Brazil approves Ranbaxy AIDS drug
New Delhi: Ranbaxy SP Medicamentos, Brazil, a 55 per cent subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, has received approval of the Brazilian regulatory authority, ANVS, for its anti-AIDS drug, Lamivudine. This is the first bio-equivalent generic approval in Brazil in the anti-AIDS segment.

The product is to be launched in September, when the Brazilian government would be floating a tender for anti-AIDS drugs. The Brazilian government is slated to distribute 22 million Lamivudine dosages to HIV- infected patients in the country. The drug is expected to bring in an annual income of 20 million dollars for the company.

Ranbaxy SP Medicamentos, which began operations in November 2000, clocked a turnover of 1.9 million dollars in the year 2000 and a profit after tax of 0.2 million dollars.

This is only the second time that an Indian company has come out with a cheap anti-AIDS drug. Cipla, in February, came with an AIDS triple drug cocktail for less than a dollar a day to international charities.
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Jindal Strips lowers stake in Shalimar Paints
New Delhi: Jindal Strips has offloaded 11 per cent stake in Shalimar Paints to the joint-venture partner, the Jhunjhunwala Group, based in Hong Kong, at Rs 36 per share.
The acquisition of stake takes up the foreign equity in Shalimar Paints, which manufactures synthetic enamels, epoxy finishes and acrylic washable distempers, to 31.18 per cent. The Jhunjhunwala Group carried out this acquisition through a Mauritius-based overseas corporate body, Hind Strategic Investment Mauritius. This acquisition takes the combined promoter group stake -- Jindal Group and Jhunjhunwalas, -- to 63 per cent, with the rest of it held by financial institutions and the public.
Johannesburg-based Barlow is also understood to have evinced interest in acquiring a sizeable stake in the company.
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Interpublic Group to do media buying under one brand
New Delhi: The Interpublic Group of Companies’ (IPG) in India, which owns advertising agencies like McCann-Erickson, FCB-Ulka and Lowe Lintas & Partners will soon carry out the entire media buying for the group under one brand name, Magna Global.

The new unit is expected to handle Rs 1,800 crore worth of combined media billings for these agencies. However, Magna Global will limit its activities to media buying, while all planning functions will remain with the respective agencies.

The new unit, Magna Global Inc, is expected to aggregate 40 billion dollars in worldwide billings.

The new organisation will first begin operations in the US, UK and Germany in September before being rolled out in other world markets including India.
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Gujarat Powergen to be CLP subsidiary
New Delhi: Gujarat Powergen Energy Corporation will soon become a 100 per cent subsidiary of Hong Kong-based power major CLP International, with the latter picking up the remaining 12 per cent stake in the company from Gujarat State Power Corporation for around Rs 288 crore..

CLP International had already taken up an 88 per cent stake in the 615-mw Paguthan Power project in Gujarat from UK based PowerGen.
This power project, initially promoted by the Torrent group and PowerGen, was one of the first independent power projects to start producing power in the country. Torrent later sold its stake to PowerGen, which raised its stake from 287 per cent to 74 per cent in July 1999, and subsequently to 88 by acquiring the 14 per cent stake of Siemens, its EPC contractor, for Rs 232 crores. Recently it sold its entire stake to CLP, which is said to be extending its business outside of Hong Kong and mainland china.
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FIs reject Modi buyout offer
New Delhi : Financial institutions have decided not to participate in the Modi offer to participate in the buy out of their 44 per cent shareholding in Modi Rubber Ltd at Rs 90 per share.

The difference has apparently arisen on the mode of payment for the shares. The institutions seem to want the same guarantee that the Modi's have offered to the Hong Kong bank, to fund the acquisition of 35 per cent of the shares. The financial institutions are not too sure that the Modi's offer of Rs 90 per share will not cover their entire holding of 44 per cent.
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Ford doles out baits for dealers, customers
Bangalore: US auto major Ford is launching operation `desert storm’ for its customers and dealers. These are in the form of value adds worth Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 on three variants of Ikon for a month to the customers, besides a desert safari in the middle-east for 15 of its top dealers in India.
The value adds include alloy or mag wheels, worth about Rs 22,000, for no additional cost with the 1.3 EXI and 1.6 ZXI petrol driven models of the Ikon, or a Cobra remote locking system besides a full wheel cap and a body protection moulding, worth Rs 9000-10,000 with the Ikon 1.3 CLXI.
Ford has also introduced a Spanish Red EXI sporty version of the Ikon this month.

For the dealers, who are categorised into three bands depending on where they are located -- metros or mini-metros -- top performers are to offered a desert safari in the Gulf. Last year, Ford had thrown in a luxury cruise for the dealers and a Bangkok trip to outstanding performers in their sales teams and a Goan holiday for those from the service division.
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Ranbaxy to be hit by Bayer decision on ciprofloxacin
New Delhi: The decision by German pharma major Bayer to try out an anti-infective drug similar to Ranbaxy's NDDS, licensed by Ranbaxy to Bayer in 1999, has thrown Ranbaxy into a dilemma.

Bayer has announced that it would try out a similar drug developed by an unidentified company for development and subsequent commercial launch.
Ranbaxy had licensed out its anti-infective drug ciprofloxacin to Bayer for further development and commercial launch, in a 65 million dollar deal plus royalties, with a clause for milestone payments linked to the progress of the clinical trials. The latest development puts a question mark on Ranbaxy's and other Indian pharma companies' similar arrangements with foreign companies. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, too, has licensed out new drugs to MNCs for further development and commercial launches in similar milestone linked payment deals.
The development is also likely to delay Ranbaxy’s move to enter into similar licensing arrangement for its new drug, BPH, which is undergoing phase two trials.

Ranbaxy so far has got two milestone payments totalling some 15 million dollars from Bayer, the second one paid early this year.
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Tisco endorses mining portfolio
Kolkata: Tata Steel (Tisco) has challenged the Orissa government’s recommendation to the Union mines ministry seeking to stop it from trading in chrome ore and concentrates mined from Sukinda Valley.

Mining, Tata Steel wishes to reiterate, is part of its core activity, and expects to help drive its growth. It has identified chrome mining, coal and titanium as the key minerals it would mine. Tata Steel has already been selling its surplus coking coal to other steel companies, while it has also applied for fresh leases of coal blocks in the mineral rich belt of south Jharkhand. The company plans to go full fledged into coal mining after the total de-control of the coal sector.

The Orissa government wants Tata Steel to restrict its chrome mining for captive consumption, that is, only to the extent it requires to feed its ferro chrome and charge chrome making capacity.
It recently distributed new leases to the Jindals, Ispat Alloys, FACOR and IMFA-ICCL combine after taking away nearly two-third of Tata Steel’s old lease of over 1,200 hectares.
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Nagarjuna to restructure operations
Hyderabad: The Rs 2,000-crore Nagarjuna Group has embarked on a major financial and business restructuring in order to re-focus its core agro-chemical businesses and cut down on non-core activities. It has commissioned international consultants Deloitte Haskins & Sells and JM Morgan Stanley respectively to carry out the exercise.
It also plans to right-size the group operations, in the wake of the difficult period the group has gone through in recent times, including losing some of its key top executives.
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Eli Lilly to outsource from India
New Delhi: US-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is close to tie up with two companies for global sourcing of gastrointestinal and tuberculosis bulk drugs from India. It has not, however, revealed the identities of these two companies.
Eli Lilly plans to focus on clinical trials in India, and enter into contract research agreements with local companies for chemical and clinical research, especially in the areas of cancer and cancer related to head and neck.

Eli Lilly Ranbaxy, a joint venture between Ranbaxy and Eli Lilly Netherlands, a subsidiary of US-based Eli Lilly, which will soon become Eli Lilly after completion of formalities following Eli Lilly buying out the 50 per cent stake of Ranbaxy was incepted in 1993 and has a presence in the anti-diabetic and cardiac segments.
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Bajaj Auto told to absorb temporary workers
Mumbai: The Mumbai high court has directed Bajaj Auto to regularise the services of 701 temporary workers employed in its Akurdi plant near Pune and make them permanent on its rolls within three months of the order.
The court held that the company had engaged in unfair labour practice, and imposed costs of Rs 50,000 on the company.
The bench also set aside an earlier order which had allowed an appeal filed by Bajaj Auto against relief granted by the industrial court to 400 of the temporary employees, saying that the earlier judge had erred in interfering with the order of the industrial court with regard to the 400 employer and that it had erred in not interfering with another order by the industrial court not to allow interim relief to 301 employees pending the resolution of the complaint.
Altogether 701 temporary workers had filed individual complaints since May 1997 with the industrial court alleging the company was engaging in unfair labour practice by rotating them for seven months at a time and not allowing them to complete the mandatory 240 days for permanency.
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Bhel bags Rs 293-cr order
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has bagged a Rs 293 crore order to set up a 195 mw unit at Kota Thermal Power station in Rajasthan.
Bhel, secured the order from Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Nigam, and will commission the unit six of Kota TPS in 25 months. The project envisages design, manufacture, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of main plant equipment in the unit.
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Harley-Davidson launches new look bike
Milwaukee: Harley-Davidson has come with a radically new vehicle for the first time in almost 50 years, which focuses on performance and speed, and does not conform to the signature Harley design and rumble.

The new bike, the V-Rod, comes with a liquid-cooled engine instead of an air-cooled version and is therefore faster. It also features a 115 horsepower engine and has a top speed of 225 km per hour.
The chrome-coloured bike features dual overhead cams as opposed to a push-rod style motor and aluminium body panels with a natural finish. It also has a less prominent engine and gas tank, giving it a sleeker look.

The V-Rod has had Porsche engineering helping Harley-Davidson in developing its powertrain, and gears by which power is transmitted from the engine to the axle.
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Berger, ICI join for auto coatings
Kolkata: Paint majors Berger Paints Ltd and ICI Ltd, have formed a 50:50 joint venture to manufacture auto and industrial coatings at Rishra in West Bengal.

The joint venture company, Berger Auto & Industrial Coatings Ltd, had been formed after taking over the entire motor and industrial businesses of ICI’s factory at Rishra. Under the joint venture agreement, ICI will be responsible for providing infrastructure support while Berger will take all administrative and policy decisions.

This is seen to be an attempt by Berger to get into this segment, where it has also entered into a technical licence agreement with Nippon Paint Company Ltd of Japan to develop and market new generation automotive coatings, and a similar technical licensing agreement with Orica Australia Ltd in the area of protective coatings.
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