Sun Pharma says seeks to enter Japan generics market

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, India's biggest drugmaker by market value, is looking for partnerships or acquisitions to enter Japan, an especially lucrative market for manufacturers of low-cost drugs, a senior executive said. 

"At an intent level, we would like to participate in the Japanese generic market. But we are still thinking through as to what's the best way to participate," Uday Baldota, senior vice president for finance and accounts at Sun, told Reuters.

 "It could be a partnership, or an acquisition. We haven't really narrowed down the specific way of doing it." Mumbai-based Sun gets more than half its sales from the United States, the world's biggest pharmaceuticals market."We will do acquisitions and remain keen to do acquisitions, but it's not necessary for us to do an acquisition just to grow our business," Baldota said. "We feel comfortable doing large deals. That is not something that will deter us."

Rupee jumps to 3-month high of 61.24

The rupee jumped to a three-month high of 61.24 against the dollar due to a sharply narrow current account deficit (CAD) data and tracking stronger Asian market currencies.

At 1.25 pm, the domestic unit was trading at 61.31 per dollar.Released post market hours on Wednesday, India’s CAD showed a sharp fall at $4.2 billion in the December quarter compared with $5.2 billion in the previous quarter. The shortfall was equivalent to 0.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

This boosted the Indian currency amid persistent foreign inflows into the domestic markets. The BSE-benchmark Sensex was trading higher by 118 points (0.56 per cent) at 21,395 points in the afternoon trades.

The Indian currency opened at a seven-week high of 61.53 against Wednesday’s close of 61.77 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market.Easing tension between Ukraine and Russia has also boosted Asian market currencies.

“Narrower current account deficit and sustained capital inflows are supporting the rupee,” a currency dealer said.

Developments in the run-up to the national elections will be one of the key factors influencing market movements. The polls will be held from April 7 to May 12.

Indian cos mop up Rs 20,000 cr via debt placement in Feb: SEBI

Indian companies raised a little over Rs 20,000 crore through private placement of debt securities in February, a marginal drop of 3 per cent from the preceding month.

The funds were garnered primarily for business expansion and to meet capital requirements. According to the latest data from market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India, firms had garnered Rs 20,782 crore through private placement of bonds in January as against Rs 20,171 crore in February.

However, the number of issues rose to 162 last month from 145 in January.

Firms issue debt securities, or bonds, to institutional investors to raise capital under the private placement route.Market analysts said capital raised via the debt placement route declined in February as compared to the previous month but it is likely to pick up in the ongoing quarter on expected stability in interest rates.

In 2013, companies mopped up Rs 3 lakh crore through private placement of debt securities, 11 per cent lower compared to Rs 3.36 lakh crore garnered in year before.Analysts said the quantum of funds raised by firms in 2013 was lower than the preceding year, but they preferred this route over equity because of a lull in the stock market.

ONGC, Oil India to buy 5% stake each in IOC at Rs 220/share

The government had in February end approved a 10 percent stake sale in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to state run  ONGC  and  Oil India  at a discount of 10 percent.

 According to PTI, ONGC and Oil India will buy the 10 percent stake in IOC at Rs 220 per share. The IOC scrip was trading at around Rs 258 per share when the news came in. The stake sale will happen at a significant discount to current market price. Both ONGC and Oil India will buy 5 percent each in IOC, which was initiated to meet the government's FY14 divestment programme.

 ONGC will have to shell out a little more than Rs 2,500 crore. Sudhir Vasudeva, former ONGC chairman does not see strain on cash positions on balance sheet post the buy (IOC stake sale). He believes ONGC will be able to enter FY15 with comfortable cash positions.

 According to him, IOC's three month average price comes to Rs 220 per share. 

ONGC already has around 8.77 percent stake in IOC. He says the additional 5 percent IOC stake is attractive because there is no lock-in period, so ONGC can dilute this stake whenever it wants. He further adds that the fundamentals of IOC are pretty strong.