Daily News Roundup - May 24 2010

Mukesh and Anil Ambani have cancelled all existing non-compete agreements between their groups, drawn-up during the Reliance re-organization in 2006. (BL)

Piramal Healthcare sells its domestic formulations business to US-based Abbott in a deal worth US$3.72bn. (BS)

DLF is in talks with Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Kuwait Investment Authority to sell majority stake in luxury hotel chain Aman Resorts. (BS)

Infosys is looking to bid for US-based Logica for ~Rs185bn. (BS)

Bank of Rajasthan shareholders to gain one share of ICICI Bank for every 4.72 shares of Bank of Rajasthan. (BS)

Jindal Power is looking to set up a hydro-power project in Nepal at an estimated cost of Rs15bn as part of its multi-billion dollar programme in the energy space. (BS)

GMR Infrastructure unit GMR Energy plans to raise Rs102.75bn of debt funding to help achieve financial closure for three of its power projects. (ET)

The Hinduja group acquired the private banking arm of Belgian high street bank KBC for € 1.35bn. (ET)

The government is understood to have asked BSNL and MTNL to pay Rs167.5bn for the 3G spectrum in their possession by month-end. (ET)

Motherson Sumi is in talks with Unilever for contract manufacturing of water purifiers for the company’s international business. (BS)

Fortis Healthcare has raised around US$100mn through the issuance of FCCBs. (ET)

Ranbaxy receives approval of Canadian health regulator to market the generic version of cholesterol lowering medicine Lipitor. (ET)

Top officials of Maruti Suzuki and Volkswagen India are understood to have met to explore synergies in production and vehicle design. (ET)

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation plans to start its upstream overseas arm in the next two to three years to look after its global oil and gas explorations. (BS)

Srei Infrastructure may hive off its road projects business into a separate company and induct a financial investor at a later stage. (ET)

Bharat Forge is looking at increasing its manufacturing footprint in the US market. (BS)

Shree Cement is expanding its capacity by setting up a 1mtpa clinker unit at Ras and 1mtpa cement grinding unit in Jaipur. (BL)

Godrej Consumer Products has entered into an agreement to acquire the entire stake of the promoters in Laboratoria Cuenca, Consell SA, Issue Uruguay and Issue Brazil, which is collectively referred to as the Issue Group. (TOI)

Carborundum Universal is all set to pump in Rs500-750mn for setting up a brown fused alumina plant in Kutch district of Gujarat. (BS)

JK Lakshmi Cement is holding talks to acquire an Egyptian cement firm for around Rs8bn. (ET)

Standard Chartered Plc has fixed the price band for its proposed issue of 240mn Indian Depository Receipts at between Rs100 and Rs115. (BL)

GSM telecom user base added just over 11mn new users in April, lower than the 13.9mn added in March. (ET)

Maharashtra Government plans to rope in foreign investment, creating a joint venture with the private sector or on lease to provide a new leash of life to closed spinning mills and those under liquidation. (BS)

Foreign exchange reserves declined US$2.9bn to US$273bn for the week ending May 14. (BL)

Banks likely to fix base rate at 8.5-9.5%. (BL)

Banks agree to give clean loans to telecom companies to acquire bandwidth for 3G mobile telecom licences. (ET)

via BL