Reliance- Indian Petrochemicals merger becomes effective

Reliance Industries on thursday said the amalgamation of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (IPCL) with itself has come into effect from September 5.

The certified copies of the orders of the Gujarat and Bombay High Court, sanctioning the scheme of amalgamation of IPCL with Reliance Industries, were filed with the respective registrar of companies yesterday.Earlier on September 3, the Gujarat High Court approved the scheme of amalgamation of IPCL with Mukesh Ambani- controlled Reliance Industries.

In June 2002, the government as part of its disinvestment programme sold 26 per cent of its equity in IPCL to Reliance Petroinvestments Ltd (RPIL), a Reliance Group company.
RPIL acquired an additional 20 per cent equity shares through a cash offer in terms of SEBI (Takeover Regulations) and currently holds 46 per cent of the company's equity.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

Reliance group m-cap crosses $74 bn

Total market capitalisation of the four Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance group companies - Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum, IPCL and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure — on Tuesday crossed $74 billion at $74.22 billion (Rs 3,01,341 crore) and is Rs 3,159.30 crore away from the $75 billion mark.

Two group companies, Reliance Industries (Rs 1,780) and IPCL (Rs 353.50), on Tuesday closed at their all-time highs on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Reliance Industries, the group flagship, accounted for Rs 2,47,470 crore market capitalisation, Reliance Petroleum (Rs 42,570 crore), IPCL (Rs 10,582 crore) and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure (Rs 719 crore).

Since beginning of calendar 2007, the total market capitalisation of the group companies appreciated 40 per cent (Rs 86,459 crore) from Rs 2,14,882 crore on January 1, 2007.

Stricter Sebi norms for funds via share issues

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) today tightened the rules for companies raising funds through share issues by barring those with less than one year of listing history from tapping the qualified institutional placement (QIP) route.

Sebi, however, allowed companies with less than six months’ listing history to raise money through preferential allotments.The capital markets regulator also said shares that have been pledged with banks and financial institutions as collateral would not be eligible for computation of the minimum promoters’ contribution.

Sebi also asked investment bankers to make the public issue document for 30 days, instead of 21 days earlier.Sebi’s rules on QIPs come after 17 firms raised Rs 3,827 crore through this route in the past six months, while three or four more companies are planning to raise over Rs 800 crore.

In June last year, Sebi first allowed listed companies to raise funds by placing shares with qualified institutional buyers such as foreign institutional investors (FIIs), domestic financial institutions and mutual funds.

The guidelines were aimed at discouraging companies from tapping overseas markets for share issues.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

IPCL merger with RIL from April 1

Reliance Industries (RIL) on Saturday approved the amalgamation of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (IPCL) with itself, with the share swap ratio pegged at 1:5.

It means shareholders of IPCL will get one RIL share for every five shares they hold. The board of IPCL has also approved the merger with RIL. The merger will be effective from April 1, 2007, an RIL release said.

Read more inThe Times of India article.

IPCL set to merge with Reliance Industries

Ending months of speculation, Reliance Industries (RIL) said today that it is considering merging its group firm, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation (IPCL) with itself.

The boards of both the companies will meet on March 10 to consider the plan, RIL said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange after the markets closed for the day

Analysts say Reliance was supplying raw materials to IPCL, which was then making the final products for the end-user industries like rubber. "Post-merger, RIL would offer end-to-end product solutions which would give it a pan-Indian and perhaps Asian dominance," said an analyst.

Analysts also said the merger may help RIL to increase its revenue from chemicals by as much as 4% to 48% of the total. IPCL uses naphtha made at the parent's refinery as feedstock to make chemicals.
Read more inThe Business Standard article.