Daily News Roundup - Feb 18 2010

RIL may be forced to hike its bid for LyondellBasell as creditors of the bankrupt US Company have reached an agreement with the current management. (ET)

ONGC, IOC and Oil India will initially invest US$2.25bn in the recently bagged Venezuela project. (ET)

NMDC and Arcelor Mittal are exploring an opportunity for a joint mining project in Africa. (FE)

REC has fixed a floor price of Rs203 for its forthcoming FPO. (ET)

AXIS Bank has sought government permission to set-up a subsidiary in UK. (ET)

Government has promised its support to Bharti Airtel in its attempt to acquire the African operation of Kuwaits Zain Telecom. (ET)

HDIL has received an approval from government to develop a slum rehabilitation project in Mumbai. (ET)

BHEL has signed a MoU to form 50:50 JV with Japan’s Toshiba for manufacturing equipment for power T&D business. (ET)

Spice Mobile to buy 65% stake in a new JV that would own smart phone brand Blueberry and two manufacturing units of Malaysia CSL mobile. (ET)

REpower Systems, majority owned by Suzlon, has signed an agreement with French wind and solar power developer EOLE-RES SA, for the supply of 26 turbines with a total capacity of 52 MW. (BL)

Tata Steel expects to commission the Rs24bn Dhamra Port in Orissa by July. (BL)

NMDC is set to revise its pricing policy from April 1. (BS)

NMDC is looking at clocking Rs300bn turnover by 2014-15 when its various projects worth Rs260bn would be operational. (BS)

Ashok Leyland is set to enter into construction equipments business in JV with John Deere. (ET)

BHEL to hire 8,000 people in the next two years to meet growing domestic demand. (ET)

Abbott labs has announced an open offer to acquire 20% of Solvey Pharma India at Rs3,054 per share. (ET)

Union Bank of India will price its public issue in a range of Rs60-66 per share. (ET)

JK Lakshmi Cement to raise Rs6bn via ECBs and rupee term loans in the next quarter to finance its Greenfield projects. (ET)

Mahindra Satyam is looking to hire around 5,000 people, including freshers and experienced professionals, by the end of next month. (BS)

Havells India plans to produce ceramic metal halide (CMH) lamps which are designed for indoor and outdoor lighting applications. (BS)

Novartis is looking to buy out the remaining stake in US-based eye care group Alcon by the end of this year. (BS)

Areva T&D India has been awarded a Rs1.2bn contract for electrical Balance of Plant (eBOP) by L&T Power for state utility, Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company Ltd. (BS)

L&T General Insurance is ready to launch its operations in the next three-five months. (BS)

SpiceJet will start flights on international routes by this year if it receives all the requisite approvals. (BL)

Chettainad Cement is planning to raise its capacity to 25mtpa by 2020 from 8.5mtpa currently. (ET)

Government to ban FDI in Tobacco sector. (ET)

Prime minister’s economic advisory council has pitched for a single Cenvat rate, which would be higher than the current 8%. (ET)

India has retained its top slot in gold consumption. (ET)

Tax heavens pose a threat to security because of their complex and secret laws, says the finance ministry. (ET)

Government is considering selling part of its stake in PSU banks to LIC and GIC. (FE)

Banks want the deadline for the implementation of base rate to be extended by three months. (FE)

The government is confident that food prices will start easing from April when the rabi harvest hits the market. (BS)

The government has removed cap on the number of players who can participate in financial bidding for port expansion projects under public private partnership (PPP) to minimise litigations and get better returns. (BS)

According to the Finance Minister, India’s economy is poised to grow by 7.5% this fiscal and will top 8.5% in the next on the back of a strong industrial recovery, said. (BS)

The Designated Authority in the Commerce Ministry has recommended a modified definitive anti-dumping duty on nylon filament yarn mainly from Malaysia. (BL)