Balaji Tele offers 25 percent stake to Star group
Mumbai: Balaji Telefilms Ltd has announced that it has received the board's approval to make a preferential allotment of 17,263,790 shares/warrants convertible into shares representing 25.1 per cent holding to Asian Broadcasting FZ-LLC, an affiliate of Star Group Ltd, at Rs.90 per share.

The allotment has two parts to it - 21 per cent in shares and 4.1 per cent in warrants convertible into shares. Balaji Tele will offer 13,694,193 shares representing 21 per cent holding to Asian Broadcasting at Rs.90 per share. It will offer share warrants convertible into 3,569,597 equity shares constituting 4.1 per cent stake at Rs.90 per share with 10 per cent of the consideration for the warrants.

Balaji Tele will get Rs.123.25 crore for the preferential allotment of 21 per cent stake to Asian Broadcasting. For the quarter ending June 2004, promoters' holding in Balaji Tele stood at 52.92 per cent; FIIs hold 21.58 per cent. The share price of Balaji Telefilms ended down at Rs.92.15, against the previous close of Rs.97.65 on the BSE.
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Ranbaxy to start human trials for malaria drug soon
New Delhi: Human clinical trials of the anti-malarial drug developed by Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd in collaboration with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), Geneva is expected to commence shortly.

The pharmaceutical company has already obtained authorisation from Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA) to conduct clinical trials in the UK. This is the first regulatory step in new drug development after safety and drug activity is established in the pre-clinical phase. The drug, OZ277/RBx11160, is currently being evaluated in a Phase I study for its safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics (PK) in humans in the UK.

OZ, a synthetic peroxide, is believed to have similar mode-of-action as the most effective anti-malarial drug currently available - artemisinin - a herbal remedy based on the Artemisia annua plant. However, because of the costly and lengthy extraction process from the plant, artemisinins are at least 10 times more expensive than the cheap standard anti-malarials.
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Orchid Chem files seven ANDAs
Chennai: Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has announced that it had filed its seventh application with the US Food and Drug Administration to sell finished products (formulations) there. A company release said the seven applications (ANDAs) covered three antibiotic products in the cephalosporin family. Of the three formulations, two are injectibles, and one is in oral form.
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Eicher group completes de-merger
New Delhi: The Eicher group has completed the de-merger of the automotive businesses of Eicher Ltd into Eicher Motors. This was pursuant to the orders of the High Courts of Madhya Pradesh and Delhi sanctioning the composite scheme of arrangement. The said orders have been filed with respective Registrar of Companies at Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

With the restructuring, the tractors, two-wheelers, engines and gears businesses of Eicher Ltd have been merged into Eicher Motors with effect from April 1, 2003. Consequently, for the year 2003-04, the gross sales of Eicher Motors have jumped to Rs.1, 565 crore and the profit after tax to Rs.34 crore.
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Alfa Laval to boost capacity at Pune plant
Pune: Engineering solutions provider Alfa Laval said that the company has commenced work on increasing its manufacturing facilities in Pune by over 40 per cent riding on increased relocation of manufacturing from the group's European operations and increased sourcing out of the Indian operations. The company is also simultaneously in talks with a number of companies for acquisitions, which will either add to their capacity or expand the range of their products.

The company said that it is looking at biotech, pumps and companies in the water desalination plant business for acquisitions initially, adding that the results of the discussions under way will emerge in 7-8 months. According to the company its manufacturing operations which grew by Rs.50 crore in the last two years will grow to Rs.80 crore this year. Alfa Laval's group companies are now increasingly relocating manufacturing operations of various products to India. The group sources an estimated Rs.80-90 crore of products from Alfa Laval India annually and this is expected to double in the next couple of years.
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EIH looks at management contracts for growth
Kolkata: EIH Ltd, a member of The Oberoi Group, has said that its future strategy is to pursue the management contract route, with special focus on West Asia and the Asia Pacific regions, and also the home turf.

The company said that talks were on with several parties in the region for contracts. Fresh investments in the hotels sector internationally have virtually ceased post 9/11. The current trend among some of the world's largest hotel chains, such as the Hilton Group, is veered towards management of hotels for a fee.

The group is exploring the market possibilities for service apartments, especially in areas such as Bangalore. The company said that sales increased by 19 per cent as on July 31, 2004. Operating profit increased by 57 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal.
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BSNL awards $8.2 million contract to UTStarcom
New Delhi: US-based UTStarcom Inc has announced that it has been awarded contracts valued at $8.2 million for deploying equipment for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (BSNL) national Internet backbone.

BSNL's National Internet Backbone is a transmission control protocol/internet protocol-based (TCP/IP) network, currently comprising about 400 nodes distributed across India and supporting over one million subscribers. The second phase of the project includes deployment of remote access services (RAS) and related equipment across 71 cities in 25 telecom regions in India, a press statement said.

According to UTStarcom, as the second-fastest growing economy in Asia and amongst the fastest growing telecom markets worldwide, India will continue to be a key market. BSNL is currently India's largest Internet service provider with over one million subscribers. According to UTStarcom, its dominance in the fixed-line segment with more than 35 million subscribers, presents a tremendous growth opportunity for BSNL in the data services market in India.
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Samsung launches India-specific storage media devices
New Delhi: Samsung Corporation has introduced India-specific packs to counter the grey market in the storage media device segment. In a release to the media, the company said it had a 27 per cent share of the branded market in the segment. The grey segment accounts for nearly 75 per cent of the total market for storage media devices such as floppies, CDs and DVDs.

In terms of volumes, the total storage media devices segment has been pegged at 500 million pieces annually. Of this, the branded segment comprises 120 million pieces valued at Rs.250 crore. In India, Samsung's storage media devices are imported and distributed exclusively by the Veeline Media Ltd. With the introduction of new packs, Samsung's share is expected to go up to 32 per cent in the current fiscal. This would translate into incremental sales of Rs.15 crore to Rs.18 crore.
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ICICI OneSource to raise capital from Temasek and WestBridge
Mumbai: ICICI OneSource Ltd has signed agreements with Temasek Holdings of Singapore and WestBridge Capital for raising fresh capital. ICICI OneSource, a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, did not specify how much it was raising by way of these agreements.

The funding marks Temasek's first investment in the Indian BPO industry, according to a news release. According to ICICI, Temasek will help it enter the Asia Pacific market.

WestBridge Capital Partners have demonstrated their continued confidence in the company by participating in this investment round, he added. ICICI OneSource ended 2003-04 with revenues of $42 million, recording a year-on-year growth of 134 per cent.
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Zenith to double its laptop sale
Bangalore: Zenith Computers Ltd expects to double its share in the Indian laptop market to around 6 per cent in the current financial year, following the launch of its new range of seven laptops. Priced attractively between Rs.32, 000 to Rs.70, 000, the new laptop range is designed to suit the requirements of professionals at all levels in the corporate ladder.Unlike the multinationals, which outsource their manufacturing to vendors in Taiwan and the US, Zenith produces its own laptops, which gives it the flexibility and cost advantage, the company said. Zenith, which sold 3,000 laptops in 2003-04, expects sales to increase to 15,000 units in the current fiscal.

The entry-level 'SalesPro', which comes in two variants with a Via chipset and a Intel Celeron chipset costs Rs.32, 000 and Rs.39,000 respectively, while the high-end 'Presidio', billed as the lightest laptop in the world weighing 1.1 kg, is priced at Rs.70,000. Presidio's features include an Intel Centrino Mobile processor for wireless connectivity, 40-GB hard disk and pre-loaded Windows XP. The pre-loaded software is not bundled with the other models.

Laptop sales, which accounted for 5 per cent of Zenith's revenues in last fiscal, are likely to contribute to around 10 per cent of the earnings this year. Zenith, which posted a turnover of Rs.285 crore in 2003-04, expects sales to rise to Rs.350 crore in the current financial year. The Indian market for laptops was estimated at 70,000 units in last year, and is expected to grow between 150-200 per cent.
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TCS develops integrated quality management system
Mumbai: TCS has designed and developed an integrated Quality Management System (iQMS) that will serve as a common framework for the achievement of existing quality models and new models.

The company today announced that it was the first organisation in the world to achieve an integrated enterprise-wide Maturity Level 5 on both the Capability Maturity Model Integration and the People CMM.

It is also the first in the world to use the SCAMPI (Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement) methodology for P-CMM appraisals.
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Zee Network extends feed to South East Asian countries
Mumbai: Zee Network has extended its customised feed to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. Zee earlier launched its dedicated Zee TV beam in Singapore. Zee TV is expected to launch local programming for these countries.
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