Supreme Court rejects Reliance Natural Resources plea on hearing

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to take up a gas dispute between RIL and RNRL for final hearing on Sep 1, rejecting the latter's plea for expeditious hearings.The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to take up a gas dispute between Reliance Industries (RIL) and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) for final hearing on September 1, rejecting the plea of Anil Ambani Group company for expeditious proceedings. RNRL on Wednesday had served notices to the oil ministry and RIL in this regard and argued that the gas supply dispute between RIL and RNRL concerns power projects of national importance, representing a capacity of 12,000 mw power and an investment of over Rs 50,000 crore.

A bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan said it would decide on the date of final hearing on September 1, when it would consider various petitions related to the dispute. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear cross-appeals by both Ambani group firms on September 1, as also a petition by the Petroleum Ministry against a Bombay High Court order that asked RIL to supply gas to RNRL at $2.34 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) against the officially prescribed $4.2 per mmbtu.

The RNRL prayer came up for mentioning and the company's counsel Mukul Rohtagi requested that final hearing be taken up on September 1, as the entire Bombay High Court record was before the apex court and nothing was left to be filed.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.financialexpress.com

Value from family differences

It was a terse note on June 18, 2005 from Kokilaben D Ambani that many thought would put an end to a public spat between her two sons-Mukesh and Anil Ambani-over ownership of the Reliance empire. Three years later, the spat continues, the latest over Anil's plans for a stake sale in his flagship Reliance Communications (RComm) to South Africa's MTN. This time, no one's stepping in, not even the matriarch. Paradoxically, after the split, both sides of the Reliance empire have grown manifold in value under the two brothers. Is that why no one's complaining?

In her 2005 statement, Kokilaben Ambani said, "With the blessings of Srinathji, I have today amicably resolved the issues between my two sons keeping in mind the proud legacy of my husband. I am confident that Mukesh and Anil will uphold the values of their father and work towards protecting and enhancing value of over 3 million shareholders of the Reliance group."

Mukesh, who got Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and the erstwhile Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd, and Anil, who took control of what was then Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Energy and Reliance Capital, did indeed protect and enhance shareholders' interest. They added new businesses and pumped in much investment and vigour into existing ones.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.financialexpress.com

Indian cos eye Hollywood pie

The world's the stage for major Indian media firms, with some of them set to make a global mark by joining the Hollywood band wagon.

Recently, at the Cannes film festival, Anil Ambani-led Reliance ADAG inked a deal with eight Hollywood production houses, and the projects will feature actors including Nicholas Cage, Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey and others.With this,Reliance BIG Entertainment now steps into every department of film trade - production, distribution, exhibition, and post production. Billionaire investor George Soros recently paid $100 million for a minority stake in Reliance Entertainment, which the company said valued it at $ 3 billion.

Entertainment industry analysts say this trend is going to gain momentum in the coming days. Says Farokh Balsara, head - media and entertainment,Ernst&Young,"Indian companies are making waves in Hollywood and many more companies will join in. for Reliance ADAG, it makes sense to do this as they are already into broadband, DTH and radio. However,the whole project will take three to four years to be completed."

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.financialexpress.com