Meda AB (MEDAA), the Swedish drugmaker that rejected a takeover approach from Mylan Inc., agreed to buy Italian family-owned pharmaceutical company Rottapharm Madaus for about 21.2 billion kronor ($3.1 billion) to add consumer-health products. The Rovati family, which controls all of Rottapharm, will receive 15.3 billion kronor in cash, 30 million Meda shares valued at 3.3 billion kronor and another payment in January 2017 of 2.6 billion kronor, Solna, Sweden-based Meda said in a statement today. Rottapharm this month canceled a planned initial public offering after the sale failed to achieve the valuation the family wanted.
Updated 5 Years ago

Developers of software used to access Tor - an otherwise hard-to-reach part of the internet have disclosed that an attack on the network may have unmasked users for five months. The Tor Project said that it believed the assault was designed to de-anonymise the net addresses of people operating or visiting hidden sites.
Updated 5 Years ago

The US and EU have banned the export to Russia of hi-tech oil equipment needed in Arctic, deep sea, and shale extraction projects. This will leave Western companies, which have an estimated $35 billion invested in Russian oil, in a bind. New stage three sanctions won’t immediately slash Russian oil production, which at 10.55 million barrels per day is the world’s largest, but could derail future foreign investment in Russia’s oil industry. Russia is home to the largest combined oil and gas reserves in the world.
Updated 5 Years ago

The Tata conglomerate, India's biggest business group, has said it will invest $35bn (£20.7bn) over the next three years in areas including retail and defence. The expansion plans were unveiled by chairman Cyrus Mistry at an internal meeting this week and confirmed via an emailed statement.
Updated 5 Years ago

Profits at Samsung Electronics fell 20% in the second quarter, hurt mainly by a slowdown in smartphone sales and a strong Korean currency. It made a net profit of 6.25 trillion won ($6.1bn; £3.6bn) in the April-to-June period, down from 7.77 trillion won a year ago. When compared to the previous quarter, its profit was down 17%.
Updated 5 Years ago

Liberia's government has announced that it is closing down all schools across the country to stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. Some communities would be placed under quarantine as well, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said. Non-essential government workers will be sent home for 30 days and the army deployed to enforce the measures.
Updated 5 Years ago

PZ Cussons Plc, maker of Imperial Leather soap, posted a higher full-year profit after cost cuts scrubbed out the effect of a strong pound and periodic disruptions to sales in Nigeria, its largest market. Cussons’ shares rose as much as 3.3 percent on Tuesday. The British company expects revenue in Africa, flat last year, to rise about 10 percent in the current financial year, helped by the sale of cooking oil from its new joint venture with Wilmar International Ltd in Nigeria.
Updated 5 Years ago

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has partnered with Enactus Challenge to organise a youth empowerment programme which brought together 35 tertiary institutions nationwide for a national competition that held in Lagos. FCMB, in the past 6 years, has supported projects in various states including Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto and Rivers states. Through these projects, the bank has impacted over 900 women and young people and empowered them with viable skills that help them earn a living.
Updated 5 Years ago

Underwriting firm, Regency Alliance plc, during the 2013 financial year recorded a 38 percent growth in gross premium written income, moving from N865.85 million in 2012 to N2.28 billion, while the net premium income stood at N1.66 billion as against N363.25 million the previous year, a 22 percent increase. The company also witnessed growth in investment income, moving from N69.66 million in 2012, to N112.52 million in 2013, a 62 percent increase.
Updated 5 Years ago

Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan Motor Company Limited has announced the Japanese carmaker’s launch timetable for the latest vehicle automation technologies aimed at accelerating consumer adoption of autonomous drive systems. The Nissan CEO said new technologies, including automated lane controls and highway traffic management systems, to be introduced over the next four years, would demonstrate to consumers the viability and value of autonomous drive systems, which Nissan intends to make commercially viable by 2020.
Updated 5 Years ago