M&M to acquire 88 per cent stake in in Plexion
Mumbai: Tractors and SUV major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has informed the BSE that it had entered into an agreement to acquire 88.41 per cent stake in Plexion Technologies, Mauritius from its promoters, J P Morgan group. The promoters hold the remaining stake in Plexion.

Sources pegged the deal at $10 million (nearly Rs46 crore).

Plexion is engaged in the business of computer aided engineering services and has operations in Asia, Germany, the UK and the US. The company is focused on aerospace and automotive engineering business verticals and its delivery model includes offshore and onsite services.

I-Sec is the advisor to M&M
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Mahindra forms JV with Navistar
Mumbai: Navistar International Corp has finalised a joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra of India to make trucks and buses for Indian and export markets.

Navistar, the No 3 the US truck maker, will own 49 per cent in the joint venture, named Mahindra International, while Mahindra will own 51 per cent.

Mahindra International is expected to produce commercial trucks and buses starting in 2007 in an updated Mahindra facility. The factory will include cab assembly, vehicle assembly and a paint shop. The vehicles will have 90 percent local content.

The combined investment of the two companies in the venture, first announced in June, will be more than $80 million over the next two to three years.

As part of the venture, the company has opened a development center in India employing fewer than 100 engineers, and expects to triple the number soon. Mahindra's line of light vehicles have been transferred to the joint venture.
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Apollo to invest Rs 30 crore in acquiring Imperial Hospitals
Chennai: Apollo Hospitals plans to invest Rs30 crore to acquire a 51-per cent stake in Imperial Cancer Hospitals and Research Centre, which is setting up a 220-bed multi-speciality hospital in Bangalore.

Apollo will manage the hospital and also lend its name. The hospital has envisaged a project outlay of Rs98.8 crore. The whole deal is subject to a due diligence by Apollo, says Suneeta Reddy, director, finance, Apollo Hospitals. The hospital is ready but has not yet been commissioned.

Recently Apollo announced a Rs 37-crore investment to expand its reach. The current round of Apollo's expansion has been fuelled by its $70-million global depository receipts (GDR) issue.
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JK Cement promoter to sell 26-per cent stake
Yadhupati Singhania, promoter and managing director of JK Cement, is selling 26 per cent of his stake to raise around Rs250-Rs300 crore, early next year.

The company with its high-selling brand JKwhite will utilise the funds for upgrading its white and grey cement capacities. It will also be setting up new power generating facilities.

The company would raise its cement manufacturing capacity to
4-million tonnes per annum from 3.5-million tonnes and the white cement production capacity would be increased to 0.4 million tonnes per annum from the 0.3 million tonnes.

The cost of expanding the cement capacity would be Rs50 crore.

Earlier a division of JK Synthetics the company's three factories are located in Rajasthan.

JK Cement is currently listed at the BSE and it is quoting an average price of Rs165. Mr Singhania is holding a little of 86 per cent.
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Natco bags patent appreciation award
Hyderabad: Natco Pharma said that the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) has selected it for the Patent Appreciation Award.

Natco said that it has been selected for the award based on the patents that it obtained — soft gel capsule resistant to gastric juices (EPO and Germany), inhaler design (Canada and Japan), and improved processes for the preparation of high purity Citalopram and Curcumin (India).
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Bajaj Hind FY '05 net up 130 per cent, to set up new distilleries
Mumbai: Bajaj Hindusthan has posted a 130-per cent jump in net profit at Rs140.4 crore for the year ended September 30, 2005, as compared to Rs61 crore in the previous year.

Total Revenue increased 65.8 per cent to Rs900.1 crore in the year ended September 30, 2005 from Rs543 crore in 2004, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"The excellent results of the company reflect our efforts in continuously strategising to harness the opportunities presented by a buoyant industry," Bajaj Hindusthan, chief executive, Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, stated.

The company is planning to spend Rs240 crore to expand its capacity for industrial alcohol production (distillery).

The company plans to expand its production capacity to 800 kilo litre (KL) per day by 2006-07 and set-up three new distilleries with an aggregate capacity of 480kl per day. The company is is targeting to achieve 320kl production per day this year.

The company says it is implementing the 160kl per day project and if the Indian government allows mixing 5 per cent ethanol with petrol, the ethanol consumption will go up. The new norm may come into effect in April 2006.

The company is looking to achieve an overall capacity of 100,000 tonne sugar cane crushing per day (TCD) by 2006-07 through aggressive capital investment, capacity expansion and acquisition.
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Burson Marsteller acquires Genesis PR
New Delhi: International public relations company, Burson Marsteller (BM) has acquired Genesis Public Relations, among India's leading PR firms, for an undisclosed sum.

BM has filed an application for approval from the foreign investment promotion board for the transaction, after which Genesis will be renamed as Genesis-Burson Marsteller and integrated to BM's Asia Pacific network, Genesis said in the statement.

Genesis PR founder Prema Sagar and chief executive officer Ashwani Singla will join BM's Asia Pacific leadership Board. Genesis has about 200 employees in India across its offices in 80 cities.
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Opto Circuits acquires German co for Rs 60 cr
Mumbai: Opto Circuits (India), makers of healthcare electrical instruments, has announced the acquisition of German company, Eurocor GmbH, for Rs60 crore.

The company informed the National Stock Exchange about the acquisition of the German company. Eurocor GmbH manufacturers cardiac and peripheral stents of various types including drug eluting coronary stents used in critical cardiac care, it added.
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NeSAAG RR Infra receives Rs2.17-crore order from BEML
Mumbai: Infrastructure major SAAG RR Infra has received an order worth Rs2.17 crore from Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), Mysore.

The order entails civil and structural works for major assembly hangar, to be completed within six months, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

SAAG RR Infra constructs residential and industrial complexes.
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Aurobindo's Nevirapine makes it to WHO's
pre-qualification list
Mumbai: Aurobindo Pharma's anti aids product Nevirapine tablets 200 mg, has been included by World Health Organisation (WHO) in its pre-qualification list.

Nevirapine is a key anti-retrovirals (ARV) product used in the treatment of AIDS and is in the class of drugs called non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), which helps keep the AIDS virus from reproducing.

This antiretroviral drug is used in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

This is the company's fourth product to be included in the list. The other products included are Zidovudine tablets - 300 mg, Lamivudine tablets - 150 mg and Lamivudine tablets - 300 mg, it said.
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Nokia to increase share in CDMA market
New Delhi: Swedish telecom equipment major Nokia is looking at an increased presence in the CDMA based handset. The company would be working closely with leading service providers like Reliance Infocomm and Tatas to increase its share further.

Currently, the company has 20 per cent of the market.

Currently Nokia is setting up a handset manufacturing facility in Chennai in India primarily for the GSM-based handsets. The company has not yet decided whether it would do the same for CDMA based handsets.
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Allsec to acquire B2K corp
Mumbai: Allsec Technologies plans to acquire Bangalore-based business process outsourcing company, B2K Corporation.

The company will be proceeding with the necessary action to give effect to the same, it added.

Allsec Technologies is a BPO service company providing support services for inbound customer care, technology helpdesk, inbound and outbound tele-services that includes sales, collections, lead generation and market research.
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BSNL to offer broadband on fibre-to-home
New Delhi: With the aim of grabbing a bigger share of the rising broadband demand in the country BSNL is planning to provide fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) based broadband services for offering next generation services to its subscribers.

BSNL started broadband services in January 2005 with the 'ADSL' systems and is now planning to offer broadband service on fibre also by using the FTTH systems, a senior BSNL official said. He added that the company had issued a tender to procure FTTH equipment for providing the next generation broadband services to its customers.

BSNL / MTNL have laid out more than 4.5-lakh route kilometres of optical fibre while private operators have laid out over 1- lakh route kilometres.

The TRAI has identified five different access paths to cover the last mile-local loop digital subscriber line (DSL), cable, satellite, terrestrial wireless and fibre to home.
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