The high-profile Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday received an overwhelming response with some of India’s top industrialists like Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallya and film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta winning bids to own teams in the Twenty20 venture.
After prolonged suspense, BCCI Vice President and Chairman of the IPL Governing Council Lalit Modi disclosed the names of the winning bidders, who shelled out staggering amounts to be owner of the city-based teams.
Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani pipped Vijay Mallya to win the bid for the Mumbai team for USD 111.9 million.
The liquor baron, however, won the bid for the Bangalore team for USD 111.6 million.
Actor Shah Rukh Khan, joining hands with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta, won the bid for the Kolkata team for USD 75.09 million.
Fellow actor Preity Zinta and her boy friend Ness Wadia won the bid for the Mohali team for USD 76 million.
Among others, GMR Holdings won the bid for the Delhi team (USD 84 million), India Cements bagged the Chennai team (USD 91 million), Deccan Chronicle bid successfully for the Hyderabad (USD 107.01 million) outfit and Emerging Media won the bid for the Jaipur team for USD 67 million.
The bids of the ICICI, Sahara and Futures Group were disqualified, Modi said.
India Cements bagged the Chennai team (USD 91 million), Deccan Chronicle bid successfully for the Hyderabad (USD 107.01 million) outfit and Emerging Media won the bid for the Jaipur team for USD 67 million.
The bids of the ICICI, Sahara and Futures Group were disqualified, Modi said.
“We can say that all the hard work fructified and the IPL is here to stay,” Modi said.
Asked if Shah Rukh was bidding just to use cricket as a means to promote his films, Modi said, “Shah Rukh loves cricket and that’s why he invested his money. It has got nothing to do with film promotion. We have heard similar complaint in the past but the board never endorsed those views”.
He also dismissed suggestions that there was a conflict of interests in Indian Cement, which has BCCI treasurer N Srinivasan as a shareholder, becoming a team owner.
“Mr Srinivasan is just a stakeholder there and he is not the owner. So there is no such conflicts of interests,” he said.
Modi admitted some of the contracted international players would skip the twenty20 tournament which begins on April 18 owing to national commitments but said the pool was big enough.
“A team needs only four players from abroad and we already have a huge number of them contracted with us. You will have enough of them from the day one,” he said.
In all, 59 matches would be played over 44 days with ICC umpires officiating the games, which would be broadcast live on SET Max, Modi said.
“We already have 80 contracted players and their auction would start soon,” Modi said.
Each franchise would consult with the IPL Governing Council before naming the teams and discussing revenue sharing, he said.
source:http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/IPL-Teams-Mukesh-gets-Mumbai-Kolkata-to-SRK/265098/
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Reliance Petroleum posts Rs84 crore profit
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) on Thursday said it has reported a net profit of Rs84 crore and a net turnover of Rs3,678 crore for the quarter ended 31 March 2009.
The company started commercial production from 15 March. Hence, figures for the year-ago period were not available.
The total expenditure during the quarter amounted to Rs3,564 crore, RPL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), adding that “the total capital employed by the company is Rs33,982 crore.”
Shares of the company reacted positively to the news and were trading at Rs109.60, up 2.72% in the late afternoon trade on the BSE.
Last month, the boards of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and RPL had approved the merger of both the entities which created one of the largest petrochemical firms of the world.
“RPL refinery has achieved startup and successful stabilization of its operations within a short period of time. The proposed merger with RIL would lead to a globally competitive and industry leading refining business and create sustainable value for shareholders,” RPL chairman Mukesh Ambani said.
During the quarter, RPL had commissioned a SEZ refinery at Jamnagar with a capacity of processing 3.6 million tonnes of crude.
The company started commercial production from 15 March. Hence, figures for the year-ago period were not available.
The total expenditure during the quarter amounted to Rs3,564 crore, RPL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), adding that “the total capital employed by the company is Rs33,982 crore.”
Shares of the company reacted positively to the news and were trading at Rs109.60, up 2.72% in the late afternoon trade on the BSE.
Last month, the boards of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and RPL had approved the merger of both the entities which created one of the largest petrochemical firms of the world.
“RPL refinery has achieved startup and successful stabilization of its operations within a short period of time. The proposed merger with RIL would lead to a globally competitive and industry leading refining business and create sustainable value for shareholders,” RPL chairman Mukesh Ambani said.
During the quarter, RPL had commissioned a SEZ refinery at Jamnagar with a capacity of processing 3.6 million tonnes of crude.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Ambani yacht ‘flounders’ on customs duty
A luxury yacht chartered by a subsidiary of the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-Adag) that was seized by Indian customs earlier this year will not be released until Rs28 crore customs duty is paid in full and a bank guarantee of an additional Rs15 crore is provided by the firm, a senior customs official said.
The luxury yacht named Tian, purportedly a gift for Tina Ambani from her husband, R-Adag promoter Anil Ambani, was seized in February by the central intelligence unit of the customs department in Mumbai following a probe that began in January. The customs official mentioned earlier, who declined to be identified because the matter has not yet been resolved, said the yacht had been seized “due to non-payment of duty. It was illegally brought to India and was used without paying duty.”
“Till now the department has received a draft of Rs25 crore from a representative of R-Adag,” the same official told Mint. “The investigation is still on and the department will release the yacht once the dues are recovered.” The department has also asked R-Adag to deposit a bank guarantee of Rs15 crore before it releases the yacht. The official said this was routine procedure pending a probe with the bank guarantee serving as collateral for any penalty that could be imposed.
The customs department has alleged that the yacht’s final destination according to its shipment papers was Colombo, Sri Lanka; it was to be unloaded at Mumbai from where it was to sail to Colombo.
According to the department’s investigation, the Tian was purchased in mid-2008 from an Italian yacht maker by Ammolite Holdings Ltd, a Channel Islands-based associate firm of Reliance Capital Ltd and brought to India on 31 October under a charter agreement with Reliance Transport and Travels Pvt. Ltd, an R-Adag company. The Channel Islands are located off the French coast of Normandy.
Reliance Transport and Travels later took permission from port authorities to park the yacht in Mumbai for a few days before it sailed to Colombo. The customs department has alleged that the yacht did not leave for Colombo for over three months and was instead being used in India without paying duty. Duty is usually paid at the destination—in this case, Colombo.
Another customs official familiar with the case and who also did not want to be identified alleged that Tina Ambani had taken the yacht to Goa during New Year celebrations. However, in its reply to the customs department, Reliance Transport and Travels has claimed that the yacht sailed to Goa to test a repaired generator in late December 2008 and returned on 2 January.
In response to Mint queries, an R-Adag spokesperson said: “We have already communicated our stance to the concerned authorities.”
The funds for the charter came from a Singapore-based firm, Gateway Net Trading Pte Ltd. Ammolite Holdings, according to the customs official mentioned in the first instance, is a small firm with “share capital of $100,000 (Rs50.4 lakh today),” while Gateway Net Trading is an associate firm of Reliance Communications Ltd, also an R-Adag company.
In a letter to the customs department dated 18 February 2009, Ammolite Holdings and Reliance Transport and Travels have denied evading customs duty. In the letter, which has been reviewed by Mint, Ammolite Holdings said: “The yacht was duly and validly brought into Indian waters in compliance with all laws and regulations with the permission of the customs department.”
Ammolite Holdings and Reliance Transport and Travels have also said the Rs25 crore paid was a voluntary deposit “to demonstrate bonafides and to avoid any unwarranted or unpleasant consequences”. The two firms have also requested the department to release the yacht and refund the money.
The yacht—a Custom Line 112 Next, 34m flying-bridge fibre glass vessel—has been valued at about Rs100 crore by customs authorities. A July 2008 report in this newspaper had estimated the price of the yacht at Rs200 crore.
source: http://www.livemint.com/2009/04/21234138/Ambani-yacht-8216flounders.html?h=B
The luxury yacht named Tian, purportedly a gift for Tina Ambani from her husband, R-Adag promoter Anil Ambani, was seized in February by the central intelligence unit of the customs department in Mumbai following a probe that began in January. The customs official mentioned earlier, who declined to be identified because the matter has not yet been resolved, said the yacht had been seized “due to non-payment of duty. It was illegally brought to India and was used without paying duty.”
“Till now the department has received a draft of Rs25 crore from a representative of R-Adag,” the same official told Mint. “The investigation is still on and the department will release the yacht once the dues are recovered.” The department has also asked R-Adag to deposit a bank guarantee of Rs15 crore before it releases the yacht. The official said this was routine procedure pending a probe with the bank guarantee serving as collateral for any penalty that could be imposed.
The customs department has alleged that the yacht’s final destination according to its shipment papers was Colombo, Sri Lanka; it was to be unloaded at Mumbai from where it was to sail to Colombo.
According to the department’s investigation, the Tian was purchased in mid-2008 from an Italian yacht maker by Ammolite Holdings Ltd, a Channel Islands-based associate firm of Reliance Capital Ltd and brought to India on 31 October under a charter agreement with Reliance Transport and Travels Pvt. Ltd, an R-Adag company. The Channel Islands are located off the French coast of Normandy.
Reliance Transport and Travels later took permission from port authorities to park the yacht in Mumbai for a few days before it sailed to Colombo. The customs department has alleged that the yacht did not leave for Colombo for over three months and was instead being used in India without paying duty. Duty is usually paid at the destination—in this case, Colombo.
Another customs official familiar with the case and who also did not want to be identified alleged that Tina Ambani had taken the yacht to Goa during New Year celebrations. However, in its reply to the customs department, Reliance Transport and Travels has claimed that the yacht sailed to Goa to test a repaired generator in late December 2008 and returned on 2 January.
In response to Mint queries, an R-Adag spokesperson said: “We have already communicated our stance to the concerned authorities.”
The funds for the charter came from a Singapore-based firm, Gateway Net Trading Pte Ltd. Ammolite Holdings, according to the customs official mentioned in the first instance, is a small firm with “share capital of $100,000 (Rs50.4 lakh today),” while Gateway Net Trading is an associate firm of Reliance Communications Ltd, also an R-Adag company.
In a letter to the customs department dated 18 February 2009, Ammolite Holdings and Reliance Transport and Travels have denied evading customs duty. In the letter, which has been reviewed by Mint, Ammolite Holdings said: “The yacht was duly and validly brought into Indian waters in compliance with all laws and regulations with the permission of the customs department.”
Ammolite Holdings and Reliance Transport and Travels have also said the Rs25 crore paid was a voluntary deposit “to demonstrate bonafides and to avoid any unwarranted or unpleasant consequences”. The two firms have also requested the department to release the yacht and refund the money.
The yacht—a Custom Line 112 Next, 34m flying-bridge fibre glass vessel—has been valued at about Rs100 crore by customs authorities. A July 2008 report in this newspaper had estimated the price of the yacht at Rs200 crore.
source: http://www.livemint.com/2009/04/21234138/Ambani-yacht-8216flounders.html?h=B
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
