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• In the interest of the students, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has come forward to assist the petrochemical and petroleum engineering department of the Jaw-aharlal Nehru Technolog-ical University, College of Engineering, Kakinada, with financial and technology teaching support.In the interest of the students, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has come forward to assist the petrochemical and petroleum engineering department of the Jaw-aharlal Nehru Technolog-ical University, College of Engineering, Kakinada, with financial and technology teaching support.
• The executive director of the ONGC and the asset head of Kakinada Offshore, Mr K. Anjaneyulu, who participated in a two-day workshop on ‘Oil and Gas of Upstream Processing’, held here on Tuesday by the JNTU-K and the Soc-iety of Petroleum Engin-eers, Kakinada section, at the Alumni Auditorium in the University said that the ONGC would release funds in a phased manner to the department. He also anno-unced a budget allocation of Rs.1 lakh for conducting workshops. He advised the JNTU-K officials to utilise the services of the experts of various oil fields.
• The vice-chancellor of the JNTU-K, Dr G. Tulasi Ram Das, said that the university introduced courses in petrochemical and petroleum engineering in the year 2009. He said that at present 250 students were studying the courses. He said that the university was also contemplating introducing PG courses in petroleum sciences.The JNTU-K, advisor of petro-sciences said that 16 experts would present papers at the workshop.The principal of the JNTU Engineering Colle-ge, Mr P. Udaya Bhaskar, requested the V-C to recruit permanent faculty for the courses. While the JNTU-K director, Mr Padmaraju, presided, the registrar, Mr V. Ravindra and others also attended.

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Vedanta Resources group may merge iron ore firm Sesa Goa with copper and aluminium maker Sterlite Industries

• The Vedanta Resources group may merge iron ore firm Sesa Goa with copper and aluminium maker Sterlite Industries as it tries to simplify a complex corporate structure and deal with challenges to its main businesses.The exercise, which is still on the drawing board, will create agiant metals and mining firm with the third-biggest profit in the private sector after ONGC and Reliance Industries. It will have a combined market cap ofRs 66,000 crore, or about $14 billion, more than double that of Sterlite's nearest rival Hindalco Industries.
• The merged entity would straddle across all major resources, including oil, iron ore, aluminum, copper, zinc and lead, and will make Sterlite's parent, Vedanta Resources, owner of the entire shareholding of recently-acquired Cairn India."Vedanta's stated strategy is to simplify and consolidate its corporate structure. The management reviews options to deliver this strategy on an ongoing basis and will update the market as appropriate," a Vedanta spokesperson said.A Delhi-based law firm has been asked to work on legal requirements for the merger.

Creating a Behemoth

• Sterlite fell 3.4% to Rs 128.40 on the news while Sesa gained the most, rising 3.5% before ending marginally down at Rs 246.70. Over the past month, Sterlite has risen 19% while Sesa has fallen 1.1%.Sterlite Industries posted revenues ofRs 30,248 crore for the fiscal year ended March 2011 and profit of Rs 7,322 crore. Sesa revenues were Rs 10,138 crore while net profit was Rs 4,222 crore.According to another person aware of the work on the restructuring, "The move will also enable using surplus resources to grow other subsidiaries. For instance, Vedanta Aluminum needs funds to shore up its finances as accumulated losses have wiped out all equity investments made by promoter companies," he added.
• Vedanta officials have been considering various options to simplify the unwieldy structure under which three of the six Indian companies are directly owned by the global parent. The rest are either co-owned with Indian subsidiaries or the government.Vedanta Aluminum is 30% owned by Sterlite Industries, and 70% by Vedanta Resources. London-listed Vedanta also owns about 53% directly in Sterlite Industries, 55% in Sesa Goa and 64.9% in Hindustan Zinc. Cairn India, acquired recently from Cairn Plc UK, is owned by Sesa Goa and Sterlite while Balco is majorityowned by Sterlite. Vedanta Aluminum is owned by Sterlite and Vedanta Resources.
• The government is also a shareholder in some companies, owning 49% in Balco and 29.5% in Hindustan Zinc. Vedanta believes that merging Sesa and Sterlite will create one big company for all major mining and metals businesses.Balco and Hindustan Zinc will continue to be separate affiliates due to the government ownership while Cairn will be a subsidiary of Sterlite-Sesa, instead of functioning separately.The merger could also give the group access to Sesa Goa's cash, which could be used to fund investment plans of the merged company and some other group companies if required.

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