Market News Trends

HOT FROM THE PRESS NEWS

* RELIANCE : submits an all-cash but non binding bid to buy a controlling stake
in the world's third largest petrochem co Lyondell Basell, if it comes out of
bankruptcy.. press rpts suggest the deal cud be in the range of $10-12bn

* BANKS : RBI will give banks six months more to set aside extra funds fm their
profits to cover NPAs, stretching an earlier deadline of Sept 2010

* PNB : scouting for acquisitions, to focus more in southern & western regions

* ICICI : raises $750mn thru a 5 year bond issue at its Bahrain branch.. the
issue had an order book of $3bn & was participated by over 250 investors

* LUPIN : US based Medicis Pharma files a patent infringement case against the
co for a dermatology medicine

* NALCO : in talks with an Islamic Bank in Indonesia for a Rs100bn loan for its
Iran project, on hold due to cos inability to secure finances for the venture

* JK LAKSHMI CEMENT : plans to raise Rs8bn thru debt and equity to part-finance
setting up a greenfield project

* ESSAR OIL : rpts Royal Dutch Shell Plc to acquire 10% stake in the Co as part
of the deal to sell 3 refineries to Essar

Corporate News – Industry trends

* RELIANCE Industries could pay up to US$12 bn for bankrupt
petrochemicals company Lyondell Basell, bankers familiar with the
transaction said; the deal, if consummated, would take Reliance’s top
line to more than US$80 bn, greater than industry titans such as Dow
Chemicals (ET)

* US-based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation has filed a case
against Indian drug maker Lupin, alleging infringement of its patent on
a dermatology medicine (BS)

* The Ministry of Defence has agreed to release 25 MHz of 3G
spectrum in the 1920-1980 MHz band before December 7, but with the
condition that the government will clear the proposal for laying of an
alternative optical-fibre network for the military before that date and
create a monitoring mechanism for the project’s implementation (BS)

* AS AMERICA’S top banks emerge from the Troubled Asset Relief
Program (TARP) and the economy starts showing signs of recovery,
Indian outsourcing vendors, TCS, Infosys and Wipro, are set to gain
off shoring projects worth around US$1 bn over the next one to two
years (ET)

* Rico Auto, a major component supplier to Maruti Suzuki, Hero Honda
and Tata Motors, says it will set up two new plants outside Haryana
after a protracted labour strike at its four plants in the state crippled
production for over two months (ET)

* JK Lakshmi Cement will raise around Rs 8bn through debt and equity
to part-finance setting up a greenfield project in Chhattisgarh in order
to get a foothold in the central and eastern India (ET)

* Steel magnet Lakshmi N Mittal has paid over US$10 mn to double
his stake in Africa focused Ophir Energy Plc to 21.2%, even as he
exited the oil and gas business in the Central Asian nation Kazakhstan
(BS)

* Bajaj Auto is betting big on its Pulsar bike and plans to raise
production to 90,000 units per month, in the next six months with a
sales target of one million units per annum by the end of next financial
year (BS)

* Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat,
received its first consignment of Cairn India’s Rajasthan crude oil over
the weekend. The first consignment was dispatched on Saturday (BL)

* The life insurance industry is expected to grow by about 15% in the
current fiscal year to touch a total premium income of Rs 2.55 trillion
in 2009-10 (Mint)

* IDBI has awarded the mandate to three leading foreign lenders to
raise a US$225 mn five year syndicated loan in Asian and European
markets by mid December (Mint)

* Suzlon Energy, has shifted most of its management operations back
to its headquarters in Pune; Two years earlier, it had set up a Group
Management Centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to run its global
business, spanning 21 countries. Instead, Suzlon will soon inaugurate
a new campus in Pune with a ‘world class work environment’ for about
2,500 employees, named ‘Suzlon One Earth’. This Centre will act as
the new global headquarters and the hub for its operations worldwide
(BS)

Economic/Regulatory development

* The Reserve Bank of India’s second quarter monetary policy review
signalled an exit from the central bank’s accommodative stance,
leading many to believe that interest rates would move in only one
direction – north (BS)

* The subsidy on wheat and rice supplied through the public
distribution system (PDS) has risen sharply, thanks to an increase of
over Rs 100 per quintal in the economic cost of food grains; The level
of subsidy in 2009-10 worked out at between 56 and 60% for the
above poverty line category consumers and between 70 and 72.4% for
the below poverty line consumers (BS)

International trends

* Royal Bank of Scotland Plc sold US$7 bn of debt due in March 2012,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg, equalling the largest US
corporate sale since May (BS)

* Ford Motor Co said it will spend 4 bn to expand in the growing
Brazilian market, the largest investment it has made in the country
(BS)

* Consumer spending probably rebounded in October, showing that
mounting unemployment is restraining, not derailing, the biggest part
of the US economy (ET)
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