Indian Oil Corporation will pick up a 10 per cent stake in the $540-million petrochemical project of global oil major Petronas in Malaysia. IOC's equity participation will entail an investment of about Rs 35-40 crore. The balance equity would be held by the multinational company. If the proposal gets through, this would be the corporation's first venture overseas.

HSBC Bank Middle East

HSBC Bank Middle East's three branches in India have been merged with those of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The branches were located in Mumbai, New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram. According to HSBC (India) CEO Dyfrig John, the merger has been effected to bring about cost efficiencies on the customer-service front.

VSNL issue oversubscribed 4 times

VSNL's Rs 75-crore retail issue has been oversubscribed more than four times. According to market sources, the application forms are still being scrutinised and the final figures are likely to be higher than the initial estimates. This was the Government's first-ever divestment through a public offer. Post-offer, its holding will stand reduced to 52.97 per cent from 54.02 per cent.

ICICI ADS slips

ICICI's ADS on NYSE was trading at $11.5 in the opening session on Friday, down $1/2 from its previous close of $12. After two days of euphoria, the ICICI scrip on the BSE ended with marginal gains at Rs 95 against its previous close of Rs 93.20. Marketmen feel the premium commanded by the ADS to the domestic price is too low to trigger an Infosys-like rally.

RCF stake selloff

The Disinvestment Commission has recommended equity offloading of up to 51 per cent in the state-owned Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers to one or more strategic partners. The move, however, needs to be ratified after a new government comes to power. The Centre holds 92.5 per cent in the company, while the balance is held by institutions.

Dr Reddy's payment for diabetic drug

Dr Reddy's Labs is likely to receive a milestone payment towards the second anti-diabetic drug licenced to Novo Nordisk. The Dutch MNC has so far paid Rs 15.15 crore for its intellectual property rights. Chairman K Anji Reddy said on Friday that the company may also consider issuing bonus shares to its shareholders.

Gail GDR to hit market by end-1999

State-owned Gail is likely to hit the international market for divesting up to 170 million government shares by end-1999, according to CMD CR Prasad. Merchant bankers Morgan Stanley and Jardine Fleming will prepare a report on the market situation and the timing of the GDR issue in the next 10 days.

Oman India project may go on stream

Uncertainties shrouding the Oman India Fertiliser project may soon end. The Centre is likely to provide an undertaking to lift urea at $120 a tonne, much higher than the international price level of $80. The crash in the global prices from the $220-230 level four years back, when the project was conceived, has jeopardised the financial viability of the $1.2-billion venture.

Bank of Scotland bid for NatWest

Scotland's second-largest bank Bank of Scotland on Friday launched a surprise hostile $34.3 billion bid for National Westminster Bank. Bank of Scotland said its offer is conditional on NatWest, abandoning its 10.75-billion pound agreement to buy Legal & General Group.

RBI announces 12-year paper auction

The RBI has announced the price-based auction of 12.32 per cent government security maturing in 2011. The security will have a corpus of Rs 2,500 crore and will be auctioned on September 29.