Daily News Roundup - Feb 23 2010

RIL has raised its offer for Lyondell Basell (LB) to US$14.5bn, US$1bn higher than its previous offer made in November. (BS)

Power Grid Corp of India plans to raise Rs35bn by selling shares to fund an expansion of its grid to end blackouts. (BS)

Religare Enterprises is close to buying a majority stake in US based venture capital and private equity investment firm Northgate for US$200m (ET)

Tata Steel expects the arrival of equipment and machinery worth Rs5bn for the 6mtpa project at Kalinganagar by the end of FY10. (BS)

The devastating fire at IOC’s Jaipur fuel depot has delayed commissioning of Cairn India’s pipeline for transporting crude from its Rajasthan oil fields. (BS)

The Government is likely to approach state-owned banks and institutions, including the biggest local investor, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), to bail out REC’s equity issue, if investors choose to stay away. (ET)

Apollo Tyres plans to make Chennai its hub for both manufacturing and research and development (R&D) and is setting up a Rs20bn manufacturing facility. (BS)

ITC plans to launch noodles under the ‘Sunfeast’ brand name. (BS)

L&T will finalise plans to unlock value in its financial services arm in the next 12 months. (ET)

US-based investor fund QVT has proposed an alternative debt restructuring plan to Wockhardt. (BS)

Neyveli Lignite plans to set up a 4,000 mw UMPP at Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu's Kanchipuram district. (ET)

Max India to raise Rs5.3bn via issue of convertible debentures to private equity arm of Goldman Sachs. (ET)

MIC Electronics has bagged an order to supply video screens to Parramatta Eels National Rugby League Club in Australia. (BL)

Elecon Engineering has bagged three orders worth Rs228.7mn from Birla Corporation, IFFCO Kalol and Anrak Aluminum. (BL)

Tantia Constructions has received a Rs471.8mn order from Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer. (BL)

HCL Technologies has won an IT infrastructure management contract from Electrolux, a global home appliances company. (BL)

PFC Consulting, a subsidiary of Power Finance Corporation, is believed to have formed two special purpose vehicles for executing two ultra mega power projects (UMPP) at Saakhi Gopal and Gogarpalli sites in Orissa. (ET)

Emami Group has made a foray into food and beverage business by launching healthy & tasty brand of edible oil. (ET)

DoT is working on a new proposal to give incentives from the universal service obligation (USO) fund to support wireline services in rural areas. (BS)

During April-January this fiscal, the private sector alone has commissioned 3,357MW of fresh capacity, as against 3,383MW added cumulatively by the Central and State sector projects. (BL)

Banks with poor customer service standards may have to set aside more capital, according to RBI. The regulator has also asked banks not to discriminate in lending rates between old and new customers, if they fall in the same risk category. (ET)

The RBI has decided to reduce the risk weight on loans to power sector projects guaranteed by state governments, unlocking funds worth Rs300bn for the sector. Lending to power projects currently attracts a risk weight of 100%, which is proposed to be lowered to 20% when such loans are guaranteed by state governments. (ET)

India has imposed anti-dumping duty of up to US$2,254 per tonne on import of certain stainless steel products—used by consumer durables and auto industries—from the US, EU, China and other countries. (ET)