Midvalley Entertainment IPO to open on Jan 10

South based media & entertainment company Midvalley Entertainment (MVEL) will be launching its Rs 60 crore initial public offering (IPO) on January 10, 2011.

The issue will close for subscription on January 11. The price band and minimum bid lot will be announced soon.

It is a film production, distribution and exhibition company, actively engaged in the media and entertainment industry in South India. It has presence in the media and entertainment activity from concept to completion i.e. from script to screen. It produces, distribute and exhibit movies both in Indian and foreign languages.

Issue proceeds are proposed to be utilised for entering into screening agreements with 300 cinema theatres; renovation and up-gradation of cinema infrastructure with digital equipment and other related assets for a select 100 screens; and acquisition of company, acquisition of screening rights of company having similar line, range and objects of business.

Current promoters Unigold Pacific, Kiara Enigma and Global Motion Pictures & Ventures Pte Ltd hold 18.96%, 8.62% and 21.88% stake respectively in the company.

Equity shares are proposed to be listed on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Aryaman Financial Services limited is the book running lead manager to issue.

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MOIL LIMITED IPO

MOIL LIMITED

Issue Open:	November 26, 2010
Issue close:	December 01, 2010
Price Band:	Rs. 340 - Rs. 375 Per Equity Share
Minimum Bid Size:	17 Equity Shares
Face Value:	Rs. 10 Per Equity Share
Issue Type:	100% Book Building
Maximum Subscription Amount for Retail Investor:	Rs. 200000

MOIL LIMITED IPO :

Incorporate in 1896, MOIL Limited (Manganese Ore India Limited) is India based producer of manganese ore, primarily used to make ferro-alloys for steel production. MOIL is a 'Mini Ratna' PSU, owned by Government of India and under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel.MOIL Limited is the largest producer of manganese ore by volume in India. MOIL operate seven underground mines (Kandri, Munsar, Beldongri, Gumgaon, Chikla, Balaghat and Ukwa mines) and three opencast mines (Dongri Buzurg, Sitapatore/Sukli, and Tirodi) to produce more then 1,093,363 tonnes of manganese ore.

IPO Grading / Rating:

CARE has assigned an IPO Grade 5 to MOIL Limited IPO. This means as per CARE company has 'Strong fundamentals'.

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Loan scam: 17 companies on CBI radar

New Delhi: A day after it arrested the very top rung of some of India's public sector banks and financial institutions for allegedly sanctioning loans in return for bribes, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has now shifted its focus to 17 companies that allegedly received loans.

The investigating agency has served notification to all companies under the scanner in the multi-crore scam and asked them to submit details of the loans they got as alleged beneficiaries. The companies have been asked to file their replies by today.

A total of eight people have been arrested by the CBI. Among them: Ramchandran Nair, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LIC Housing Finance; RN Tayal, General Manager of Bank of India; and Venkoba Gujjal, Deputy General Manager of Punjab National Bank.

"A private financial services company, its CMD and other associates were allegedly bribing senior officials of public sector banks and financial institutions for facilitating large scale corporate loans. They were also gathering confidential business information from financial institutions," the CBI had said.

The private company involved is Money Matters, and three of its senior-most officials, including Chairman and Managing Director Rajesh Sharma have been arrested.

The men at Money Matters allegedly acted as middlemen, bribing officials at public sector banks to get loans worth crores sanctioned for private firms, mainly real estate companies. The bank officials are also accused of selling confidential information.

In another case, Naresh Chopra of LIC Mumbai has been accused of receiving Rs. 16 lakhs from Money Matters' Rajesh Sharma. Chopra allegedly traded confidential information on LIC investments into the Adani Group.

LIC's Vigilance arm is also investigating the case independently. Sources in LIC have told NDTV that the frauds were committed in the officers' own capacity, and no norms were violated. In a statement released after the arrests on Wednesday, LIC had said, "All procedures and approved guidelines were adhered to in approving the loans. All loans have been secured by underlying assets to the satisfaction of approving authority. Steps will be taken to protect interests of various stakeholders." The company has said there will be a new CEO for LIC Housing Finance. The announcement can be expected in two to three days.

''These are cases of bribery. These are cases of corruption. Bribery by public officials, by people working in public sector organisations, and facilitating and sanctioning loans by taking money. And they have zeroed in on real-estate sector and certain developers who must have paid money to get loans sanctioned,'' said Deepak Parekh, the chairman of HDFC Bank.

The government has, meanwhile, sought to play down the episode. Speaking about the finance racket, Banking Secretary R Gopalan said it was a bribery case involving some individuals and not a large-scale scam. "It's a case of individual greed not a systematic failure," he added.

The arrests came after a CBI investigation that covered five cities and lasted over a year.

Taped conversations referred to in the CBI's First Information Report (FIR) revealed incriminating details.

The CBI charges that Rajesh Sharma of Money Matters paid a Rs. 25-lakh bribe to RN Tayal at the Bank of India. In return, Tayal allegedly assured him of two loans worth Rs. 500 crore for two different companies.

"If you can't get a 300-crore project passed... what is the use of you being in this position?" asks Sharma brazenly.

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Smartphones prices halved in 1 year

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Smartphone prices have almost halved since the start of the year due to cutthroat competition, relentless introduction of newer and more efficient technologies and ever-increasing demand in a booming Indian economy where rising incomes make more and more consumers go for higher-end products.

Smartphone -- or feature-rich handset that can support multi-tasking, mobile office, mobile internet , push mail and run different kinds of applications -- is the fastest-growing category in the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market.

An entry-level smartphone now costs just about Rs 6,500, down from Rs 12,000 last year. And handset makers such as Nokia, Samsung, LG, Dell, BlackBerry and HTC say the prices will plunge further next year on higher volumes as more people access the internet on mobile and the new third-generation (3G) mobile telephony, which brings high-speed internet and live video streaming to handsets, kicks in.

"Smartphones are set to become the next area of competition as the category is growing at the fastest pace," says D Shivakumar, vice-president and MD of Nokia India, the largest mobile phone maker in the country as well as the world.

Analysts feel the availability of a wide variety of operating systems for smartphones will further bring down prices and help it to become a mass market product, driven by more than 100% teledensity in urban markets, upgradation purchases and the launch of 3G.

"While first-time users are not generally expected to buy smartphones, but with increasing disposable incomes, backed by the market phenomenon of falling price points, smartphone shipments to this segment could see an increase in the coming quarters," says Naveen Mishra, lead analyst (telecom) at research firm IDC India.

Then there is the much-awaited 3G rollout. Earlier this month, on Diwali day, Tata DoCoMo became the first private operator to launch 3G services in the country. While Airtel, the country's largest telco, is expected to enter the market before the end of the year, others are expected to follow suit within months.

According to industry estimates, the penetration of smartphones in India has grown from 1% of the total market in December 2009 to more than 4% now. And this is expected to more than double by end-2011.

A slew of aggressively priced smartphones is entering the market across various platforms. Nokia's 5233 model, which runs on the Symbian operating system, is selling for Rs 6,300, while Taiwanese handset manufacturer HTC recently launched HTC Smart, running on Java-based Brew OS, at Rs 7,000.

India's second-largest mobile phone brand Samsung launched smartphones on its Bada and Google's Android platforms starting at Rs 8,800. The other Korean electronics major, LG, has cut the entry price for its smartphones to Rs 12,000 and plans to bring it down to Rs 7,500 next year.

A fortnight ago, personal computer maker Dell forayed into 3G smartphone market with XCD28 and XCD35. "Given the rapid growth in India's mobile market, we feel there is a tremendous opportunity to grow in the smartphone category," says Mahesh Bhalla, GM (consumer and SMB) at Dell India. And there is more to come.

Nokia's Shivakumar says the world's largest mobile handset maker, which is globally struggling to compete with iPhones, BlackBerrys and Google Android-based phones, is looking to create a wider portfolio of smartphones in the price range $50-500.

Samsung too plans to introduce lower-priced models with the hope of cornering a 40% share in the smartphone market by the year-end -- a rather ambitious target given that as of September it had only 12% s market share in smartphone.

"Brands are looking at the category through new and aggressive launches. More than price drop, there will be introduction of more affordable price points to grow the segment," says Ranjit Yadav , country head (mobile & IT) of Samsung India.

LG, the country's largest consumer durables player, will spend almost one-fourth of its entire marketing budget of Rs 400 crore for next year on smartphones, says Vishal Chopra, business head (mobile communication) at LG India.

"Smartphones will be our imagery drivers and will establish LG mobiles as a premium and aspirational brand," says Chopra. LG will launch about 15 smartphones next year in Android and Windows platforms.

Kunal Bajaj, director and partner at telecom consulting firm Analysys Mason India says, "A large number of consumers -- the $50-100 phones users -- are still to replace or upgrade their phones wherein lies the future potential."

Smartphones contribute maximum margins for mobile phone manufacturers and analysts feel protecting these margins would be the next challenge for handset makers, specially when the entry-to-mid level segment is flooded with more than 100 brands.

The average selling price of smartphones has dropped from Rs 19,000 in Q3 of 2009 to Rs 13,000 in the Q1 of 2010 to around Rs 10,000 now, according to Analysys Mason.

This may have put pressure on the margins of handset makers. But then, to succeed in India they need to get the price point right.

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Samsung launches 4 new smartphones

Korean handset maker Samsung today launched four new smartphones under its 'Wave' and 'Omnia' series, priced between Rs 8,800 and Rs 13,500.

"The new smartphones reinforce Samsung's commitment towards enhancing and democratising the smartphone experience in India," Samsung India Country Head (Mobile and IT) Ranjit Yadav said in a statement.

Samsung's smartphone portfolio consists of eight phones in Android, bada and Windows platform at a price range of Rs 8,800 to Rs 31,500.

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101 BMW in single deal by Aurangabad rich men

Together, 101 residents of the tourism centre of Aurangabad in this state who’d mass-booked a BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH) car each, are jointly negotiating with State Bank of India to get a seven-year loan at a seven per cent rate of interest.

They did the booking on Sunday at a Pune-based dealer, Bavaria Motors, and are also negotiating with the latter to supply the models (3-series, 5-series, 6-series and 7-series) at a 10-20 per cent discount. The total deal is expected to be worth Rs 40 crore.

A BMW car costs between Rs 28 lakh and Rs 1 crore. The buyers include young entrepreneurs, doctors, builders, politicians and other professionals.

Something similar had taken place in Aurangabad earlier in the year, when 150 people got together to book a Mercedes-Benz each. They got the car last month, in a Rs 65-crore deal.

Pankaj Agarwal, a young entrepreneur who took the initiative in this regard, told Business Standard: “We have organised a road show and test drive on December 3, 4 and 5 at Aurangabad to get acclamatised with various models of BMW. We expect to strike a deal with the Pune-based dealer within a month and hope to take the delivery in January.”

After the news-making Mercedes deal, he said, the group had approached BMW for a similar one. “The company was quite enthused and directed us to coordinate with Bavaria Motors. We expect a discount of 10-20 per cent on each car, like Mercedes, which had offered 22 per cent discount to the buyers.”

“Talks are at a preliminary stage,” said a senior executive of Bavaria Motors.

SBI normally grants scuha loan for only five years, but the group is holding out for seven years, at seven per cent. “Each buyer would have to pay an advance of Rs 4-5 lakh,” said Agarwal.

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