Himatsingka Seide set to acquire US home linen brand
Mumbai: Silk fabrics and home furnishing maker Himatsingka Seide Ltd. is close to acquiring a US bed linen brand to boost its overseas retailing business, sources close to the developments said.

If the deal goes through, it would be the company's third acquisition in the current year. Himatsingka bought 80 per cent of US distributor Divatex Home Fashions earlier this month and 70 per cent of Italian retailer Giuseppe Bellora SPA in January.

Textiles, one of India's traditional sectors, have seen several outbound cross border deals. Companies such as Spentex Industries, Himatsingka Seide, and GHCL have made some of the larger acquisitions in this segment. (Read More)
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Tata Motors may bid for Ford`s Jaguar and Land Rover, roll out Ferari
Mumbai: Tata Motors is looking at a possible bid for acquiring the Jaguar and Land Rover models from Ford Motor, even as Italian sports car maker Ferrari is planning to tie up with the Tata Group to roll out its cars in India, media reports said.

Tata Motors is in the early stages of evaluating a bid for Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover marques, which, if completed, would rank among India's biggest overseas takeover deals, The Daily Telegraph said in a report.

Ratan Tata, chief of the Tata group, is understood to have instructed advisers in the past fortnight to begin evaluating the merits of a joint bid for Jaguar and Land Rover.

The report also said Tata Motors had signed a confidentiality agreement with Ford in recent days.

While a bid is likely to prod other carmakers to get involved, a formal auction is sure to attract private equity firms as well, the report pointed out.

Tatas were the logical choice for Ferrari as it already gets lot of its software from Tata Consultancy Services. (Read More)
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Biocon divests enzymes for $115 million, enters into exclusive deal for bioinsulin
Bangalore-based Biocon Ltd today announced a definitive agreement to divest its enzymes business vertical, that includes a broad range of industrial enzymes, food additives and process aids, to Novozymes A S for $115 million and focus on its core bio-pharmaceuticals business.

It has simultaneously signed an exclusive agreement with Invitrogen Corporation to develop and market a bio-similar version of G-CSF (granulocyte-colony stimulating factor) insulin in North America and the European Union for cell culture.

Biocon's enzymes business will be integrated into Novozymes South Asia Pvt Ltd, a fully owned affiliate of Novozymes A/S. Production and formulation will continue at Biocon's site under lease and service agreements with Novozymes.

Biocon has simultaneously signed an exclusive licensing agreement with global biopharmaceutical firm Invitrogen Corporation, a provider of essential life science technologies for disease research and drug discovery, to market pharmaceutical-grade insulin to the global cell culture market. (Read More)
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Hindalco to acquire Alcan stake in Utkal Alumina
Aditya Birla Group's flagship company, Hindalco Industries Limited, has announced an agreement reached with Alcan Inc. Canada (Alcan) to acquire its stake in the Utkal Alumina Project in Orissa.

The conclusion of the transaction would mark the complete exit of Alcan from the Utkal project. Alcan will have no surviving rights or obligations in Utkal Alumina, as Hindalco would become the 100-per cent owner of the project.

Hindalco and Alcan will continue to retain their business association given that Alcan has ongoing contracts with Novelis. It is also the technology provider to the Utkal alumina project and some other alumina projects of Hindalco.
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Lupin gets DCGI nod for phase II and III clinical trials of herbal psoriasis drug
Mumbai: Lupin Ltd has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct a combined phase-IIb and phase III clinical trial for its herbal anti-psoriasis compound LLL-3348 (Desoris).

The botanical drug product LLL-3348 is a once-daily oral formulation for treatment of chronic stable plaque type psoriasis. The approval comes after the company successfully completed an initial phase II clinical trial in which it evaluated the oral drug product in different lower doses.

The results of the study showed that LLL 3348 administered for 16 weeks is effective in the treatment of psoriasis LLL 3348 produced significant reduction in the psoriatic area and severity in patients with moderate to severe stable plaque type psoriasis.

Lupin said it intends to immediately begin a combined phase IIb and III clinical trials with higher doses in close to 10 centres across the country. The total market for psoriasis drugs is estimated to be more than $2 billion.

The company said that it has three other new chemical entities in various stages of clinical trials.
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Bharti buys back 4.99 per cent from Vodafone; awards $2 billion contract to Ericsson
Mumbai: Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Group has bought back Vodafone's 4.99 per cent direct stake for around $1.4 billion, raising the group's holding in Bharti Airtel to over 50 per cent.

The transaction is part of an agreement with Vodafone, following the UK company's acquisition of controlling stake in Hutch-Essar. Vodafone had said it would transfer its 5.6-per cent stake in Bharti Airtel back to a Bharti Group company for $1.6 billion by November 2008.

Vodafone, which bought 10 per cent stake for $1.5 billion in 2005, still has 4.4 per cent indirect stake in the Bharti group and 0.61 per cent direct stake in Bharti Airtel.

The Bharti group had earlier sold 4.99 per cent indirect stake in Bharti Airtel to Singapore-based private equity firm Temasek for about $2 billion.
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Videocon plans JV with L&T for power plant, says report
Mumbai: Consumer electronics major Videocon Industries is diversifying into electricity generation and supply and mining of minerals, including coal.

The company is currently in talks with engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro Ltd to float a new power company, reports quoting its managing director Venugopal Dhoot said.

Videocon and L&T will be equal partners and initially invest Rs4,500 crore ($1.1 billion) in a 1,000 MW coal-based power plant in Gujarat, the report said.

L&T also said it would form three wholly owned units for power, railway and shipbuilding and launch a $1 billion infrastructure fund.

Videocon is also planning to set up a semiconductor unit in India with an initial investment of Rs2,500 crore and is currently working on finalising the location for the same. (Read More)
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Zee Entertainment to launch youth channel 'Zee Next'
Mumbai: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd is planning to launch a channel targeted at the young audience as it expands.

ZeeNext, a general entertainment channel, will focus on a younger audience "without alienating the higher age group", Zee said in a statement.

Zee Next will be the second general entertainment channel after Zee TV. According to the company source, the channel will contain

NDTV, Sahara, Sony and INX Media are also expected to lunch their general entertainment channels targeting specific audience despite having particular channels based on cinema, music, sports, news and business. (Read More)
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Tata AIG expands network aggressively
Chennai: After a sedate existence Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Limited is expanding its distribution network in an aggressive manner.

The company, which had 81 branches as on 31 March, 2007, has 169 branches three months later. And, it has chalked out plans to have 205 branches by the end of August this year.

The branch expansion will also lead to a 30-per cent increase in Tata AIG's agency force of 23,400 at present.

Tata AIG's agency system is based on a two-tier model. The first tier agents and the second tier form the business associates or agents who are promoted to the next level based on performance. These associates also get to recruit new agents and manage them.

However, since market penetration is possible through a strong distribution network coupled with vibrant agency force, individual agents account for half the company's total premium, with the other half coming from other distribution channels like banks, corporate agents and brokers.

Tata AIG is the only private life insurer to have adopted the zonal business model unlike, the centralised model followed by other companies. (Read More)
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