From airports to wind power

The effervescent Anil Ambani appears to have gathered himself quite well after the much talked about reversals in the Delhi, Mumbai Airport bids. The tycoon is slowly turning his attention to other aviation infrastructure opportunities. For the moment, though, his eyes remains riveted on the Nagpur International Airport. In fact, to exhibit its seriousness for the multi-modal international hub airport MIHAN, the Reliance-Anil Ambani Group R-ADAG has already made a bid for the 200-hectare rail and road terminal, which will act as a support infrastructure to the airport. Anil, however, will have to wait for some time before he can bid for the project. The airport is currently being managed by the Airports Authority of India AAI, which is expected to hand it over to the Maharashtra Government for modernization who will then be inviting tenders for the project. Meanwhile, Anil is busy making some interesting deals away from airports too. Keen to broaden his stake in the energy pie, and perhaps partly encouraged by the phenomenal success of Suzlon, the tycoon has joined hands with a host of private investors to acquire 68 stake in NEPC Group8217;s Southern Wind Farms. Observers believe Anil is likely to inch forward in the space to acquire other turbine and genset companies, who could complement his windmill operation to make him an integrated wind energy player.

Beefing up exports

Surinder Kapur8217;s Rs 800-crore Sona Group is looking to strengthen its presence in the auto component arena. Kapur8217;s expansion plans this time round is going to be centered on his precision forging joint venture company Sona Okegawa a 60:40 JV with Mitshubishi. The tycoon will be investing Rs 60 crore in three distinct expansion initiatives. Kapur will be putting in Rs 30 crore in an Export Oriented Unit EOU in Pune. Given that the venture would not be under any obligation to limit exports to the JV partner Mitshubishi8212;as was the case with other Sona Okegawa units8212;industry analysts believe Kapur would be looking to explore other global markets too. Kapur expects that exports are going to account for 50 of Sona Okegawa8217;s turnover in the coming years. The EOU with a capacity of 10 million units is likely to commence operations by February 2007. Kapur will be investing Rs 18 crore to expand his gear manufacturing capacity at his Gurgaon plant from six million units per annum to 10 million units. He has also signed up an agreement with Mitshubishi to set up a dye shop. Kapur believes that with all these capacity additions and the Greenfield EOU, he would be able to triple Sona Okegawa8217;s turnover to Rs 300 crore by 2009.

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