Vijay Mallya may sell United Breweries stake to Heineken

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Tycoon Vijay Mallya, scrambling to raise funds to rescue his ailing Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, is considering the sale of all or part of his stake in United Breweries (UB), his flagship beer business, to Dutch brewer Heineken NV, said people familiar with the situation.

They added that Mallya has the option of selling a stake in UB to ease his financial woes, and Heineken would be a keen buyer to gain control of India's biggest brewer and maker of Kingfisher beer.

The Amsterdam-based brewer holds a 37.38 percent stake in UB as a legacy of its takeover of Scottish and Newcastle in 2008. The purchase of 13 percent, valued at $370 million at current market prices, would be enough to take Heineken over the 50 percent mark.

Mallya owns around 19 percent of UB and has held talks with a number of different parties to try and raise cash for his ailing Kingfisher airline. There are no active talks going on at the moment with Heineken, the people said.

"Mallya is clearly looking at all his options and if he did look to sell a stake to give Heineken control of United Breweries then he would find a willing buyer," said one person with knowledge of the situation.

A spokesman at Mallya's UB Group did not answer calls or reply to text messages from Reuters. A spokesman for Heineken declined to comment.

United Breweries controls around half the fast-growing Indian beer market with SABMiller Plc having around a third, but beer consumption is still relatively low at less than 1 litre per person per year compared with China at close to 30 litres and western Europe of around 60 litres.

The Financial Times reported that Mallya was close to selling a 13 percent stake in UB to Heineken, while the Business Standard newspaper said he may be looking to sell part of his holding and invest some of the process in his airline.

Mallya is under pressure from his airline's lenders to inject equity into Kingfisher, which has debts of $1.3 billion and has slashed its flight schedule and grounded most of its fleet as it has been unable to pay staff.

Mallya's UB Group confirmed it had entered talks with the world's biggest spirits group Diageo Plc in late 2008 about buying a stake in his 38.7 percent-owned United Spirits company. But the talks broke down in 2009 after Diageo was offered a high-priced small stake and saw no future path towards increasing its holding or influence.

Shares in United Spirits were up 1.4 percent and United Breweries were up 0.6 percent in Thursday trading.

Tata Motors sells 127,318 vehicles in February

Tata Motors said its global wholesales, including Jaguar Land Rover, were 127,318, in February 2012, higher by 24 percent over February 2011. Its cumulative sales were 1,112,518, higher by 15 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2010-11.

Global sales of all commercial vehicles - Tata, Tata Daewoo and the Tata Hispano Carrocera range - were 57,857, in February 2012, highest-ever in a month and a growth of 24 percent. Cumulative sales for the fiscal are 536,136, a growth of 18 percent.

Global sales of all passenger vehicles were at 69,461 February 2012, higher by 25 percent and cumulative sales for the fiscal are 576,382, higher by 11 percent.

Global sales of Tata passenger vehicles and the distribution off-take in India of Fiat cars were at 37,204, for the month, higher by 9 percent over February 2011. Cumulative sales for the fiscal are at 2,98,420.

Global sales of Jaguar Land Rover in February 2012 were at 32,257 vehicles, higher by 49 percent over February 2011, driven by the Range Rover Evoque and the 12 MY Jaguar products.

Tata Motors said Jaguar sales for the month were 4,228, higher by 32 percent, while Land Rover sales were 28,029, best ever in a month and higher by 52 percent. Cumulative sales of Jaguar Land Rover for the fiscal are 277,962, higher by 27 percent. Cumulative sales of Jaguar are 48,696, lower by 1 percent, while cumulative sales of Land Rover are 229,266, higher by 35 percent.

Rupee falls on inflow uncertainty

The rupee fell early on Thursday as weak economic data from the United States and China added to the clouded outlook for capital inflows caused by proposed changes in Indian tax laws.

Foreign brokerages are complaining the recent provisions to tax indirect investments and combat tax evasion, saying they are couched in ambiguous language and could also be used to target overseas market investors, risking a sell-off in markets.

The rupee was at 51.05-06 to the dollar, weaker than Wednesday's close of 50.7750-7850, with payments for oil imports also weighing.

HPCL launches clean fuels project at Visakha refinery

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) launched the Clean Fuels Project of Visakh Refinery at its Visakh refinery thus making it capable of producing BS-III and BS-IV grade MS (Petrol). The project was inaugurated by S Jaipal Reddy, the union minister for petroleum and natural gas.

HPCL said this was a significant milestone in the history of the Visakh refinery, which earlier in 2000, commissioned a DHDS (diesel hydrodesulphurization) project aimed at production of BS-III grade diesel.

The CFP consists of four major units, Naphtha Hydrotreater (NHT), Continuous Catalytic Reformer (CCR), FCC-Naphtha Hydrotreater (FCC-NHT) & Isomerization unit (NIU). These units were recently commissioned in phases with an investment of Rs 2200 crore.

With this project, Visakh refinery has achieved one more significant step by being one among few refineries having capabilities to produce BS-IV MS, having stringent quality specs (sulphur less than 50 ppm). Apart from meeting MS quality, the project has also enabled refinery to increase refining capacity to 8.3 MMTPA.

The implementation of E-III specification for petrol and diesel was recommended by the Mashelkar Committee with the primary objective of implementing fuel specifications and improving ambient air quality-in line with the international standards.

HPCL said its dedication toward the cause of green environment it proactively undertook the project for upgradation of MS (Petrol) fuel quality to meet BS-3 and BS-IV specifications.

It is to be appreciated that while meeting the mandatory norms, the project envisages environmental benefits with improved quality products and also serves as a measure to improve public health through cleaner air in the supply zone

MT Educare IPO fully subscribed on Day 2

Coaching services provider MT Educare 's IPO has been subscribed 1.25 times on Day 2, supported by qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) and high networth investors.

The issue has received bids for 1.38 crore equity shares as against issue size of 1.099 crore shares (excluding anchor book), as per exchange data.

The reserved portion of QIBs has subscribed 1.35 times and non-institutional investors 3.6 times. All bids were at higher end of price band of Rs 74-80 a share.

The issue will close for subscription on March 29, which consists of fresh issue of Rs 35 crore and an offer for sale of up to 80 lakh equity shares by Helix Investments Company.

MT Educare, popularly known as Mahesh Tutorials provides coaching services to students in the secondary, higher secondary school and pursuing graduation degree in commerce, preparing for various competitive examinations and undertaking chartered accountancy examinations.