HUL rejects Temptation bid for marine biz

Consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) announced that it has terminated the bid made by Mumbai-based Temptation Foods (TFL) to acquire HUL’s marine foods business.

Temptation had submitted a binding bid in May 2007, after HUL obtained shareholder approval in March this year to transfer its marine foods export business.

This was subsequent to the decision by HUL’s parent, Unilever, to exit from frozen foods, barring ice-cream, globally.

“The talks with Temptation Foods did not have a successful outcome. Consequently the binding bid submitted by TFL was terminated in August 2007,” HUL said in a statement.

The announcement comes at a time when TFL’s Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) to raise Rs 114 crore to fund acquisitions went live. Last week, the company also received shareholder approval to raise more than Rs 90 crore through a preferential allotment.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

Unilever scrip up on Colgate merger buzz

Shares of Unilever climbed to their highest in more than eight years on speculation that the world’s second-largest maker of food and detergents may combine with Colgate-Palmolive Co.

A message left for Colgate spokeswoman Bina Thompson wasn’t immediately returned, while Rotterdam-based Unilever spokesman Tanno Massar declined to comment.Some analysts said Unilever would be the more likely acquirer. The Anglo-Dutch company has a market value of about ¤75 billion ($103.1 billion), about three times that of New York-based Colgate, which makes Softsoap and Irish Spring. Unilever’s personal-care products, such as Dove soap, account for about a quarter of its sales.

Unilever stock rose as much as 4.9 per cent in Amsterdam and was trading at ¤24.06 at 2.26 pm local time, set for its highest close since 1999. Its London-listed shares gained as much as 75 pence, or 4.6 per cent, to 1,722 pence. Shares of Colgate-Palmolive slipped 80 cents to $64.97 in Germany.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

ITC Infotech could go public

ITC Infotech, an IT services company and fully-owned subsidiary of ITC, is planning to go public. Although no date has been finalised as to when the company is planning to hit the capital market, Y C Deveshwar, chairman, ITC said the company may opt for the bourses `at some point of time'.

ITC Infotech is a $64 million company with a headcount of over 4,200 employees. The tier-II firm competes with the likes of the global service providers like HP, IBM and Accenture and also tier-one Indian players for enterprise system integration solutions, infrastructure and testing services projects. Some of its clients include British American Tobacco, Abbey National Bank, Finnair, DHL, PTC and Unilever. Around five per cent of the company’s revenues come from ITC.

Read more in The Business Standard article.