Daily News Roundup - May 18 2010

ABB has made an offer to increase stake in its Indian subsidiary by 22.89% at a cost of nearly US$1bn. ABB said it will buy 48.59mn shares at Rs900 per share, a 34% premium to last Friday’s closing price of ABB India shares. (ET)

Credit rating agency Fitch removed Bharti Airtel from its negative watch list in anticipation of an US$2bn equity infusion during the current fiscal, as well as hopes of better overall performance. (ET)

DLF confirmed it had decided to sell its stake in Aman Resorts, but a sale would exclude Aman’s New Delhi property. (ET)

Tata Steel is keen on forming a JV with Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to set up a steel plant. (ET)

Thermax has signed a five-year technology transfer agreement with Germany based Lambion Energy Solutions in the areas of energy generation from waste. (ET)

Zain Group received preliminary approval to transfer its licences in Uganda to Bharti Airtel. (ET)

Shree Renuka Sugars is renegotiating the price of its proposed Rs15.3bn acquisition of Brazilian sugar and ethanol maker Equipav amidst differences over the amount of debt on the company’s books. (ET)

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is set to wrap up the £600mn (US$850mn) three-year Chinese deal it had bagged in February 2009, one year ahead of schedule. (BS)

Input costs prompt 12% increase in Hindalco’s capex in six months. (BS)

Essar Energy plc said its indirect subsidiary, Essar Power Gujarat Ltd (EPGL), has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL). (FE)

Shriram Transport Finance Company plans to infuse around Rs6bn capital in its proposed subsidiary, for conducting equipment finance business, which is expected to float in a month. (BS)

Maruti Suzuki India has appointed Japanese firm Nippo as its consultant for developing a test track at Rohtak, in Haryana, where its research and development centre is being set up at an investment of Rs15bn. (FE)

Lupin has lost the battle on antibiotic Levofloxacin against US-based Ortho Mcneil Pharma and Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo with the US Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit upholding the patent term extension granted to the innovator company on the drug. (FE)

Alstom Projects said it has bagged Rs1.2bn contract to supply electro mechanical equipment to the 96 mw Jorethang loop hydroelectric project in Sikkim. (FE)

Bank of India on Monday slashed interest rates on deposits by 25-75 basis points in short-term category. (FE)

KSK Energy Ventures has commenced operations at the first of its four 135MW units that constitute the 540MW Wardha Warora coal-fired project in Maharashtra. (BS)

Godrej Properties promoters are open to their stake in their real-estate company to fuel future growth. (BL)

Essar Energy plc through its indirect subsidiary, Essar Power Gujarat Ltd (EPGL), has signed a PPA with Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) for 800MW of contracted capacity from the 1,320MW coal-fired Salaya II power project to be located in Jamnagar district. (BL)

Prudential may sell Tata AIG stake to Tatas. (BS)

The government’s provisional revenue from the sale of 3G airwaves Monday crossed the Rs650bn mark and nationwide license price reached over Rs160bn at the end of 176 rounds of an auction. (ET)

DoT is likely to reject the telecom regulator's proposal to charge operators holding excess spectrum at a rate determined on the basis of the ongoing 3G bids. (BS)

The Centre plans to do both an audit as well as security checks of all China-made telecom gear installed on the existing networks of all service providers before allowing any fresh imports from that country. (ET)

The Planning Commission of India to closely monitor the progress in infrastructure development in the country. The commission, which has till date set annual projections over a five-year period, has set infrastructure targets for various sectors on a quarterly basis and will gauge the performance of ministries responsible for infrastructure development. (BS)

India looks all set to open its doors further to FDI in the sensitive defence production. The commerce and industry ministry has put out a discussion paper that suggests an increase in FDI in defence to 74% from 26% to encourage greater local manufacturing and technology transfer. (ET)

India has settled a dispute over taxing profits of captive IT services units and research arms of US firms, bolstering New Delhi’s position as a preferred destination of such investments. (ET)

Indian corporate borrowed US$4.3bn overseas in March 2010, taking the overall external commercial borrowing for the fiscal 2009-10 to US$17.6bn. (ET)

India and Japan are going to re-open discussions on liberalisation of movement of professionals, an issue that has long stalled any significant progress in the conclusion of the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries. (FE)