CORPORATE BUZZ OF THE MONTH

Coca-Cola takes majority stake in Innocent smoothies

Coca-Cola has taken a majority stake in the British fruit smoothie maker Innocent, but said Innocent's three founders would keep running the firm.

The US drinks giant bought an 18% stake in the company a year ago for £30m, but has now upped its shareholding to 58%.

The price of the additional shares was not disclosed.

Innocent's three founders said most of the shares bought by Coca Cola were from the firm's original investor, Maurice Pinto, who wants to retire.

"As for us, we're selling a minority of our shares, but keeping the majority of them, and we will continue to lead the business, with no change or loss of control. The deal gives no new rights to Coke," they said.

Innocent promotes itself as ethically aware and donates 10% of its profits to charity.

The firm was set up in 1999 by the three friends - Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright - who spent £500 on fruit, turned it into smoothies and sold them at a small London music festival.

Apple reveals new iPhone features

Apple has shown off some of the 100 new features to be included in the iPhone operating system later this year.

The update includes a mobile advertising platform called iAd that will be used to place adverts in applications made by third parties.

Apple founder Steve Jobs also showcased a long-awaited multi-tasking feature, which will allow users run more than one program at a time.

The feature is already included in many other smartphones.

iAd marks Apple's first foray into a potentially lucrative new market, and pits it directly against Google's search engine advertising model.

Apple will allow external developers to pocket 60% of ad revenue from iAd.

The Apple boss said the iPhone OS 4.0 update will be released first for the iPhone and iPod touch, and then the iPad, later this year.

India's 3G auction gets under way

Mobile phone firms have begun placing bids in the much-delayed auction for India's third generation (3G) licences.

The auction is expected to deliver the government at least $8bn (£5.2bn) and could last a number of weeks.

Nine telecoms firms are bidding for three pan India licences that cover 22 regions, with prices starting at $789m.

Leading Indian operators such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar are among the applicants bidding for the spectrum, along with Tata DoCoMo.

"The auction has started and it is going smoothly," said a telecom ministry official.

The government owned operators MTNL and BSNL, which already offer 3G services, will also pay the same price as the three winners of the auction for the pan-Indian licences.

Analysts say that the bidding for the 20-year 3G licenses will be aggressive and could push the total raised closer to $11bn.

The battle for spectrum is intense in the fast-growing market where the larger private operators have been restricted in their ability to deliver voice and data services.

Allocations to 2G spectrum were halted in March 2009, until the government announces a new allotment method.

The 3G services will give mobile phone users the ability to download content such as music and videos at faster speeds.

Wireless access

Two days after the completion of the 3G auction 11 telecoms companies will bid for rights to offer broadband wireless services.

The government has stipulated a floor price of $389.5m for each of the two broadband slots up for sale.

Competition among the operators for the lucrative Indian mobile phone market is intense with call costs slashed to less than a cent a minute, according to analysts.

The total number of mobile phones sold in India has jumped nearly 300% over the past few years, from 35 million in 2005 to 130 million in 2009, according to the Indian Cellular Association.

US car giant General Motors reports $4.3bn loss

US car giant General Motors has reported a $4.3bn (£2.8bn) net loss for July to December of last year.

The six months cover the period after the Detroit-based carmaker's emergence from bankruptcy.

GM's chief financial officer Chris Liddell said: "I continue to believe that we have a chance of achieving profitability in 2010."

GM has undergone a major restructuring and the US government currently owns a 61% stake in the company.

GM recorded revenues of £57.5m for the July to December period.

It said its 2009 loss was calculated on the basis of "fresh start" accounting, which allows companies to revalue their assets after bankruptcy protection.

GM's results come on the same day that German carmaker Daimler announced it would give Renault and Nissan a 3.1% stake in its business as part of a global tie-up of the three brands

Markets to stay flat or rise 15%: Analysts

The trigger for upswing could be better than expected corporate earnings growth and easy global liquidity. Top 5 picks | Mid-term picks | Top 10 Equity Funds in 2009-10

Sun Pharmacy positive on US market

Sun Pharmacy, along with its US division, Caraco Pharmaceuticals resolves to issue 30 ANDAs with the US drug controller to advertise generic drugs.
In June 2009, US marshals had investigated Caraco’s production services in Michigan, at Detroit, Wixom and Farmington Hills. Nearly 33 drugs were attained by the US marshals and the FDA prohibited Caraco from producing and selling these drugs in the US, until there was guarantee that the company conforms to manufacturing standards.
Caraco is trying to resolve all the matters with the USFDA as early as possible.
Till June, Sun and its US entity had 111 products due for sanction with the USFDA and the firm is positive about revenue prospects in world’s biggest pharmacy market.

Sobha Developers construct the prime Corporate Education Center in Infosys

Sobha Developers has declared entrust of Global Education Center II to Infosys Technologies at Mysore. The centre, the biggest corporate education center in the world was launched by Sonia Gandhi on 15th September.
The monumental Global Education Center is constructed over a region of more than 1 m sq ft and has 485 faculty rooms, 42 conference rooms, 147 training rooms, 5 assessment halls, an induction hall, a cyber cafe and 2 high-tech libraries.
It is also the biggest single structure constructed by Sobha for Infosys. The center has eight four 100 seater with a built up land of 10, 02,095 Sq Ft, six 60 seater, three 200 seater and two 36 seater classrooms, 302 faculty rooms and 5 examination halls. 7 food courts can provide nearly 10,871 people.
Infosys Technologies has allocated around Rs.2, 055crore. Rs.350crore has been allocated in building of Software Development Blocks and associated services out of this amount, and Rs.1, 705crore has been instilled in education and training-allied infrastructure.