ONGC soars on plan to invest Rs 2476 crore in Vasai East field development

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will take up additional development of its Vasai East Field in Arabian Sea at a total estimated capital cost of Rs 2476.82 crore. The project, scheduled to be completed by December 2018, will result in incremental Oil production of 1.83 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) and incremental Gas production of 1.971 Billion Cubic Metres (BCM) by 2030.The company has received its board approval on March 24, 2014. This project will improve the Recovery factor of Vasai East field with infill wells towards north & south side of the field with two well platforms VSEB and VSEC and utilizing existing surface facilities at process platform of BPA and BCPA-2 with minor modifications.

Meanwhile, the ONGC Board, in the same meeting also approved a second interim dividend of Rs 4.25 per equity share, i.e. 85% on the equity share of Rs 5 each for the financial year 2013-14. This is in addition to an interim dividend of hundred percent (i.e. Rs. 5 per equity share of Rs 5 each) on 8,555,490,120 shares declared and paid in December, 2013. The total payout on account of this 2nd Interim Dividend would be Rs 3636.08 crore.

ONGC is currently trading at Rs. 325.10, up by 5.00 points or 1.56% from its previous closing of Rs. 320.10 on the BSE.

Educomp up 8% on getting approval for corporate debt recast

Shares of  Educomp Solutions rallied as much as 7.7 percent intraday on Wednesday on getting approval for its corporate debt recast package from CDR panel.

 "The request for restructuring debts outstanding on reference date (July 08, 2013) comprising working capital debt of Rs 399.04 crore and long term debt of Rs 83.05 crore with CDR lenders has been approved by CDR Empowered Group vide letter of approval dated March 19, 2014," the company said in its filing.

 The company further said the restructuring package agreed with CDR lenders (led by State Bank of Patiala) envisages extended repayment tenure of 10 years including moratorium period of 2.5 years from cut off date (April 01, 2013) and funding of interest for a period of 2 years from cut off date. The education solutions provider had approaced CDR cell for restructuring of its debts on June 27, 2013. Then the CDR cell had admitted the flash report of company in its meeting held on July 25, 2013. At 10:45 hours IST, the stock rose 4.68 percent to Rs 24.60 amid large volumes on the BSE.

Oberoi Realty, the new owner of Tata Steel Borivali Land

Tata Steel Board today declared M/s Oberoi Realty Limited  as the highest bidder of the auction on the basis of their final bid of Rs 1155 crores, after several rounds of bidding. As per the laid down process, the sale will be concluded after all requisite permissions are obtained, said the announcement on the stock exchange. 

In which case, Oberoi Realty is now required to pay 10% of bid value as earnest money deposit (EMD) within 2 days of signing the letter of intent (LoI). The balance due is to be paid by April-end 2014. Sources say, the LoI is likely to be signed on 29th April 2014. If the developer fails to obtain the requisite NOCs within three months, the MOUs would automatically be cancelled.

 Oberoi Realty is understood to have outbid other big industry guns like Lodha Group, Kalpataru, Peninsula Land, Indiabulls & Tata Housing Development Ltd that were in the fray. The issues revolving around the acquisition of the non objection certificate (NOC) from the labour authorities and collector's permission for the sale of Sanad property forming part of the entire Tata Steel property is keeping Tata Housing in the race, according to sources.

SEBI allows 100 alternative funds to operate in India

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed 100 entities to set up Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) in less than two years. AIFs are basically funds established in India for the purpose of pooling in capital from Indian and foreign investors for investing as per pre-decided policy.

The 100 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) have been registered with SEBI since July 2012. Out of which, around 11 entities got market regulator's approval during current year to operate in the country, while 67 AIFs got approval in 2013 and the remaining 22 in 2012. SEBI had notified guidelines for this new class of market intermediaries in May 2012 and these guidelines apply to all AIFs, including those operating as private equity funds, real estate funds and hedge funds, among others.

As per market regulator, AIFs can operate broadly in three categories. The Category-I AIFs include Social Venture Funds, Infrastructure Funds, Venture Capital Funds and SME Funds which can get incentives from the government, SEBI or other regulators. The Category-III AIFs includes hedge funds which can trade with a view for making short-term returns. The Category-II AIFs are private equity funds, debt funds or fund of funds and can invest anywhere in any combination but are prohibited from raising debt, except for meeting their day-to-day operational requirements.In August 2013, SEBI notified that promoters of listed companies can offload 10 percent of their equity to AIFs registered with it so as to meet the norm of having a minimum of 25 percent public holding.