Daily News Roundup - Oct 11 2010

M&M plans to convert bonds worth US$141.2mn to help pare its debt-to-equity ratio. (ET)

HPCL is in talks with Jindal Petroleum to buy the latter’s 25% stake in an oil and gas block in Rajasthan. (ET)

L&T bagged Rs15.85bn orders in July-September period from the construction segment. (ET)



Punj Lloyd bagged Rs5.39bn contract from the Gail India for laying a natural gas pipeline from Dabhol to Bangalore. (ET)

Government is likely to offer a significant stake in its proposed refinery project in Rajasthan to Vedanta Resources, which is looking to enter the crude oil business by acquiring majority stake in Cairn India. (FE)

Jindal Steel and Power has started to build a US$2.1bn iron ore mine and steel project in eastern Bolivia after a series of delay. (DNA)

Fortis Global Healthcare plans to acquire Hong Kong’s Quality Healthcare Asia for ~Rs8.82bn. (ET)

Bharat Forge-Alstom lowest bidder for Rs72bn NTPC-DVC contract. (FE)

DLF is considering to luxury malls in big cities, including Hyderabad and Chennai. (ET)

Essar Energy may buy a refinery or storage facilities overseas. (ET)

Russia disqualified ONGC from bidding for the giant Trebs and Titov fields in northwest Russia. (ET)

Procter & Gamble plans to consider a stock split in its upcoming board meet. (ET)

Hindustan Copper invites bids to map the reserves for its copper mine in Rajasthan. (BL)

Ambuja Cement signs agreement with the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation to set up a 2.2mn ton cement plant in Nagaur district with a capital outlay of Rs22bn. (BL)

JSW Steel production in the July-September quarter grew by 8% to 3.14mn tons. (BS)

Hindustan Motors board proposed to entirely write off the securities’ premium account of the company and also plans to halve the paid-up value of each equity share from Rs10 to Rs5. (BS)

Foreign exchange reserves rose US$2.6bn during the week ended October 1 to US$294.1bn. (ET)

The finance ministry is looking into a proposal that would allow overseas retail investors to invest directly in Indian equity markets. (BS)

SIAM expects growth of domestic automotive sales to close at 18-20% for the entire year. (BS)

Banks withdrew ~Rs482bn from mutual funds during the fortnight ended September 24 to meet credit demand. (BS)

The GoM on the draft mining Bill is set to approve the proposed 26% profit sharing regime for the sector. (BS)

Planning Commission will support the demand for infrastructure status to the tourism industry, which comes with a 10-year tax holiday, if a formal proposal comes from the ministry. (FE)