Zydus Cadila acquires Liva Healthcare
Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad based pharma company, Zydus Cadila has picked up a 97.5 pc stake in Liva Healthcare and will fund the all cash transaction through cash accruals and debt. With this acquisition Zydus expects to establish its presence in the Rs1500 crore derma segment, the seventh largest therapeutic segment in the Indian pharma market.

The market for dermatology products has grown at CAGR of 14.1 per cent over the last three years. Zydus domestic formulation business contributes to over 50 pc of the group's turnover with as many as 17 brands amongst the top 300 pharma brands in India. In the participated segments, the group is a leader in the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, women's healthcare segments and has a strong presence in the respiratory, pain management and anti-infective segments.

Liva Healthcare has registered a more than 15 pc growth rate as per IMS (June 2006). It is a profit making company and it is likely to post sales in excess of Rs37 crore in 2006-07.

Derma products constitute 56 pc of Liva's therapeutic coverage and it also has a strong presence in the respiratory segment which accounts for 24 percent of its TA coverage.

Top five brands of the company include - Fusys, Nasoclear, Oflatoon, Clobetasole combinations and BTN which contribute over 63 pc of its sales.
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MUL divestment put on hold
New Delhi: Sharp declines in the market has led the government to postpone the disinvestment of its residual 10.27 per cent stake in Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL), the country's largest passenger car maker, to the next financial year. The last date for submitting bids for the purpose was March 9. The postponement has been approved by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

The decision to disinvest in MUL – the third and final sale of the government's stake — was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 21 December, 2006. The government was to sell 2,96,79,709 shares of Rs5 each through competitive bidding and hoped to raise between Rs 2,400 crore and Rs2,800 crore.
When the decision was taken, the Sensex was at 13,384, with the Maruti scrip at Rs926. Since then, the Sensex touched a high of 14,652 on February 8, before declining to the present level of of 12,430. Maruti share closed at Rs779.4.
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Bajaj family squabbles over trust money
Mumbai: The Bajaj family squabble over division of assets has now moved to the group's public charitable organisations, which control investments worth Rs2,800 crore across various group companies.

Shishir Bajaj, the estranged brother of group patriarch Rahul Bajaj, and son Kushagra Bajaj say they want a 25 per cent share in the assets controlled by these trusts. However, Niraj Bajaj who is aligned to his cousin Rahul Bajaj and controls the trusts has overruled this demand. Other members of the camp are Madhur and Shekhar Bajaj, also cousins.

An eight-fold jump in Bajaj group shares in five years has seen the value of the assets held by these trusts grow more than five times. The assets were worth just Rs500 crore when the dispute between the brothers erupted in 2002.

These tax-saving trusts hold shares in almost all Bajaj group companies.

The Rahul Bajaj camp says Shishir and Kushagra Bajaj had agreed to the November 2005 formula for division of assets, from which the trusts were excluded, and even reached an agreement to this effect.

Sources in the Shishir Bajaj camp denied this charge and blame the other side for the impasse.

The Rahul Bajaj faction moved the Bombay High Court in December 2006 against Shishir and Kushagra Bajaj seeking damages worth Rs600 crore for going back on the agreement.
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Louis Vuitton to acquire stake in Hidesign
New Delhi: French luxury brand Louis Vuitton (LV), from the LVMH (Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton) stable, plans to acquire a minority stake in the Puducherry-based leather goods maker Hidesign.

Leather industry sources said Louis Vuitton's president, Yves Carcelle, has sewn up a strategic alliance with Hidesign to be announced soon. LV's stake, sources say, could be under 10 per cent or a little more.

The LVMH Group has identified Hidesign as a partner as it sees a similarity in the way Hidesign approaches craftsmanship.

A stake in Hidesign will make it a part of the LVMH family as well.

However, Hidesign will retain its own brand identity and not be the outsourcing destination for LV, even after the stake acquisition comes into effect. Both companies are believed to be setting up their own manufacturing units alongside, on land acquired not far from Hidesign's current set-up in Puducherry.

The French brand has also identified the South Asian markets as its immediate focus area. While Japan is believed to be its largest market in Asia (LV currently has 51 stores in Japan), China has been identified as the fastest growing.
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US approves Ranbaxy's anti-insomnia tablets
New Delhi: Ranbaxy Laboratories has received a tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market anti-insomnia Zolpidem Tartrate tablets in the US in multiple strengths of 5 mg and 10 mg, Ranbaxy said in a statement.

Zolpidem Tartrate tablets are a generic version of Sanofi Aventis' Ambien Tablets. The drug has annual sales of 2.12 billion dollars in the US, Ranbaxy said. The drug would be manufactured at the company's Ohm Laboratories facility in New Jersey. Zolpidem Tartrate Tablets are indicated for the short-term treatment of insomnia and related disorders.
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Govt gives mini ratna status to WCL
Nagpur: City-based public sector coal company, Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) has been given the coveted 'mini ratna' category-1 by the government.

Coal India Limited, Northern Coalfields Limited, South Eastern Coalfields Limited and Mahanadi Coalfields are the other four companies along with WCL which have been given the mini ratna status.

With this, these companies will now exercise the enhanced autonomy and powers delegated to a mini ratna category-1 company by the government only on appointment of requisite number of independent directors on their respective board of directors.

WCL has surpassed the target of coal production and also recorded significant increase in productivity, turnover and net profit.

During the last five years from 2001 to 2005-6, the yearly coal production increased from 37 million tonnes to 43.20 mt and productiivity from 2.09 tonnes to 2.43 tonnes, the release said.
The turnover of WCL went up from Rs3437 crores to Rs4986 crores and thus the net profit from Rs310 crores to Rs1447 crore. Its contribution to state coffers was Rs620 crore as royalty and taxes and Rs464 crore as corporate taxes, a release from the company said.
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Hyundai hikes car prices
New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India has hiked prices of all its car models by Rs362 to Rs2,816 on account of the increased cess announced in this year's Budget. Post-increase, the company's flagship hatchback Santro would become costlier by Rs362 to Rs562. At present, HMIL sells Santro's base model at Rs2,69,999 (ex-showroom Delhi). Its premium hatchback Getz, being sold at Rs3,99,999 (ex-showroom Delhi), would become costlier in a range of Rs753-Rs923 across different variants. The company said after the price hike its sedan Accent would be dearer by Rs999 while the newly launched Verna would become expensive in a range of Rs1,183 to Rs1,420. The base model of Accent is priced at Rs5,31,187 and that of Verna is available for Rs6,24,999 (ex-showroom Delhi). The company, however, said it would not tinker with the prices of its SUV Tuscon.
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Pfizer sells plant in Chandigarh
Mumbai: Pfizer has sold its plant in Chandigarh to C S J Infrastructure for Rs278 crore, the company told the Bombay Stock Exchange. Of this amount, Pfizer had already received an advance of Rs27.8 crore, or 10 per cent, as initial advance and was accounted for in the three-month period ending November 30, 2006. Pfizer's Chandigarh plant stopped operations in November 2003 and all the permanent employees had opted for VRS, the company said. The assets comprising land, building, plant and machinery, among others, have been reflected as ``assets held for disposal'' in Pfizer's balance sheet since then, it added.
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Ballarpur Ind acquires Malaysian co
Kota Kinabalu: Ballarpur Industries with JP Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Ltd have acquired 98 pc stake in Malaysian company Sabah Forest Industries which operates an integrated paper and pulp mill for $261-million.

Sabah Forest Industries was earlier owned by the Malaysia-based Lion Group, which has interests in steel, retail and property development. JP Morgan holds 20 per cent and 78 per cent is with Ballarpur Industries. Through this acquisition Ballarpur Industries brings under its fold a paper mill with annual capacity of 1,40,000 tonnes, a pulp mill with annual capacity of 1,20,000 tonnes and a 2.89-lakh hectare forest land concession from the Sabah State Government, which will continue to hold two per cent stake in Sabah Forest.

Ballarpur Industries can use the timber in the forest land for its raw material up to 2094.

(The acquisition was done through BILT's subsidiary, Ballarpur Paper Holdings BV.)

Last year Sabah Forests clocked sales of $110 million. Apart from the immediate expansion plans, Ballarpur hopes to set up a 700,000 tonne pulp million Sabah Forest by 2012.
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