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| Tuesday, January 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Glaxo, Smithkline plan
mega-marriage |
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HDFC Bank net shoots up
55 pc PGCIL to float jv for telecom
operations Advisory panel for IT Ministry Expert gives tips on excellence NRIs praise Pepsi Naik rules out petro price hike LSE tie-up for trading on NSE Morepen to seek Nasdaq listing US co gets stake in Thermax arm
Glaxo, Smithkline plan mega-marriage LONDON, Jan 17 (AP) — British pharmaceutical heavyweights Glaxo Wellcome Plc and Smithkline Beecham Plc — have reached agreement to merge into the world’s largest drug-maker. The Financial Times reported in today’s editions. The agreement, to be announced later, creates a new industry giant, to be called Glaxo Smithkline, with a market capitalisation of £ 115 billion ($ 184 billion), the newspaper said. The planned merger still must be approved by the Federal Trade Commission and the European Union. A spokeswoman for Smithkline refused to confirm the newspaper report. No one from Glaxo returned phone calls yesterday night. The new group would be headquartered in London, but largely run from a new operational base in the USA, possibly New Jersey, the London-based newspaper said. The group will have a 7.5 per cent share of the global pharmaceutical market. The planned merger demonstrates the pressure facing even the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry to consolidate with rivals as a way to afford the rising costs of developing and selling new medicines. It is also likely to trigger a new round of takeovers and mergers throughout the industry. Only last week, Pfizer Inc emerged as the likely winner in the battle for US drug-maker Warner-Lambert Co. Bowing to pressure from its investors, the Warner-Lambert management said they would negotiate a buyout from Pfizer, backing away from a previously announced merger deal with American Home Products Corp. If that deal goes forward, the combined group would have 6.5 per cent of the global market. Talks between Glaxo and Smithkline were only disclosed on Friday. Previous discussions between the two groups collapsed two years ago over differences between their top executives. Under the plan, the companies expect cost savings of about £ 1.1 billion ($ 1.76 billion) after three years, The Financial Times reported. The group will have a worldwide work force of 105,000. But over three years, about 10 per cent of those jobs will go as the new company makes cuts in middle management and administration. The merger is expected to take at least six months to complete and will be realised by an offer of Glaxo or Smithkline shares resulting in a 58.75 to 41.25 per cent split in Glaxo’s favour, The Financial Times said. Glaxo’s strength lies in its top anti-migraine drug, Imitrex, and in treatments for asthma and viral infections, including HIV. Smithkline’s top
products include the antibiotic augmentin, the
antidepressant Paxil and a new diabetes drug, Avandia. It
also has a strong vaccines business. |
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MUMBAI, Jan 17 (PTI) — HDFC Bank has reported 55 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 28.17 crore on a 70 per cent rise in total income at Rs 194.84 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 1999 compared to the same period last year. For the nine month period ending December 31, 1999 the bank has reported a 35 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 81.49 crore on the back of 61.5 per cent rise in total income at Rs 504.16 crore, according to the unaudited financial results released here today. In the reporting quarter interest income rose by 61 per cent to 160.04 crore while other operating income shot up by 126 per cent to Rs 34.80 crore over the corresponding period last year. The bank has incurred a total expenditure of Rs 139.85 crore (Rs 82.99 crore), which includes an interest expense of Rs 91 crore (Rs 63.29 crore) and other expenditure of Rs 48.85 crore (Rs 19.70 crore). Gross profit before tax and depreciation for the quarter stood at Rs 54.99 crore (Rs 31.64 crore) and profit before tax was Rs 47.05 crore (Rs 28.53 crore). OBC net up 17 pc NEW DELHI (TNS): Oriental Bank of Commerce has shown a net profit of Rs 220.01 crore during the nine months ended December 31, 1999 registering an increase of 17.61 per cent over the corresponding period of previous year. Operating profit went up
by 24.62 per cent to touch Rs 397.01 crore. The gross
amounted to Rs 1979.56 crore as against Rs 1488.60 crore
registering an increase of 32.98 per cent, a release
said. |
PGCIL to float jv for telecom operations NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (PTI) — Powergrid Corporation of India (PGCIL) today announced that it would enter the lucrative national long distance telecom operations for which it would float a separate joint venture company. “We have decided to go for national long distance operations (NLDO) similar to the lines of DoT for which PGCIL would float a separate joint venture telecom company,” Chairman and Managing Director of Powergrid R.P. Singh told reporters here. The new company will require an investment of Rs 2,500 crore and PGCIL will have a 26 per cent stake in the telecom company with the private sector having a majority stake. The decision to enter the telecom sector in a big way assumes significance in the wake of the suggestions made by its consultant IVO of Finland, Singh said, adding a final approval from the authorities concerned would be taken soon. PGCIL will select the joint venture partner through international competitive bids, he said. The company has already made a presentation to the Power Ministry based on the recommendations of IVO, company sources said and pointed out that PGCIL will have to extend the transmission lines by another 6,000 km in three years for setting up a separate joint venture. Some of the telecom majors including MTNL VSNL and BPL, had evinced interest in joining hands with Powergrid to set up a separate joint venture company for the telecom business, company sources said. Powergrid, the only
transmission utility in the country, will use the optical
fibre network available through its transmission lines to
enter the telecom services. |
Advisory panel for IT Ministry NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (PTI) — The Government today set up a 11-member committee with several leading names in the field of information technology (IT) to advise the Ministry of Information Technology on issues related to cyber activities. The committee will be headed by Pramod Mahajan, Minister of Information Technology. Along with him, the Secretary in the Ministry, N.R. Narayanmurthy of Infosys Technologies, and Azim Premji of Wipro are members. The other committee members are Subash Chandra, Chairman, Zee and S.C. Kohli, Vice-President, Tata Consultancy Services, Ramalinga Raju, Chairman, Satyam group, Rajendra Pawar, Vice-Chairman, NIIT, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Managing Director, BPL Telecom, Prof V. Raju, Director, IIT Delhi, Dewang Mehta, President Nasscom, Satish Kaura, Managing Director, Samtel group. The committee will meet every two months, official sources said here. The primary role of the
committee was to identify areas in the information
technology such as investment prospects, build human
resource expertise, foster research and development and
generate employment opportunities to chart India’s
progress in its efforts to become an IT super
power. |
Expert
gives tips on excellence CHANDIGARH, Jan 17 — “Excellence is the quality of being very good at something which comes by going far beyond the call of duty, doing your very best in everything related to that area”, said Mr R.S. Dabas, an HRD expert at a CII workshop on “Empowerment and re-engineering of mindsets towards excellence and quality” held here today. “Success is striving to achieve progressive goals to achieve your dreams in life”, he said. A truly successful person is one who attains balance in all the six key areas of life — physical, family, financial, social, career (mental) and spiritual. The workshop focussed on preparing the participants to sustain success under the growing uncertainties and integrating it with a joy and happiness in life — the real challenge of new millennium. The participants learnt how to access their sub-conscious mind and program it for personal and professional growth, goal achievement and increased effectiveness.
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NRIs
praise Pepsi NEW DELHI, Jan 17 —
The fifth NRI convention will be organised in 2001 by the
NRI Sabha, Punjab. The fourth convention in Jalandhar,
held recently evoked an enthusiastic response from the
NRI’s, business houses, academia and opinion
makers.The Sabha lauded Pepsi Foods, which along with its
partners have invested Rs 300 crore in Punjab and
provided employment to over 8,000 people.The company had
invested close to Rs 80 crore in 1989 and set up three
food processing units in the state.Over 1,500 farmers in
Punjab have participated in the company’s contract
farming programme. Agri extension work presently being
carried out on tomato, chilli, garlic, peanuts, basmati
rice and carrot. |
Naik rules out petro price hike NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (PTI) — Petroleum Minister Ram Naik today ruled out any immediate hike in prices of petroleum products like diesel and petrol amidst indications that a cut in import duty of crude was likely. Naik was responding to a query on whether the Government would increase the price of diesel due to the spiralling international crude prices keeping in view the Cabinet decision of 1997 to give import parity to this fuel. Naik ruled out any hike in prices of petroleum products till 2000-01 Budget saying he had proposed cut in import duty as an alternate to hike in diesel prices. Sharp hike in crude prices, which breached $ 28 a barrel last week, would also increase India’ oil import bill to over Rs.60,000 crore during current fiscal as against Rs 24,000 crore in 1998-99, he said.
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LSE tie-up
for trading on NSE LUDHIANA, Jan 17 — The Ludhiana Stock Exchange (LSE) has floated a subsidiary, LSE Securities Ltd, to carry out trading on NSE for its registered sub-brokers. The company was corporated with the Registrar of Companies on January 7 and is likely to receive the certificate for commencement of business in a day or two. Trading on NSE by LSE Securities is likely to commence by mid-April, 2000. The idea of trading on NSE was mooted by the LSE during a meeting of various stock exchanges organised by SEBI on August 9, 1999 and was later cleared by SEBI on November 26, 1999. Started with a total project cost of Rs 4.5 crore, LSE Securities Ltd will have to pay a security deposit of Rs 2.5 crore to the NSE and the remaining sum will be used for infrastructure development. The members of the LSE are required to pay Rs 2.5 lakh each to get themselves registered with LSE Securities. Of this Rs 25,000 each has to be paid by January 31 and the remaining Rs 2,25,000 by Feb 29. Under the terms and conditions as mentioned by SEBI, the company shall not undertake any dealing in securities on its own account. Only members of the LSE can be registered as sub-brokers of the company. The sub-brokers will have to maintain a separate deposit with the company. The company will have nine Directors — all from the LSE. The LSE has 120 members and is the only stock exchange catering to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh. Business worth Rs 30 to 40 crore is carried out on the floor of LSE on an average day. Mr V.N. Dhiri, President of the LSE, said since sub-brokers and investors prefer to work on the NSE and BSE terminals which have a wider number of scrips traded, this strategic tie-up with the NSE through floating a subsidiary became a viable option. Meanwhile, it is learnt
that the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has also offered its
membership to the subsidiaries launched by various small
stock exchanges for similar purposes at the subsidised
rate of Rs 50 lakh. |
Morepen to seek Nasdaq listing NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (UNI) — Morepen Laboratories Limited is working towards getting listed on the Nasdaq within six months, Company Chairman and Managing Director K.B. Suri said here today. The company has appointed Senator Larry Pressler of the USA as an adviser on the Board of Directors of the company, Mr Suri said. “We have initiated the groundwork and the final listing application will be filed in February, and within six months we expect to get listed on the Nasdaq,” he added. Mr Pressler’s
appointment will also give an impetus to Morepen’s
plan to step up its presence in the US market. |
US co gets stake in Thermax arm NEW DELHI, Jan 17 (UNI) — The US-based Novasoft Information Technology Corp has acquired a majority stake in the software wing of Pune-based Thermax Limited at an undisclosed amount. With the offloading of its stake in Thermax Systems and Software Limited, Thermax Limited will now concentrate on its traditional business of energy and environment, a statement issued here said. However, details of the stakes acquired by Novasoft were not mentioned in the statement. “The acquisition
allows us to offer offshore development services to our
customers,” Novasoft CEO Neil Bhaskar said. |
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