Zenith Birla to hive off tools manufacturing division

The board of Zenith Birla India has considered a proposal to hive off the company’s tools manufacturing division.

The board discussed the proposal of de-merger / hive off of tools division at length. After having discussion at length, it was decided to obtain detailed study report from an independent consultant for the purpose before finalizing any proposal.

The board also considered the proposal of merger / acquisition of Tungabhadra Holdings which is also into the manufacturing of steel pipes and with its operations at Murbad and Tarapur and having synergy with the steel pipes business of Zenith.

HDFC Equity + Top 200 Fund – Portfolio Update

Sr. Fund Manager of HDFC Equity fund has completely exited the stocks of DLF, Wipro and TCS. Added more of ICICI Bank and United Phosphorous, which has been in the folio for quite sometime now. UBS has a BUY recommendation on United Phosphorous. The new entrants in the folio are Suzlon Energy and Puravankara Projects Ltd. Realty Stocks have undergone quite a churn in this fund – First it was Ansal Properties and Infrastructure, then DLF and now Purvankara Projects.

In HDFC Top 200 fund, Investment in Maruti Udyog has doubled since the end of July. Suzlon Energy is the new entrant. Added more of United Phosphorous. Reduced holdings in Punj Lloyd and exit from DLF.

In HDFC Prudence Fund, Punj Lloyd and Zee Entertainment holdings were reduced. ICICI Bank and Puravankara projects are the new entrants.

Unity Infraprojects receives orders

Unity Infraprojects has received orders aggregating to Rs 134.15 crore. Construction of shopping centre at Koregaon Park, Pune from Anuttam Developers with the total contract value of Rs 112.40 crore to be completed by the company within 17 months.

The company has been awarded the contract for construction of BIG MALL, Thane form Serendipity Buildtech, New Delhi with a contract value of Rs 21.75 crore.

Bartronics an Outperformer – ICICI

During the August Market Crash, we had recommended to HOLD Bartronics Stock at Rs 175. The stock since then has swiftly moved up to Rs 250. ICICI Research has initiated coverage on Bartronics with a price target of Rs 335, potential upside of 38% from current levels.

Bartronics India Ltd (BIL), one of the first Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) solutions company. It is investing more than Rs 270 crore
into a new 80-million smart cards manufacturing facility, that would make it one of the biggest players in South Asia and enable revenue growth by 130% CAGR over FY07-09E. Having an order book for more than 100 million smart cards over next two years is expected to generate 3.5x FY07 revenues from this segment alone.

The Indian Retail Growth story is intact and BIL has tied up with Intel and designed products and solutions for point of sales having starting price from Rs 32,000 onwards. These products are more than 20% cheaper to ones used by the industry currently and also more complex, which gives the retailers like Reliance, Big Bazaar, Subhiksha and others a huge advantage.

Currently, the stock is trading at 10.32x FY09E earnings and 6.23x FY09E EV/EBIDTA, which is very attractive. Most of the global players are trading between 15-28x FY09E earnings. Using this method, the stock can be valued at Rs 340, 15x FY09E diluted EPS of Rs 22.66.

Dharvi Slum Development Real Estate project

The Godrej Properties-L&T joint venture (JV) will reportedly bid for the redevelopment of all the five sectors of Dharavi, which the government has identified. The JV has already submitted the expression of interest (EoI) to bid for the project.

The project includes replacing 57,000 slum structures spread over 500 acres. The entire area has been divided into five sectors of about 1.5 crore squre feet (sq ft) each. The project is expected to generate close to Rs 25,000 crore for the Maharashtra government.

The interested companies will be allowed to bid for as many sectors as they like. Each bidder will get only one sector to develop. Selected companies will then rehabilitate slum-dwellers in about 60 lakh sq ft in each sector while the remaining area can be sold commercially.

Two other Mumbai-based developers, Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) and Akruti Nirman, have reportedly formed JVs with Lehman Brothers and Limitless, an arm of Dubai World, to bid for Dharavi.

L&T bags Rs 762 crore order

Larsen & Toubro’s ECC division in consortium with Outotec GmbH, Germany have bagged a Rs 762 crore sinter plant order from Steel Authority Of India (SAIL). This plant of 2 X 204 square metre grate area with a capacity of 3.80 million ton per annum is to be executed on a turnkey basis at the IISCO steel plant (ISP) of SAIL, at Burnpur, West Bengal.

The order value for the company is Rs 639.99 crore and Euro 22.08 million for Outotec. The new sinter plant will be part of SAIL’s ambitious programme of expanding its capacity at ISP by 2.5 MTPA crude steel. The turnkey sinter plant project is to be completed in 29.5 months.

Outotec’s scope covers basic engineering, supply of proprietary and special equipment as well as technical services while the Company’s scope covers detail engineering, supply of indigenous mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works and complete site services including civil, structural and erection works.