Important news of the week:

19/03/2007 PBA Infrastructure Ltd. PBA Infrastructure Ltd has informed BSE that the following contracts awarded to the Company, from Brihanmumbai Mahanagarpalika, Mumbai. The details of the contracts are given below: 1. E-194: Concreting and improvement of side strips of the roads and allied works in M/West Ward: a) R C Marg from Tembe Bridge to Hemu Kalani Marg b) Road No. 15 from DK Sandu Road to RC Marg c) Road No. 17 from DK Sandu Road to RC Marg Contract amount is Rs 8,45,00,000/-. 2. E-197: Concreting and improvement of Roads 'S' & 'T' Ward: a) Swapna Nagari road b) Goshala road Improvement of roads and side strip in Paver blocks in 'S' & 'T' Ward Contract amount is Rs 20,08,30,000/-. 20/03/2007 Maral Overseas closes Jammu unit Maral Overseas has shut down its Jammu unit due to increased cost of expenditure.The company has taken all necessary steps to implemented the voluntary retirement scheme for the employees. 20/03/2007 MSK Projects with its consortium bags contract worth Rs 590 crore MSK Projects India and its consortium has been awarded the contract for repairing and maintaining Bhopal-Dewas Road on BOT basis by Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation.The cost of project is Rs 590 crore with subsidy component of Rs 81 crores. 21/03/2007 Essar Shipping cancels delisting on poor response Essar Shipping today announced that its parent Essar Shipping & Logistics Ltd's plan to delist its shares from stock exchanges failed following the poor response from the retail shareholders. The retail shareholders tendered shares less than what the promoters wanted to scale up their stake in Essar Shipping to 90 per cent, a requirement for delisting. The shareholders offer to sale of 60.0 million shares fell short of the promoters' requirement of 71.8 million shares. Promoters now hold 76 per cent stake. Essar Shipping now will continue to remain listed with the stock exchanges and the shares tendered would be returned to the public shareholders. The delisting of shares was proposed in line with the Essar group's plan to consolidate and restructure businesses. The floor price of the reverse book building was fixed at Rs 31.62 per share. Market sources say the maximum prices quotes for delisting proposal was at Rs 50. There are few quotes as high as Rs 75 per share, they add. The cancellation of the delisting hammered down the share prices of Essar Shipping. The stock lost 5.94 per cent to Rs 40.35 on a flat Mumbai market today. Industry sources said the cancellation of the delisting proposal might delay the Essar Group's plan to do a la Vedanta_consolidate business into parent companies and get them listed with foreign exchanges, like Vedanta Resources of the Anil Agarwal did some years ago. However, Essar Group sources said they had no immediate plan for overseas listing. Essar Group has also initiated moves to delist Essar Oil. Said Amitabh Chakraborty, President-Equities, Religare Securities: 'This shows the level of investors' activism. The shareholders are very much aware about the business of the company that they have invested and they are certain about the prices that they can sell off.' JM Morgan Stanley was the manager to this offer on behalf of ESLL and Essar Investments. The public announcement on this regard was made on February 13 and bid had closed on March 09. 21/03/2007 RBI nod for 8 DCB branches Development Credit Bank has received the RBI permission to open eight new branches in India. The bank will be setting up the branches over a period of six months, it said in a statement. With this, the number of branches will increase to 75. In addition, the bank has five extension counters. 22/03/2007 Chambal Fertilisers to buy tanker from Hyundai Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals has signed shipbuilding contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries, South Korea for acquiring an Aframax tanker (dwt 1,05,830).The vessel is expected to be delivered in April 2010. 22/03/2007 Granules India Ltd. Granules India Ltd has informed BSE that the shareholders at the Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the Company held on March 21, 2007, have unanimously approved the issue of 22,11,200 equity shares of the Company of the face value of Rs 10/- each fully paid-up on preferential basis to Ridgeback Capital Investment LLC or their affiliates at a price of Rs 105.50/- per share (including premium). 22/03/2007 Hiran Orgachem Ltd. Has allotted 18,66,600 equity shares of face value of Rs 10/- each upon conversion of 18,66,600 Optionally Fully Convertible Warrants (OFCWs) which were allotted on preferential allotment basis in accordance with the resolution passed by the members at the Extra-Ordinary General Meeting held on September 09, 2005. 22/03/2007 IMP Powers bags order worth Rs 4 crore IMP Powers has received an order worth Rs 4 crore from Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Nigam to manufacture 100 MVA 230 kv class Transformers. 22/03/2007 Jai Balaji Sponge Limtied Jai Balaji Sponge Ltd has informed BSE that pursuant to the order of the Hon'ble High Court at Calcutta, a meeting of the Equity Shareholders of the Company will be held on April 12, 2007, to consider and to approve the proposed Scheme of Amalgamation of Shri. Ramrupai Balaji Steels Ltd with the Company. 22/03/2007 Kovai Medical Center & Hospital Kovai Medical Center & Hospital Ltd has informed BSE that the Company has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Idhayam Hospitals Erode Ltd on February 27, 2007 at Erode, Tamil Nadu. Idhayam Hospitals Erode Ltd has been incorporated as a Public Limited Company in the year 2001 and its Registered Office is situated at 181 Perundurai Road, Erode, Tamil Nadu. It is proposed to acquire 100% stake of the transferor Company and make it as the Company's wholly owned subsidiary. It is a closely held Company with a paid-up capital of Rs 372 Lacs. At present the Transferor Company is running a 50 bedded Hospital at Erode which is exclusively for Cardio-thoracic patients. The agreed purchase consideration is Rs 925 Lacs which involves discharge of unsecured loans, one time settlement with Indian Overseas Bank, Main Branch, Erode, Cost of Medical Equipments and payment to shareholders. The whole process is expected to be completed within a period of two months. 22/03/2007 Pritish Nandy Comm to allot equity shares On 21 March 2007, Pritish Nandy Communications' board has approved to allot 40 lakh equity shares to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). 22/03/2007 Suryajyoti raises $10 m Suryajyoti Spinning Mills Ltd has raised $10 million by issuing foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB). The bonds, which have been listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, are convertible into shares at Rs 85 a share. These funds would part finance the new bottom-weight fabric facility that is expected to begin production in 2008.