Keystone Industries Board to consider proposal for merger

8th March 2005: Keystone Industries Ltd has informed BSE that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on March 14, 2005, to consider the proposal for merger of Vishnu Chemicals Pvt. Ltd into the Company.

Tata Motors to acquire 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera

26th February 2005: Tata Motors Ltd, India's largest automobile manufacturing Company, has announced that the Board of the Company on February 25, 2005 has approved a proposal to acquire 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera S.A (HC), a well known Spanish bus manufacturing Company, with an option to acquire 100% holding. The Company will have the license for technology and brand rights from HC. The total deal consisting of Equity, Debt & Technology Licensing will add up to Euro 12 million (about Rs 700 million).

HC, which currently enjoys a market share of 25% in the bus market in Spain, sells its buses in Europe and several other countries outside Europe. It has its own in house product development facility for buses and coaches. States Mr. Ravi Kant, Executive Director - Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, of the Company, "This strategic alliance with Hispano Carrocera will give us access to its design and technological capabilities to fully tap the growing potential of this segment in India and other export markets, besides providing us with a foothold in developed European markets".

PNB rules out merger of PNBHF

25th February 2005: The public sector Punjab National Bank on Friday ruled out merger of its housing finance subsidiary with itself, and also said it proposed to set up representative offices in Dubai and Colombo. The housing finance subsidiary has "utility", it would have "existence" and it would continue, said PNB's executive director K C Chakrabarty. The subsidiary currently has a portfolio of around Rs 800 crore, he added. The housing finance subsidiary may go in for an initial public offering in the "coming days", though it's not on the agenda "immediately", Chakrabarty said but hastened to add that it's for the board of the subsidiary to take a decision on IPO.

PNB, which is coming out with its follow-on public issue on March 7, has proposed to open representative offices in Dubai and Colombo and is awaiting approvals in this regard, PNB's general manager at the Head Office V Nagaraja said. Nagaraja said PNB's representative office at Almaty in Kazakhstan is being upgraded to branch office. The bank also has representative offices in London and Shanghai, and branch office in Kabul. PNB executives said Boston consulting firm has been drafted to study issues on integrated risk management, back office operations and restructuring of the bank. Chakrabarty said back office operations would be centralised and product-wise profitability is being studied. The bank is looking into whether the four-tier structure -- branch, regional office, zonal office and head office -- is needed, he added.