Jindal Vijayanagar Board approves acquisition of Euro Ikon, Euro Coke & JPL by way of merger

9th May 2005: Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd has informed BSE that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held May 09, 2005, has considered and approved the acquisition of Euro Ikon Iron & Steel Pvt Ltd ("Euro Ikon"), Euro Coke & Energy Pvt Ltd ("Euro Coke") and JSW Power Ltd ("JPL") by way of merger under a Scheme of Amalgamation of Euro Ikon, Euro Coke and JPL with the Company and their respective shareholders under sections 391 to 394 of the Companies Act, 1956.

The Appointed Date for the merger is April 01, 2005

Pursuant to the Scheme

a. Equity shareholders of Euro Ikon will be allotted 1 equity share of the Company of Rs 10 each in lieu of 16 equity shares of Rs 10/- each held in Euro Ikon.

b. Equity shareholders of Euro Coke will be allotted 1 equity share of the Company of Rs 10 each in lieu of 19 equity shares of Rs 10/- each held in Euro Coke; and

c. Equity shareholders of JPL will be allotted 1 equity shares of the Company of Rs 10 each in lieu of 25 equity shares of Rs 10/- each held in JPL.

The Scheme is subject to requisite consent, approval of the requisite majority of the shareholders, lenders, creditors of the Company, Euro Ikon, Euro Coke and JPL, the Bombay High Court, and the permission or approval of any other statutory or regulatory authorities, which by law may be necessary for the implementation of the Scheme.

S&P acquires majority stake in CRISIL

9th May 2005: Standard & Poor's today said that it raised its holding in Indian credit rating agency CRISIL Ltd. to 58.5%, after it paid about $56 million for 3.12 million shares. S&P, part of McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., bought the additional 49.07% stake in an open offer at 775 rupees a share that closed on April 25. It earlier held 9.48%. S&P has been eyeing India's strong demand for credit from companies as they expand in an economy expected to grow by about 7 per cent in the current financial year through March. Indian companies raised $5 billion through debt offerings in 2004, more than double the year before, while domestic bond issues rose to 585 billion rupees from 509 billion.

SC Johnson to buy out promoters in AllOut for Rs 200 cr

7th May 2005: SC Johnson is buying out Aryas, the local promoters of Karamchand Appliances (KAPL), which owns the mosquito repellent brand AllOut. SC Johnson has 50% equity in the company. Though the deal amount stands undisclosed, it could be substantial, given the price of the earlier stake acquisition. AllOut is one of the leading domestic brands in its category.

The US-based consumer packaged goods company, SC Johnson had acquired 50% in KAPL two years ago in what was believed to be a Rs 180-crore deal. Given the growth of the company and the usual mark-up which is used on the sales value of a brand, the deal size for acquiring the remaining holding in the company is estimated to be at least Rs 200 crore.

According to sources, the resident shareholders of the Delhi-based KAPL will offload their remaining 50% equity holding to SC Johnson Products, a subsidiary of SC Johnson. AllOut is estimated to be a Rs 180-200 crore brand and is one of the main players in the refill vapouriser segment of the mosquito repellent industry in the country.

The buyout will see and overhaul of the top management team of KAPL. When SC Johnson had picked up its 50% stake in the company, the organisational structure was left unchanged and Bimal Arya who was the MD, continued in the same position. With this transaction, the status of SC Johnson Products will change from an operating company to a holding-cum-operating company. In the current deal, the Arya family members along with the Malik family are selling their equity stake to SC Johnson.

According to unconfirmed reports, SC Johnson has also decided to consolidate its consumer products business in India under KAPL. The buzz is that KAPL will be engaged in marketing and distribution of any future launch of products from SC Johnson’s global product portfolio.