Lafarge cements bonds

Paris, Jan. 18: Lafarge will buy out the State of Wisconsin Investment Board's stakes in cement operations in India, South Korea and Japan for $141 million. The purchase is part of a five-year-old agreement between Lafarge and the investment board and increases the cement company's holdings to 71.4 per cent of Lafarge Halla Cement in South Korea, 94.4 per cent of Lafarge India Private and 100 per cent of Lafarge Japan Holdings.

FII inflow

Bangalore, Jan 18: Union finance minister P. Chidambaram today ruled out any new regulatory measures on foreign institutional investors (FIIs) 'at this moment'. He has termed the FII inflows into the bourses as 'quite orderly'.

Loan rates

New Delhi, Jan. 18: The Twelfth Finance Commission has suggested a cap on interest rates on loans given by the Centre to states. The panel has taken a liberal view on debt as most of the states have a difficult fiscal situation.

Cipla net up

New Delhi, Jan. 18: Cipla has reported a 66.84 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 125.67 crore for the quarter ended December 31 compared with Rs 75.32 crore in the year-ago period. Its total income increased 30 per cent to Rs 637.32 crore from Rs 489.43 crore.

Pentasoft

New Delhi, Jan. 18: The board of Pentasoft today approved the amalgamation of Silicon Valley Infotech with itself.