Tata Steel acquires Thailand's largest cement company
Kolkata: Tata Steel has signed an agreement with Cementhai Holding Co, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Siam Cement Co, Thailand, to acquire its shares and invest additional equity in Millennium Steel Co.

Cementhai Holding controls 40 per cent stake in Millennium Steel and will sell its shares in a voluntary tender offer that Tata Steel will make for all equity and preference shares of Millennium Steel.

The equity value of MSC is approximately $175m, while the company's debt has been valued at $229m.

Tata Steel earlier acquired NatSteel's steel business and according to the company this will augment the company's position in the South-East Asian market.

Millennium Steel has a capacity of 1.7 million tonnes per annum producing long products for construction and engineering steel for auto industries, and is the largest player in the Thai steel space.
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AI gets cabinet nod for acquisition of 68 Boeing aircraft
New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its `in-principle' approval to Air India for the purchase of 68 Boeing aircraft.

The minister for civil aviation, Praful Patel, said the committee has also decided to refer the matter to an empowered Group of Ministers (e-GoM). He said the e-GoM, will hold one last round of price negotiations with the aircraft manufacturer. He said the entire process was expected to be over soon.

Earlier this year, an e-GoM headed by finance minister, P. Chidambaram, was able to obtain a further reduction of more than Rs340 crore in the price that Indian Airlines was to pay for acquiring 43 Airbus aircraft.
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IA likely to sign deal for purchase of 43 Airbus aircraft today
New Delhi: Indian Airlines is likely to get new aircraft tomorrow as it is ready to sign a Letter of Intent or a term sheet with the European aircraft manufacturer, Airbus Industrie here on Friday for the purchase of 43 aircraft.

Sources said the LoI will spell out the intention of the newly branded 'Indian' to do business with the aircraft manufacturer and pave the way for a purchase contract to be firmed up and signed.

The delivery dates, as also other terms and conditions, as worked out between IA and Airbus will also be specified in the LoI.
The airline board had cleared the proposal for acquiring 19-Airbus A-319 aircraft, four A-320s and 20 A-321s in April 2002.
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NetScribes finalising plans for another centre
Hyderabad: Netscribes, which specialises in financial research encompassing equity, debt, financial markets, including due diligence process for mergers and acquisitions is planning to open another center in India.

According to their chief executive officer, Sourav Mukherjee, the inherent advantage Indian financial professionals have along with the technology expertise available in the country form a formidable winning combination for global financial and research firms.

He said the new center could be in Chennai, Kolkata or even Pune, but this would be based on the availability of chartered accountants and business managers rather than pure cost considerations. The company is aggressively eyeing the European and Canadian markets for further expansion, he said.
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MS ties up with MTV for online music store
Bangalore: MTV and Microsoft are setting up an online music store, branded 'Urge.' Microsoft Corp will build the technology behind Urge, which MTV Networks Inc will own, operate and promote.

Online stores like iTunes have helped reduce piracy to some extent, which has been quite rampant in the music industry. Now, Microsoft is partnering with music channel MTV to set up a similar site that will allow netizens to download music off the Net for a price.

Currently, the price per song, US$1.99 (approximately Rs90) is unaffordable, and takers in India are few, but there is hope that the prices will reduce going forward. With subscription-based services, this might be possible. Urge is expected to follow such a model.

Urge will debut early next year and is expected to sell 2 million songs worldwide. The collection of songs will range from original compositions to international best sellers. Urge will also offer exclusive MTV Network programmes.
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Natco launches anti-fungal drug
Hyderabad: Natco Pharma has launched Vorizol (Voriconazole), a new generation anti-fungal drug. The company says the drug is effective in the treatment of fungal infections that are resistant to traditional therapies.

In a press release here, the company said the drug is available in the form of 200 mg tablets and 200 mg injection and priced at almost half that of the imported version.
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Aurobindo Pharma gets USFDA approval for anti-depression drug
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma said it has received final approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Mirtazapine orally disintegrating tablets (ODT). The approval is for 15 mg and 30 mg dosages and tentative approval for 45 mg tablet form.

Mirtazapine ODT is the generic version of Organon's Remeron SolTab and is indicated for the treatment of major depressive disorder. The annual sales of Mirtazapine ODT in the US market are estimated at around US$100mn.
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IDMA patent awards for Aurobindo Pharma
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma has said that three of its US patents have been selected for the `Patent Appreciation Award' of the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) for 2004-05.

The company said it was selected for the award based on patents for pure Citalopram (depression), a process for lactonisation to produce Simvastatin (hypercholesterolemia), and a process for producing highly pure Simvastatin (hypercholesterolemia).

The company will receive the national level IDMA award at a function to be held at Mumbai on December 17.
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US co. to pick up stake in Biocon subsidiary
Bangalore: The US-based clinical trials major Scirex Corporation will acquire a 10 per cent stake in Biocon's subsidiary Clinigene International. Scirex is already a strategic partner of Clinigene and has outsourced a small quantum of work to the Bangalore entity.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Biocon chief, said that the new relationship would make the partnership more meaningful, with Scirex bringing in more projects and business to Clinigene.

Clinigene does the bulk of trials for Biocon's drug discovery programmes such as oral insulin and a therapy for head and neck cancer. Its third party trial component has been slowly rising, from small bio-studies accounting for five per cent of its activities from the last fiscal to the current 20 per cent.

The Pennsylvania-based Scirex, owned by the Omnicom group, and Biocon announced their intent to collaborate in global clinical trials through Clinigene, in June this year.

Scirex, among the top 20 contract research organisations worldwide, has done 1,000 clinical trials and was said to be on the look-out for an Asian partner to conduct trials in Asia.
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Glenmark in pact with InvaGen for US market
Mumbai: Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and the US-based InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc have entered into a pact to jointly develop, filing and marketing seven generic pharmaceutical products for the American market.

The product list includes a mixture of off-patent and patent-protected molecules with cumulative annual sales in the US of about US$4.1bn, a Glenmark statement said.

While InvaGen will develop and licence to Glenmark seven generic products and undertake filing the ANDAs (Abbreviated New Drug Applications), Glenmark will be responsible for obtaining regulatory approval in the US market, the note added.
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Dunlop revival plan to be submitted to BIFR in January
Kolkata: The Ruia Group will submit a fresh revival scheme for Dunlop India at the next meetingof the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), scheduled for January 27.

The Ruias have already started discussions with the trade unions for resolving issues related to employee dues and striking a new agreement at Sahagunj facility. A similar exercise is likely to be repeated in Ambattur next week. Recruitment of a new management team is also under way.

The company expressed its disagreement with the scheme drawn by the National Productivity Council (NPC) and accordingly it was decided that a new scheme will be placed before the operating agency, State Bank of India.

The company's disagreements were primarily on account of the mode of raising finances, product line to be revived, margin money requirement for smooth running of the show and, employee dues.

Against the NPC proposal, the company insists on continuing with the aero tyre production after due modernisation. The NPC felt the existing aero-tyre production facility was not eligible to meet the requirements of modern defence and civil aviation aircraft and would require very large-scale investments.
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Hindustan Latex targets Rs.1,000 crore turnover
Thiruvananthapuram: Public sector company Hindustan Latex, manufacturer of condoms and healthcare products, has firmed up expansion and diversification projects that are expected to boost the company's turnover to Rs1,000 crore by 2010.

The company has launchesd a large project for establishing a network of "Lifespring" hospitals in the country, especially in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chattisgrah. The Lifespring project was launched at Moula Ali in Hyderabad on December 10. It is a unique social franchising initiative to give poor people access to quality reproductive health services at affordable prices.

Another major project in the pipeline is the production of anti-retro viral drugs. The commercial production of the drug, for which formulation development is progressing, will be undertaken at the company's Kanagala plant.

The company has also launched a "Women's Healthcare Pharma Division" to cater to the reproductive healthcare needs of women, covering all age groups. It has also begun work on augmenting its condom production capacity by another 230 million pieces. This will take the total production capacity for condoms beyond the one-billion mark.

Hindustan latex recorded a turnover of Rs 195 crore and a profit of Rs 20.11 crore in 2004-05.
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Rajesh Exports hopes to ride on retail venture
New Delhi: Rajesh Exports, India's largest exporter of gold jewellery, expects a meager topline growth of 10 per cent in the current financial year, despite skyrocketing gold prices.

The company's turnover is likely to rise 12.5 per cent year-on-year to Rs4,500 crore in the current financial year, compared with Rs4,000 crore last year and it's net is expected to rise 51 per cent to Rs65 crore this year, compared with Rs43 crore last year.

Domestic spot gold prices are hovering around Rs7,600 per 10 grams, after touching a high of over Rs8,000 per 10 grams early this month, and saw a low of Rs6,000 per 10 grams in May.
The company plans to announce its domestic branded and retail gold venture by December-end and will have its first outlet by November 2006, he said.

Riding on its proposed branded and retail venture, Rajesh Exports expects it bottomline to grow at the rate of about 50 per cent in the next 4-5 years, starting from the next financial year. The company also expects it topline to see a growth of 15 per cent year-on-year.
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