COMPANIES

HDFC Asset Management Company to launch debt fund
Mumbai: HDFC Asset Management Co Ltd will launch a close-ended debt fund on September 27.

The fund, HDFC FMP 18M September 2007, will be open for subscription till October 8.

It will invest at least 60 per cent of the assets in debt and money market instruments and the rest in government securities, the fund house said.

The fund will not charge any entry load but levy an exit load of 2 per cent for redemptions before maturity. It can levy initial issue expenses of up to 2 per cent of the amount collected.
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Unichem Laboratories in acquisition talks in Brazil
Mumbai: Unichem Laboratories, which has earmarked $20-25 million for acquisitions, is in talks with a few Brazilian drug firms, after it failed to seal a takeover deal there.

"We are in talks with certain companies," agency reports quoted chairman and managing director P.A. Mody as saying.

Mumbai-based Unichem was close to buying a Brazilian firm in January. However, "that did not go through," he said citing lack of financial and operational efficiencies from the merger.

The acquisition will be funded through internal accruals, he said.
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Zydus Cadila gets USFDA nod for anti-rheumatic drug
Mumbai: Cadila Healthcare Ltd has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for marketing hydroxychloroquine sulphate tablets in the strength of 200 mg.

The company will market the drug through its US subsidiary, Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA) Inc, the company said in a statement.

The drug falls in the disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) segment and is used in the management of rheumatoid arthritis.

The sales of such tablets in the US market in 2006 as per NDC Health stood at an estimated $30 million.
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INTERNATIONAL

World Bank set to cut rates for big developing countries
Mumbai: The World Bank will cut interest rates it charges China, Brazil, Mexico and other big developing countries in a compromise deal that would also boost aid for the world's poorest nations, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

As part of the compromise, the World Bank would contribute as much as $3.5 billion to its International Development Association unit, which provides grants and no-interest loans to the world's 80 poorest nations, the Journal reported in its online edition citing bank officials.

The Journal said bank officials would not be identified speaking on the subject, because the compromise is still being refined and must be approved by the bank's board.

The board is expected to meet again on the issue later this week, and the bank wants a final deal in time for its annual meeting October 19, the report said.
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