Mukesh Ambani has joined the race to buy the assets of the British Petroleum (BP) Company in Tanzania and three other African countries.

International industry sources said yesterday that Mr Ambani’s two firms, Reliance and Essar, had offered between $400 million (about Sh560 billion) and $500 million (Sh700 billion) for each of the BP Africa’s assets in Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia.

Should the bid succeed, it will consolidate the influence of the world’s fourth richest man in the local fuel market since Mr Ambani already does business in the country through Gulf Africa Petroleum Corp (Gapco). The acquisitions are bound to have far-reaching regional ramifications since Gapco also does business in Kenya and Uganda.

About half a dozen firms, including Libya’s National Oil Corporation, have also expressed interest in buying the BP assets in the five countries. Kenya’s Kenol Kobil had also said it was keen to acquire the assets after BP announced early this year that it was quitting some of its African operations to concentrate only on a handful of markets.

The Tanzanian Government, which holds a 50 per cent stake in BP Tanzania, had also declared that it wished to acquire the oil giant’s business in the country. There have also been reports that Tanzania was considering teaming up with Zambia and Malawi in a joint acquisition, since the business would be a strategic investment to ensure reliable stocks of fuel in the three countries.

Yesterday, Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja said though the government had expressed interest in acquiring the business, BP Africa had not responded. He said that as a key shareholder, the government would have to be consulted before the BP assets in Tanzania are sold.

“We are still waiting for their offer. Despite having said they want to sell their shares, they have not yet communicated with us officially,” Mr Ngeleja told The Citizen by phone from his Sengerema constituency, in Mwanza Region.

Last March, Mr Ngeleja announced that buying the BP Africa stake in BP Tanzania would be one of the government’s business ventures. He also said that even if BP found another strategic investor, the transaction would not go on without the government’s approval. “No new investor will come aboard without our approval. This is according to the partnership deal that we have sealed,” he said.

Although the BP Africa asset sale was announced before the company’s oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that has cost it billions of dollars, there were no reports of the proceeds being used to help pay damages arising from the debacle in the United States.

The assets BP is selling include retail outlets, terminals and aviation fuel stations. According to industry sources, Reliance may be looking at supplying gas oil, gasoline and jet fuel to the East African markets from its twin refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Currently, the company is the supplier of oil to Gapco, which also owns retail outlets in Uganda and Kenya.

Sectoral experts say the acquisition of the BP assets would give a company a ready market for auto and aviation fuel with a scope for further expansion into neighbouring high growth countries. Besides selling fuel, lubricants and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), BP is the largest aviation fuel supplier in Tanzania, with about 70 per cent market share. BP Tanzania has for a long time held a 35 per cent market share in both the retail and service stations.

According to the blueprint prepared by the ministry earlier this week, Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani and co-owner of Mumbai Indians; Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi; Supriya Sule, member of Parliament (MP) and daughter of agriculture minister Sharad Pawar; and M. Kanimozhi, MP and daughter of Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi; will be approached for key roles in “Saakshar Bharat”, which will have a specific focus on women. All of them said they have not been approached directly so far.

They would be requested to campaign for the mission, which was launched in September by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The names of the mission’s ambassadors are likely to be announced on 8 September, International Literacy Day.

Saakshar Bharat, aims to make 70 million adults (60 million being women) literate in three years and will be implemented in 365 of the country’s 619 districts. While India’s average overall literacy rate is 65.3%, for females it’s 54.28%. In the targeted districts, female literacy is less than 50%. The scheme has already been rolled out in 167 districts in the first week of April and is expected to cost Rs6,000 crore.

Nita Ambani’s office declined to comment. However, the ministry appears to be optimistic.

“We have zeroed in on these icons because we believe that this scheme will be successful if individuals who have sufficiently high profile as well as are committed to the cause are nominated as Saakshar ambassadors,” said a senior ministry official requesting anonymity. The official also said that the ministry wants Nita Ambani and Vadra to be ambassadors at the national level, others will be approached to be goodwill ambassadors at the state level. Some sports personalities will also be roped in later.

They will be expected to pro-actively participate in mass mobilization, undertake visits to some villages to influence teachers and learners, and help motivate private firms to contribute to the programme under their corporate social responsibility schemes. The ministry note points out that Nita Ambani can be “very effective in promoting the private sector initiative and mobilization of resources” for the adult literacy mission.

Reliance Industries owned RIL-Infotel, which is the pan-India winner of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, has started trials of WiMax service as per industry sources.

Mukesh Ambani’s RIL-Infotel has installed, as per the source, five WiMax base station in which three are from Alvarion and two are from Samsung. The company is checking interoperability among various BTSs and devices along with factors that hold key to a business.

Infotel won BWA spectrum in all 22 telecom circles across the country for a whopping Rs 12,847.77 crore. On the same day RIL had announced to acquire 95 per cent stake in the company.

The entry of Mukesh Ambani into telecom will create death knell for several players. The mobile industry is yet to recover from shocks following the implementation of the per second billing concept. Mukesh Ambani, when launched Reliance Infocomm, was the first to take on Vodafone and Bharti Airtel with cost effective schemes. Mahendra Nahata created history when HFCL won several mobile circles when the telecom industry was opened up for private players in mid 1990s. But Nahatas could not complete their mission. Mukesh Ambani, who settled his issues with brother Anil Ambani, can now enter telecom space and is looking for buying out operators.

The success of WiMax trials being run by Reliance-Infotel will be a big blow to Qualcomm, the evangelist of TD LTE technology, which is expected to make foray into global market by late 2012 or early 2013.

According to WiMax Forum, there are more than 300 WiMax devices of all types like datacards, Indoor CPE, WiMax Hand Sets etc, already certified by it for use in more than 540 mobile WiMax networks in 140 countries. There are more addition expected by WiMax Forum to this existing range of devices.

Source:http://news-views.in/mukesh-ambani-back-with-a-bang/

Reliance Industries remain on top of the list when it comes to being socially responsible or active. This time again they have hit it right with the United Nations naming Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani to a key advocacy group on Millennium Development Goals. As per the reports, this is an achievement for the corporate as it will increase its stature on the global front. According to the sources, Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian to be part of the MDG advocacy group along with other eminent personalities on board including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and philanthropist Ted Turner. The mandate of this Millennium Development Goals advocacy group includes finding various ways to fight socio-economic evils such as poverty which is a blazing issue these days. As per the sources, Mukesh Ambani will be in charge of global partnership for development which will include formulation of an open, rule bases, non discriminatory and predictable financial and trading system.

According to the United Nations representative, Mukesh Ambani, the top Indian industrialist will also look at the special needs of the least developed countries of the world as well as other landlocked developing countries along with other small islands and developing states. As per the sources, the Millennium Development Goals are eight international goals which at least 23 global organizations and 192 United Nations member states have agreed to achieve by the tear 2015. All these goals are developmental goals and will work for the benefit of the underprivileged sections of the society worldwide.

This golden opportunity will also strengthen the presence of Reliance Industries globally. Reliance Chief Mukesh Ambani feels proud to be associated with this noble cause which includes reducing poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics like AIDS and developing a global partnership for development. According to the world body, this MDG advocacy group will support the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in mobilizing global action and building political will. To set this initiative rolling, the first task of the advocacy group is the preparation for the MDG Summit which will be held in September this year and this Summit can be seen as a turning point in the collective effort to achieve the set goals by 2015.

The elder of the two Ambani siblings, Mukesh is also the member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry and the Board of Governors of the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Not just on the national front, Mukesh Ambani is also active in the international scene. He also holds the position of the Vice Chairman of The World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Source:http://news-views.in/un-names-mukesh-ambani-in-mdg-advocacy-group/

Top Industrialist Mukesh Ambani would release ‘Wildscapes’, a coffee table book on environment and wildlife protection, here on July 29.

The book is a collection of wildlife photographs by Aurangabad-based lensman Baiju Patil and is presented by Rajya Sabha member Vijay Darda, who is also Chairman of the Lokmat group of newspapers.

The images in the book are from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. “The idea is to generate awareness about this subject among children and youth and motivate them towards wildlife conservation,” Darda’s son and Lokmat Executive Director Devendra Darda told PTI.

Governor K Sankaranarayanan would preside over the book release function, to be held at Raj Bhavan.

Vijay Darda has taken several initiatives to promote conservation of nature and wildlife. One such project, Lokmat Green Initiative, involved planting one lakh saplings in a day.

“The idea behind the book is to make readers aware about what can be lost forever if we do not act immediately to protect wildlife and environment,” Devendra said.

Mukesh Ambani is an Indian business magnate, philanthropist and the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, the largest private sector enterprise in India and a Fortune 500 company.
Mukesh Ambani directed and led the creation of the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, with a current capacity of 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port and related infrastructure. Today, he leads the largest private sector conglomerate in India.

India recorded the highest rise in natural gas output worldwide in 2009 after Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 field came into production, Economist Christof Ruhl said.

Mukesh Ambani-run RIL began gas production from the Krishna-Godavari basin in April, 2009, and its 60 million standard cubic metres per day output led to a 75 per cent jump in natural gas availability in the country to 140 mmscmd.

“Last year, India had the highest increase in production of natural gas worldwide. And I just checked, it also had the highest corresponding increase in consumption in natural gas worldwide,” BP Plc Group Chief Economist Christof Ruhl said. The jump in natural gas production in India was possible because the government allowed private sector firms to take a lead in exploration for hydrocarbons.

“When you look at countries where gas production is heavily government-controlled, like Russia, they had the biggest decline in gas production and consumption,” he said. “When you look at countries where new technologies have been developed like unconventional shale gas in the US… it was because they have an investment environment which is very competitive,” he said. Shale gas, trapped in sedimentary rocks, is said to hold the potential of doubling gas output in US.

Ruhl said that it was very clear who was left behind, as countries where natural resources were tightly controlled were less flexible.

Source: Economic Times

The Reliance Innovation Council was floated by Mukesh Ambani three years back, to bring the best scientists and Nobel laureates from various parts of the world to interact and co-operate with RIL’s research and development initiatives. Besides Ambani and Mashelkar, the membership comprised people such as the late C K Prahalad, George Whitesides of Harvard University, Nobel laureates Jean-Marie Lehn and Robert Grubbs, and Larry Summers, former president of Harvard University.

The association of Mashelkar and Mukesh Ambani is not new. After retiring as the director-general of CSIR, he joined RIL as an independent member of the board. RA Mashelkar is also chairman of the Reliance Innovation Council.

RIL has also invested heavily in the Reliance Innovation Leadership Centre in Pune and in Reliance Research and Technology Centre (RRTC), planned with a floor space of more than half a million square feet in Navi Mumbai. RRTC is to act as a hub for the research centres already operating at various manufacturing locations. Both initiatives are to support the business of Reliance by harnessing cutting-edge, futuristic but practical science, technology and innovation initiatives from within and outside the organisation.

Reliance Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that handles educational, health and other corporate social responsibility activities of the group. Nita Ambani, wife of Mukesh Ambani, is chairperson. it is also planning to set up one of the largest universities in the world under the leadership of Nita Ambani.

Raghunath A Mashelkar, a leading scientist and for many years chief of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is getting ready to wear a new hat — that of a private equity fund manager.

He will lead a private equity initiative of Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL), according to sources. Ambani, the richest Indian, is likely to get involved in the project in his personal capacity.

It is still not clear to what extent RIL as a corporate entity will be involved or whether it will be housed under other Reliance group ventures like Reliance Foundation or Reliance Innovation Council.
Sources said the mandate of the fund is to invest in next-generation technologies and innovations, and nurture entrepreneurs. The corpus of the fund could not be verified.

When asked, Mashelkar said: “ I cannot comment on the subject.”

Mukesh Ambani is no stranger to the private equity business. His privately held company, Reliance Life Sciences, had in April 2007 teamed with MPM Capital, one of the world’s largest healthcare funds from the US. In his personal capacity, Ambani was to co-invest in the $650 million MPM BioVentures IV fund for investment opportunities in emerging biotech ventures. So far, the fund has not made any investment in India.

“The MPM Capital-Reliance Life Science strategic alliance brings about a new framework for fostering innovation by synergising enterprise and discovery capabilities outside India with people and development competencies in India. With MPM, we will look in the U.S. and locally for co-investment opportunities,” Ambani had said, while announcing the alliance.

Reliance Industries, say investment banking sources, as part of their treasury operations, had also invested in Axis Bank Private Equity in 2008

Addressing an annual meeting of shareholders, Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fourth-richest man, said Reliance Industries will continue to invest in the development of shale gas in North America as part of its strategy to become a significant player in the business.

Reliance Industries said it will foray into the electricity business and re-enter telecommunications as it sets out to diversify after the recent scrapping of a non-compete pact between its billionaire founder, Mukesh Ambani, and his younger brother, Anil.

Mukesh Ambani said the cancellation of the agreement and the signing of a new pact with Anil has opened up the “full range of power business for Reliance except non-captive gas-based power plants until 2022.”

“This paves the way for Reliance to participate in the whole value chain of the power business spanning generation, transmission and distribution,” Ambani said. “We are ready to bring into full play our investment mobilization capabilities into a sector that is crying out for transformational mega-initiative.”

He said Reliance Industries is preparing “specific plans for mega-investment in this sector with clean coal-based power generation projects, hydel projects and also in nuclear power as and when it is opened up (to private companies).”

Reliance Industries is also focusing on alternative energy, he added.

Key Takeaways from Mukesh Ambani’s AGM Speech –

Supply of gas to ADAG power plants subject to Government allocation; Look forward to a harmonious and constructive relationship with ADAG

Investment in Capex of Rs. 21,943 crore in difficult operating environment and paid Rs. 17,972 crore in taxes and duties an increase of 55%

To embark on largest capacity addition in polyester

To also make new investments in petrochemicals including a gas cracker; largest investment in this sector anywhere in the world

RIL to build one of the largest coke gasification facilities making the Jamnagar refinery a “bottomless refinery” in terms of value creation

E&P to focus on growth, production assurance and reserves accretion; Accelerated development in KG, Mahanadi, Cambay and Coal Bed Methane blocks

India to pole vault from 1G and 2G to 4G and beyond; Wireless Innovation Centre in Mumbai to develop products for 4G; Infocomm could potentially be as big an opportunity as energy business

Reliance Foundation to develop World Class University, Sir HN Hospital and innovative low cost high output efforts in Sustainable Agriculture, Will also aim at preserving and promoting Indian art and culture

RIL to double enterprise value of USD 80bn within the next decade

Source:http://news-views.in/mukesh-ambani-announces-reliance-industries%E2%80%99-diversification-plans-at-36th-annual-general-meet/

Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries (RIL) may pick up a 26% stake in Pipavav Shipyard (PSL), India’s largest integrated shipyard with an exposure to offshore structures for oil & gas structures.

“We will issue a 26% fresh equity to the strategic investor,” SKIL Infrastructure chairman Nikhil Gandhi said. SKIL, the promoter of Pipavav Shipyard, holds a 39.5% stake in the company.

The acquirer will also make an open offer to the public at the same price after the deal is closed. An RIL spokesperson said that the company does not comment on market speculations.

Market sources said that RIL is the strategic investor. But Mr Gandhi declined to confirm that RIL is the potential investor. “The potential strategic partner could be a major national or international player from the oil & gas sector,” Mr Gandhi told ET.

He said that other investors have full confidence in his decisions and he would take them on board after the contours of the deal is finalised. “They invest in my vision,” he said.

The non-promoter shareholding in Pipavav Shipyard is 60.44%, out of which, 43% is owned by domestic and foreign institutional investors. Major investors include Trinity Capital (6.89%), New York Life Investment Management India Fund II (4%), Citadel (3.45%) and IL&FS (5.35%).

In March 2010, SKIL Infrastructure Group had bought a 19.6% stake from Punj Lloyd, the other major shareholder, through a negotiated deal at Rs 49.80 per share. Subsequently, it gave an open offer to public for 20% which received weak response.

The company’s stock closed at Rs 100.15, down by 0.10%, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday. The company’s share price touched a 52-week high of Rs 103.40 on Wednesday. The scrip had touched a low of Rs 47.65 in October 2009.
The company has recently bagged an order amounting Rs 2,600-crore to build offshore patrol vessels for the Indian Navy. The deal is to construct about five patrol vessels, each with a displacement of about 2,000 tonne. Pipavav Shipyard has an order book of about Rs 4,500 crore.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Stocks-in-News/articleshow/6061515.cms