Bizbits

The company will have 50 per cent equity participation from HPCL, with leading financial institutes like ICICI, HDFC and TDICI being the other partners, a HPCL statement said. The initial equity participation of Rs 20 crore will be raised within a year to Rs 120 crore. The final euqity participation within 10 to 15 years would reach to Rs 1000 crore HPCL 26 per cent and others 74 per cent, the release stated.

Lupin, Mova JV

MUMBAI: Lupin Laboratories Ltd has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Mova Pharmaceutical Corporation of Puerto Rico to manufacture and market Cephalosporins in the US. The JV company, CEPH International Corporation, has acquired the US FDA approved oral Cephalosporin manufacturing facility of Eli Lilly, in PuertoRico, with a capacity of 400 tonnes. Chairman and managing director of Lupin Labs, Desh Bandhu Gupta said: quot;The JV will help US tap the 10 billion global cephalosporin market in a cost-effective wayquot;. Mova is a leading pharmaceutical contract manufacturer in the US and also markets a range of generic products in the US

Sonata Software

MUMBAI: Sonata Software Ltd, a Bangalore-based company is all set to go in for a public offering of 25.22 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 80 per share aggregating to Rs 22.70 crore. The forthcoming issue is mainly to obtain listing on the stock exchanges and to mobilise funds for augmenting long term resources of the company. The proceeds of the issue are being envisaged for utilisation in the new offshore development centre at a cost of Rs 23 crore, according to B Ramaswamy, President and managing director of the company.

Hoechst Marion

MUMBAI: Hoechst Marion Roussel HMR is launching a non-sedating anti-histamine called Alergrafexofenadine. Allergra is active by itself and gets to work as soon as it is absorbed in the blood, thus providing prompt relief to patients. Another unique feature of Allegra is that since it does not cross the blood brain barrier it neither causes sedation or does it affect the ability to perform complex tasks even on administering higher doses of the drug, according to Dr S Bhattacharya, Vice President,Marketing.

Plus Corporation

MUMBAI: Plus Corporation of Japan has picked up 10 per cent equity in Plus Business Machines in India. The company brought 62,000 equity shares fully paid up by cash at a premium of Rs 74.36 .The stake has been bought at eight times the par value. Plus Business Machines is a first generation audito-visual company. The company specialises in communication products.