Takeovers gain traction

With 17 open offer launches for takeovers in the first quarter of the financial year, there is a lot of good news for shareholders, since acquisition targets tend to go up in price. Takeovers announced include Kishore Chhabria-led Allied Blenders & Distillers, which offered to acquire 51 per cent stake in Tilaknagar Industries and Reliance Infrastructure's offer to buy stake in Pipavav Defence.

After e-retail, 'delisting' boosts for India Post
India Post has witnessed a surge in business, thanks to the e-commerce boom in the country. The state-run postal service provider is set to receive another boost. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked companies wanting to delist to send letters of offer to all their shareholders through India Post and maintain detailed account of status of delivery. The move followed relaxation provided by Sebi to the earlier rule mandating participation of at least 25 per cent shareholders for a delisting bid to be successful.

MFs to seek Amfi guidance for implementing service tax rule
After the income-tax (I-T) department shifted the onus of paying 14 per cent service tax on asset management companies (AMCs), many are feeling short-changed. While the I-T department has said AMCs are taking a service from distributors for raising money and hence should bear the burden, many fund houses feel it is the investor who is taking distributors' service to invest and should pay the tax. "Since the investor has the option of using direct plans but is using distributor's service to invest in mutual funds, they should bear the cost," said the chief executive officer of a fund house. This topic is expected to be hotly debated in Association of Mutual Funds of India's next meeting this Thursday.