Watson close to Actavis deal March 22, 2012 WATSON Pharmaceuticals is close to buying Swiss-based Actavis for around $7bn (£4.5bn), marking the latest deal between generics companies racing to achieve economies of scale, three sources familiar with the matter said. The deal would involve US-based Watson, already among the world’s five largest generic drugmakers, paying between €5.0bn-€5.5bn (£4.2bn-£4.6bn) for Actavis, a business not [...]
Indian government tries to quell $211bn coal furore March 22, 2012 INDIA lost up to $211bn (£133.4bn) in revenue by selling coalfields too cheaply, a government auditor’s draft report has said, sparking a furore in parliament yesterday that added to pressure on the Prime Minister after months of policy missteps. The Prime Minister’s office called the estimated loss “exceedingly misleading,” after the report prompted lawmakers to [...]
BP GETS WEST SHETLAND GREEN LIGHT March 22, 2012 BP YESTERDAY got the green light to drill a deepwater well to the west of the Shetland Islands. Permission from the government came a day after George Osborne pledged £3bn in field allowances to encourage exploration in the West Shetlands. Although BP first applied to drill in North Uist as early as 2009, it suspended [...]
Oil firms face Brazil spill charges March 22, 2012 A Brazilian federal prosecutor filed charges against 17 Chevron and Transocean employees for an oil spill last year in Rio de Janeiro, in the latest problem for Chevron in Latin America. Prosecutor Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, who has already filed an $11bn (£7bn) civil lawsuit against the companies for the spill, has added the threat [...]
Patent blow for AstraZeneca March 22, 2012 The High Court has found the patent to be invalid on the extended-release version of Seroquel, AstraZeneca’s blockbuster antipsychotic, dealing a further blow to a highly profitable franchise. The ruling followed a patent challenge by units of Teva Pharmaceuticals and Novartis’s Sandoz – the two biggest generic drugmakers – as well as Accord Healthcare and [...]
Sony sells off chemicals arm March 22, 2012 Sony said yesterday that it will sell off part of a chemical and device subsidiary that makes films and adhesives used in televisions, cameras and mobile phones to state-backed Development Bank of Japan. The company said a purchase price had not been decided. The Nikkei business daily reported earlier that the bank would pay ¥30-40bn [...]
World’s largest foam cup maker Dart Container to buy Solo Cup for $1bn March 22, 2012 US DISPOSABLE cup manufacturer Dart Container has agreed to buy Solo Cup in a deal valued at $1bn (£632m). Dart paid $315m in cash for all of Solo’s equity, and plans to use remaining reserves to clear roughly $700m of Solo’s debt. The world’s largest maker of foam cups, Dart said it has no plans [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 22, 2012 Allanfield The specialist insurance broker has announced the appointments of Paul Leader and Paul Williams as managing directors of companies in the Allanfield Group. Leader joins in June from global insurance broker HW Wood, where he was director with responsibility for the real estate and commercial teams. Williams joins, with immediate effect, from Gallagher Health [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 22, 2012 LAIRD UBS downgraded the engineer from “buy” to “neutral” and increased the target price from 190p to 198p after its recent sale of the loss-making handset antennae business in China for £20m. The Swiss bank added: “We note that the underlying growth drivers remain intact and as such expect continued momentum in the business, but [...]
Fears of slowdown in China see miners and FTSE tumble March 22, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday, heading for its biggest weekly loss so far this year as signs of slower growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, weighed on cyclical stocks. Heavyweight mining shares fell 3.2 per cent after data showed industrial activity in China, the world’s largest consumer of metals, shrank for a fifth [...]
