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Dr Reddy's forms drug development firm to reduce research risks
Mumbai: Dr Reddy's Lab has formed an integrated drug development company Perlecan Pharma Pvt Ltd with an equity capital commitment of $52.5 million (Rs230 crore) to put its drug development process on the fast track.

Venture capital investors Citigroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership Mauritius Ltd and ICICI Venture Funds Management Company will contribute $22.5 million each (Rs 98 crore) and Dr Reddy's will contribute $7.5 million (Rs 32 crore) towards the initial equity capital of Perlecan.

Dr Reddy's has transferred development and commercialisation rights for four prospective drugs in the metabolic disorder and cardiovascular segments to Perlecan.

This deal will help reduce the risk involved in the process of drug discovery.

This is the second time Dr Reddy's has got ICICI Venture to support capital-intensive research initiatives. Earlier this year, it inked a $56-million (Rs 245 crore) deal with ICICI Venture for development, registration and legal costs of its generic drugs to be sold in the US between April 2004 and March 2006.
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Fortis Healthcare acquires Escorts Heart
New Delhi: Escorts has sold the Escorts Heart Institute & Research Centre to Fortis Healthcare, a closely-held company of the Singh family of Ranbaxy, for Rs 650 crore.

Anil Nanda, Escorts chairman and Rajan Nanda's estranged younger brother has raised questions over the legal status of the entity changing hands, has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court to block the deal. The hearing is to be heard on Friday.

Company officials at Escorts said 80 per cent stake of Escorts has been sold to Fortis. Executive director Naresh Trehan and other senior doctors hold a chunk of the equity, believed to be up to 10 per cent.

JM Morgan Stanley advised Escorts on the deal, while Fortis had engaged Ernst And Young.
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LG India plans Rs 900-crore investment
New Delhi: LG Electronics India (P) is planning to invest Rs900 crore at its Ranjangaon (Pune) plant cumulatively by 2008. With the investment the plant will have the capacity to manufactures DVD writers and GSM mobile phones, apart from televisions, refrigerators and microwave ovens.

LG India plans to produce 33 million DVD writers by 2008 and 20-million mobile handsets by 2010 at the facility.

LG Electronics India clocked exports worth $100 million since January this year, and targets another $35 million by the end of the year, ending December.

The company has set itself an export target of $240 million next year and $1 billion in 2010 with a compounded annual growth rate of 82 per cent.
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Kingfisher Airlines inducts new aircraft
Kochi: Kingfisher Airlines, India's first full service low-cost carrier, will induct 11 new Airbus A320 aircraft to its fleet by January 2006, according to Vijay Mallya, chairman and Managing director, of the company.

The airline also made its inaugural Bangalore-Kochi flight and will henceforth have offer regular air services to Kerala.

With the launch of the three new routes, the number of daily flights being offered by Kingfisher Airlines will go up to 44.
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Ruias may buy Max, IL&FS's stake in Hutch-Essar joint venture
New Delhi: The Essar Group is planning to acquire Max Telecom and IL&FS' 3.16-per cent stake in the Hutch-Essar joint venture. Max Telecom has 1.8-per cent stake, while the rest is owned by IL&FS.

Hutch-Essar has presence in 13 telecom circles in the country.

Two months ago, Essar Group acquired 64 per cent stake in BPL's mobile operations for $1.1 billion, making it the largest acquisition in the telecom sector, for which the group has now entered into a deal with Hutch-Essar joint venture for selling BPL's stake.

If the deal goes through Ruias' stake would go up to about 33.4 per cent from 30.43 per cent now.

Max India had earlier this week said that it would completely liquidate its stake in the telecom business by divesting its residual stake of less than two per cent in the cellular operator Hutchison India.
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RMG Group in joint venture with Indian partner
New Delhi: Germany's RMG Group has forged a joint venture with India's Autometers Alliance to manufacture high technology natural gas distribution equipment.

The joint venture company RMG Autometers Gas Technologies (RAGTL) would deliver a spectrum of services, including the supply of high-end equipment needed to set up gas station.

RAGTL plans to invest close to Rs5 crore in the joint venture for the first phase and in the years to come this is likely to increase substantially according to the company.
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KEC International bags orders worth Rs102 crore from Algeria
Mumbai: KEC International, which is part of the RPG Group, has received orders worth Rs 102 crore from the Algerian government for supply and construction of 400kv-single circuit transmission line over 100km.

The order was placed by GRTE spa, the power transmission division of Algerian utility company Sonelgaz from Salah Bey to Bir Ghbalou and the project is scheduled for completion over the next 15 months, a company release said here.

KEC is presently executing orders in countries such as United Arab Emirates, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Zambia, Ethiopia and Afghanistan.
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Industrial Organics to invest Rs38.8 crore for expansion
Mumbai: Industrial Organics, industrial chemicals company, is investing Rs 38.8 crore for increasing the manufacturing capacity of its products and setting up of captive co-generation plant.

To fund the expansion, the company has decided to take Rs25.3 crore term-loan from public sector banks and Rs13.5 crore will come from right issues, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The company is expanding its capacities to meet the growing demand of its products and to meet its energy requirement, it said.
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Eveready sells property in TN for Rs72 crore
Kolkata: Eveready Industries is raising Rs72 crore through sale of property in Chennai in the current financial year.

The company has reached an understanding with Khivraj Tek Park Pvt Ltd (KTPL) for sale of 2.20-lakh sq feet space at the Guindy plant in Chennai. The company has already received Rs15 crore as an upfront payment and under the agreement would receive another Rs57 crore by March 20O6.
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Coca-Cola cannot exploit groundwater: Jayalalitha
Chennai: J Jayalalithaa chief minister, Tamil Nadu has the State Assembly that the government would not allow Coca-Cola India to exploit groundwater in Gangaikondan village in Tirunelveli district, where the company is setting up a bottling plant.

She said the company was given the land to set up the plant only after strict conditions that the plant would use water supplied by the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage board.
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Jindal launches entry level camera
Indore: Jindal Photo (JPL) has launched a 'Fujifilm Crystal Camera' priced very attractively at Rs395 in order to enrol new users into photography.

The company has chalked out a consumer awareness programme throughout India targeting the amateur market through focussed initiatives such as photo workshops and exhibitions.

The company has also set up a photography school in Delhi to tap the amateur segment.
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Hutch offers full talk-time value for recharge coupons
New Delhi: Hutch, the third largest telecom service provider in India, is offering recharge coupons in the pre-paid mobile segment. The coupons start from a low of Rs10 and promise users full talk-time and no access fee.

The coupon 'Chota Recharge-Puri Baat' (a variant of its 'top-up' cards), which ranges from Rs10-Rs198, offers full talk-time if the customer opts to recharge the pre-paid account within the validity period.

One can recharge any number of times within the validity period without paying an extra access fee, giving the customers the benefit of enjoying full talk-time on the subsequent recharges.

Currently, customers using a Rs335 card get a validity of 30 days and a talk-time of Rs150. If they want to recharge it within the validity period, they have to purchase recharge coupons of Rs 55 / Rs 60, where they have to pay an access fee of Rs33 leaving them with very little talk-time.

Service taxes are, however, applicable on the Chota recharge coupon.
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TCS, Tata Tele ink Rs 1,000cr outsourcing deal
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will manage the IT infrastructure of Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices, Maharashtra in a deal estimated at over Rs1,000 crore over five years.

According to a release issued by TCS to the BSE today, the deal includes management of all IT-related activities including implementation, application development and maintenance as well as change management across the enterprise.

"In addition, management of data centres, information security management, training end- users on new applications, disaster recovery and business continuity will also be the part of the contract," the release added.

"The engagement with Tata Teleservices is another sign of the growing importance of the Indian market. TCS' knowledge of the telecom domain and its ability to provide best-in-class solutions will help TTSL sustain and grow its competitive advantage and deliver greater value to its stakeholders," S Ramadorai, CEO and MD of TCS, said.
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Indian Rayon pays $150 million to hike Idea stake
Mumbai: Indian Rayon and Industries has acquired 37.18 crore shares, which represents 16.45 per cent of the paid-up equity of Idea Cellular, from US-based Cingular Wireless for $150 million.

According to a release issued by Indian Rayon to the BSE today, the transaction takes the company's shareholding in Idea to 20.74 per cent, and that of the Aditya Birla group to 50.15 per cent.

Sanjeev Aga, managing director of Indian Rayon, said: "Our aim is to see that Idea will be known as the company that sets operational and service standards that become the benchmark for the industry."
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Dr Reddy's floats Perlecan with $52mn equity
Mumbai: Dr Reddy's Laboratories today announced the launch of Perlecan Pharma - an integrated drug development company - with equity participation from Citigroup Venture and ICICI Venture.

According to a release issued by Dr Reddy's Laboratories to the BSE today, Citigroup Venture and ICICI Venture will contribute $ 22.5 million each, and the company will invest $7.5 million as the initial capital of Perlecan Pharma.

"Perlecan Pharma will be engaged in clinical development and out-licensing of new chemical entity (NCE) assets. Perlecan Pharma's priorities will be to advance the clinical development of NCE assets received from the company through Phase II and thereafter seek out-licensing, co-development or joint commercialisation opportunities," the release added.

Perlecan Pharma will have the first right of refusal on the future pipeline of Dr. Reddy's R&D efforts at fair market value. "The company will be offered commercial rights to Russia, India, China and other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States at fair market value for all NCE assets of Perlecan Pharma," the release said.
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GAIL plans to acquire E&P firm
Mumbai: GAIL India is planning to acquire a small or medium exploration and production (E&P) company.

"We are receiving proposals to acquire such a company, which will help us in the E&P activity," Prashanto Banerjee, chairman of Gail, said.
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Air Sahara to sell stake
New Delhi: Private carrier Air Sahara today said it was interested in looking at partnerships and alliances to raise resources to fund its growth plans but categorically refuted reports that it had sold 76 per cent of its equity to SpiceJet.

"We are interested in raising money to fund our expansion plans but the reports that we have sold 76-per cent equity to SpiceJet are absolutely untrue," airline President Rono Dutta told PTI here.

He said the carrier had appointed Ernst and Young as its advisor for business plan validation, valuation and fund mobilisation through strategic partners for private equity placement.

The valuation carried out by the firm had put the worth of the carrier "between $750 million and $1 billion and not the meagre $300 million as reported", Dutta said.

He also announced that the airline had acquired seven landing slots a week at London Heathrow and would launch non-stop daily flights between Delhi and Chicago from November this year under
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Air-India declares 10 per cent dividend
Mumbai: Air-India (A-I), whose revenues shot up by 22.2 per cent in 2004-05, has declared a dividend of 10 per cent to the government, the first in the last 10 years.

The A-I board, at a meeting here today, approved the results for 2004-05, in which total revenue showed an increase of 22.2 per cent at Rs7,630 crore from Rs6,246 crore and total expenses by 21.3 per cent at Rs7,565 crore from Rs6,238 crore.

The profits increased to Rs96.36 crore in 2004-05 from Rs92.33 crore in 2003-04, registering an improvement in net worth and debt equity ratio.

The higher profitability was achieved in spite of rising fuel costs and enhanced aircraft lease charges, according to a release from the public carrier here.

Fuel, which constituted a bulk of its total costs, increased by 21.5 per cent from Rs1,334 crore in 2003-04 to Rs2,182 crore amounting to an increase of 28.8 per cent in 2004-05.

Increase in fuel prices adversely affected the profitability of the airline to the extent of approx Rs64.3 crore. Average fuel costs shot up from 114cents per US gallon in 2003-04 to 159cents in 2004-05.

The airline, in an effort to minimize the impact of rising fuel prices, is planning to hedge some of its international fuel uplifts shortly.
Moreover, aircraft lease charges also shot up from Rs270 crore to Rs393 crore due to increased leasing operations and total aircraft presently on lease is 24 in a fleet size of 42 including the subsidiary Air-India Express.
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Ford to launch Fiesta in November
New Delhi: Ford Motor India will launch its new premium mid-sized sedan 'Fiesta' by November this year in the Indian market.

The Fiesta is positioned at the top end of the mid sized sedan segment and would be available in petrol and diesel variants. The petrol engine would be supplied by Hindustan Motors, while the diesel engine is imported.

According to the company the car has about 70 per cent local content which would be increased gradually. Features like air conditioning and road durability have also been designed based on the Indian conditions.

The pricing and other key aspects of the car would be announced in November when the car is launched in India.
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Ramco Systems wins order from Blackberrys
Chennai: Ramco Systems, which operates in the enterprise solutions space, has won an order from Mohan Clothing Company, owners of the Blackberrys brand apparel.

Blackberrys would implementing the discrete production suite of Ramco e.Applications, including sales, finance, inventory, purchase, discrete production, quality control and human resources, according to a company release here.
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Corporate Results: BEML, Radico

BEML declares 85 per cent dividend
Mumbai: Bharat Earth Movers has declared 85 per cent final dividend for the year 2004-05. Earl;ier in the year the paid interim dividend of 15 per cent taking the total dividend to 100 per cent.

The company has also re-appointed V R S Natarajan and Mohd Haleem Khan as a director on the board. The company's share price was up 0.13 per cent at Rs 855 on Wednesday.

Radico declares 22 per cent dividend
Mumbai: The board of directors of liquor maker Radico Khaitan has recommended an equity dividend of 22 per at Rs2.20 per fully paid up equity share of Rs10 each, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The board has also taken on record the scheme of amalgamation, as approved by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh, it added.
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