Daily News Roundup - Dec 16 2008

Areva has signed an agreement with Nuclear Power Corporation of India to supply ~300tons of uranium annually. (ET)

DLF would invest Rs150bn over the next three years to develop various residential projects across the country in the range of Rs1.5-4mn. (BS)


Indian Hotels has announced the opening of a hotel under a new brand name called ‘Vivanta’ at Whitefield, Bangalore. (BS)
IOC is planning to buy a sugar mill and set up a refinery in Brazil to produce ethanol. (FE)
Alok Industries is in talks with PE funds to sell stake in its retail arm and two of its Mumbai realty projects. (BS)
Maruti Suzuki India has launched Green Cabs for urban motoring on the Maruti 800 AC Duo powered by LPG. (BL)
Corus Group has denied reports of merger with Tata Steel. (ET)
Slump in the commercial vehicles industry has led to Omax Autos delaying its plan to produce chassis for Tata Motors commercial vehicles. (BL)
Bajaj Auto has decided to shut down production at its Waluj plant near Aurangabad for 10 days. (BL)
Apollo Hospitals is looking to foray into drug manufacturing and early-stage clinical trials. (ET)
HCL Technologies expects to sign US$1bn worth of orders in the current quarter. (BL)
HCL Technologies has completed the £440mn buyout of UK-based Axon Group. (BL)
Reliance ADAG is close to acquiring a 50% stake in a UK based currency exchange and money transfer firm for an undisclosed amount. (ET)
Edelweiss raises Rs10bn for Reliance Industries through placement of NCDs. (BL)
Corporation Bank has raised upper tier-II bonds (Series (I) (1)) for Rs3bn. (BL)
M&M has slashed 900 jobs worldwide in the current fiscal. (FE)
SRF Ltd has acquired engineering plastics business and industrial yarn business from its group company SRF Polymers for Rs1.5bn. (BL)
HPCL is keen on substantially increasing its stake in MRPL from the present level of 16.97%. (BL)
AstraZeneca has awarded Infosys Technologies a multi-year, multi-million dollar outsourcing deal that covers a wide range of application maintenance services. (BL)
PTC India is set to tie up with power generation companies in a bid to diversify its business. (BS)
Tata Teleservices will write off Rs16.48bn more as it goes ahead with the third leg of its capital restructuring programme. (Mint)
NTPC expects to settle dispute with Power Machines, a Russian company over the supply of turbines for a coal-fired power plant in Barh, Bihar. (Mint)
Redington India has entered into a distributor agreement with Research in Motion Singapore Pte Ltd, for distribution of their range of products in India. (FE)
McNally Bharat Engineering has bagged orders wroth ~Rs870mn from Essar Constructions (India). (FE)
Retail chain Subhiksha to slow down its planned expansion by 10-12% for the remaining part of FY09. (FE)
Max Healthcare plans to acquire a hospital for Rs1bn. (ET)
Japanese consumer electronics major Sony has decided to exit from the CRT TV segment in India. (ET)

Overseas firms may not require the Government’s approval to acquire stake in local companies through warrants. (ET)

The telecom ministry is set to reject a proposal to impose an 'administrative tax' on successful bidders of 3G wireless frequencies.
Petroleum ministry is likely to seek an additional Rs300bn worth of oil bonds in FY09. (ET)
The Government is likely to announce a new package for rural roads by providing an additional Rs50bn under the government’s planned programme. (ET)
Vegetable oil imports increased 30% yoy in November 2008 as prices in the global market continued to decline. (BL)
Public sector oil companies have cut ATF prices by 11%. (BS)
Import of spot LNG declines on lower naphtha prices (BS)
India’s crude oil imports increased by over 71% yoy to US$60.34bn during Apr-Oct’08. (ET)
SEBI has hiked Mutual Fund’s borrowing limit to 40% of net assets. (ET)
RBI is in the process of forming a new technical committee for money and forex markets, consisting of representatives from various financial regulators. (ET)