Wednesday 1 October 2014

Thomas Cook trades higher on the bourses

In a bid to commemorate World Tourism Day, Thomas Cook (India) has launched the Thomas Cook Travel Quest - India’s first national travel quiz for school students. With over 50% of India under the age of 25 years and the country set to become the world's youngest nation by 2020 (with an average age of 29 years), this changing young demographic with growing aspirations seeks exposure to a global curriculum and opportunities that are increasingly being built into the curriculum of progressive schools. The contest is open to school students across India from classes 6 to 9, with a six month extensive outreach starting in mid October 2014, across 16 cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Dehradun, Kolkata, Raipur and Bhubaneshwar): a written qualifying test across the 1200 schools, followed by qualifiers to determine City, State, Zonal and eventually National winners. The four zonal winners will contest for the title prize at the grand finale, which will be held in Mumbai during Q1 2015. For this unique initiative, Thomas Cook India has partnered with Greycaps India, Asia’s largest on stage quizzing and knowledge services company & curated by noted quizmaster Giri Pickbrain with the focus being on History & Geography. Thomas Cook is the largest integrated travel and travel related financial services company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign Exchange, Corporate Travel, MICE, Leisure Travel, Insurance, Visa & Passport services and E-Business.

IVRCL zooms on the buzz of negotiating to sell assets

IVRCL is reportedly in various stages of negotiations to conclude the sale of some of its assets, including the Chennai de-salination plant and a couple of road projects. The construction and infrastructure major, which had earlier this year secured a nod for a Corporate Debt Restructure (CDR), has also received interest from some Japanese investors in its realty initiative in Chennai. The company is in the process of reducing its debt by way of sale of its assets to free up equity and have the debt burden released. As a part of this initiative, it had been in early arrangement with TRIL, a Tata Group entity, for sale of three of its road assets located in Tamil Nadu. However, the entire process is yet to be concluded. IVRCL is engaged into engineering procurement and construction (EPC) activities in India. It conducts operations in 5 sectors namely Water and Environment, Transportation, Buildings, Power and Industrial Structures.

IDFC cuts foreign stake limit to 48 percent

IDFC has agreed to decrease the limit for purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs), through primary market and stock exchanges under the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) up to 48 percent of the paid up capital. Earlier limit for such investments in the company was 50 per cent. The company has passed resolutions at the Board of Directors' level and a special resolution by the shareholders, agreeing for decreasing the limit for the purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by FIIs/RFPIs. Besides, Reserve Bank notified that IDFC will remain included in the ban list for FIIs/RFPIs. IDFC is the country’s leading integrated infrastructure finance player providing end to end infrastructure financing and project implementation services.

RBI increases company’s FII limit to 100% in MT Educare

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased foreign institutional investors' (FIIs) investment limit in MT Educare to 100% of its paid-up capital. RBI notified that FIIs/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) can now invest up to 100 percent (revised from earlier limit of 24 percent) of the paid up capital of MT Educare under the Portfolio Investment Scheme. The company has passed resolutions at its Board of Directors’ level and a special resolution by the shareholders, agreeing for enhancing the limit for the purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by FIIs. The purchases could be made through primary market and stock exchanges and would be subject to Regulation 5(2) of FEMA Notification No.20 dated May 03, 2000 (as amended from time to time) and other terms and conditions stipulated by the Reserve Bank. MT Educare provides educational coaching services for classes 9 and 10 (state boards, CBSE and ICSE), classes 11 and 12, graduation (commerce), preparatory/entrance tests (engineering, medical and MBA) and professional courses such as chartered accountancy under the brand name ‘Mahesh Tutorials’. The promoters holding in the company stood at 45.33 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 18.32 % and 36.35 % respectively.

Wipro surges on getting nod to set up a new SEZ in Andhra Pradesh

The Government has cleared Wipro’s proposal to set up a new special economic zone (SEZ) in Andhra Pradesh. The company holds 1.22 hectares in Resapuvanipalem in Visakhapatnam and wants this to become an SEZ. Wipro is a leading provider of analytics and information management solutions - enabling customers to derive actionable business insights from data to drive growth, enhance cost management and strengthen risk management.