Reliance Group Plans $1bn Aerospace Park - TOI
The Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Group has selected Mihan near Nagpur in Maharashtra for developing India’s first smart city for the defence sector. Known as Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park (DAAP), the smart city will be developed at a cost of $1 billion to manufacture helicopters for both commercial and military applications.
The project would be the first integrated facility in aerospace structure, engine design and manufacture, fabrication and platform integration in the country.
The move is part of the Reliance Group’s aggressive play in defence, seeking to capture a slice of the $100 billion worth of opportunities that the sector would soon throw up as part of the NDA government’s ‘Make in India’ programme to focus on indigenous manufacturing of defence equipment.
Foxconn Vows $2 bn Push to Make in India -ET
Foxconn Technology Group is set to invest over $2 billion (Rs 12,800 crore) initially to establish manufacturing plants in India over the next five years to produce mobile devices, TVs, electronic products, batteries and key electronic components, among others, which could make it the biggest foreign investor in the government’s ‘Make in India’ programme so far.
“They are planning to make some 400 million handsets here. Half of these will be manufactured for the Indian market and the rest for exports to Middle East, Africa and Russia,” a top official familiar with the matter told ET.
Separately, the manufacturer of the iconic Apple iPhones is also planning to set up one or more data centres and some fabrication units over the next 10 years.
Speaking at a press conference, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou said India offered “good investment opportunities” for a 5-10 year horizon for the Taiwanese company, which has been enthused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision. “We see India as a manufacturing, expansion and export base. We are looking at it for the long term.”
Malaysia’s Parkway Hospital Acquires 74% Stake in Hyderabad-Based Global Hospitals for Rs 2,150 crore - ET
Parkway Hospital, owned by Malaysia’s biggest healthcare group IHH, has acquired 74 per cent stake in Hyderabad-based Global Hospitals for an equity value of Rs 1,800 crore, two people with direct knowledge of the development said.
The global healthcare chain has bought the stake of private equity investor Everstone Capital, Anand Rathi Capital Advisor Pvt Ltd and some individual investors in the unlisted chain specialising in liver transplants.
The remaining 26 per cent stake will continue to be owned by Global Hospitals founder Dr K Ravindranath, these people said. The chain has a debt of Rs 350 crore.
HDFC to Raise Rs 5,000 crore via Quasi-Debt Issue, to Offer NCDs, Warrants to FIs Simultaneously - ET
Housing Development Finance Corporation is likely to raise roughly Rs 5,000 crore through a structured quasi-debt offer to domestic institutions soon. The mortgage lender is likely to simultaneously issue non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and warrants to investors that could help it raise funds at a cheaper cost. HDFC and its bankers are aiming to launch the issue in the next couple of weeks and have sounded out local institutional investors, said four people aware of the matter.
NCDs fetch investors a fixed interest payment till maturity, while warrants allow investors to buy a fixed number of shares in the company at a pre-fixed date and price. Six years ago, HDFC was the first entity to raise money through combination of NCDs and warrants, almost six months after the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) allowed such a product. In August 2009, HDFC mopped up Rs 4,300 crore, of which Rs 4,000 crore were through NCDs and Rs 300 crore through warrants at Rs 275 a piece.
RBI Holds Rate but Says Open to Cuts - BS
In line with market expectations, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday kept the key interest rate unchanged at 7.25 per cent at its third bi-monthly review of monetary policy. The central bank cited uncertainties related to the monsoon and a spike in core inflation.
It, however, added it would monitor developments pertaining to room for more rate cuts.
On Tuesday, domestic equity markets snapped a four-day winning streak, as investors turned cautious. The BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange Nifty fell 0.41 per cent and 0.31 per cent to 28,071.93 and 8,516.90, respectively
“Most worrisome is the sustained hardening of inflation, excluding food and fuel. More, the full effects of the service tax increase, which took effect from June, will feed through the rest of the year,” RBI, which reduced the repo rate by a combined 75 basis points since January, said in a statement, adding prices of protein items had increased sharply in recent months.
Klesch Group Drops Plans to Buy Out Tata Steel Unit - BS
US billionaire Gary Klesch’s Klesch Group has abandoned plans to buy Tata Steel’s long products unit in the UK, which employs 6,000.
Klesch blamed the withdrawal on rising energy prices and cheap imports from China. He was quoted by Financial Times as saying he was ‘frustrated’ by the UK government’s failure to address either of these issues.
“The industrial side is hurting. If it was important to them to ensure those jobs were saved, they would figure it out.” Tata’s long products division manufactures transport rails and steel sections for use in construction, heavy industry and excavation. It includes plants in Scunthorpe and Teesside in England, as well as Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland. There are also sites in Workington and York along with other operations in France and Germany.
Steel unions said the failure to come to a deal would not have a direct effect on jobs and called on the government to do more to help plants in the UK to compete.
Airtel Q1 Net Up 40% at Rs 1,554 cr - BS
The world’s third largest telecom company, Bharti Airtel reported a 40.2 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended June at Rs 1,554 crore. However, the quarter’s numbers were riddled with several exceptional items and accounting adjustments like sale of the tower business, which helped shore up the bottomline. Adjusting for one- offs, net profit grew 13 per cent year-on-year, explain analysts. Bharti’s consolidated revenues during the quarter grew by a modest 3.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 23,671 crore.
Strong data growth —both in India and Africa —is a key highlight of the quarter. During the quarter, mobile data revenues (consolidated) grew 57 per cent year-on-year to Rs 3,459 crore, as data traffic rose by 86.5 per cent. Mobile data revenues now account for 14.6 per cent of the total revenues compared to 9.6 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year. Data revenues have grown at a healthy clip in India and Africa.
IPO of 4 Companies to Hit Stock Markets this Month - FE
To tap strong investor sentiments, four companies including Dilip Buildcon and Navkar Corp plans to hit the capital markets this month, to raise an estimated over Rs 1,800 crore through initial public offers (IPOs).
The other two companies are Power Mech Projects and Prabhat Dairy. The bidding for shares in Power Mech’s IPO will open on August 7 and close on August 11, while the remaining three firms will hit the capital markets later this month, sources said.
The equity shares will be listed on BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE). Together, these firms are planning to mop-up an estimated Rs 1,820 crore through the initial share plans. The funds raised through the public offers would be used for expansion plans, repayment of loans, to meet working capital requirements and general corporate purposes.
Downgrades Follow on Heels of Tepid Q1 - FE
Although the Street is looking for some positive triggers to maintain the momentum it gained since late June, the much dreaded earnings downgrades are back with below-expectation financial performance of Indian companies in the April-June quarter.
While the sustained decline in commodity prices have bolstered the operating performance of India Inc, lower demand is well reflected in the top line growth. For a clutch of 648 companies excluding banks and financials, y-o-y net sales for Q1FY16 has contracted by over 3%. However, nearly 6% y-o-y decline in raw material cost supported operating performance (margins expanded by 202 basis points) and net profit expanded by 9% compared to the same quarter last year.
JPMorgan in an analysis on July 27 noted that the earnings season has had a “cloudy start”with weaker-than-expected revenue growth and relatively mixed improvement in margins.
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