Global Economy
Japan PM Announces $ 277 Bn Stimulus Package: Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso has announced a $ 277 bn (26.9 tn yen) stimulus package for the country to help it bear the global economic crisis. Facing pressure from the opposition to call snap elections, Aso has pressed parliament for quick approval of the plan, including five trillion yen in new spending. The package includes sending back a total of two trillion yen ($20.3 bn) to all households.
IMF Comes Up With Loan Programme For Developing Countries: The International Monetary Fund is creating a new program to speed up funding to developing countries that have strong economies but are facing cash crunches due to global financial crisis. A maximum of around $100 billion would be available under the emergency loan program. The IMF’s executive board approved the short-term loan program, termed as a liquidity facility, to speed funds to the 24 poorer countries that includes nations from Latin America, Asia and Africa.
M&As
Karur Vysya Bank Ties Up With SME Rating Agency: Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) has signed a MoU with SME Rating Agency of India Ltd (Smera) proposing co-operation between the two organizations in SME financing by leveraging their strengths. Smera will provide external credit rating on parameters of financial position and qualitative factors that have a bearing on the credit worthiness of the SME.
Godrej To Sell Stake In Hicare: Godrej Industries plans to sell part or whole of its stake in Godrej Hicare. For the same, Godrej Hicare is in the process of hiring an investment banker. Godrej Industries has plans to invest up to Rs 1 bn in Godrej Properties, up to Rs 400 mn in Godrej Hershey and up to Rs 500 mn in Ensemble Holdings & Finance Ltd.
NDTV Enters Into Tie-Up For Distribution With UK's ITV: NDTV has tied up with UK-based ITV for telecast rights of the general entertainment channel of the latter, Granada TV, across India and other South Asian nations. NDTV would offer Indian viewers Granada TV's contemporary dramas, like Prime Suspect, The Jeremy Kyle Show, The Friday Night Project, Ballroom Bootcamp, Airline and Vroom Vroom.
Yahoo, Google May Break Away From Search Deal: Google Inc and Yahoo Inc are likely to announce a decision to walk away from their search deal by the middle of next week. A month back the two had decided to delay implementing the controversial deal, struck in June, due to ongoing discussions with regulators. The deal allows Google to sell advertising for some of Yahoo's online, advertising space and has drawn fierce criticism from advertisers, who fear ad prices will be hiked.
Turkcell In Talks To Buy 51% Stake In Datacom: Turkcell, a Turkish telecom company is in talks to buy 51% stake in Dhoots promoted Datacom Solutions, which received pan-India telecom licence last year. The deal will put the enterprise value of the company at nearly $2.2 bn. The two sides – Dhoots and Mahendra Nahata of HFCL have differences over management of the company, which Turkcell wants to get resolved before buying into the company.
M&M – PTL Merger Approved By Shareholders: The shareholders of tractor maker Mahindra & Mahindra have approved the merger of Punjab Tractors (PTL) with itself. Mahindra Group had last year bought 64.64% stake in PTL for over Rs 1,400 cr. The equity shareholders of the company, at its meeting held on October 29 approved the scheme of amalgamation.
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Sterlite Lowers Asarco Offer To $2.1 Bn
: Sterlite Industries has shown renewed interest in buying Asarco for $2.1 bn, which is $500 mn lower than the original offer. Vedanta Group firm Sterlite Industries' had called off its earlier bid to buy out Asarco last week, saying its original offer of $2.6 bn was over-valued given the global financial meltdown and falling copper prices.
People
Amex To Cut 7,000 Jobs, Saves $1.8 Bn: American Express is going to lay off 7,000 employees, reduce compensations, lower operating costs and scale back investments in order to save $1.8 billion in 2009 to beef up its struggle with the ongoing global financial crisis.
Motorola Lays Off 3,000 People, Defers Spinoff Of Cell Phone Unit: Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola Inc is cutting its global workforce by 3,000 employees (4.5% of total), and delaying the spinoff of its troubled cell phone unit. Motorola announced the job cuts just hours after reporting a quarterly net loss of $ 397 mn and cleared that majority of the layoffs would be in the handset division. It had 66,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2007.
Lehman To Rehire 480 Former Employees: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc about 480 ex-employees to assist in winding down its business. Lehman said that during the first few weeks of its bankruptcy case it has been inundated with inquiries from traders, prime brokers, hedge funds, and others for information on their transactions, but its "current workforce is too small to manage this process without incurring unnecessary expenses and delay." Barclays PLC, which had bought the company's core US assets last month, has continued the employment of more than 9,000 Lehman workers.
Others
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Eicher Motors Approves Share Buy-Back:
The board of Eicher Motors has approved the proposal to buy-back its equity shares following a request to this effect from promoters and principal shareholders - Eicher Goodearth Investments Ltd (EGIL), Eicher Motors.
Chinese Firm To Set Up Manufacturing Facility In India: Chinese power equipment maker Dongfang Electric Corp is planning to build a production facility in India, inspite of a statement by a parliamentary committee that said that no Chinese firm is manufacturing here, but only supplying equipment. The company is scouting an Indian partner for setting up the facility and has shortlisted a few locations.