Ranbaxy's generic drug barred in Finland
New Delhi: A court in Finland has barred India's biggest drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, from marketing its generic version of Pfizer's cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor in the country.

The Helsinki Court of Appeal in Finland had granted a preliminary injunction against Ranbaxy Laboratories prohibiting it from marketing a generic version of Lipitor.

The ruling involves Pfizer's patent (FI94958) that covers processes and intermediate compounds used to make atorvastain, the active ingredient in Lipitor.

This decision is another significant milestone in our defense of Lipitor patents around the world, said Pfizer vice-chairman and general counsel Jeffrey Kindler in a statement on the company's website.(See: Setback for Ranbaxy; Finnish court reverses earlier verdict on Lipitor)
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Videocon in talks with Daewoo Electronics for acquisition
New Delhi: Durables major Videocon is in preliminary discussions for a global acquisition of Korea's Daewoo Electronics part of the Korean chaebol Daewoo which went bankrupt during the Asian financial crisis in the late '90s.
The company has been put on the block by its creditors, which includes Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO).

Daewoo has close to $3 billion in global sales and would bring the global rights of an international electronics brand to Videocon and fit in with its global expansion plans.

According to sources, "There have been preliminary talks and the real plan will become clear in the next few weeks."

Daewoo Electronics with 16 subsidiaries with 42 branches in over 30 countries has a product range that spans from CTVs, including top-end segments like LCD & plasma - to other categories like car audio, DVD & MP3 players, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, microwave ovens and vacuum cleaners.
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Indian company acquires Pfizer's Sweden plant
New Delhi: Bangalore based contract-manufacturing firm, Kemwell has bought Pfizer's production plant in Uppsala, Sweden for an as yet undisclosed sum. The acquisition is expected to lead to significant growth in its contract business, Kemwell said in a statement.

Kemwell said it planned to introduce value added services such as formulation development and analytical method development and validation to the site.

Pfizer has been manufacturing both API and finished drugs from the Uppsala plant which is approved by the USFDA, EMEA and Japan's regulatory authority.

The addition of the USFDA approved manufacturing capabilities to its operations will allow Kemwell to transfer some experience from Europe to India and help to expand its contract manufacturing business.
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HotelLeela venture allots shares on FCCB conversion
Mumbai: Hotel Leela venture has allotted 8,734 equity shares upon conversion of foreign currency convertible bonds worth €50,000. The company issued 8,734 equity shares of Rs10 each at a premium of Rs301 per share to a bondholder who exercised his option to convert 50 FCCBs of €1,000 each the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.
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TMT to foray into China
New Delhi: TACO MobiApps Telematics (TMT) a Tata group company which provides vehicle-tracking solutions, is in talks with various companies to enter China, Thailand and ASEAN Countries.

TMT will draw synergies from its parent company Tata Auto Comp Systems (TACO) for this foray said the company CEO Praveen Gupta.

TMT has also drawn up big expansion plans for the domestic market and is in talks with various operators in areas like BPOs, oil companies, police fleet operators and municipal corporations. The company expects revenues of Rs 60 crore from the Indian market in the 2006-07 fiscal.

TMT is a joint venture company between TACO and MobiApps Holdings, Singapore.
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Assam Company begins oil deliveries to IOC
Mumbai: Assam Company along with its consortium partner Canoro Resources has begun delivering oil to Indian Oil Corporation's Guwahati refinery. The company said the oil is being sold at the same price as a basket of crude oils with similar characteristics and quality that are traded in the international markets, the company informed the BSE. The company would deliver the oil from its operated Amguri field in Assam which is being trucked to an Oil India facility at Moran, 115 km east of Amguri. The Oil India Ltd facility is connected to a main oil pipeline delivering oil directly to the IOC, it added.
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Tata Coffee to enter hospitality sector
Bangalore: Tata Coffee (TCL), the largest coffee plantation company in Asia, is getting into the hospitality sector with ''Plantation Trails'', a cluster of Holiday Homes in coffee growing Kodagu district of Karnataka.

The company has set up ''Plantation Trails'' in coffee estates of the company, which were occupied by the planters of Tata Coffee earlier, and offer an opportunity to experience a plantation lifestyle. The holiday homes are at present confined to eight estates and might be extended further. The company has set up a small division for managing ''Plantation Trails''.

By the year-end, 12 bungalows with 38 rooms would be covered under their expanded portfolio to tourism, he said.

Priced at Rs2,500 to Rs3,500 per room for two people with taxes extra, the ''Plantation Trails'' would look at attracting all segments, including IT professions and foreigners.
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Infosys to set up remote IMS centre in Prague
Bangalore: Infosys is setting up a centre for remote infrastructure management services (IMS) in Prague. The company has four such centers all of which are in India. This is the first such center of the company out of India.

Priti Rao, VP (IMS) of Infosys, said: "The IMS center contributes $100 million to the total revenues of Infosys. We have around 2,000 people in this line of business and we intend to grow at 35 per cent year on year." Infosys currently serves 70 global clients from centres in Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.

The new centre in Prague will be functional by April 2006, and will employ around 50 people in a year's time. According to independent estimates, the overall market size for IMS ranges between $100-$150 billion and the Remote IMS market is worth $55 billion. Revenues from Indian-exported offshore infrastructure management services stand at $450 million currently.
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GoAir gives $1.2 billion aircraft order for 20 Airbus planes
Mumbai: Budget carrier GoAir promoted by the Wadias of Bombay Dyeing fame has placed an order worth $1.2 billion with Toulouse-based Airbus Industrie to buy 20 Airbus 320 aircraft as part of the airline's fleet expansion programme.

The additional aircraft will be used for connectivity in North Indian and Metro-to-Metro flight routes, said Jeh Wadia, managing director, Go Air. The A-320 would have a single-class economy layout with 180 seats. GoAir at present has a fleet of three A-320 aircraft and operates 24 flights covering 11 cities.
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SpiceJet not to sell stake
New Delhi: The Kansagra family who are the promoters of budget carrier SpiceJet said they had no plans to sell their strategic stake to any airline after rumours surfaced that liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airline was interested in picking stake in the carrier.

Bhulo Kansagra Director SpiceJet said in a statement, "We are is fully committed and confident about the project and have no plans for divestment especially when the airline is performing well and is moving towards profitability," the statement said.

The airline had yesterday confirmed its orders for ten Boeing 737 aircraft and took an option of ten more planes in a deal worth $1.4 billion at list price.
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Saint-Gobain puts reflective glass glass under Sun Ban brand
Hyderabad: Saint-Gobain Glass India, a significant player in the glass sector, plans to use the umbrella branding strategy of putting all its products under the brand Sun Ban.
The company is also planning to manufacture the entire range of its products at its plant in Tamil Nadu instead of importing a part of it.

R Subramanian, national manager (marketing and sales) of Saint-Gobain Glass India, said: The increasing usage of solar control products have led to the grouping of our reflective glass products under the umbrella brand - Sun Ban. He said reflective glass is like normal glass, but with a coating that keeps heat out from the buildings limits the glare inside the building.

The total glass market is estimated to be around Rs1,700 crore. The market for reflective glass is around 8 per cent of the total market and reflective products have the potential to tap approximately 20 per cent of the entire market.

The Saint-Gobain group, which has nine companies under its fold in India, ended 2005 with gross sales of Rs1,200 crore.
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Infosys in Gartner's magic quadrant report 2006
Mumbai: Infosys Technologies has been included in Gartner Inc's magic quadrant report 2006 for 30 leading offshore application services providers. Gartner's report titled 'Magic Quadrant for Offshore Application Services 2006' depicts Gartner's analysis of companies from a specific technology or service market against criteria for that marketplace.

Gartner evaluates the companies in terms of completeness of vision and ability to execute, it said. Sources said the majority of Infosys' revenue in the last 12 months was derived from GDM - based application services.
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RPG, Godrej JV plan major development projects in Kolkata
Mumbai: The RPG group in association with Godrej Industries plans to invest around Rs1,250 crore in setting up a shopping mall, a management institute and a power station all of which will be in Kolkata.

RPG has formed a joint venture with Godrej Properties for the construction of the mall. While RPG would be providing the land, Godrej would bear the construction cost.

The mall is likely to come up in three-acre Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) property on Syed Amir Ali Avenue. The investment in the mall would be in the region of Rs175 crore. The move also marks the entry of the Adi Godrej group to Kolkata.

The built-up area of the project, to be called the CESC-Godrej Plaza, would be four lakh square feet. The project is scheduled for completion in 2008.

Goenka's "pet " project is its International Management Institute that would be built on another three-acre plot owned by the group in Alipore, Kolkata. Estimated to cost Rs40 crore, the institute would be built to initially accomodate 100 students. The institute would be ready for the 2008 session, and students would be admitted on the basis of their performance in the common admission test.

The third initiative includes a 250 megawatt power plant adding to the existing 500 MW thermal power station at Budge Budge at an investment of Rs1,000 crore.

RPG operates a 1,000MW capacity in West Bengal through existing CESC power plants. CESC is aiming at increase it to 2,250MW with the new unit at Budge Budge and one at Haldia, which would have a capacity of 1,000MW, Goenka said.
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Cyber Media picks up 20-per cent stake in US company
Mumbai: Cyber Media (India) has acquired a 20-per cent stake in New York-based Sx2 Media Labs LLC, formed by David Sills and Stoneybrook Capital.

"We a re excited to be part of Sx2 Media Labs journey into the future with the brand history loaded, Computer Shopper magazine," said Pradeep Gupta, chairman and managing director, CyberMedia.

CyberMedia is South Asia's leading specialty media house, with 12 publications (including Dataquest, PCQuest and Global Services) in the infotech, telecom, consumer electronics and biotech areas, it added.

Recently, Sx2 Media Labs had acquired Computer Shopper magazine, a 26-year old print publication that serves as a monthly guide to new technology and shopping guide for more than 300 products per issue on information technology and related items.
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Subex to move to new campus
Bangalore: Telecom software company, Subex Systems, will move into a new facility with a built up area of about 1,25,000 sq.ft., that can accommodate over 1,000 people, on the outer ring road near here by April 2007.

The company has a headcount of 300, including its overseas offices in Beijing, Denver, London and Ottawa.
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