Posts from — April 2010

According to a UK-based group, there are five Indian cities that are considered truly global. The top such city is Mumbai of course and is considered an “Alpha” city in their 2008 study. New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata (Calcutta) are the other Indian cities on the list.

The most global cities in the world were considered New York and London in order. The United States has 17 cities on the list, China 4.

India’s Essar Group Ltd., a conglomerate with interests in steel, energy, construction, and shipping, acquires a top U.S. coal producer, Trinity Coal, for $600 million.

Essar Minerals now has  ownership of 200 million tons in coal reserves in the Central Appalachian region of the United States. The reserves are split between “metallurgical” coal used in steel production and “thermal” coal used to make electricity. It currently produces approximately 7 million tons of coal annually and plans to ramp up production to 10 million tons per year. Trinity operates six mining complexes with a total of 10 surface mines, three underground shaft  mines and six “highwall” miner units. The firm is based in Scott Depot, West Virginia and employs  650.

Essar has steel-making operations in North America, with a steelworks in Ontario and a plant planned for the U.S. in Minnesota, via the acquisition of Minnesota Steel two years ago. Trinity’s thermal production is sold to regional U.S. utilities; it is unclear whether Essar will export American coal to India.

The seller was private equity firm, Denham Capital, acquired Trinity in January 2005 and during its ownership, Trinity more than doubled reserves as well as increased productive capacity from approximately 1.7 million tons per year to 9 million tons per year.

According to March 2010 issues of Business Travel News, Bangalore will cost you $268 per day, Mumbai $285, and New Delhi $309, making them the most expensive cities to visit in India. We think that Hyderabad and Chennai should also be on the list.

By contrast 97 cities listed in the United States are more expensive. At the top of the list are New York ($622), Washington ($563), White Plains ($498), Boston ($493) and Detroit ($474).The 97th most expensive city in the USA is Shreveport, LA at $269.47.

To help its state-run companies pursue acquisition of oil, gas, coal, LNG and other raw material in other countries, India plans to start a sovereign investment fund.

The state owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh Limited (OVL) had been told to pursue at least one major oil and gas asset every year. Ministries including Coal, Mines, Steel and Petroleum have held discussions with India’s  Investment Commission to present their case for the creation of such a fund. Target companies are in countries such as companies in Russia, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. OVL last year bought Imperial Energy Plc for $2.1 billion in India’s biggest energy acquisition.

Telecom equipment maker ZTE, one of the bigger players in the global 3G space, with $9 billion in global sales, is ready to invest $100 million into its Indian subsidiary, ZTE India.

The funds are expected to come to ZTE’s Value Added Services Software Development Center in Bangalore which houses 140 technical staff and is integrated with ZTE’s global R&D network. ZTE employs 3,500 in India, distributed across Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata.