Michelin va installer son usine à Pune

Source : Business Standard

With the 51:49 joint venture Michelin Apollo Tyres (MATL) failing to take off, the France-based Michelin, the world’s second largest tyre maker, is planning to set up its own truck and bus radial manufacturing facility in Ranjangaon, Pune. The plant will come up adjacent to Apollo’s existing facility in Ranjangaon. In 2004, Apollo and Michelin had announced a tie-up for setting up a production unit in the same region to produce truck and bus radials, primarily to cater to the domestic market. According to the JV, the plant would have had an annual capacity of 300,000-350,000 units with an investment of $75 million. Later in 2005, Apollo Tyres and the Michelin group had agreed to realign their business plans and had announced Apollo’s exit from MATL.

The group (Michelin) has already secured the land in the region for setting up the radial facility there. We will perhaps hear a formal announcement from them this year, said a top industry official who did not wish to be named. The group has roped in Germany’s luxury carmaker BMW for supply of passenger car tyres, which would be churned out from the latter’s assembly unit in Chennai. The decision to end the joint venture was taken based on the prevailing market conditions then and the pace of radialisation in truck and bus tyre segments. The partners had decided to refocus their respective resources towards more immediate projects. Michelin’s global competitor Bridgestone, which already has a passenger vehicle plant in the country, is said to be considering the possibility of setting up a truck and bus radial manufacturing facility, as its existing facility would not be able to produce such tyres.

BNP Paribas s'intéresse à SpiceJet

Source : Yahoo & Reuters


Indian carrier SpiceJet Ltd. said it has issued about 13.1 million shares, or a 5.43 percent stake in the company, to BNP Paribas Arbitrage.

L'espagnol Gestamp et TACO de TATA sont arrivés sur un accord

Source : Economic Times

Tata Group firm Automotive Stampings & Assemblies Ltd on Saturday said Spain-based Gestamp Servicios SL will acquire 37.5 per cent stake in it in a deal that could be valued at nearly Rs 36.31 crore.

Under the agreement, Gestamp would acquire up to 37.5 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital of the company from from one of the promoters, Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd (TACO), and partly through an open offer to the shareholders at a price of Rs 94.96 per share, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The number of equity shares that Gestamp would acquire from TACO would depend on the number of equity shares tendered by the public shareholders, in response to the open offer, it said. Post acquisition, Gestamp along with TACO and Tata Industries Ltd would become the promoters of the company, it said.

The board at its meeting held on Friday discussed the acquisition and took note of Gestamp's public announcement issued by Yes Bank Ltd on behalf of the Spanish company for acquiring up to 19,02,261 equity shares of the company. After completion of the sale of shares as above, the company would become a joint venture of TACO and Gestamp.

Gestamp and TACO, inter se, would eventually have 50:50 equity stake in the company. Gestamp would provide necessary technology to Automotive Stampings in terms of an agreement to be finalised for this purpose.

Les Indiens professionnels pourront dans le futur se déplacer plus librement en Europe

Source : Economic Times

Freer movement of Indian professionals in 25 European Union member countries is likely to be a reality in the near future, as this will be a key point of negotiations in the proposed Free Trade Agreement with EU.

"We appreciate that the issue of free movement of professionals is critical for India and will also feature in negotiations for FTA," Director General for Trade (European Commission) Davis O'Sullivan told the media.

"Even in WTO negotiations, Europe has been more forthcoming on the issue. However, there are some sensitives in Europe on Mode 4 which we will have to manage," he said.

In return, India should also relax restrictions on foreign ownership in services of interest to Europe like retail, financial sector and telecom, he said.

In WTO and other bilateral trade agreements, India has been demanding that professionals, especially in IT, medicine and engineering should be given liberal visas to work on short-term projects.

Sullivan said the negotiations for India-EU FTA would start in April after the Council of Ministers of Europe grants the mandate to the European Commission.

The FTA would aim to cut duties to zero on 90 per cent goods traded between India and Europe.

Although Europe subsidises its farmers heavily, Sullivan allayed fears that India could become a dumping ground for agriculture products. "We understand India's concerns regarding its subsistence farmers but we do not foresee much problem because Europe is not an exporter of bulk agriculture products," he added.

A 22kms de Pondicherry, un chantier naval va bientôt voir le jour

Source : Economic Times

A world class Ship Building yard is set to come up at Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. Good Earth Maritime, a Korean company, plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore to establishing the project.

The Tamil Nadu government and the Korean company entered into a formal MoU, here on Thursday, to pave the way for works to start for the project. The MoU was signed in the presence of Tamil Nadu chief minister, Mr M Karunanidhi, besides state Electricity minister, Mr Arcot N Veerasamy and state chief secretary, Mr L K Tripathy and other officials.

In fact, a delegation from Korea had earlier met the chief minister on November 7, 2006 and sought the government's support for establishing the ship building project in the state. Mr Karunanidhi had directed the authorities to extend all possible support to enable the project to come up in Tamil Nadu.

According to a statement, issued by the government, the project is to be completed in two phases over three years, attracting an investment of Rs 500 crore for each phase. Once completed, the project will provide direct and in-direct employment to 5,000 and 20,000 people respectively.