Vendor king gets his coffee beans

Seems like C. Sivasankaran and Ratan Tata share a special bond that8217;s showing up in their business moves. First the tycoon let VSNL tak...

Seems like C. Sivasankaran and Ratan Tata share a special bond that8217;s showing up in their business moves. First the tycoon let VSNL take over his Dishnet DSL and now he is taking over Turner Morrison8217;s stake in Barista. Sivasankaran will use his Fresh 038; Honest Coffee vending machine and coffee beans business to his advantage here. The idea of setting up a fully integrated coffee company, with parlours, retailing vending machines, packaged branded coffee beans and powder has been a recurring dream for the tycoon, which will now come true. Being on the look out for an Indian parlour with an Indian touch, he found it in Barista.

So he grabbed at the opportunity when he saw that Tata wasn8217;t interested. Now the tycoon has put two of his own men on Barista8217;s board; a director strategy and a chief executive from Fresh 038; Honest who have replaced three Turner Morrison directors. A chairman will be elected later.

Meanwhile, the tycoon is applying for licences to start Aircel, his cellular mobile service, in the circles of UP West, UP East, MP, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and the North-East, as well as J038;K. He is also expanding its capacity in Chennai and Tamil Nadu, while offering innovative services and schemes. Which is surprising because at the same time he has been considering offers to sell it off to majors like Hutch, AirTel and Idea Cellular. If Sivasankaran sells Aircel, all his concentration will turn to Barista, which will not be a good thing for his competitors, seeing as the tycoon has a way of brewing up magic in all that he does.

Ambani8217;s new biotech toy

Mukesh Ambani believes he should diversify. And he can afford it, thanks to higher product prices, which took his net profit up to Rs 5,169 crore i.e. 1.18 billion last year. Now perhaps inspired by Biotech8217;s achievements the tycoon has decided to come out with Reliance Clinical Research Services, a new company floated by his biotechnology company Reliance Life Sciences. It will provide contract clinical research services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and institutions all over the world. Ambani has even got his Reliance Infocomm to provide the back end support to the new company. The company will begin work with products for cell biology.

Meanwhile, the tycoon has plans to put in some Rs 500 crore into Reliance Life Sciences for promoting a novel sibling donor programme from stem cell enriched blood. A unique concept where umbilical cord blood, at present thrown away, will be used for patients suffering from blood disorders. Ambani8217;s main aim is to head from drug discovery to products and services. His is already the largest investment made in India in biotechnology. Apart from a lab in Mumbai, and a facility at the old Ambani haunt Jamnagar, the tycoon will also be setting up a third site in Thane which will include R038;D labs, a pilot plant, animal environments and a green house. The tycoon seems to have his hands in all the fast emerging sectors, little surprise then that he8217;s one of India8217;s billionaires.

Dilip Cherian, runs the PR firm Perfect Relations. He is an economy watcher and tycoon tracker. The people he writes about are not clients. Send your insider dope to dilipcheriannow-india.net.in