Pharma major Lupin Limited has acquired Germany-based medicine marketing company Hormosan Pharma (Hormosan), to cater to the German market that is veering towards low-cost, insurance payout-controlled medicine. Hormosan specialises in the supply of medicines for nerve-related illnesses (CNS) and reported sales of Rs 45 crore for the year ended December 2007.It develops, licences and markets a range of generics in Germany. With the acquisition, Lupin, which has annual sales of Rs 2,770 crore (USD$651.49 million) hopes to bypass the high overhead costs, which plague the top five generic drug companies that have controlled the German market traditionally.
Chairman YC Deveshwar said ITC would be looking for growth in every business that it is in, including some new ones.Meanwhile, the company reported an 18% growth in net turnover to Rs 3,900 crore for the quarter to June 30, 2008, with the main driver being the non-cigarettes business as the company continued to scale up new FMCG businesses and grew its agri-business, hotels and paperboard & packaging businesses.
Earlier, at the AGM, Deveshwar had waxed eloquent on the virtues
of agro-forestry and how the use of wood in housing should be
encouraged as wood is a good carbon sink.
Indian fertiliser companies are planning to invest around $5 billion (Rs 21,000 crore) in overseas joint ventures over the next three years. These companies are in negotiations for 19 such ventures, said government officials. These joint ventures are aimed at sourcing nitrogenous, phosphatic fertilisers and other raw materials.The companies involved in the talks include domestic fertiliser majors such as Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers (RCF), Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemcials, Coromandel Fertilisers & Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilisers among others. The talks are being spearheaded by the department of fertilisers, the nodal agency responsible for adequate availability and timely supply of fertilisers across the country.
While the proposed ventures in Argentina, Canada, Jordan, Morocco and Ukraine are primarily aimed at potash production, the government is looking at countries such as Algeria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia for ammonia and urea fertilisers.
Brazil should seek bilateral deals after WTO failure – exporters
July 31st, 2008 Posted in Brazil
The collapse of the Doha Round talks in Geneva on Tuesday was felt like a shock of cold water in Brazil, which had been hoping for greater access to U.S. and EU markets for its many agricultural exports.Now, the country ‘will have to revise all its priorities,’ said Zoraya Rosar, the international coordinator for the National Confederation of Industry.
The top objective is to renew negotiations with the European Union and the Mercosur trade block in South America, as well as seeking deals with the United States, Mexico, India and other big economies.
Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who spearheaded the WTO negotiations for Brazil, has already said the focus will now be on talks with Europe that were set aside during the global haggling.
Arcor: Sweet Expansion
July 30th, 2008 Posted in Argentina
Maybe Sr. Pagani can put India on his itinerary next time. There’s profit in catering to the sweet tooth of Indians. Indian sweets like gulab jamuns go waaaaaaaaaaay beyond any sweetness index conceived.
Latin Business Chronicle
Argentina is well known for its beef but less so for its candy. Yet it is home to one of the world’s leading confectioners. Ranked 143 on Latin America’s Top 500 Companies from Latin Business Chronicle, Argentine candy and food group Arcor is going global. Its 2007 world-wide revenues reached $1.8 billion, an increase of 20 percent from 2006. Net income grew by 19 percent to $62.2 million.
The majority of sales were generated within Argentina but with $245 million emanating from other Latin American countries and another $65 million from the rest of the world.Already ensconced in the U.S. market through manufacturing deals with Wal-Mart, Sara Lee and Brach’s Confections, Arcor is beginning to look east. President and CEO Luis Pagani, son of Arcor’s founder, spent 40 days last year exploring the markets of China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Korea.
You’ve probably heard the term tossed around, and have maybe even said it in a sentence or two yourself. But have you ever really understood what it means, what the implications are, and on a basic level, how it works and if it has even the slightest chance to be a viable large scale player in supplying for our fuel needs? For many of you, I’m imagining the answer is no. Even I, a green business consultant, was quite fuzzy about it all. Until today.Today I came across a video put out by the folks at Valcent, which makes absolutely clear, and absolutely exciting, the what, how, and how much of algae based biofuels, and in particular how their method, via High Density Vertical Bioreactors, they will do it much better. Say what?
Algae, according to the Valcent video, is the fastest growing plant
in the world, and in the process of this, absorbs a great deal of CO2. It
also produces lipids, or the equivalent of vegetable oil. Depending on
the species, 50% of it’s body weight is these lipids. And they can
select for certain algae strains that are particularly suited for
making jet fuel or dieselAccording to the Valcent video, an acre of corn can produce 18
gallons of oil/year. Really? That sounds terribly inefficient to me.
Palm oil produces 700-800 gallons/acre. Respectable amount, but its
cultivation has been a frequent issue due to unsustainable cultivation
practices (Read: chopping down the rain forest) Algae,
even in a regular, horizontal, open pond system, can produce up to
20,000 gallons of oil per year. This is including such factors as water
evaporation, growth inhibiting more growth below, and the accidental
introduction of foreign algae strains from the air. With algae biofuel
production, they can take what remains after extracting the oil, and
put it to use as feed stock for animals, as a component of fertilizer,
and even to produce even more biofuel.See the video for yourself here.
It’s only a matter of time before they run hotels in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and Mexico City.
Business Standard
The Taj Group of Hotels, owned by the Tata Group, is foraying into high-end business and luxury segments globally. “Spas have EBITDA margins as high as 30 per cent, making them highly lucrative,’’ Amol Rao, a hotel analyst at Pioneer Multimedia, said.Taj has entered business gateways such as New York, Boston and Sydney, whereas Taj Resorts and Spa is concentrating on leisure travel in exotic destinations including Phuket, Doha and Saraya islands of UAE. It is either purchasing the properties on an outright basis, as was the case with the New York and Boston properties, or getting into managing contracts for running the businesses.
Indian biotechnology firms are steadily moving up the value chain by offering research and development (R&D) services for global pharma companies to aid drug discovery and manufacture.Companies are offering services in drug discovery and validation based on pathway analysis (that is, analysis of how toxic or radioactive substances reach humans), genomics (study of gene sequences in living organisms), proteomics (large-scale study of proteins) and translational research (clinical investigation with human patients or volunteers).
“These specialised teams are led by scientists of Indian origin, who have returned from the West following long stints in this field. They have set up their own companies or have joined existing firms here,” said Joseph Manoj Victor, senior research analyst-healthcare, Frost and Sullivan.
Pharma companies across the world, which are suffering from a research drought, see these India-based services as complementing their outsourcing model. They are, therefore, entering into partnerships, involving significant cost arbitrage and quick turnaround time.
“The opportunities provided by the Indian biotech compnaies have compelled global pharma firms to take the partnerships to the next level. They sign co-development agreements, under which the Indian companies will take a drug through the pre-clinical and clinical development stages, and will be paid on milestones achieved and will also be given a share of revenues,” Victor said.
Brazil, … Foreign debt has halved as a percentage of GDP since 2002, while the government’s finances are in only modest deficit. Foreign investment is encouraged and its rights protected. Most impressive, while inflation is around 6%, because of high commodity prices, the benchmark Selic interest rate has just been raised to 13%. At that level, inflation will be squeezed out of the system and excessive borrowing will be discouraged.Thus when the commodities boom from which Brazil has benefited deflates, Brazil will be able to lower interest rates and continue domestic expansion without fear of running out of money. The Nobel Committee really needs to give a prize for monetary policy; there can be no question that Brazil would win
it and deservedly so.
Brazil’s health minister said here Tuesday that the South American country is seeking out Indian companies that will produce cheaper generic versions of prescription drugs in Brazil.In an interview with Efe, Jose Gomes Temporao said that one of the objectives of his government is to ease Brazil’s dependence on the importation of pharmacological-chemical technology, for which his ministry is contemplating various strategies.
“India is the country with the greatest capacity for producing quality generics,” Temporao said in New Delhi.
