Bhel completes acquisition of Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels

Navratna company Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) has formally taken over Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels (BHPV). This became a zero liability takeover for Bhel after the central government and the Andhra Pradesh government agreed to share all the financial liabilities of the ailing public sector company.

The authority letter to this effect was handed over by Department of Heavy Industry secretary Satyanarayana Dash to Bhel chairman & managing director K Ravi Kumar here on Saturday. Meanwhile, Bhel has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh generation company (APGenco) for setting up the country’s largest integrated coal gasification combined cycle power plant at Vijayawada.

As per the strategic plan 2012 adopted by the company, BHEL envisage's power sector to contribute 70% to the company’s turnover by 2011-12 with 30% contribution from industry related businesses taking Bhel’s sales turnover to Rs 45,000 crore by 2012."As setting up another plant would need massive investments and long gestation time, supporting an existing entity like BHPV makes better business sense", Mr Kumar said.

Sensex hits all-time high at 14,727

Equities opened the week higher, with the Sensex making an all-time high of 14727. Capital goods, metal and banking stocks led the rally. Mid-cap and small-cap stocks also were firm. Autos and FMCG shares, however, were weak.

At 10:15 am, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 14,717, up 67 points or 0.46% from Friday’s close. National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was up 9 points or 0.2% at 4327.

Top Sensex gainers were Cipla, BHEL, Tata Steel, Larsen and Toubro and ONGC.

Hero Honda, ACC, HDFC Bank, HDFC and Wipro were the laggards in the 30-share Sensex.

Market breadth was strong as 1105 shares advanced while 342 declined on the BSE. On the NSE, 648 shares advanced and 269 declined.