Aurobindo to file new drug applications with USFDA
Mumbai: Aurobindo Pharma, the the Rs 1,200 crore company, is planning to file eight drug master files (DMFs) and four abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) with US Food and Drug Administration during the current financial year. The company has already filed two DMFs with USFDA and six common technical documents (CTDs) with European authorities.

CTD is the latest form of application for regulatory approvals in European Union countries. The company has two active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) facilities comprising 14 blocks and two formulation facilities comprising 15 modules gearing up for approvals from regulated markets.
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HFCL plans to sell 23% stake in ITI
Kolkata: Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) has decided to sell up to 22.70-per cent stake in Investment Trust of India (ITI), the leasing and hire purchase company that pulled out of Pioneer ITI Asset Management Company last year. A top ITI source was quoted as saying that HFCL has placed a proposal before the company's board seeking divestment of up to 10 crore equity shares which represented 22.70 per cent stake.

The Maloo-Nahata combine managed HFCL is the promoter of ITI with a 85.93-per cent stake. The source said the ITI board will discuss the HFCL proposal on Friday. HFCL will come out with an offer to sell the shares to general public subject to the permission of the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
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Air Sahara to increase capacity by 30%
New Delhi: Air Sahara has said that it is hiking its seating capacity by 30 per cent by adding 24 new flights. The private domestic airline will induct two additional Boeings and a Canadian Regional Jet 200, increasing its total fleet size to 16. Air Sahara further plans to increase its fleet size to 24 by the end of the fiscal and is targeting a market share of 20 per cent, up from the current 14 per cent. Almost 70 per cent of the new capacity is to be added in the southern sector.

"This launch is the biggest-ever done by anybody in the history of Indian aviation. It will include two new destinations of Jaipur and Ahmedabad and increase flight frequencies on major routes," said U K Bose, chief executive officer, Air Sahara. The expansion, to be effected from 7 September, will lead to the airline hiking its number of daily flights from 79 to 103 and taking the total tally of seats to about 11,300 from 8,900 now.
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Dabur to divest entire stake in JV venture
New Delhi: Dabur India is planning to divest its entire stake in Dabon International Pvt Ltd, its 50:50 joint venture with the French dairy major, Bongrain SA. P D Narang, corporate director, Dabur India, said: "We will formally divest our stake in Dabon International in due course, since it does not fit in our overall strategy and it is a non-core business. We will not invest any further in this joint venture."

The FMCG major has not invested in this venture since the last two years. The company has already ceded complete operational control in the JV to its foreign partner. Sale of its 50 per cent stake in the JV - which sells processed cheddar cheese, spreads, imported slices and pizza/pasta cheese under the LeBon brand name - would be a mere formality, analysts were quoted as saying.
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Hind Zinc to raise ECB for expansion
Mumbai: The Sterlite group-controlled Hindustan Zinc is planning to raise $125-$150 million as external commercial borrowing (ECB) to part-finance its expansion plan. The company has mandated ANZ Investment Bank for the issue. The company plans to hike its zinc capacity by 1.7 lakh tonne with an associated expansion of mining capacities. The expansion plan also entails setting up a 150mw captive thermal power plant.

The company already has an installed capacity of around 1.69 lakh tonne and will end up doubling capacity after the present spread. "We expect to complete the transaction by mid-September, 2003," Tarun Jain, director-finance of Sterlite Industries, was quoted as saying. The Sterlite group acquired a 26-per cent stake from the government last year and subsequently made an open offer for another 20 per cent. The total cost of the acquisition worked out to Rs 445 crore.
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