Jet loses plea for Rs500-crore Sahara deal refund
Mumbai: Jet Airways has failed to obtain relief from the Arbitration Tribunal on its plea for a refund of Rs500 crore paid as advance along with interest. The airline is involved in a struggle with Air Sahara over the refund of amount.

On November 20, Air Sahara had sought Rs3,020 crore from Jet towards execution of the share purchase agreement (SPA) along with recovery of inter-line business revenue that the latter accrued for nearly three months.
Back to News Review index page  

Dabur Pharma to acquire Thai company
New Delhi: Dabur Pharma has acquired Thai company Biosciences Co through its wholly owned subsidiary in Thailand.
The Thai company is Dabur Pharma's long-term associate in oncology products distribution and marketing in Thailand. The amount paid for the acquisition was not revealed.

The marketing network of Biosciences will now be completely utilised to promote Dabur's oncology products.

Dabur, a market leader in the generic oncology drug segment, has about 30 cancer medicines currently marketed in Thailand. The company claims to have 17 per cent market share in generic oncology business.

The $290 million Dabur Pharma is India's largest player in the oncology segment and has marketing presence in more than 40 countries including the US and Europe.
Back to News Review index page  

Honda Motor to make small car for Indian market
New Delhi: Honda Motor is working on a small car with a 1.2 litre engine for the Indian market at its research and development facility in Japan. The car will also serve as a global product in the small-car segment for the company. Honda officials said the company was eyeing the premium hatchback segment and the new product will conform to India's small car definition: 1.2 litre petrol engine with a length of less than 4 metre which would help it to avail of excise concessions in the country. The company aims to manufacture 1.5 lakh units of the car at its second manufacturing facility. The small car would be launched in another 2-3 years.
Honda has finalised an investment of Rs2,000 crore for the new manufacturing facility of which Rs300 crore will be invested in a powertrain manufacturing facility.

The new factory will have an annual capacity of 250,000 units, and is expected to start in 2009. At present Honda is negotiating with four states — Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra — for a 150 acre plot.
Back to News Review index page  

ABB gets Rs250-crore order from JSW Group
Bangalore: ABB India has received a Rs250-crore order to provide turnkey solutions and a range of power and automation products to the JSW Group for its steel and power plant expansions in Bellary in Karnataka, Vasind in Maharashtra and Salem in Tamil Nadu.

ABB's order includes supply of substation equipment, HT machines, transformers, protection and control systems as well as medium and low voltage switchgear. ABB's power solutions will serve the needs of JSW's steel plants, enabling the surplus power to be fed into the 400 KV grid with the latest control and monitoring equipment to help manage the distribution network. ABB will also provide process automation for the steel plant, including plate-mill drives to ensure energy efficiency and reliability across the production chain. JSW is enhancing its steel capacity from 3.8 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 6.8 mtpa, supported by 2x300 MW power generation capability.
Back to News Review index page  

Punj Lloyd receives Rs1,289-crore ONGC platform order
New Delhi: Construction and engineering firm Punj Lloyd has bagged a Rs1,289.25-crore order from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to build an offshore platform. The contract was secured along with wholly owned unit PT Sempec Indonesia, Punj Lloyd said in a statement. The company will build the platform at ONGC's Heera field and expects to complete the project within 16 months, the company said. The scope of work for the project includes surveys, design, transportation, installation, commissioning of four unmanned platforms, 70 km of submarine pipeline, laying of 25 km of composite cables, and modifications of seven existing platforms, it said.
Back to News Review index page  

Avesthagen granted rice gene patent
Bangalore: Biotech company Avesthagen has been granted a patent by the Indian Patent Office on `cloning and sequencing of AGTSAL 11 rice gene from IR-64 variety implicated in salinity stress tolerance.' The invention is expected to provide opportunities in developing salt tolerant lines in rice in India. The Salt Tolerance Programme is a breakthrough for the agricultural sector, since the present agricultural practices and the increasing use of chemical fertilisers make a large part of the arable land unfavourable for cultivation due to high salinity. Also, it could be transferred to any other crop within a short time span, as the technology is not crop specific.

This patent award follows close to patents granted to Avesthagen in South Africa and Australia entitled `A process for generating genetically modified pearl millet through Agrobacterium and biolistic transformation.'
Back to News Review index page  

Suven Life receives European patent for therapeutic agent
Hyderabad: Suven Life Sciences (SLSL) has obtained a European patent on a novel Serotonin Receptor Ligands, being developed as therapeutic agents soon.

The company announced today that the European Patent Office (EPO) issued the Patent 1517909 titled "Novel Tetracyclic Arylcarbonylindoles having Serotonin Receptor affinity useful as therapeutic agents, process for their preparation and pharmaceutical compositions containing them." The patent would be valid until June 2023. The granted claims of the patent include the class of selective 5-HT compounds that would be useful in the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with neuro-degenerative disorders such as attention deficient hyperactivity, Alzheimer's, Parkinson, Schizophrenia and Huntington's.
Back to News Review index page  

Mylan completes stake acquisition in Matrix
Hyderabad: Mylan Laboratories Inc has completed the acquisition of approximately 51.5 per cent of Matrix's outstanding shares for Rs306 per share in cash pursuant to a share purchase agreement (SPA) with certain selling shareholders.

In the light of the previously-announced closing of the acquisition of 20 per cent of Matrix's outstanding shares under an open offer to Matrix shareholders, MP Laboratories (Mauritius) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mylan, now owns approximately 71.5 per cent of the voting share capital of Matrix.

The total deal value for acquiring 71.5 per cent equity at Rs306 per share was approximately Rs3,367 crore.

Mylan now controls in excess of 75 per cent of the voting share capital of Matrix, engaged in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and solid oral dosage forms.
Back to News Review index page