proposal.

"Globally, we are very well known for acquiring the companies, so wherever there is any company for sale they generally send us the memorandum," he added.

The US giants appliance business makes refrigerators, air-conditioners and ovens.

Cuba keen to have Tata Nano on its roads

New Delhi, May 23: Joining the list of nations that are keen to have the Nano ply on their roads, Cuba on Friday said the world's cheapest car from the house of Tatas has huge potential in the Caribbean nation.