India's Sun Pharma said it has agreed to buy Israeli generic drug maker Taro for USD 454 million to help boost its sales in markets such as the United States, sending its shares up 4.5 per cent.
Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, which gets 90 per cent of its sales from North America, will help widen Sun's presence in dermatology and pediatrics segments, Sun Chairman and Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi said in a conference call.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, India's biggest drug maker with a market value of nearly USD 5 billion, has been scouting for opportunities globally to expand its generics offering.
The Indian firm agreed to pay USD 7.75 per share, up 27 per cent from Friday's close of USD 6.10, valuing Taro's equity at USD 230 million, Sun said in a statement.
The remainder of USD 224 million will go towards refinancing Taro's debt.
Two minority shareholders have moved an Israeli court to restrain Taro from concluding any deal that could hurt minority interests, Sun said, but it was hopeful of overcoming the hurdle.
Sun aims to fund the deal from internal cash and through a USD 350 million it had raised in convertible bonds earlier.
Taro was expected to post a "substantial loss for the year ended December 2006", Sun said, but it expected to turn it around.
"It should become EPS (earnings per share) accretive within 12-18 months," Shanghvi told television channel CNBC-TV 18.
The Israeli firm had reported an annual profit of USD 5.7 million and sales of USD 298 million for 2005.
"The company's focus is obviously to enhance the size and scale of generics," said Sarabjit Kaur Nangra, a sector analyst at Angel Broking Ltd.
"In that sense, this is in line with earlier acquisitions. Sun Pharma has always been looking at acquiring companies wherein there is an opportunity for them to turnaround," she said.
The company has a bigger market value than rivals Cipla Ltd's USD 4 billion, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd's USD 3.6 billion and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd's USD 2.75 billion.
Minority Tussle
Franklin Advisers Inc and Templeton Assets Management Ltd, which together own 9 per cent of Taro, have filed a case in a Tel-Aviv court, seeking to prevent any transaction by Taro that could hurt minority shareholders, Sun said.
Sanghvi said it was paying the same price to Taro's founders and other shareholders and there was no discrimination against minority interests.
"We believe that the litigation of Franklin Templeton does not have any merit, and so the company should be able to get judgment in its favour," he said.
A ruling on the case is expected later on Monday, he added.
When completed it will be Sun's 14th acquisition since it bought US-based Caraco in 1997, a company spokesman said.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
Sun Pharma to buy Taro for $454 mn
May 22, 2007, 12:01 pmMicrosoft buys aQuantive for $6 bn
May 22, 2007, 11:59 am
Software giant Microsoft announced the biggest acquisition in its history by buying digital marketing firm aQuantive for $6 billion in an all-cash deal.
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"The advertising industry is evolving and growing at an incredible pace, moving increasingly toward online and
IP-served platforms, which dramatically increases the importance of software for this industry," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.
The acquisition, the largest deal in the advertising industry, continues the frenzy of interest in online advertising as companies try to corner a bigger piece of this lucrative market that is expected to continue to grow, said CNET News.
The acquisition, comes a day after WPP bought 24/7 Real Media in a deal that valued the group at $649 million. Earlier, Google snapped up DoubleClick for $ 3.1 billion and Yahoo acquired the RightMedia advertising exchange outright for $680 million.
The aQuantive acquisition enables Microsoft to strengthen relationships with advertisers, agencies and publishers by enhancing the company's advertising platforms and services beyond its current capabilities to serve MSN.
"It is a big bet on advertising monetisation for the long-term growth of the company and this is a significant step forward," president of Microsoft's platform and services division Kevin Johnson said in a statement.
He said the online advertising market would be worth $40 billion this year and was growing at 20 per cent a year.
The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of Microsoft's fiscal year 2008.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
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"The advertising industry is evolving and growing at an incredible pace, moving increasingly toward online and
IP-served platforms, which dramatically increases the importance of software for this industry," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.
The acquisition, the largest deal in the advertising industry, continues the frenzy of interest in online advertising as companies try to corner a bigger piece of this lucrative market that is expected to continue to grow, said CNET News.
The acquisition, comes a day after WPP bought 24/7 Real Media in a deal that valued the group at $649 million. Earlier, Google snapped up DoubleClick for $ 3.1 billion and Yahoo acquired the RightMedia advertising exchange outright for $680 million.
The aQuantive acquisition enables Microsoft to strengthen relationships with advertisers, agencies and publishers by enhancing the company's advertising platforms and services beyond its current capabilities to serve MSN.
"It is a big bet on advertising monetisation for the long-term growth of the company and this is a significant step forward," president of Microsoft's platform and services division Kevin Johnson said in a statement.
He said the online advertising market would be worth $40 billion this year and was growing at 20 per cent a year.
The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of Microsoft's fiscal year 2008.
Courtesy : Expressindia.com
redbus.in
May 22, 2007, 10:59 am
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Recently I have come to know about a website where we could book bus tickets online. redBus has partnerd with all major bus operators to sell their tickets online on www.redbus.in . The website is mirrored at www.redbus.co.in. Hence the same data can be accessed in both the sites. One can buy tickets of players lik e Kallada,Diwakar travels, Sharma Travels, Shama Travels, KPN Travels, Raj National Express etc., redBus supports all major destinations in South India like Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbator, Erode, Kozikode, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kurnool, Tirupathi, Mumbai, Pune etc.,
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Another amazing feature is that there is no login needed. Atlast relief from remembering passwords! Iam unable to believe that we dont have to create a user account to buy online at redbus.in !!
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I want to tell you about www.redbus.in . It is a blessing for people like me. Iam a native of Hyderabad and Iam working in Bangalore. I go home every alternate weekend. With the exceitement of going home also comes an hatred of challenging the heavy Bangalore traffic to buy a bus ticket.
Recently I have come to know about a website where we could book bus tickets online. redBus has partnerd with all major bus operators to sell their tickets online on www.redbus.in . The website is mirrored at www.redbus.co.in. Hence the same data can be accessed in both the sites. One can buy tickets of players lik e Kallada,Diwakar travels, Sharma Travels, Shama Travels, KPN Travels, Raj National Express etc., redBus supports all major destinations in South India like Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbator, Erode, Kozikode, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kurnool, Tirupathi, Mumbai, Pune etc.,
They accept all major credit/debit card. Iam told that even people with out credit/debit card can shop for tickets at www.redbus.in . One can do online bank transfer from his/her account directly to redbus account.
That is not all. All this facility comes for absolutely no extra charge. Infact Iam told that they have plans to facilitate dynamic pricing. Which means, the prices of tickets at www.redbus.in could be lower than those at the traditional brick & mortor travel agent during off season and weekdays.
Another amazing feature is that there is no login needed. Atlast relief from remembering passwords! Iam unable to believe that we dont have to create a user account to buy online at redbus.in !!
With all these facilities and sound technology base,redBus rocks!!
I wish them very best of luck.
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