COMPANIES

Dabur enters malted food, drinks segment
Mumbai: Personal care and food products maker Dabur India Ltd has entered the malted food and drinks segment through the launch of a chocolate-flavoured health drink, the company said.

Chyawan Junior, a variant of its ayurvedic product Chyawanprash, would be first test-marketed in West Bengal and Maharashtra, KK Rajesh, executive vice president, said at a press conference.

"Dabur is putting in a concerted effort at expanding the Chyawanprash category by introducing new and innovative variants," he said, adding Chyawanprash products bring in annual revenues of about Rs175 crore.
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DLF board to consider foreign acquisitions
Mumbai: Real estate major DLF Ltd said its board would consider proposals regarding overseas acquisitions and raising funds offshore at a meeting on October 11.

The board would also consider participation in the proposed initial public offer of DLF Offices Trust in Singapore, the company said in a release.

Shares in the company fell 3.4 per cent to Rs862.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
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GENERAL

India, Oman propose labour welfare pact
Mumbai: India is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on labour issues with Oman in December.

The issue was discussed at a meeting between the minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed and Oman's minister of manpower Juma Bin Ali al Juma in Muscat yesterday.

"The draft of the MoU has been handed over to Oman's ministry of manpower for its consideration and it is our fervent hope that the memorandum may be signed during the visit of a high-level delegation from Oman to India by the year-end," Ahmed said.

The draft MoU includes measures to check labour-related problems especially the activities of unscrupulous recruiting agents in India, Ahamed said.
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INTERNATIONAL

European Commission opens probe into IBM-Telelogic deal
Mumbai: The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into IBM's bid to buy Swedish software provider Telelogic AB, warning the deal could give the US-based company too much power in some parts of the European software development market.

If the deal went ahead, "IBM would become by far the largest vendor of software development tools for software modeling and for requirements management," EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes said.

She said the EU prove would "thoroughly analyse the effects" of the purchase worth €557.5 million ($789.7 million), "to ensure that it would not harm competition."

An initial EU investigation into the deal found that IBM and Telelogic were direct competitors and leading vendors worldwide in software modeling and in development tools, adding that a link-up between the two "could have adverse effects on competition" and slowdown innovation and interoperability with tools from other vendors.

The EU has set a February 20 deadline by which to reject or approve the deal.
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