Other News

Fed loans to help
WASHINGTON: Access to Federal Reserve loans means Lehman may have breathing room that Bear Stearns lacked before its abrupt collapse. The program, the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, could be used for funding while officials, regulators and executives find alternative sources of cash, Fed watchers said.

HSBC not to buy i-bank
HONG KONG: HSBC Holdings is ‘highly unlikely’ to buy an investment bank, its Asia CEO said on Wednesday, dousing speculation the bank may invest in Lehman. “Our approach, as we’ve said, is it’s highly unlikely that we will take a major interest in an investment bank,” said Sandy Flockhart, CEO of HSBC’s Asia-Pacific region.

BEAR STEARNS to pay $28m
NEW YORK: Bear Stearns and its EMC mortgage subsidiary agreed to pay $28 million to settle charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission that they used unlawful practices to collect payments on risky home mortgage loans. The FTC alleged the companies had misrepresented the amounts borrowers owed.

LEHMAN may be up for sale after $4 Billion Q3 Loss

LEHMAN Brothers, in a desperate bid to survive, announced plans Wednesday to sell a majority stake in its prized investment management business and said a sale of the entire company was possible.
Lehman, battling the nation’s worst financial crisis since the Depression, also said it would spin off a troubled real estate unit and slash its dividend. Those moves come as the nation’s fourth largest investment bank reported an almost $4 billion third-quarter loss, boosting its losses so far this year to about $6.5 billion. The nation’s fourth-largest investment bank said it will spin off $25 billion to $30 billion of its commercial real estate operations and slashed its dividend to 5 cents from 68 cents in a move to save $450 million a year. The moves are intended to prove to Wall Street that the embattled bank has enough liquidity to survive.
But Lehman also said it is open to “examining all strategic alternatives to maximise shareholder value” which on Wall Street suggests it would consider a bid for the entire company.
Lehman Brothers Holdings, whose shares have plunged more than 80% this year as investors lost confidence in the company, said it lost $3.9 billion during the third quarter. The company, like others on Wall Street, suffered from wrong-way bets on mortgage securities and other risky assets.
“This is an extraordinary time for our industry, and one of the toughest periods in the firm’s history,” chief executive Richard Fuld said in a statement. “The strategic initiatives we have announced on Wednesday reflect our determination to fundamentally reposition Lehman Brothers by dramatically reducing balance sheet risk, reinforcing our focus on our client-facing businesses and returning the firm to profitability.” Lehman shares rose 61 cents, or 7.8%, to $8.40 in morning trading.
Lehman’s quarterly loss includes gross writedowns of $5.3 billion on residential mortgages and $1.7 billion on commercial real estate positions. The results reflect a continued decline in Lehman’s portfolio — in the second quarter the company lost $2.8 billion for the period, and in the year-ago period it posted profit of $887 million.
Lehman said it has reduced its residential mortgage exposure by 31% to $17.2 billion, and expects its sale of $4 billion of its UK residential mortgage portfolio to BlackRock Financial Management to be completed within the next few weeks. Lehman Brothers also reduced its commercial real estate exposure by 18% in the third quarter to $32.6 billion from $39.8 billion.
The company did not name a buyer for a 55% stake in its investment management business, which includes the prized Neuberger Berman asset management unit. The bank said the spinoff of the commercial real estate portfolio into a separate publicly-traded company, Real Estate Investments Global, will be completed in the first quarter of 2009.

Top 15 Hot New of Companies

Some news can really change the fortunes of companies.Below given are some of the hot news which will bring a change in the fortune.So go on with rapt attention.

Graphite India:The company has decided to expand its graphite electrodes capacity by 10,500 tonnes at its Durgapur plant which is expected to be completed within the next 18-24 months.

Cera Sanitaryware Limited (CSL):Cera is confident of maintaining 20% OPM in spite of the competition. The company hopes to close the present fiscal with over 150crs of sales.

Sejal Architectural Glass: The company has orders worth Rs 30 crore, to be completed within the next three months. During FY10, the company expects to clock revenues of Rs 350 crore and profit of nearly 50crs.

Plethico Pharma: Plethico is scouting for more acquisitions to expand its network further and plans to ramp up production of Natrol’s products, which are well-established in the US, and distribute them widely in other key markets.

BLB Ltd:To wind up the retail broking unit or dispose it off to any willing buyer. To wind up wholly owned subsidiary company”BLB Global Business Limited” or dispose it off to any willing buyer.

Global Vectra Helicorp:More than 30% of the pilots on the company’s rolls have walked out in the past 15 months to join a rival startup.

JPT Securities: Rumuor of nikhil gandhi acquiring major stakes in it.Nikhil gandhi is right hand of mukesh ambani and has pioneered MUMBAI SEZ , chandigarh sez , PIPAV port , PIPAV shipyard ..he is the main man who look after mukesh ambani group’s infrastructure foray.

Nelcast: The company is in the process of moving up the value chain and plan to increase the share of high-margin machined castings in the total production to 20-25 per cent in next two years from 10 per cent in FY07.

Gokul Refoils and Solvent Limited: The company expects revenues to rise by 45% in FY09 to around Rs 3,000 crore, compared to FY08. Likewise, it expects a 60% growth in FY09 net profit to nearly Rs 100 crore from Rs 61 crore in FY08. The incremental growth will come from increased production at its Gandhidham and Surat facilities.

Rei Agro: Rei has launched a chain of retail stores branded 6Ten. It has started by opening five stores in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. 6Ten is a food store offering grocery, consumer products, fruits and vegetables. Rei intends to expand this chain to 50 stores across Punjab and Haryana over the next one year.

VLS Finance: VLS Finance holds 25% stake in Sunair Hotels, which operates Hotel Metropolitan in Delhi. The company hopes to win the case vs counterparts of sunair hotels and that would up its stake to above 85% in hotel metropolitan.

Karuturi Global: Karuturi, the world’s largest producer of roses has acquired 40,000 hectares of land in Ethiopia to foray into the lucrative food processing business.

Pyramid Saimira: The company intends to list its production arm, Pyramid Saimira production International, in the coming quarter, which could raise up to Rs 1,800 crore. So some free shares in on the way to the shareholders of the company.

Jai Balaji Industry: Jai Balaji, at present is an integrated 1.2 million tpa steel manufacturer. It expects to add 2 million TPA in another 40 months. The company is going to be a 25000crs turnover company by 2014-15. It ended fy07-08 with a sales of around 1350crs.

Core Projects And Technologies: The company is an IT company with focus on verticals like education, logistics, BFSI, ERP and healthcare. The company is expected to set up 40 IGNOU centers by FY09 and another 100 by FY10. It also plans to set up another 100 IGNOU centers every year for next 5 years.