Company news this week

BHEL won a Rs 765 crore order from SAIL to set up a captive power plant in West Bengal.

In a bid to consolidate its position in the education sector, IT company Core Projects and Technologies finalised 3 acquisition deals in the US and UK for $45 million.

Construction firm Gammon India will invest between Rs 400-500 crore to build 40 budget hotels in the country though a tie-up with US-based hospitality firm Wyndham Hotel Group International.

Logistics firm Gateway Distriparks Ltd plans to invest Rs 600 crore over 30 months in its rail unit Gateway Rail Freight Ltd.

NIIT Technologies is in preliminary discussions with private equity players Carlyle and Texas Pacific Group for a 25-40% stake sale.

Nitco Tiles plans to invest Rs 1.5 billion in expanding its capacities over the next two years.

Pfizer Ltd posted a net profit of Rs 30.83 crore for the quarter ended August 31, 2007 as compared to Rs 28.07 crore in the same period last year.

Pantaloon Retail India plans to raise Rs 2,000 crore through an IPO and private placement of shares. It plans to spin off its subsidiary, Future Ventures, as a separate company.

Tata Sons bought 7.3% of Praj Industries to expand its business of making fuel from plants.

Shipping Corporation of India is investing Rs30 billion to build country's largest shipyard.

Wind power major Suzlon Energy plans to augment the power generation capacity by 30MW at its wind farm in the Dhule Sangli area of Maharashtra. It entered the Turkish market by securing an order for 31.5MW of wind turbine capacity from Ayen Enerji Co Inc.

Tricom India has signed an MoU to acquire the assets of US based Apex Document Solutions for $2 million.

Usha Martin group has acquired UK based BPO company Converso. The acquisition is expected to bring synergies in customer care and billing solutions between Ushacomm, Eppixcomm and Converso.

On the oil & gas front
GAIL has announced its plan to explore options for strategic co-operation with BPCL for petrochem and exploration and production (E&P) activities.

The oil ministry has proposed a 12.5% hike in the price of natural gas sold by ONGC to power and fertilizer units. Meanwhile, the petroleum secretary has advised that ONGC stick to its core business of producing hydrocarbons and not divert resources for diversification into areas such as power and refining. ONGC will invest $150mn over the next 7 years in Burma for exploration. The company has been awarded 100% participating interest by the Myanmar Government.

On the pharma front
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority decided to revise prices of over 200 life saving medicines. Pfizer has been asked by NPPA to reduce prices of two drugs, Benadryl and Caladryl.

On the telecom from
India, the world's fastest growing cell phone market, ended August with 201.3 million wireless users after 8.31 million accounts were added in August. The earlier additions were 7.34 million (June) and 8.06 million (July).

VSNL will provide high bandwidth global internet access in UK for education and research institutions.

Videocon has applied for mobile licenses in all 22 telecom circles in the country and is likely to rope in Verizon as JV partner.

DLF Ltd is applying for a license to start offerings telecommunication services. Indiabulls Real Estate has applied for nation wide telephone licenses. Unitech and Parsvnath Developers are also hoping to start wireless, fixed line and internet services in India.

The information is not comprehensive and has been compiled from reports that appeared in the media over the past few days.