German Remedies scouting for new acquisitions
New Delhi: Pharma major- German Remedies is reported to be on the look out for possible acquisitions. The company is currently in the process of appointing a merchant banker for helping it out with the acquisition.

The promoters of the company are believed to have given the nod to the company board for going ahead with possible acquisitions in India. A company source has been quoted as having said that the company has kept aside a sum of Rs 50 crore for purpose.

Meanwhile, the company scrip, which was being traded in the region of Rs 470-478 last week of November, rose to Rs 520-522 level within a span of two weeks, following news of acquisition moves.

German Remedies, a specialist in feminine healthcare and respiratory drugs has strong brands such as Deriphyllin (anti-asthma), Neurotrat, Sulfino and Suprostol. It has also products in gastro, diagnostic, and anti-cancer segments. The company is mainly looking at those companies, which have similar product portfolios for possible targets for acquisition.

German Remedies is controlled by four overseas partners — Asta Medica AG, Heller GmbH, Boehringer Ingelheim and Schering AG — who together hold about 36 per cent stake. While Asta Medica and Heller hold 13.7 per cent stake each, Boehringer and Schering hold 4.6 per cent stake each.
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Novartis to exit contact lens business
Bangalore: Novartis India will exit the contact lens business by the end of this year. The pharma firm has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Tuesday that it had decided to exit from the contact lens business by December 31, 2000.

The Novartis decision to exit follows the poor performance by Ciba Vision, the eyecare division. Novartis is in the midst of a major restructuring of Ciba Vision. While Novartis' pharma business witnessed a growth of 6.9 per cent in the financial year ended May 30 2000, Ciba Vision had suffered a setback with sales slumping to Rs 6.6 crore.

Novartis also said that Ciba Vision's ophthalmics business was being integrated with Novartis India`s pharmaceutical business. As part of the new strategy, increased focus is being given to the ophthalmics segment, with the company launching several ophtha products - including Voveran Ophtha, Okacin, Clearine and Hypotears Plus recently.
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BHEL ties up with Max Control
New Delhi: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has signed an agreement for technical collaboration with the US-based Max Control Systems to manufacture and supply state-of-the-art control systems 'Max 1000 plus' for modern power plants and industries.

As per the agreement, signed between the two companies, the Max control system will be installed in the upcoming power projects in India. The control system would further strengthen BHEL’s position both in the power plant and industrial process control market.
The 'max 1000 plus' system, which has standard hardware and easy integration of third party devices and communication with external systems, allows user flexibility to operate a small stand-alone control system to a mega control system with plant-wide automation.
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B.K. Birla group cement restructuring in quandary
Mumbai: BK Birla group is reported to have made no headway in its plans for restructuring its cement business, following an upturn in the cement industry.
The group owns more than five million tonnes of cement capacity, most of which is concentrated in flagship firm Century Textiles & Industries. The firm was earlier in talks with Britain's Blue Circle for selling one of its cement units, but the talks had since broken down.

The market outlook for India's cement industry has meanwhile, brightened in recent months after a series of price hikes. Stock markets have also reacted positively to the price increases, pushing up share prices of cement firms. Market analysts say this could provide temporary relief to small and medium-sized firms, who were under pressure to sell assets when the industry was not doing well.

Century Textiles was forced to look at restructuring due to weakness in the cement industry earlier this year, which was affecting the company's performance.
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Parry asked to withdraw its Spirulina campaign
New Delhi: The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has directed the Parry Nutraceuticals, part of the Muruguppa group, to withdraw or modify the press advertisements, which said that its food supplement Spirulina was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), USA.

Parry Nutraceuticals was taken to ASCI by the Burmans-owned Sanat products, which makes the Sunova range of Spirulina. Both the companies are exporters of this product to the US. Burmans had claimed that Spirulina, which has a huge export market is not FDA approved for consumption in the US market.

It was argued by Burmans that FDA did not have any set standards for Spirulina or any other health supplement. Burmans also maintained that they had a communication from FDA, which stated that Spirulina was not covered under FDA.
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Chembiotek ties up with 2 Euro pharma firms
Calcutta: The Chatterjee Group promoted Chembiotek Research International (CRI) has tied up with two major European pharmaceutical companies for contract research in drug discovery. CRI has announced on Tuesday said the two European pharmaceutical companies - P&G Pharmaceuticals and Bayer AG had entered into arrangements for contract research.

Chembiotek formed with the objective to carry out contract research for major pharmaceutical companies in India and abroad, is the first of its kind in India and a number of eminent scientists constitute its lead team. Members of technical advisory board include Dr. Kurt Schaffner, former director of Max Planck Institute; Jyoti Chattopadyaya of Uppsala University, Sweden; Jayanta Roy Chowdhury of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York; and Arnold Demain of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
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Sicom and United Western in JV for NRIs
Mumbai: State Industrial and Investment Corporation of Maharashtra (Sicom) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with United Western Bank to set up a joint venture enterprise to provide a wide range of financial and other services to non-resident Indians (NRIs) settled in the US and other countries.

The proposed joint venture will undertake the focused activity of the NRIs to invest and manage the resources in emerging areas of business opportunities including IT, biotech, bioinformatics, agro-based industries, communication, leisure, entertainment and infrastructure.

Sicom, the largest shareholder in UWB, holding 9.8 per cent has been seeking to appoint four of its directors on the present eight-member board. The four directors proposed by Sicom include industrialist Dilip Piramal and former Maharashtra chief secretary Mr. Sharad Upasani. The move is considered significant in the light of the ongoing battle between the two sides for board representation on UWB.
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HLL working on restructuring its products portfolio
Mumbai: Hit by sluggish growth in sales, Hindustan Lever Ltd.(HLL), is working on a restructuring plan by early 2001, that could see the company shed some brands and take up new businesses, Mr Manvinder Singh Banga, chairman, HLL has stated. The company is considering investing about Rs 1 billion a year on e-ventures, 80 percent of that on business to business (B2B), Mr Banga is quoted to have said.

HLL, one of India’s largest consumer products company is about 51 per cent owned by Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever Plc, and makes soaps, detergents, personal care products and processed foods. New forays could include entry into confectionery, consumer healthcare, water and new opportunities on the Web.

The exercise to identify new business areas is running parallel to another exercise, which focuses on pruning HLL's 110-strong portfolio of brands. The restructuring move is similar to the one launched earlier this year by Unilever, which aims to focus the global giant on 400 of its core brands.
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Essar to sign MoU for stake in LNG terminal
Mumbai: The Essar group is planning to pick up a stake in Shell India’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Hazira in Gujarat and is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Shell to this effect next year.

The Essar group, which is extending support for the developmental programme for the LNG import terminal has so far not committed any funds to the project. Essar is involved in implementing the dry cargo berth in Hazira.

The project was awarded to the Shell-led consortium in November 1999. Shell India has floated two project-specific companies - Hazira LNG Pvt. Ltd. and Hazira Port Pvt. Ltd., with the specific objective of acting as the investment vehicle to bring substantial foreign direct investment (FDI). It plans to develop Hazira as a world class LNG driven port and LNG terminal, using state-of-the-art technology, while maximising indigenous content.

Essar's interest in the LNG terminal stems from the fact that its power plant at Hazira - which has the capability for firing LNG - could be a possible buyer of LNG from the terminal.
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