Corporate News 22 Feb 2008
Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) IPO subscribed 4.67 times
The initial public offer of Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), a state-run power sector lender, got subscribed 4.67 times at 11:00 IST on last day of its issue today, 22 February 2008. The price band for the IPO is Rs 90 to Rs 105. The book building process, which opened on February 19, is scheduled to close on February 22. The issue would constitute about 18.18% of the fully diluted post-issue capital of REC. It is looking to raise about Rs 16.40 billion through sale of 156 million equity shares in a price band of Rs 90-105 in the IPO.
Most of the bids today came from the institutional investors that made the portion reserved for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) getting subscribed 4.52 times.
Rural Electrification is offering shares in a price band of 90 rupees to 105 rupees. The 156.1 million shares on offer will account for 18.2% of the lender's post-issue capital. The holding of the government, which fully owns the company, will be reduced to about 81.8%. IL&FS Investsmart Ltd., ICICI Securities Ltd. and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. are managing the share sale.
Rural Electrification Corporation is a public sector enterprise and is engaged in financing and promoting transmission, distribution and generation projects across the country. The company provides financial assistance to public sector power utilities at the central and state levels, private sector power utilities, and joint sector clients. Its financial products include long-term loans, short-term loans, bridge loans and debt refinancing provided through its corporate office in New Delhi and 17 field units across India.
Govt approves securities for SBI rights issue
New Delhi: The government on Feb 21 approved issuing special marketable securities worth Rs 9,995.99 crore to subscribe to State Bank of India's rights offer.The Cabinet, which met in New Delhi on Thursday, gave its approval to modify an earlier decision to give
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ICICI Prudential Life hires retired armed forces personnel to sell policies news
Chennai: Private life insurer ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited has begun hiring graduate non-commissioned officers of the armed forces or ex-servicemen to sell policies in rural areas. The source said that the retired servicemen with 10 years experience are eligible to become unit manager in rural areas. On successful completion of training, the selected ex-servicemen will be given a Certificate of Insurance Management and absorbed by the life insurer. Till date the company has recruited around 231 retired armed forces personnel across the country and nearly 48 per cent of them belong to South India.This move is expected to boost ICICI Prudential Life's premium income and its agency field force in rural areas, which currently numbers 30,000 rural agents who contribute around 3 per cent of fresh business.
Indiabulls Financial - Application for setting up Mutual Fund
Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd has informed that Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved setting up of an Asset Management Company and a Trustee Company, pursuant to application of the Company for setting up a Mutual Fund.
The Company is in the process of setting up of an Asset Management Company and a Trustee Company in terms of the approval of the SEBI, for setting up the Mutual Fund.
Pidilite Industries - Updates
Pidilite Industries Ltd has informed about the following:
1. The Company has acquired entire issued and Paid-up Capital of following Companies by investing Rs 1,70,000/- each: a. Bhimad Commercial Co. Pvt. Ltd. b. Madhumala Traders Pvt. Ltd. The current business of both these Companies is Investment.
2. Both the above Companies which are now Wholly Owned Subsidiaries of the Company have joined as Partners in the existing firm, M/s. Nitin Enterprises engaged in the business of manufacturing of branded Sealants and Adhesives in the State of Jammu & Kashmir.
3. The Company also acquired assets and business of branded Sealants and Adhesives from M/s. Hardcastle & Waud Manufacturing Co Ltd., and associates.
Dr Reddys - Allotment of equity shares under ESOP
Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd has informed that pursuant to Dr. Reddy's Employees Stock Option Scheme, 2002, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of the Company has allotted 37,094 equity shares of Rs 5 each of the Company on February 21, 2008, to Employees who have exercised their Stock Options.
Jaiprakash Associates signs shareholders' agreement with Steel Authority of India
Jaiprakash Associates has signed the shareholders' agreement with Steel Authority of India (SAIL) for setting up of 2.1 MTPA capacity slag-based cement plant at Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand in joint venture through a special purpose vehicle to be incorporated for the purpose.
Jaiprakash Associates shall hold 74% equity in the joint venture company and 26% equity of the same shall be held by SAIL.
The company made this announcement after the trading hours on Thursday, 21 February 2008.
GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals recommends dividend
The board of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals has recommended dividend at the rate of Rs 18 per share for the year ended 31 December 2007.
This was recommended at the board meeting held on 22 February 2008.
Info Edge India's FIIs limit increases to 40%
Info Edge India has announced that the FIIs investment limit under portfolio investment scheme stands increased to 40% of the paid-up equity share capital of the company.
The company made this announcement during the trading hours today, 22 February 2008.
Satyam Computer Services sets-up Life Sciences Center of Excellence
Satyam Computer Services has announced the setting up of the Life Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE). The facility was inaugurated by Satyams founder and chairman, B Ramalinga Raju on the sidelines of RxCellence, the Life Sciences conclave which Satyam hosted at its state-of-art Satyam school of leadership in Hyderabad. The theme for the conference was faster, safer and smarter strategies for Life Sciences Industry. The day was filled with compelling, insightful and thought-provoking speaker sessions and panel discussions on the progressive accomplishments in the pharmaceutical, biomedical and generics industry. Thought Leaders CXOs, business leaders, consultants, analysts, scientists and senior executives from different parts of the world attended the event. Some of the eminent dignitaries were from the Life Sciences advisory board members comprising ex-senior executives / ex-CXOs of leading Life S companies.
The Life Sciences CoE will showcase Satyams domain expertise and thought leadership in the industry. The CoE will house solutions cutting across the value chain, addressing a number of industry pain points. While there are quite a few discrete point solutions attempting to address various industry pain points, they are often incomplete requiring huge amount of customization and complex integration. The CoE solutions will provide the necessary frameworks with flexibility and ease of customization enabling faster implementations and therefore a better Rol. These solutions leverage extensive domain experience that Satyam has built over the years in the industry. The CoE addresses industry needs in the areas of clinical drug accountability, drug counterfeiting, cell line management systems, high throughput analytics, clinical development, bioinformatics, supply chain, CRM, key opinion leader portals etc.
The Satyam CoE solutions are being reviewed and validated regularly by their customers and the life sciences advisory board comprising eminent personalities with decades of experience in the industry. With all the inputs being received and the consequent refinements and enhancements being made, Satyam is confident that the organization will be able to make a step change in the quality and delivered value of services to customers.
The company made this announcement during the trading hours today, 22 February 2008.
Megasoft recommends dividend
The board of Megasoft has recommended dividend at the rate of 12%.
This was recommended at the board meeting held on 22 February 2008.
Vesuvius India recommends dividend
The board of Vesuvius India has recommended dividend at the rate of Rs 3.75 per share (37.50%) for the year ended 31 December 2007.
This was recommended at the board meeting held on 22 February 2008.
NPIL Research & Development enters into agreement with department of biotechnology
Nicholas Piramal India has announced that NPIL Research & Development has signed an agreement with the department of biotechnology, New Delhi on screening for bio-molecules from microbial diversity collected from different ecological niches, thereby initiating an industry - university / national institute partnership programme in drug discovery.
The project envisages a mega-scale screening programme for various environmental isolates. This is the first project in the country in which industry and academia will work together to screen such a large number of bacterial isolates. Different academic institutes will isolate organisms specific to diverse ecological niches. For each sample, isolation of bacteria will be carried out on 30 different growth media.
This multi-institutional effort will generate approximately 7000 isolates / month (~1000/institute), which will be regularly sent to NRDL, the industrial partner of the project. Each of these institutes is an expert in niche areas of microbial biodiversity. The microbial isolates have not been tested for potent medicinal properties, if any. The purpose of this study is to exploit the biodiversity of microbes. This will help in identifying specific therapeutic properties that may be further used to identify novel molecules, which may then be passed on to the drug development phase.
At NRDL's facility at Goregaon, Mumbai, a team of scientists have been concerting their skills and have established high-end technologies using High-throughput robotics, which help in identifying specific properties that can be further developed. Most biological assays involve the use of living cells under in vitro conditions to measure the therapeutic potential of the extract. If this is found to be positive and better than the existing controls, a collective decision may be taken to move forward to the various steps involved in the development phase of the drug.
Natural diversity appears to be a novel source for new drugs worldwide. In the pursuit of new drug development, new drugs are needed so that an effective pipeline of molecules is established whose properties can be effectively validated in vitro using modern techniques in proteomics and genomics.
Screening will be carried out for anti-cancer, anti-infective, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammation properties. In addition to the culture-dependent method, the culture-independent approach will also be adopted for a few selected samples.
There are hopes that a bank of novel leads with specific potential will soon be developed. This will aid In the long-drawn process of drug discovery. Natural diversity appears to be a novel source for new drugs worldwide. In the pursuit of new drug development, new drugs are needed so that an effective pipeline of molecules is established whose properties can be effectively validated in vitro using modern techniques in proteomics and genomics.Screening will be carried out for anti-cancer, anti-infective, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammation properties. In addition to the culture-dependent method, the culture-independent approach will also be adopted for a few selected samples.There are hopes that a bank of novel leads with specific potential will soon be developed. This will aid In the long-drawn process of drug discovery. The project will lead to the selection of potential candidate molecules, which will be taken to process scale-up strategies with appropriate partners. The credit-sharing in this project amongst the PI and industry has been mutually worked out.
The company made this announcement during the trading hours today, 22 February 2008.
City Union Bank declares interim dividend
The board of City Union Bank has recommended an interim dividend of 30% on the equity shares for the financial year 2007-2008.
This was recommended at the board meeting held on 22 February 2008.
Jaiprakash Associates appoints director
The board of Jaiprakash Associates has appointed S C Gupta as director in the existing vacancy with effect from February 21, 2008.
He was appointed at the board meeting held on 21 February 2008.
ICICI Bank allots equity shares
ICICI Bank has allotted 8,003 equity shares of face value Rs 10 each under ESOS, 2000.
These shares were allotted by the bank on 18 February 2008.
Power Grid Corporation to consider interim dividend
The board meeting of Power Grid Corporation of India will be held on 05 March 2008 for declaration of interim dividend for the financial year 2007-08.
The company made this announcement during the trading hours today, 22 February 2008.