The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Abbott buys Piramal Health New Delhi, May 21 US-pharma major Abbott today announced to acquire Piramal Healthcare for $ 3.72 bn (about Rs 18,000 crore) to become the largest drug manufacturer in India. Terming the move that will help it garner 7 per cent of the estimated Rs 55,000 crore Indian drug market, as a "strategic action" to become the leading player in India, Abbott said it would pay $ 2.12 billion upfront and the remaining amount would be paid in four annual installments of $400 million for the domestic business only. Promoters of Piramal, at present among the top 10 players, will retain their R&D, overseas and active pharmaceutical ingredients' (drug raw materials) business. "With this deal, the combined healthcare solutions and Abbott business will become the clear market leader in India with a market share of approximately 7 per cent," Piramal group chairman Ajay Piramal said. Immediately after the announcement, Abbott India shares shot up by about 15 per cent to Rs 1,210 while scrips of Piramal jumped by over 5 per cent to Rs 599.90. However, the Indian pharma firm's shares declined by mid-day by about 8.5 per cent as the news sunk in that the deal was limited only to the domestic drug business of the firm. Likewise, the gains of Abbott India dived by nearly half to about 8 per cent with scrips being quoted at Rs 1,150 by mid-day. Abbott signed a "definitive agreement with Piramal Healthcare to acquire full ownership of Piramal's Healthcare Solutions (domestic formulations)... for an upfront payment of $ 2.12 billion, plus $ 400 million annually for the next four years," the US firm said in a statement. Abbott said the acquisition would be funded through internal accruals and would be done through its wholly-owned subsidiary. As part of the deal, Abbott would get Piramal's manufacturing facilities and rights to market over 350 brands in the domestic business. "The sale will also involve the transfer of more than 5,000 employees of the domestic formulation business," Piramal said, adding that, "Piramal's Healthcare Solutions business will become part of Abbott's newly-created, stand-alone Established Products Division." Under the terms of agreement, Piramal had agreed not to engage in generic pharmaceutical business in the country for the next eight years. The sale is subject to shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions, it added. According to Abbott's estimates, the growth rate of its Indian pharmaceutical business with Piramal will go up by up to 20 per cent annually and achieve sales of more than $2.5 billion by 2020. — PTI
	Hindujas acquire European bank for Rs 8,770 cr New Delhi, May 21 The Hinduja group today announced that it would acquire European private bank KBL epb for Euro 1.35 billion (about Rs 8,770 crore). KBL epb, a subsidiary of Belgium-based KBC Group, is one of the largest onshore private banking groups with affiliated local banks in 55 locations across 10 European countries. Private banking refers to customised service, including wealth management, provided to high networth individuals. As part of the deal, the Hinduja Group will acquire KBC's entire interest in the subsidiary, including all private banking subsidiaries and life insurance businesses. KBL epb had assets under management of Euro 47 billion. The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2010, a joint statement said. "We plan to invest further in the business, maintaining each of the subsidiaries, while also providing KBL epb with access to the fast growing markets of the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and Asia," said Hinduja Group chairman Srichand P Hinduja. "In this way, we hope to address the private banking needs of clients internationally and facilitate capital flows between fast-growing economies and established Western financial markets," he said. The group's banking business includes Hinduja Bank Switzerland, a private bank active across Europe, the Middle East and India in wealth management, private banking, trade finance and corporate advisory services. Besides, the group is the promoter of IndusInd Bank which commenced its operations in 1994. The group will ensure that clients continue to receive exemplary service from a highly-motivated staff working in a new and secure environment, he said. — PTI
	Nano safe, says probe New Delhi, May 21 Tata Motors today claimed that its people's car was "absolutely safe", saying that a probe into fires that gutted a couple of Nanos by an expert team found “no manufacturing defects”. "We have concluded a comprehensive investigation into the incidents of fire in two Tata Nanos. The investigation, conducted by a 20-member Tata Motors Group team and an independent forensic expert, has reaffirmed that the Tata Nano is a safe car... "The investigations have also revealed that the incidents were not related," a Tata Motors' official said. At the same time, the company offered to conduct pre-emptive checks on all Nanos on the road, starting May 24, but clarified that this was not a recall. Recalling the incidents, the company said the fire in March, 2010, shortly after a customer took delivery of the car, may have been caused by a foreign object in the exhaust system that its expert team found. In the other case that happened in April, it was concluded that the car that was being driven to the dealership caught fire possibly due to a ruptured fuel line. Citing these findings, the official emphatically ruled out allusions that there were any manufacturing defects. The probe team drew experts from across the Tata Motors group, including the Nano project team, passenger and commercial vehicles businesses, the Engineering Research Centre, the Tata Motors European Technical Centre and Jaguar Land Rover. Besides, an independent forensic expert from the UK was part of the investigation, a company spokesperson said. "It is important for us to reassure our customer base which is why we are planning to conduct a pre-emptive diagnostic check on all cars with customers," he said, emphasising that these inspections did not constitute a recall. Delivery of Nanos began in July, 2009, and since then, more than 30,000 cars have been sold in the country. The first composite plant for manufacturing Nano at Sanand in Gujarat is expected to be commissioned next month. "The Tata Nano has undergone all necessary validations before delivering to customers - this includes more than 300 prototypes which together covered more than 2 million km of safe operation in all conditions," the company official said. — PTI
	BSNL invites bids for GSM lines New Delhi, May 21 The BSNL today invited bids for acquiring 5.5 million lines to expand GSM operations from three foreign vendors, barring Chinese, who had participated in the earlier 93 million line tender which was cancelled. The decision to this effect was taken at a special board meeting of the PSU today, senior officials said. The three vendors are Ericsson, Nokia-Siemens Network and Alcatel-Lucent, they added. The PSU has, however, not included Chinese equipment players like Huawei and ZTE. Huawei the winner in one of the regions in earlier 93 million line tender. Although the BSNL is quite on its decision to exclude Chinese firms, sources said getting security clearances was the main reason for this. Asked why the tender has been reduced to a small quantity, they said it was for immediate requirement. — PTI
	ADAG firms hike stake in Fame Mumbai, May 21 Reliance MediaWorks, along with two other ADAG group firms, has acquired a 2.37 per cent stake in Fame India, thus hiking their combined holding in the multiplex chain to 14.51 per cent. Three entities of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) — Reliance MediaWorks, Reliance Capital and Reliance Capital Partners — have acquired 8.24 lakh equity shares, or 2.37 per cent stake, of Fame through open market transactions. The acquisition of shares were made between February 22 and May 20, Fame India said today. Post-purchase, the combined holding of the ADAG companies in Fame now stands at 14.51 per cent. — PTI
	BWA auction from May 24 New Delhi, May 21 The government today approved the provisional results for the 3G spectrum sale that fetched it a staggering Rs 67,719-crore bonanza, paving the way for starting the auction of the broadband wireless access (BWA) airwaves from May 24. According to official sources, a committee, headed by Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar, today approved the 34-day-long auction process, which concluded on May 19. Other members of the committee are finance secretary Ashok Chawla, telecom secretary PJ Thomas and Planning Commission member secretary Sudha Pillai. With this, the 3G auction process comes to end and all winners, including two telecom PSUs, have been asked to pay within 10 days from now. DoT officials said the last date for payment is May 31. The auction for the BWA spectrum will now begin on Monday and 11 telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, the Tatas and Qualcom, are in the fray for two slots of spectrum. The reserve price is Rs 1,750 crore for a pan-India BWA spectrum licence. — PTI
	Credit flow down in Haryana Ruchika M. Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 21 A slowdown in credit flow has been witnessed in Haryana, with the growth rate coming down by 22.9 per cent in just one year. Though the year-on-year credit expansion in the state has shown an increase of 12.8 per cent, the growth rate has come down from 35.7 per cent to 12.8 per cent between December, 2008, and December, 2009. These facts were brought to the notice of the State Level Bankers Committee during its 111th meeting for Haryana held here yesterday. It was revealed that though the semi-urban and rural areas in the state witnessed a high growth rate, the credit offtake in the urban areas of Haryana was rather dismal, thus affecting the slowdown in credit growth. The gross credit in the state increased from Rs 42,585 crore in December, 2007, to Rs 57,800 crore in December, 2008, the total advances were just Rs 65,225 crore in December, 2008-09. The main reason for the slow growth in advances in the state has been poor credit offtake in urban areas. Because of the recession, the industry was not in an expansion mode. Haryana, which has a fairly large share of exporters, mainly in Panipat, Rohtak Faridabad and Gurgaon, witnessed a slow growth because of the exports being down. Even the real estate sector, which contributes in a major way to the state’s economy, witnessed a slowdown, thus affecting credit offtake in the urban areas. On the other hand, the credit offtake in priority sector advances, agriculture advances, weaker sector advances and advances to micro and small enterprises, witnessed a good credit growth rate - higher than the rate in the corresponding period last year. It may be noted that even though the total credit deposit ratio (CD ratio) in Haryana is above the national average of 60 per cent (at 69 per cent), the CD ratio in Ambala, Gurgaon, Rewari, Rohtak and Sonipat districts is less than 60 per cent. Bankers expressed their concern over this low CD ratio, which is a result of more accretion of deposits on account of land acquisition. Farmers, whose land is being acquired, are depositing money in the banks. However, most of the people, who require loans approach the corporate offices of the banks in Delhi, hence leading to a low CD ratio. The CD ratio is lowest in Rohtak (41 per cent), followed by Sonepat (45 per cent) and Gurgaon (46 per cent).
	Alcatel launches $2 lakh plan for poor Sunit Dhawan Tribune News Service Gurgaon, May 21 Alcatel-Lucent unveiled “Empower”, its India-specific corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, which is supported by the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Alcatel-Lucent, here today. The CSR initiative emphasises the company’s commitment to help improve the lives of people in some of the country’s disadvantaged communities through direct financial assistance as well as through the engagement of Alcatel-Lucent employees. Under the programme, the Alcatel-Lucent Foundation has committed a total of $205,000 to five NGOs in India over the next two years. This amount is supposed to be spent on providing educational opportunities to children and teenagers as well as life-skills training for disadvantaged youth, particularly girls. “The launch of this programme underscores one of our key values as a company, a commitment to social responsibility. We believe CSR is critical to building a stronger business and vital to a company’s long-term success. Alcatel-Lucent has been part of the Indian business community for more than a quarter of a century and our commitment to the people of India remains strong and focused,” maintained Vivek Mohan, managing director, Alcatel-Lucent India. The NGOs selected for the grants work with destitute children, young adults and women in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. The grants cover a range of programmes, ranging from the provision of basic necessities such as food, clothing and healthcare to arranging for primary and secondary education as well as vocational and life-skills training. In addition to providing funding, Alcatel-Lucent employees will volunteer their time and expertise for these NGOs to help them in various initiatives.
	Corporate Results ITC net surges 27 pc, payout at 550 pc New Delhi, May 21 ITC today reported a 27 per cent growth in its net profit to Rs 1,028.2 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2010. The company had a net profit of Rs 808.99 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2009, ITC said. The hotel-to-tobacco major has declared a special dividend of Rs 5.50 per share of Re 1 each and a dividend of Rs 4.50 per ordinary share for the financial year ended March, 2010. The Kolkata-based company also said its board would meet on June 18, 2010, to consider the issue of bonus shares. During the quarter, the company's net income grew by 29 per cent to Rs 5,131.61 crore from 3,985.92 crore recorded in the same period in the 2009-10 fiscal. In the 12-month period ended March 31, 2010, the company had a net profit of Rs 4,061 crore, as against Rs 3,263.59 crore posted in the year-ago period. ITC’s net income during the period jumped to Rs 18,382.24 crore from Rs 15,806.54 crore recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal. Grasim profit up 15% Grasim Industries yesterday said its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, jumped by 15 per cent to Rs 654 crore. The firm had earned a net profit of Rs 569 crore in the same period last year. During the period under review, consolidated revenue of the company increased by 11 per cent to Rs 5,475 crore compared to Rs 4,942 crore in the corresponding period last year. Wockhardt dips Wockhardt said it had clocked a net loss of Rs 565.2 crore for the January-March quarter of the last fiscal. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 10.2 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. For the 15-month period from January, 2009 to March, 2010 the company registered a net loss of Rs 1,000.8 crore, a press release said here. — PTI