PNB gilts, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Punjab National Bank, has initiated a capital restructuring plan involving a bonus and a rights issue in a move to double its paid-up capital to Rs 100 crore. "One bonus share for every two shares held in PNB Gilts has been approved by our annual general meeting (AGM) held last week," PNB Gilts managing director Arun Kaul said. The company has proposed a rights issue of one share for every three shares held after the bonus issue, he said adding the entire exercise would be over by September.

CMC to go for rights/preferential shares

State-owned computer major CMC Ltd has decided to seek government nod to raise additional equity amounting to about Rs 10 crore through a rights issue or preferential allotment to its existing shareholders and expects the exercise to be launched by October. An internal team of the company which is studying options of raising additional equity has zeroed in the options of rights issue andpreferential allotment since they found that such a move would improve investor confidence in the company.

Skindia GDR index up 0.15 per cent

The Skindia GDR index, representing GDRs of 17 actively trading companies increased by 0.15 per cent from 863.54 to 864.87 on August 17, 1999 as per the Skindia GDR index with a base January 3, 1995 equal to 1000. The Skindia GDR index P/E ratio was 28.52 as compared to 28.55 on August 16, Skindia Finance, a Mumbai-based broking and research house specialising in Indian GDRs said.

UTI International renamed UTI Guernsey

UTI International Ltd, a 100 percent subsidiary of Unit Trust of India (UTI) has been renamed UTI Guernsey Ltd. The company, registered in the Island of Guernsey, was set up with the objective of monitoring the activities of the offshore funds managed by UTI. It has an office in London to market the offshore funds to institutional clients in the UK, Europe and the USA. It is also responsible for developing new products and newbusiness opportunities for UTI, the latter said in a statement here today.

Birla MF to declare quarterly dividends

Birla Mutual Fund, India's largest private sector mutual fund has announced that it will start declaring dividends on a quarterly basis. The proposal for this cleared by the Board of Birla Sun Life Trustee Co Ltd and Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company Ld. This makes BIP the first income scheme in the country to declare dividends on a quarterly basis. Birla Income Plus is India's largest open-end debt scheme with assets under management in excess of Rs 1500 crore from 40,000 investors, a company release said.

A clarification

In The Financial Express dated August 18, the story titled `High stock prices determine A group entry' the market capitalisation of the companies has been erroneously calculated on the basis of the equity instead of the number of shares. The error is regretted.