Siemens to invest $50 million in Indian financial services arm

MUMBAI: Siemens AG, a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors, today said it will invest USD 50 million in Siemens Financial Services for commercial operations in India. "Siemens Financial Services (SFS) is rolling out its range of commercial finance solutions to help business and public sector customers in India to invest efficiently, and to maximise growth opportunities in a rapidly developing economy," Siemens Financial Services GmbH Chief Executive Roland Chalons-Browne told reporters here. We will invest USD 50 million for setting up Siemens Financial Services, Chalons-Browne said, adding the expansion of its presence in the Indian markets represents a significant milestone for SFS. SFS Commercial Finance has also obtained a non-banking financial company license from the Reserve Bank of India, its Chief Executive Sunil Kapoor said. Siemens research forecast says that capital expenditure in the key Indian markets will be very strong between now and 2020, with the healthcare sector investing over Euro 200 billion (Rs 13.2 trillion) industry sector more than Euro 125 billion (Rs 8.25 trillion) and utilities sector over Euro 800 billion (Rs 52.8 trillion)

Adani Group brings Mundra Port and SEZ under flagship brand

AHMEDABAD: In line with its vision to go multi-location, Adani Group changed name of its subsidiary Mundra Port and SEZ Limited (MPSEZ) to Adani Port and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ). Also, the Gautam Adani promoted group wants to bring all its business and equity holdings under flagship brand 'Adani'. Adani Group has promoted ventures like Adani Enterprise, Adani Wilmar, Adani Power among others. Now MPSEZ will be known as APSEZ, Adani Group informed the stock exchanges on Monday. Talking to ET, a senior APSEZ official said, "Adani Group is expanding its presence at various other locations on East Coast as well besides ports at Hazira and Dahej. Mundra was our first destination and continue to remain the flagship port of the group. However, brand Adani Port will portray larger canvas as we are going even international with recently acquire port in Australia." Adani group controls 77.50% stake in APSEZ after its promoters Adani family merged their holding in port venture. Except for port and SEZ, the group's all other business like coal mining and trading, real estate, agriculture and energy among others were already under AEL banner. The group is now aiming for 'One Adani' through consolidation where AEL will evolve as the face of the Adanis.

Neyveli Lignite set to light 250 MW unit

CHENNAI: Integrated mining-cum-power generation company Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) is planning to light up one of the two 250 MW Circulating Fluidised Bed Combustion (CFBC) boilers Friday, said a senior official. "We are planning to light one of the boilers Nov 25. We hope to generate 150 MW initially and gradually increase that to the full capacity," an official told media preferring anonymity. According to officials, the second unit is expected to be commissioned next March once the unit gets stabilised after addressing the teething problems. He said officials from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had visited the unit recently. NLC officials said power generation will have to be increased gradually as the technology is new and issues have to be resolved. Officials said generation in the first unit was increased up to 150 MW during the test phase while issues were plugged during the process. Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd ( BHEL) had supplied four CFBC boilers for NLC. While the two 250 MW units are located in its home town and near the pit head at Neyveli, the other two units - 2x125 MW - are in Rajasthan. The two units at Rajasthan were dedicated to the nation in June 2010, but the boilers started facing problems and power generation had to be halted.

Biocon eyes $1 bn revenue in next three fiscals: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

NEW DELHI: Biotechnology major Biocon on Tuesday said it aims to achieve revenues of USD 1 billion in the next three years. "Our target is to do it in the next three fiscals," Biocon Chairman and Manging Director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw told PTI on the sidelines of an event here to announce the dates and details of India Bio 2012. Speaking about the future plans, Shaw said, "We see ourselves among the top 10 global biotechnological companies in the world." On the main drivers of future growth, she said, "Our main emphasis is on the chronic diseases. The main emphasis is on diabetes, cancer and auto immune diseases." The company also has plans to list its contract research and manufacturing services arm Syngene. "It will be done in the next 18 months. We need to see sustained growth over four quarters before we do it," she said. She did not divulge further details of IPO saying that it is "too early for that". Last year the company had forayed into Malaysia and is in the process of setting up a bio manufacturing and R&D facility at Bio-Xcell, a biotechnology park and ecosystem in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor with an investment of USD 161 million (about Rs 715 crore) in the first phase. Shares of Biocon today closed at Rs 335.15 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), up 0.92 per cent from its previous close.

India's biotech sector to grow 20% in foreseeable future

BANGALORE: India's biotech sector is expected to grow at a robust 20 per cent per annum in the near future, given the growing demand for biopharmaceuticals, biosimilars and vaccines, says a veteran in the field. Biofuels would also offer a huge growth opportunity in biotech, the Chairman and Managing Director of Biocon, the country's largest biotech company by revenue, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said. "We are entering the era of bioeconomy, where biotechnology can provide powerful solutions to some of the grave challenges that we face today: food scarcity, energy deficit, environmental damage, unmet medical needs and industrial pollution," she said. Mazumdar-Shaw said the size of the country's biotech sector had reached USD 3.5 billion in 2010 and is poised for robust growth in all segments of biotechnology. "India is already a world leader in vaccine production, Bt Cotton and bio-pharmaceuticals, especially bio-similars," she said. "India is also a large producer of industrial enzymes for green technologies & bioremediation. We also have critical mass in tissue culture-based cultivation." However, Mazumdar-Shaw also referred to regulatory delays, import-export delays and restrictions, lack of venture funding and the listing norms that are unfavourable to innovation-led biotech companies. "The inherent risk associated with gestational time lines involved in developing biotech products is a huge deterrent for investors. Example, Bt Brinjal", she pointed out. Asked about her vision for Bangalore-headquartered Biocon, Mazumdar-Shaw, who has been named among TIME magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, said: "I am committed to pursuing our strategy of delivering affordable drugs for global markets that make a difference to healthcare."

Fortis Healthcare announces two new hospitals in Hyderabad, Agra

MUMBAI: Fortis Healthcare (India) Thursday announced the launch of two hospitals in Hyderabad and Agra, thus increasing its India network to 68 hospitals. The hospital in Hyderabad with a 150-bed capacity will be functional in financial year 2013 and is the second project from the company in the city, the company said in a regulatory filing. The hospital in Agra will initially function as a cardiac care centre, in a hub and spoke model, and expand eventually to become a multi-speciality hospital, it added. The 75-bed hospital will be operational by the end of financial year 2012. "These two projects are in line with our commitment to increasing the network and making quality healthcare accessible across the country," said Aditya Vij, CEO, Fortis Healthcare (India). "We are currently present in 17 Indian states and will continue to expand to newer geographies, while strengthening our presence and increasing bed-capacity in existing cities and states," he added.

Super Religare Labs to invest Rs 100 cr to open 25 labs by end of March 2013

NEW DELHI: Super Religare Laboratories (SRL) will invest up to Rs 100 crore to set up 25 laboratories both within and outside the country by the end of next fiscal. "We will be spending up to Rs 100 crore on a continuing basis to open 25 new laboratories by the end of March 31, 2013," Super Religare Laboratories CEO Sanjeev K Chaudhry told reporters here today. SRL's present network consists of 200 laboratories including eight reference laboratories, seven centres of excellence, 19 radiology/imaging centre and over 1,000 collection centres. Outside the country SRL has presence in Gulf, North Africa, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and Europe. The company opened an imaging and diagnostic centre at Vasant Vihar, here. "This state of art facility is SRL's 200th centre offering complete diagnostic services with an added advantage of out patient department ( OPD) facility all under one roof," Chaudhry said. On being about the time line for listing if SRL, Chaudhry said: "The company is prepared for the listing process. Listing can happen as soon as Fortis decides on this." Fortis Healthcare, promoted by billionaire brothers Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh had acquired 74.59 per cent stake in SRL for Rs 803 crore in May this year.

IVRCL bags projects worth Rs 552.31 crore

CHENNAI: Construction major IVRCL Ltd today said it has bagged orders against various projects valued at Rs 552.31 crore. According to a company statement, the company's building division has bagged a Rs 418.51 crore contract for construction of 7,720 houses low-cost houses in New Delhi from Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation. In addition, it secured an order for civil and structural steel works under a fuel and flux crushing project in Chhattisgarh from Engineering Projects (India) Ltd. The company also bagged a contract for establishment of infrastructure for a reserve battalion of CISF personnel at Sivagangai, a project awarded by National Buildings Construction Corporation, Chennai. The company's transportation and water divisions have also bagged projects valued at Rs 74.49 crore and Rs 59.31 crore, respectively. These include widening of roads in Orissa and a water supply project at Muzaffarpur, the statement said.

Godrej Properties to raise Rs 750 crore to bring down promoters' shareholding

MUMBAI: Godrej Properties, the realty development arm of Godrej Group, will raise up to Rs 750 crore through a shares issue over the next 6-12 months to bring down promoters' shareholding in the company from the current 83.79% to 75%, and to finance its ongoing as well as future projects. According to the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) norms, shareholding of promoters of public listed companies need to be reduced to 75% by June 2013, and this is the driver for the proposed fund raising, Pirojsha Godrej, executive director of Godrej Properties, said. The company would prefer a qualified institutional placement of shares or a follow-on issue, but the final call on the instrument is yet to be taken, he said. The fund raising will also enable the company to part finance its ongoing and future projects including the joint development deal with Jet Airways for 2.5 acres in Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Adi Godrej, chairman of the group, has said in the past that promoters would consider diluting the stake to comply with the Sebi norm as per the fund requirement of the realty company. As part of the recent 2.5-acre BKC land development deal with Jet Airways, Godrej is required to pay Rs 135 crore to compensate Jet for expenses already incurred, and also acquire the Rs 360-crore debt of the aviation company on this property. Jet and Godrej will share the project's profit equally. "It's (Jet BKC) a capital intensive project, we could use the some funds raised to part finance it. We will need additional capital to fund our growth. But we are not in a great rush to raise it anytime before six months," said Pirojsha Godrej. Currently, the company's market capitalisation is around Rs 4,600 crore and 9% stake dilution can fetch up to Rs 500 crore, Godrej said. "We would like to wait and raise funds when markets are in better shape," he said. Late Friday, the company informed stock exchanges in a notice that the company will raise up to Rs 750 crore through equity issue, but did not mention any timeframe for this. The funds raised will also be used to finance other projects of the company. In the quarter ended September, Godrej Properties entered into five business development deals spread over 8 million sq ft in Hyderabad, Nagpur, Thane, Bangalore and Bandra Kurla complex in Mumbai. On Friday, the company announced entering into another pact with Universal Builders for developing around 4,00,000 sq ft of premium villas spread over 14.5 acres at Electronic City in Bangalore. Godrej Properties will receive 11% of the project's revenue as development manager fees. On Friday, shares of Godrej Properties closed at Rs 668.60 on the National Stock Exchange, up 0.7% from Thursday's close.

Chennai to beat Mumbai in luxury hotel rooms growth

CHENNAI: Chennai is likely to add more luxury hotel rooms than Mumbai between now and 2015, according to realty consultants Cushman & Wakefield. Replying to a query by ET, the consultants indicated Chennai will see an increase in 6,300 rooms by 2015, 100 more than what Mumbai is likely to achieve by that time. However, Mumbai has a far bigger base of existing luxury hotel rooms (18,700) compared to Chennai (4,900), according to its data. In the past, Chennai has had not more than a handful of luxury hotels. Of late, there has been a flurry of activity in this sector, with major global chains such as the Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott entering this South Indian port city, though as part of a bigger pan-India plan. N Hariharan, Office Director, Cushman & Wakefield, attributed the growth in the city to a healthy presence of multiple industries such as IT, banking and auto. "With commercial and tourist traffic gradually picking up and demand expected to increase year on year, every major hotel operator wants to have a presence in Chennai. Another reason has been the emergence of Chennai as the centre for medical tourism in India," he said. "The average occupancy in Chennai in 2011 has been 71% across upscale and luxury hotel segments. While the demand is still driven by domestic arrivals, there has been a significant increase in international arrivals to the city." In 2011, the Chennai airport is expected to see 45 lakh international arrivals (as compared to 37 lakhs in 2009) and 70 lakh domestic arrivals. By 2015, the National Capital Region is likely to see 15,000 additional luxury hotel rooms (the base now being 21,000). Bangalore is likely to see an additional 8,000 rooms (from a base of 8,000 now).