Indian Hotels acquires famed 'W' Hotel in Sydney for US$27mn
Mumbai: The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), owned and managed by the Taj group, has acquired a property in Sydney for US$27mn (about Rs123 crore) from the Harilela Group of Hong Kong. The 100-room property called the W Hotel marks the entry of the Taj group in the Australian market.

The property is now operated by Starwood Pacific Hotels under its `W' brand. Taj Hotels will re-brand and manage the hotel from early February 2006. The group is finalising details of positioning the property, the official said.

The acquisition, the company's first in Australia, will be financed with funds raised through its FCCB issue. Of the US$150mn raised so far, the hotel has US$112mn of unused funds remaining.

IHCL has been rapidly expanding its overseas presence to take the Taj brand international, and, thus, create brand awareness in its key markets.
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Adobe sets up new business unit in India
New Delhi: Adobe Systems has announced the setting up of a new business unit in India, employing about 150 professionals who would be responsible for drawing out global strategies for print and classic publishing products range. In all the company would add 300 professionals in India in 2006.

Last week Adobe completed the acquisition of San Francisco-based Macromedia in a deal valued at US$3.4bn. Post acquisition Adobe Systems now has close to 650 employees in India.

Naresh Gupta, senior vice-president, print and classic publishing business unit and managing director, India research and development of Adobe Systems, said "Macromedia had a campus in Bangalore with 150 employees, while Adobe has 500 employees in Noida. Post-acquisition, the combined strength stands at 650 employees, and we plan to grow it by adding 300 professionals, next year."

He said Adobe has six business units globally, of which, five are located in the US.
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Raman Roy joins hands with Lankan company to set up BPO
New Delhi: John Keells Holdings Ltd (JKH), a Sri Lanka-based diversified group, and Raman Roy and Associates (RRA) have entered into a joint venture to develop a BPO business in the Asian region. The business would initially focus on India and Sri Lanka, and will come up with an investment of US$22mn.

Raman Roy said his company would hold 22 per cent equity in the project.

The joint venture is expected to set up operations initially in New Delhi and Colombo and thereafter in other select cities in India and Sri Lanka.

JKH is focused on insurance, banking, packaging and even food processing sectors.

Raman Roy an American Express executive started a call centre in 90s, and subsequently did the same for GE, before starting his own company, Spectramind, which he sold out to Wipro two years later.
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Tata Motors launches Novus tippers
New Delhi: Tata Motors has launched the `Novus' range of heavy commercial vehicles in India. The range currently has `tippers' and would later include tractor-trailers and other application vehicles.

The tippers come in 25-tonne and 49-tonne capacities and are priced between Rs36 lakh and Rs39 lakh.

The company would manufacture the Tippers at its facility at Jamshedpur. Company officials said the facility has an installed capacity of 6,000 trucks a year.

The vehicle has been co-developed by Tata Motors and Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles, South Korea.
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IOC, Ashok Leyland ink pact for use of engine oils
Chennai: Indian Oil Corporation has entered into an agreement with Ashok Leyland for using its approved engine oils, Servo Premium ALT Oils, in Ashok Leyland vehicles. The oils will be made available through all Indian Oil channels of distribution including petrol pumps and bazaar shops dealing in automotive oils.

Servo lubricants are customised with high oil drain intervals and are formulated as per the specifications of Ashok Leyland vehicles in heavy, medium and light commercial vehicle categories.
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Wockhardt plans to introduce new vaccines
New Delhi: Wockhardt plans to introduce about five new vaccines in India by the first quarter of 2007. The company is in talks with pharma firms in China, South Korea and Switzerland for bringing in vaccines for rabies, chickenpox, Japanese encephalitis and so on.

The company is marketing vaccines for hepatitis B and typhoid and will introduce another one for hepatitis A, which is being procured from Zhejiang Pukang Biotechnology Co of China. The Chinese company is also developing vaccines for chickenpox and Japanese encephalitis, which Wockhardt plans to bring to India as well.
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AstraZeneca set to acquire first brand soon
Bangalore: AstraZeneca will soon acquire a brand in India.
Bhasker Iyer, managing director of the AstraZeneca Pharma India declined to share the name the name of the brand to be acquired by the company. He merely said, "We are committed to acquiring brands - or divisions — where it is a logical fit and makes sense on financial or strategic criteria."

The company has been ramping up its portfolio with the original AZ brands, especially in the anti-cancer space.

The company has launched the newly inrtroduced Casodex for prostate cancer and Iressa for lung cancer in India, which means five of the parent company's seven oncology brands have now come in. Another major anti-cancer product could follow towards 2006-end.

Cancer apart, AstraZeneca Pharma India plans to make a few launches in maternal health and critical care in 2006 and is mulling formulations and brands uncharted by it in the country.

The UK-based parent AstraZeneca plc, he said, is serious about India, more so since the passage of the Patents Bill last year. In the past two years, US$11mn investment has flowed into the ongoing R&D facility for advanced drug discovery phase, and the facility is due to open in November 2006.
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Nagarjuna Fertilisers gets award
Hyderabad: Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals' fertiliser facility at Kakinada has been selected for the `Excellence in Natural Gas Conservation' award in the fertilisers category for its contribution to natural gas conservation in the country in 2004-05.

This annual award was instituted by the GAIL (India) in recognition of the work done by the organisations in gas conservation.
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ACC acquires Tarmac India
Mumbai: The Associated Cement Companies has acquired a 98.84-per cent stake in Tarmac India for Rs12.40 crore. Tarmac India has two ready-mix concrete (RMC) plants in Mumbai that will increase ACC's RMC capacity by 7-8 per cent.

A statement from ACC said Tarmac India is a subsidiary of Tarmac, UK, part of the Anglo American plc group. The acquisition is with immediate effect and is on "going concern" basis.
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Murugappa Group companies offload stake in Parry Agro Industries
Chennai: Murugappa group companies — Carborundum Universal, EID Parry (India) and Tube Investments of India — have sold their stake in Parry Agro Industries, to other entities in the group.

The companies said they sold their stake through the exchange on Wednesday.

Carborundum Universal, with an 8.32 per cent stake in Parry Agro, got Rs36.4 crore for its stake; EID Parry Rs27.2 crore for its 6.25 per cent stake; and Tube Investments Rs21 crore for its 4.83 per cent stake.

Various companies and individuals belonging to the Murugappa group together hold 85.47 per cent of Parry Agro's equity.
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Infomedia in JV with US publisher Reed
Mumbai: Publishing company, Infomedia India, has entered into a joint venture with Reed Business Information US, a division of the US$8.5bn Reed Elsevier Group plc that publishes the famed Variety film magazine in the US.

The American publisher would hold 51 per cent equity in the joint venture, with Infomedia holding the balance. The proposed investment in the venture would be Rs3 crore.

Variety, the well-known magazine on the film industry, may be a potential title for introduction here under the joint venture. In all, 12 titles are planned for the Indian market over the next three years.
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ONGC in bid for aviation fuel facility at new Bangalore airport
New Delhi: ONGC has tied up with French oil major, OvaL Air, to bid for the aviation fuel facility coming up at the new airport in Bangalore.

The last date for the bid is December 15. This will be the first project that OVaL Air has participated in, sources said, adding that it was also hoping to bid for similar facilities at other airports around the country.

Officials said that the company would work out its future strategies for the Indian market depending on the projects it gets.

In October this year, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) began the process of selecting its key commercial partners in airport operations.
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Bharti to launch 3G services in Seychelles
New Delhi: Bharti Enterprises, with a substantial telecom presence in Seychelles, has announced that It would soon launch next generation 3G services there with an initial investment of Rs(Seychelles)44 million.

The launch of 3G services will put the telecommunications infrastructure in Seychelles at par with the most advanced countries in the world, the company said.

Bharti has been offering telecom services in Seychelles for the last seven years under the brand Airtel Seychelles Ltd, which is owned by Bharti Global, the arm of Bharti Enterprises for overseas operations.

The company said the upgrade will open a gateway to broadband internet access, video calling, picture messaging (MMS), data cards, prepaid roaming, advanced billing system and loads of other value added services, the company added. Besides the upgrade, Airtel is adding new base stations to expand its coverage to more islands.
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