Bharat Forge NTPC in a JV

Bharat Forge-NTPC JV called Bharat Forge NTPC Energy Systems which finally has been finalised, is now scouting for a location in Maharashtra, which it expects to finalise in the next couple of months.Bharat Forge and NTPC have a participation of 51:49 in the new venture.

Chairman and MD, Bharat Forge told shareholders at the company’s 47th annual general meeting that should the Indo-US nuclear deal go through, Bharat Forge will be “one of the prime suppliers” for nuclear power plants since forgings comprise 60-70% of a nuclear reactor.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Amtek Auto buys UK's Triplex-Ketlon

Auto parts maker Amtek Auto Ltd said on Wednesday it had acquired UK-based precision machining firm Triplex-Ketlon Group for an undisclosed sum.With this, Amtek's revenue from international operations will rise to $770 million a year, and it expects to cross $1 billion per annum within the next two years.

Triplex Ketlon was acquired by the UK-based Barr family in September 2003. According to the company’s website, Triplex, it has three manufacturing sites — at Hereford, Stratford-upon-Avon and Paddockwood. The company supplies fully-machined components and sub assemblies to passenger car makers, commercial vehicle makers and tier-I manufacturers.The auto component sector has seen some aggressive deal making in recent times with Bharat Forge, M&M and Amtek being the most active in the deal space.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Kalyani group acquires RSBconsult

Kalyani group has entered into the wind energy sector with the acquisition of Germany-based RSBconsult.RSBconsult is a design and consulting house in wind energy industry having end-to-end design capability of wind turbine systems.

The Kalyani group plans to target the renewable energy market. It will initially focus on Europe and India and by 2010 expand to other key markets such as US and China.Shares of Bharat Forge, the flagship company of Kalyani group, closed 3.78 per cent higher at Rs 274.50 on the news.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Construction, banking top FII buy list

Foreign institutional investors (FII) have raised their holding in 540 companies out of top 1,000 companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) during September-March (2006-07) period. They have trimmed their holdings in 360 companies, while the remainder have seen no change in foreign holding. Among the top 500 companies, FIIs have reduced their stake in 178 companies.

There is no clear sectoral trend, companies that have gained favour with foreign investors are mostly from construction and banking. Second-line IT companies too were on the FII buy list during the half year under consideration. That view may have changed following the recent appreciation in the rupee, which is likely to hurt the margins of most IT companies, brokers say. Most pharmaceutical companies saw a decline in FII shareholding.

Among the top hundred stocks that saw major decrease in FII holding are Punj Lloyd (5.51 per cent), Indian Petrochemicals (5.33 per cent), Bharat Forge (4.59 per cent), Tata Steel (4.1 per cent), Tata Motors (3.8 per cent), I-flex (3.6 per cent), Ambuja Cements (3.6 per cent), Infosys (3.6 per cent) and Siemens (3.6 per cent). However, United Spirits (19.6 per cent), Jai Prakash Associates (6.3 per cent), BF Utilities (7.6 per cent), Glenmark (5.2 per cent) and Grasim (3.6 per cent) saw an increase.

Read more in The Economic Times article.