Mumbai, Nov. 9 The four original sponsors of UTI Asset Management Company have disinvested 6.5 per cent stake each to the US-based fund house T Rowe Price Global Investment Services for a collective consideration of around Rs 650 crore. With the induction of the foreign partner with 26 per cent stake, market players feel that UTI will hit the capital market sooner than later with an initial public offering.

At Rs 200 a share, India’s oldest mutual fund is valued at around Rs 2,500 crore. PNB, in a statement to the BSE on Monday, said that the bank, along with three other promoters, has agreed to the sale of 6.5 per cent stake each to T Rowe Price Global Investment Services, which has global assets under management of $366 billion as of September-end 2009.

Apart from the disinvestment in UTI AMC, the domestic financial institutions also announced the sale of 6.5 per cent stake each in UTI Trustee Company for a collective consideration of Rs 3.10 lakh. The transaction is subject to requisite statutory and regulatory approvals, PNB said

Following the disinvestment, UTI’s sponsors — State Bank of India (SBI), Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bank of Baroda (BoB) — will be left with 18.5 per cent stake each. India’s fourth largest fund house by asset size, UTI AMC, manages assets worth Rs 76,847 crore as on end October.

MUMBAI: India will clash with Bangladesh in the opening match of the 2011 World Cup in Dhaka on February 19, the International Cricket Council Indian Team (ICC) said on Monday. The first match takes place two days after the opening ceremony of the 14-nation showpiece at the same venue in Dhaka on February 17, according to the schedule released by the ICC.

The final of the 43-day tournament, being co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, will take place at the renovated Wankhede stadium in India's financial capital of Mumbai on April 2. The teams have been divided into two groups of seven each for the preliminary league, with the top four from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. Defending champions Australia head group A which includes Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and two qualifiers, Canada and Kenya. The other group comprises India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh and qualifiers Ireland, Netherlands.

India will host 29 matches at eight venues, Sri Lanka 12 at three venues and Bangladesh eight at two places, after Pakistan were removed as co-hosts by the ICC due to security fears in the volatile nation. Pakistan, who were wary of playing in India due to political tensions between the two nations, will play its six league matches in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka will host five of its matches at two new venues in southern Hambantota and Pallekele, near the hill town of Kandy, where cricket stadiums are under construction. The remaining seven games in the island nation will be held at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo. India has picked eight regular Test centres -- Mumbai, Mohali, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi -- for its matches.

The Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka will host six matches and the opening ceremony, while two games will be played in the port city of Chittagong. The 2011 event is a week shorter than the one held in the Caribbean in 2007 and will have 49 matches, two less than the previous tournament. "This announcement is an important indicator of the excellent progress we are making towards our flagship event which brings together teams from all our members in nation-versus-nation action," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said. "Preparation of venues and safety and security planning continues, and I am confident that the host countries will showcase our great sport with its great spirit in the best possible light."

ICC vice-president Sharad Pawar, who is chairman of the organising committee, said he looked forward to a great tournament. "The sub-continent offers some great facilities for the cricketers, spectators, sponsors and media, with some brand new stadia to be built and others to be upgraded," said Pawar. "The schedule will allow the venues to focus on the task at hand to plan and implement their preparations, and ensure they are ready to welcome the world to this beautiful, historic and cricket-loving region in 2011."

NEW DELHI: The threat of strike by Air India pilots continued to hang like a sword over the management even though it agreed to pay pilots their performance linked incentive and flying allowances by Tuesday.

However, with the payment of the present month’s salary being deferred and not all other demands being met immediately, pilots said they would wait till November 24 to decide their next move. In a meeting with the chief labour commissioner in the capital on Monday, the pilot body also demanded a probe into mismanagement of the airline, especially during the merger of AI and IA, by senior officials.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) had written to the management on November 2, stating their demands and threatening that if all of those were not met by November 10, then the letter would be treated as a two-week notice of strike and pilots would suspend work on November 24. However, it having become evident that the management would not be giving into all the demands, atleast immediately, pilots said that they had time till then to consider their next course of action.

‘‘We have been called by CLC on November 20 for another meeting. Payment of dues is just one aspect of our demands. The management has made a mess of the airlines and some people have indulged in intentional sabotage of AI. We want a probe into the issue and see the guilty people being brought to book,’’ said Capt Shailendra Singh, president, ICPA.

LONDON: Kraft took its $16.3 billion bid for Cadbury, the British chocolate and chewing gum maker, directly to shareholders on Monday after the Cadbury board rejected the offer as too low.

But Kraft did not raise its offer, sticking with its original proposal from September. Kraft, which makes of Ritz crackers and Oreo cookies, offered $4.9 in cash and 0.2589 new Kraft shares for every Cadbury share. The offer values each Cadbury share at 26% premium to the price before Kraft made its original proposal. Cadbury's shares initially dropped 1.7% in London after Kraft's announcement, indicating that investors became less optimistic that a deal would materialize, before increasing slightly.

Analysts had expected Kraft to sweeten its original proposal. But in its filing with the London Stock Exchange, Kraft again asserted that its latest pitch was full and fairly priced. Mondays offer, it said, had an enterprise value of 13.9 times Cadbury's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA. Cadbury's own acquisition of Adams in 2002 was valued at 12.8 times EBITDA, Kraft said. That was not enough to persuade the Cadbury board to change its mind.

"The repetition of a proposal which is now of less value and lower than the current Cadbury share price does not make it any more attractive," Roger Carr, the company's chairman, said. "As a result, the board has emphatically rejected this derisory offer and has strengthened its resolve to ensure the true value of Cadbury is fully understood by all."