The Hindu Business Line : Friday, February 17, 2006

Orchid to provide R&D for Pfizer
ORCHID Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd is to provide R&D services to Pfizer's Animal Health Business from its facilities here. According to a press release from Orchid, it has entered into a 7-year Master Research and Development agreement wi More

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Wyeth Ltd gives up marketing rights for blockbuster vaccine
Kolkata, February 16 WYETH Ltd, jointly promoted by Wyeth USA and Atul Ltd, has relinquished its rights to market the blockbuster vaccine Prevenar in India at a price of Rs 22.60 crore. The valuation has been determined by KPMG. It has also ... More

ISMT bags Rs 113-cr ONGC order
ISMT Ltd, the Pune-based manufacturer of specialised seamless tubes and alloy steel, has bagged an order for 19,496 tonnes of seamless casing pipes from ONGC valued at about Rs 113 crore. This order has to be executed over a period of 34 weeks ... More

Gammon India gets NHAI projects
MUMBAI: Gammon India Ltd has informed BSE that the Company has secured four projects from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (NHPCL). The projects are valued approximately at Rs ... More

CORPORATE DISPUTES

Lodha petitions sent to Chief Justice
MR Justice Pranab Kumar Chattopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday sent back three writ petitions filed by Mr R.S. Lodha and others to the Chief Justice for ascertaining jurisdiction, for taking up the matter in the present ... More

`K.K. Birla can contest probate'
MR K.K. BIRLA has several grounds to challenge the grant of probate for the Will of Priyamvada Birla (made in 1999) to the executor. The counsel of Mr Birla stated this before the division bench of Justice Mr Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Mr ... More

OVERSEAS BORROWINGS

Tata Motors prices FCCN at Rs 1,001.39
TATA Motors Ltd said on Thursday that it has priced the issue of foreign currency convertible notes aggregating to 11.76 billion yen. The notes are expected to list on the Singapore Stock Exchange. They are convertible into either ordinary ... More

Indian cos raise $10 b via ECB route in 9 months
INDIAN companies raised nearly $10 billion (or about Rs 45,000 crore) through external commercial borrowings (ECB) in the first nine months of the current fiscal, according to data provided by the Reserve Bank of India. This was just a shade ... More

COMPANY LAW

Cos Act amendment for e-filing cleared
THE Union Cabinet has given its nod for introducing a Bill to amend the Companies Act, 1956, to enable corporates to use e-filing facilities. For the successful implementation of MCA-21, the e-governance project of the Ministry of Company ... More

RESTRUCTURING

K.K. Birla Group makes changes in sugar biz restructure model

Not to shift sugar unit of New India Sugar Mills Ltd from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh.

But, as planned earlier, the company will go ahead with financial demerger. More

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Dr Reddy's buys German co Betapharm for Rs 2,250 cr — Biggest overseas acquisition by an Indian pharma co
DR REDDY'S Laboratories has acquired the fourth-largest German generic drug maker Betapharm Arzneimittel GmbH for euro 480 million (approximately Rs 2,550 crore). The Hyderabad-based company has signed a definitive agreement with 3i, the ... More

Ranbaxy was not for `any' price for Betapharm: CEO
JUST hours after rival Dr Reddy's Ltd pipped his company for acquiring Germany's Betapharm Arzneimittel GmbH, Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO & Managing Director of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, did not make his disappointment obvious. The man at the . More

SAIL, IISCO merger completed
THE Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) has been amalgamated with the parent company Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) with effect from Thursday. The Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) issued the final order on Wednesday, approving the ... More

FIM Ltd buys 60 pc equity in Indiabulls Infrastructure
INDIABULLS Financial Services Ltd said FIM Ltd, a company incorporated in the Mauritius and managed by Farallon Capital Management LLC based in San Francisco, the US, has bought 60 per cent equity in Indiabulls Infrastructure Ltd (IIL) for a ... More

Reuters seeks to increase stake in Times Global
REUTERS Singapore Pte Ltd has sought approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for picking up 25.82 per cent stake in Times Global Broadcasting Company Ltd. The Singapore-based company, in its application has stated that it ... More

NEW PROJECTS

Avalon sets up new unit for cable harness products in Chennai
AVALON Technologies, the US-based Sienna Group Company that provides contract-manufacturing solutions, has set up a new manufacturing facility for cable harness products at MEPZ Special Economic Zone in Chennai. The $1-million facility will ... More

Nitco Tiles to expand manufacturing facilities with IPO funds
NITCO Tiles will use the money raised through its initial public offering (IPO) to expand its manufacturing facilities and enter the wall tiles segment through an acquisition or a green field project. It will also install windmills to reduce ... More

INTERVIEW

`HLL to sustain growth momentum'
MARKET growth, its own initiatives at cost reduction and focus on market share helped Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) return to double-digit growth after a gap of six years in FY05. The company would continue to invest on brands and it's A&P ... More

Dr Reddy's still game for acquisitions: CEO
"While we have been focused on the US market all these days, the acquisition of Betapharm now gives us quick access to the European market without wasting time on building organically." More

EVENTS

Clinton to visit Cipla Goa unit
INDIAN companies manufacturing AIDS drugs will see increased activity this week. While the former US President, Mr Bill Clinton, is scheduled to visit Cipla's Goa plant later this week, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has announced a global AIDS-drug ... More

SOCIETY & DEVELOPMENT

Time to give back
Many corporates are involved with people-oriented projects to build goodwill in the community. More

HPCL links social responsibility activities with CII projects
HINDUSTAN Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has linked up its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme with two of the CII's projects — Skill development initiative and the Bihar development initiative. The projects, "Swavalamban" ... More

'India Inc should take up social responsibility role'
Corporate governance norms must be flexible enough to encourage voluntary compliance without imposing a heavy cost burden on such companies, the Minister said. More

DIVERSIFICATION

Fenner to enter auto components sector — Plans Rs 100-cr investment
FENNER (India) Ltd, manufacturer of V-belts and oils seals for automotive and industrial applications, plans to diversify into new lines of automobile components. Addressing a press conference ahead of its golden jubilee celebration here today, ... More

OUTLOOK

Coal India likely to report Rs 6,000-cr net profit
FOR the first time since the nationalisation of the coal industry and the formation of Coal India Ltd (CIL), the public sector behemoth looks set to report a net profit of more than Rs 6,000 crore with all its seven coal-producing subsidiaries ... More

ITC to focus on branded notebooks, stationery products
THE Greeting (Cards), Gifting and Stationery Business (GGSB) of ITC Ltd plans to concentrate more on the branded notebook segment, particularly the `Expressions Classmate' mass-market notebooks for schools and colleges. The strategy is linked ... More

SpiceJet hoping to clock net profit in Q4
SPICEJET, which has 20 Boeing 737 aircraft on order, hopes to report net profit during the last quarter ending May 31 this year. "We are already making an operating profit and hope to be profitable on a net basis during the last quarter of the ... More