L&T and Spice Group have emerged as front runners among seven other players for acquiring 51 per cent stake in the tainted Satyam Computer Services.

The company has been in limelight following the disclosure of largest ever corporate auditing fraud by its founder chief B Ramalinga Raju and other top executives of the Indian outsourcer.

The country's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has managed to get Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificates from the concerned departments in the UK and Australia for its Paonta Sahib plant.

The authorities from both countries investigated the utility as per respective principles and guidelines of GMP in 2006 and finally gave nod to drug manufacturing after re-examining the plant in 2008.

Geneva - Holcim, a Swiss cement supply company, said Monday it had opened international arbitration proceedings against Venezuela, after the South American government failed to pay compensation for the nationalization of its branch there last year.

Along with two other foreign-owned cement companies, Holcim's assets were seized by Caracas in the summer, the company said in statement.

In violation of an agreement between the company and Venezuela, the Swiss firm was never compensated and the government cut off all contact by October.

Adani Wilmar, famous for its best-selling edible oil brand Fortune, would double the capacity of its Haldia based utility to 1,600 tonnes per day by December 2009. The company, with total worth of Rs 6,000 crore, would invest Rs 100 crore for the project to complete it by 2012.

Adani Wilmar CEO, Atul Chaturvedi said, "We are in the process of enhancing the Haldia unit's capacity from the existing 800 tonnes per day. We acquired nearly 8 acres of additional land adjacent to the existing unit spread over 9 acres for the same."

Essar Steel started a new steel processing facility at Oragadam near Chennai investing Rs 75 crore in a bid to enhance its steel service center capacity to satisfy growing demand of steel from clients.

The new facility, located at the SIPCOT Industrial Growth Centre at Oragadam, was inaugurated by Mr. TS Narayanasami, CMD of Bank of India in the presence of Essar Group Chairman Mr. Shashi Ruia.

U. S.-based iGate Corp has decided not to go for acquisition of 51 per cent stake in the fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services, leaving three firms L&T, Spice Corp and Tech Mahindra in the acquisition race, who submitted their expressions of interest (EoI) for the acquisition on Friday.

Government appointed board of Satyam Computers would discuss the matter on Saturday. The board would analyze the presentations made by firm's appointed investment bankers Goldman Sachs and Avendus to evaluate the financial positions of firms who submitted expression of interest by Friday.