RIL BP Deal

RIL and BP Plc today announced a historic partnership in which BP will take a 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the producing KG D6 block, and the formation of a 50:50 joint venture between the two companies for the sourcing and marketing of gas in India. The joint venture will also endeavour to accelerate the creation of infrastructure for receiving, transporting and marketing of natural gas in India. The deals are subject to approval of GOI. BP will pay RIL an aggregate consideration of US$7.2 billion, and completion adjustments, for the interests to be acquired in the 23 production sharing contracts. Future performance payments of up to US$1.8 billion could be paid based on exploration success that results in development of commercial discoveries. These payments and combined investment could amount to US$20 billion. The 23 oil and gas blocks together cover approximately 270,000 square kilometres. This will make the partnership India’s largest private sector holder of exploration acreage. RIL will continue to be the operator under the production sharing contracts, whose blocks lie in water depths ranging from 400 to over 3,000 metres. These currently produce about 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcf/d), over 30 per cent of India's total consumption, and over 40 per cent of India's total production.

Tata Motor - Great Wall Deal

Tata Motors' Jaguar and Land Rover unit is in talks with top Chinese sport utility vehicle maker Great Wall Motor Co about a potential China tie-up.

Tata Steel - Orissa Plant

Tata Steel expects to start production from a new Orissa plant by end-March 2013. The plant at Kalinganagar in Orissa will have initial capacity of 3 million tonne, which would eventually be doubled. Tata Steel signed the initial memorandum for the plant with the local government in November 2004 and preliminary work on land acquisition and resettlement of locals is still under way The company was likely to invest Rs 17,000 crore ($3.77 billion) in the plant's first phase.

RIL-BP Deal

BP will pay $7.2 billion for a 30 % stake in 23 oil and gas blocks of Reliance Industries
Ltd (RIL). The fields include the most prolific KG-D6 off the east coast.

SAIL -12 billion investment

Steel Authority of India (SAIL) plans to put up four 3-mtpa manufacturing facilities, one each in Indonesia, Mongolia, South Africa and Oman with a cumulative investment of $12 billion. They have already signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the Indonesian government and are in constant dialogue with the governments in Mongolia, South Africa and Oman for setting up the 3-mtpa steel plant. The proposed investments are likely to be financed in a 80:20 debt-equity ratio and the state-owned firm might rope in strategic investor to part-finance the equity part.

Ranbaxy Labs - Cholesterol Drug

Ranbaxy Laboratories will soon launch a generic version of Abbott’s cholesterol lowering medicine 'Tricor' after the latter decided to settle a patent litigation case against Ranbaxy. This would add several million dollars to Ranbaxy’s revenues. However, the terms of the settlement were not disclosed and were kept confidential. Abbott generates about $1 billion in annual sales by selling fenofibrate under the brands Tricor and Triplix in American market alone.

Punj Lloyd - NHAI order

Punj Lloyd Infrastructure (PLIL), a Punj Lloyd Group subsidiary, received an order worth Rs 735 crore from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) today. PLIL, set up for implementing infrastructure development projects, will upgrade NH-31 from Khagaria to Purnea in Bihar to a two-lane, undivided carriageway with paved shoulders, under the National Highways Development Programme - three. The project will work on a build- operate-transfer (BOT) annuity basis. And the scope of work will involve the design, building, finance, operation and transfer of the 140 km section of the national highway. PLIL will form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which in turn will sign a concession agreement with NHAI for 17 years. It will be entitled to semi annual annuities of Rs 56