Sterlite Bids For Indal

A new CORPORATE takeover tussle was sparked off with the open offer made by the Rs 1,071-crore Sterlite Industries to acquire a 10 per cent equity stake--subsequently revised to 20 per cent at the behest of the Securities & Exchange Board of India--in the Rs 1,155.79-crore Indian Aluminium (Indal). Despite assertions made by Sterlite ceo Anil Agarwal, 45, that the offer represented only a strategic acquisition, Indal's response indicated that it was being viewed as a hostile takeover bid. Sterlite's bid was made at a price of Rs 90 per share, amounting to a total payment of Rs 128 crore for 14.20 lakh shares. At present, the single-largest shareholder of Indal is the Canada-based $7.61-billion Alcan, which holds 34.60 per cent of its equity while the combined holdings of the financial institutions is 36.60 per cent. Alcan declined to part with its holdings in acceptance of Sterlite's offer. Of the remaining stake, foreign institutional investors, along with overseas corporate bodies and non-resident Indians, hold 5.40 per cent, and the public, a mere 9.50 per cent. Alcan announced that it was considering a counter-bid to increase its own holdings in Indal.

Nicholas Piramal

The Rs 542-crore Nicholas Piramal--part of the Rs 810.10-crore Ajay Piramal Group--announced its decision to hive off its flaconnage and bulk drugs divisions into separate entities. With larger capital investment by partners--in the case of the glass unit--and joint venture proposals--for the bulk drugs business--the new entities will function as Nicholas Piramal's subsidiaries. The bulk drugs business accounted for approximately 10 per cent of the company's revenues. This leaves Nicholas Piramal's business concentrated on formulations.

India Cements

The Rs 816.87-crore India Cements made an open offer to acquire a 20 per cent stake in the Hyderabad-based Rs 482.48-crore Raasi Cement at Rs 300 per share. The offer will be open between April 15 and May 15, 1998. India Cements already owns a 18.03 per cent stake in Raasi Cement.

It is the single-largest cement producer in south India, and if the takeover materialises, it will become the country's second-largest cement manufacturer, with a total capacity of 6.59 million tonnes, after the Rs 2,511.67-crore ACC, whose total capacity is 10.14 million tonnes.

M&M

The country's largest tractor- and utility vehicle-maker, the Rs 3,602-crore Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), disclosed it was considering acquiring ancillary facilities in South Korea, Singapore, and other South East Asian countries following the continuing economic crises there. The tractor major said it was exploring possibilities of acquiring hotels and resorts in Thailand too. The company also said it planned to launch its sports utility vehicle, the Quadro, by the first quarter of 1999. Priced at Rs 5 lakh, the Quadro will compete with the Rs 6,409.43-crore Tata Engineering & Locomotive Co.'s Tata Safari, priced at Rs 7 lakh. M&M is also planning to launch its Grand Armada model in April this year.

Wockhardt

The Rs 323.79-crore Wockhardt announced its acquisition of the 50 per cent stake held by the Rs 35,936.64-crore Tata Group in the Rs 135.40-crore Merind at Rs 260 per share. It also made an offer to buy the rest of the equity, including the 32 per cent public holding in the company. As part of the deal, Wockhardt will also get Merind's 74 per cent stake in the Rs 47.72-crore Tata Pharma, and will have to buy the remaining 26 per cent from Lakmé by March 31, 1998, at Rs 3.40 crore. This will make Wockhardt No. 9 on the list of pharmaceutical companies, with a marketshare of 2.3 per cent.

HLL-TOMCO

The Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Commission said it will set up a full bench to decide if it can examine the post-merger situation arising from the 1992 merger of the Rs 7,820-crore Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) and Tata Oil Mills Co.. The three-member bench will meet on March 16, 1998. A decision will throw open for examination several amalgamations, including the merger of Pond's with HLL, and HLL's acquisition of Lakmé.

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola India said it was planning to export Thums Up and Limca to Singapore, Hong Kong, and West Asia in a bid to exploit the potentially lucrative non-resident Indian (NRI) segment there. In case of a favourable response, Coca-Cola is likely to bottle the products in these countries at a later stage. The 330-ml cans will be manufactured at Coke's Pune (Maharashtra) bottling unit owned by Britco. Earlier, the company had received an overwhelming response in the US when it had flown in 800 cans of Thums Up and Limca to serve NRIs during the unveiling of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Atlanta, where its global headquarters are situated.

Nestle

The Rs 1,204.80-crore Nestle India faces charges of indulging in unfair trade practices. It was accused of recovering the losses from offering a bar of Kit-Kat chocolate free with its food drink, Milo, by raising the price of the latter. The Monopolies & Restrictive Trade Practices Commission served a notice of enquiry on Nestle so that the matter could be investigated and presented in the courts by April 22, 1998.

JCT

The Rs 1,041.22-crore JCT's move to sell its synthetic fibres division to the Indonesia-based $1-billion Polysindo Group stalled after the financial institutions refused to give a no-objection certificate--a pre-requisite for the implementation of the Rs 414-crore deal. However, Polysindo had already obtained the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for the purchase. jct said it proposed to hold a 24 per cent stake in the joint venture, JCT Synthetics, which would eventually be bought over by Polysindo for Rs 36 crore.

ICICI

The Rs 2,913-crore asset-base Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India joined the list of companies interested in acquiring the Ahmedabad-based Rs 280.13-crore Anagram Finance Ltd (AFL), the financial services company of the Rs 2,000-crore Lalbhai Group. The financial institution expressed its desire to enter into a dialogue with AFL even as the $119.97-billion Marubeni of Japan denied that it intended acquiring AFL. Marubeni said it did not want a controlling stake in AFL but was keen on a joint venture for financing the passenger car segment in India.

L&T

The Rs 5,453.72-crore Larsen & Toubro (L&T) announced its intention of selling off its shoes division, which manufactures the La Paz brand of footwear. L&T was forced to look for a buyer after the Rs 1,000-crore Mesco Group said it would not be able to buy the division because of a funds crunch. L&T also said it was likely to defer the sale of its shipping division because of unattractive bids. It had earlier rejected a $35 million bid by the state-owned Shipping Corp. of India for the division.

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