Daily News Roundup - Feb 15 2010

The board of Kuwait’s Zain Telecom accepts a US$10.7bn offer from Bharti Airtel for the bulk of its African assets. (ET)

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has decided to audit the accounts of Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Tata, Vodafone and BSNL for 2009-10. (BS)

Oil regulator DGH asks Reliance Industries to club marketing margin with sale price for royalty calculation. (ET)

BHEL plans to step up focus on other areas of operations, including the transportation sector, transmission equipment and renewable energy. (BL)

Bharti Airtel is set to announce another US$2bn mega equipment contract. (ET)

Mahindra & Mahindra plans to foray into the motorcycle segment with a full range of products by this year. (ET)

PNB plans to enter South Africa and Indonesia to expand its international business operations and raise its share in the total business to 7% in next three years. (BS)

Reliance Communications plans to buy 2mn CDMA handsets for Rs3.4bn from Chinese telecom vendor Huawei Technologies. (BS)

SAIL denies any dialogue with South Korea’s Posco for a possible joint venture at Kulti in West Bengal. (ET)

JSW Steel is evaluating proposals to acquire coal mines overseas. (BS)

SCI plans to acquire in phases Capesize vessels and VLCCs four each. (BL)

NMDC is likely to file a revised draft papers for follow-on public offer. (mint)

Arvind plans to scale up organic denim biz. (ET)

Shriram Transport Finance is looking aggressively for more acquisitions. (BS)

Cabinet is likely to approve SAIL’s share sale plan on February 18. (DNA)

GSS America plans to raise up to US$75mn through QIP, FCCB, and GDR & ADR to fuel its inorganic growth plans. (BS)

Dewan Housing plans to launch a new subsidiary, NewCo for an investment of Rs1bn and also plans to divest 20% to PE investor. (BS)

West Bengal allots 505 acres for Rs70bn Adhunik Corp proposed steel & power Facility. (ET)

Hinduja Ventures board approves the acquisition of IDL Speciality Chemicals. (BS)

Tata Teleservices enters into a franchisee agreement with Future Group to offer GSM mobile telephony services under a new brand T24. (BS)

Maruti to stop selling M-800 in 13 major cities from April 2010. (ET)

Emami Group hikes stake in Rama Newsprint to 5%. (ET)

Tube Investments acquired 77% stake in Sedis Group, France, in order to strengthen the industrial chains business. (ET)

Board of Directors of Ruchi Soya approved for merger with Palm Tech. (BS)

Future Group plans to reorganise fruit and vegetables business. (ET)

The Union Mines Ministry to seek Cabinet approval for its proposal to divest 20% stake in Hindustan Copper. (BL)

American Tower Corp, USA’s is close to acquiring Essar Telecom Infrastructure for over US$425mn. (ET)

Industrial production grew 16.8% in December 2009 from a year earlier, boosted by a 46% increase in consumer durables and a 38.8% jump in capital goods. (ET)

Finance Minister and petroleum minister failed to reach a consensus on a hike in fuel prices. (DNA)

CERC draft proposes to streamline power pricing to facilitate integration of electricity markets. (BS)

Reserve Bank of India relaxes exposure limits for banks lending to Infra Finance companies. (ET)

Domestic passenger traffic increased by 23% last month over the same period last year, passengers carried by all airlines in January stood at 41.41 lakh, compared with 33.76 lakh in 2009. (ET)

The Government is expected to take a final decision on the timing of auctioning third generation (3G) spectrum this week. (BL)

Realtors seek infrastructure status for affordable homes. (BL)

The government may announce a major capital infusion into public sector banks, or PSBs. (ET)