Decision on Air India-Indian deal soon

16th March 2006: A decision to merge Air India and Indian is likely to be taken in the current fiscal to turn the combined entity into a mega carrier with about 130 aircraft to take on the major global carriers like Singapore Airlines, Emirates and British Airways.

Keeping in mind the global aviation scenario where such mega mergers have taken place in the recent past, from KLM-Air France and Lufthansa-SwissAir to Jet Airways and Air Sahara in India, "it is an absolutely logical proposal to consolidate and optimise the use of the assets of the two public sector airlines," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.

Maintaining that such a proposal would have to be cleared by the Union Cabinet, he said "this should happen within 2006-07 and added that the two airlines were already attempting to synergise their operations.

Patel said the emergence of Delhi and Mumbai as hubs of their future operations with most modern world class airports would help the combined entity to spread its operations having a fleet of 125-130 aircraft.

Asked whether the decision would be taken after the two carriers issue their Initial Public Offers (IPOs), he said both these decisions could be implemented at the same time. The government expects to offload 20-25% equity in these two airlines through the proposed IPOs.

Responding to a series of questions on aviation-related issues, he said major initiatives would be taken to encourage regional air connectivity, apart from improving airport infrastructure at 35 selected non-metros.

Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd (STFC) to go ahead with merger

9th March 2006: STFC said it will merge Shriram Overseas Finance Ltd with itself and the share swap ratio will be 3:5. The board of directors have approved the scheme of Shriram Overseas with itself, subject to all requisite approvals, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. The appointed date has been fixed as April 01, 2005. The board has approved the share exchange ratio of three equity shares of Rs 10 each fully paid up of the company for five equity shares of Rs 10 each fully paid up of Shriram Overseas, based on the valuation report of Ernst and Young Pvt Ltd, it said.

Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertiliser Company (GNFC), Narmada Chematur Petrochemicals Ltd (NCPL) decide to merge

2nd March 2006: GNFC has approved merger of its subsidiary NCPL with itself. The board of directors of GNFC and NCPL, at meeting held on February 28, approved the merger proposal. The Board approved exchange ratio of one GNFC share for every three shares of NCPL, a release by GNFC said. However, the approved merger would become effective after completion of requisite formalities. The shares of NCPL held by GNFC shall be cancelled and extinguished, resulting in marginal rise in GNFC capital base. "This merger is coherent with the current corporate trend of consolidation at industry level and also group level," the release said.