Leading Indian pharma companies such as Ranbaxy Laboratories, Cipla and Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals are submitting bids for the $200-million South African government tender to supply anti-HIV drugs. The contract will be to supply 10 anti-Aids drugs to the SA government and is expected to be finalised in May. It is not clear if the tender will go to a single company or will be split to more than one company. South Africa has the highest number of HIV patients in the world with as estimated 5.5 million people infected with the virus.
Ranbaxy Laboratories is expected to put the bid through its South African JV Senko Pharmaceutical which presently markets its range of ARV drugs in South Africa and other African countries. Aurobindo Pharmaceutical has the largest basket of ARV drugs and hopes to get the maximum benefit from the tender.
Indian companies are integrated drug makers and can sell drugs at a much lower cost. The quality of the drugs is high and anti-ARV drugs manufactured by Indian companies have WHO and USFDA approvals. Also, as the tender regulations will provide preference points to companies which have local manufacturing capacities, Indian companies such as Ranbaxy Laboratories, Cipla and Matrix which have tie-up with local companies there will get some benefit.
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Aptech, the largest information technology training companies in India, is planning to unlock the value of its equal joint venture in China by transferring its share to a holding company and listing it in US. Post listing, Aptech would hold 22% stake in the holding company.
Within seven years of entering China, Aptech has gone a long way, and today its revenues and margins are higher than India operations. It entered China in 2000 through a 50:50 joint venture with a local partner Beijing Jade Bird to set up Beijing Aptech Beida Jade Bird Information Technology Co. The JV has set up 250 centres and has cornered ~33% of the market share. At Rs 170-180 crore of revenues, Chinese operation contributes 40% to Aptech’s consolidated revenues. Operating margins in China is 40% and in India is 20%.
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Reliance Communications (RCom) is planning to set up WiMax networks across 50 countries in the next three years. To get a head start, RCom is planning to acquire a European WiMax operator that has WiMax licences in 20 countries across Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America, in a $300-400 million (Rs 1,200-1,600 crore) deal.
The acquisition of the European company will enable RCom set up fresh WiMax network in these countries and scale up the existing network. This would be company’s second acquisition in the WiMax space. In February, the company had acquired a significant stake in a French WiMax chip manufacturer Sequans Communications. The worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways.
RCom has set up WiMax networks in 18 cities in the country. As per RCom’s `Vision 2012’, the company intends to use undersea cables and WiMax-enabled last mile access in a similar number of geographies. It intends to provide highspeed broadband services, voice, video and data suite and 4G services, in the global market. The company intends to connect over 2.5 billion individuals over WiMax networks by then.
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