Lupin to buy facilIty in US: Lupin Laboratories is embarking upon making its second major purchase in the $80-billion US market in less than a year. The Rs 695-crore company is in talks to acquire a non-cephalosporins facility or company in America as part of its global growth strategy. Chairman and managing director Desh Bandhu Gupta told shareholders in Mumbai at the company's AGM on Friday that this acquisition was likely to be completed during the current year.

Auto Rubbers to merge with TVS Srichakra: The TVS Srichakra board has approved amalgamation of a closely held group company AutoRubbers with itself. The scheme envisages a swap ratio of 41 shares of TVS Srichakra for every 10 shares of Auto Rubbers.

GIC plan to meet competition: Public-sector giant General Insurance Corporation plans to undertake a multi-dimensional exercise to meet the ensuing competition in the insurance sector, chairman D Sengupta has said. The exercise involves an incisive review of the relationship between the corporation and its four subsidiaries, and focusing on issues like human resources management, computerisation and product re-structuring.

Crisil downgrades Tata Finance plans: Rating agency Crisil) on Friday downgraded credit ratings of two NCD programmes of Tata Finance amounting to Rs 45 crore from AA+ to AA-. The company's fixed-deposit programme has also been downgraded to FAA from FAA+. The ratings revision reflects pressures on the asset quality on account of slowdown and the difficult business conditions faced by Tata Finance in line with other NBFCs.

Rupee weakens againstdollar: High corporate demand for dollars pushed down the rupee further on Friday, with the currency shedding five paise to close at 42.56/57 against the greenback. On Thursday, it had closed at 42.51/52.

Indonesia budget deficit may soar: A strong rupiah, plunging energy prices, and lower production are likely to significantly raise Indonesia's budget deficit, analysts said on Friday. They said the beleagured state may have to redo its national sums and seek out more loans on a bilateral basis.

Viag, Algroup plan merger: Germany's Viag AG said on Friday that the firm and Switzerland's Alusuisse Lonza Group planned to merge, creating a diversified industrial group with sales of DM53 billion, confirming speculation they were linking up. Viag said in a statement that the boards of Viag and Alusuisse had decided to propose to their shareholders a merger.

Glaxo says to meet forecast: Drugs giant Glaxo Wellcome would continue to meet its financial forecast with the launching of newproducts, a company executive said on Friday. Chairman Richard Sykes said that initial worries about sales growth were because of the expiry of the United States patent of Glaxo's best-selling ulcer drug Zantac.