Sarda146;s secret

There are more stories untold behind Ghanshyam Sarda of the Sarda Group, whose eyes firmly fixed on Bhilwara Synthetics. His raid on the com...

There are more stories untold behind Ghanshyam Sarda of the Sarda Group, whose eyes firmly fixed on Bhilwara Synthetics. His raid on the company started just sometime back, with a swift acquisition of 12 stake. Sarda insists that he has no motive to enter and then takeover the management of BSL. He has been insisting all through that the stake procurement is merely part of an investment decision and has nothing to do with takeover. Unknown to most watchers, Sarda is known to have close family links with the company he is targeting. This makes the whole exercise a bit different and Sarda is keeping this family angle very close to his chest. The Jhunjhunwala and Churiwal houses, the promoters of BSL are meanwhile, remaining low key. Surprisingly BSL is the only company in their fold where they have a less than controlling stake ie, around a third of the total stake. Still they prefer playing the role of the tongue-tied and arm-folded onlookers. During the course of this battle, the tattle goes that its only days before the tycoon might follow up with an open offer to scale up the Sarda holding. Sarda is on the lookout for block shareholders including those like that with his buddy, Ajay Kayan-promoted Smifs Capital. They look like promised attachments to the ranks of the Sardas. It looks as though the block stakeholders certainly have something bright to look forward to in this acquisition game. Provided they play their cards right, they could even overturn the table in their favour. The big question is at what price institutional shareholders will be happy to offload their stake onto Sarda8217;s shoulders. Their anxieties about capital depreciation over the years at BSL may now emerge. Hence Sarda may not have to pay too high an amount to grab a running textile company with a brand that has a lot of clout in the mid market range.

Making new tracks

Omkar Singh Kanwar8217;s group is, causing ripples, as its close to acquiring a tyre company in China. It will make history if it happens, since no Chinese manufacturing company has so far been taken over by an Indian. Kanwar has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese company where he has been offered a stake of 76. Although these are not the best of times with the tyre industry, Kanwar is going ahead with these expansion plans. Probably he feels that by tapping the international market, things might start looking up on the home front too. Despite the present slowdown, Kanwar plans to stick to his USP of successful segmentation of the market place to offer a product that suits everyone8217;s needs. The news of roping in Continental AG of Germany as the technology partner in the Chinese venture has doubled this confidence. The expansion spills over to the national arena Kanwar has plans of achieving his target of a Rs 2,000-crore turnover. His plans require him to invest Rs 1.1 billion in a new radial tyre plant in Gujarat. Kanwar is playing the right card at the right time with respect to anticipation of demand. With the ongoing National Highway construction programmes and improvements made by manufacturers in vehicle designs, the level of radialisation would increase and help his sales. From the kuchcha roads in India to the highways in China and back to flyways on our new quadrilateral8212;whether it proves to be a success path for Kanwar or not is now just a matter of time.

Sparkling water

Alcohol major Shaw Wallace is serious about making a big splash with its range of packaged drinking water brands all across the country. Cashing in on the popularity of its successful Royal Challenge, the first brand of water to be rolled out will be also be called Royal Challenge Sparkling Water. For those who dismiss this as just another disguised method of doing surrogate advertising, Komal Chhabria Wazir8217;s answer is a firm no. She insists that the company will soon follow with regular drinking water and of course carbonated soda. Sources at Shaw Wallace confirmed the fact that this is the first time 8216;sparkling water8217; which has only a mild fizz in it, is being launched in the country. Sparkling water, coincidentally, goes well with alcoholic brands like Royal Challenge Premium Whisky and what8217;s even better, will not push Shaw Wallace run head on into water tigers like Chauhan, Coke and Pepsi.

Dilip Cherian, runs a public affairs firm Perfect Relations. He is an economy watcher and tycoon tracker . None of the people he writes about are his clients. Your insider tales are welcome at dilipcheriannow-india.net.in