Madura Micro Finance Limited (MMFL), a leading Indian Microfinance Institution (MFI), has informed that the company has secured a funding worth Rs 22 Crores from the private equity investment firm Unitus Equity Fund L.P. (UEF).  

MMFL has been rated as one of the world's top microfinance institutions by Forbes Magazine 2008-Top 50 Microfinance Institutions while, UEF makes strategic investments in high growth microfinance institutions and social enterprises and is managed by Elevar Equity LLC.   

The Somany Group’s flagship company Hindustan Sanitaryware and Industries Ltd (HSIL) is looking for an acquisition in the range of Rs 130 crore to Rs 300 crore in Europe.

The company is presently is in talks with overseas companies for concentrating on sanitary ware products and bathroom accessories.

HSIL, which sells its products under Hindware brand, has already roped in bankers in Europe to identify potential goal for an acquisition.

The company is keen to acquire a majority stake in those companies that are privately-held and family-run.

The size of the business deal is likely to be in the range of €20-50 million (Rs 130 crore to Rs 300 crore) and the company plan to fund the acquisition through internal accruals.

Bharat Forge Limited (BFL), the second largest forging company in the World, has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) for creation of an M.Tech Programme for its employees.  

Under the arrangement, the two-year full time M.Tech (Materials, Manufacturing and Modeling) Programme would be designed as per the BFL requirement, to develop the research and development capabilities of its available human resources.  

During the first year of the M. Tech programme, employees of Bharat Forge will be deputed to IIT-B for classroom training on a full time basis, while during the second year the employees would do their project, jointly at Bharat Forge and IIT-B.  

German wholesale major Metro Cash & Carry has finally received the license on Friday from West Bengal agri marketing board, to operate on a business-to-business model, but under certain conditions.

Under the arrangement, the German major has directed to sell commodities only to traders having a wholesale trade licence, or the Regulated Market Committee (RMC) licence and in case of agri products, an APMC license.

In addition, the WB agri-marketing board has also instructed the company to furnish the list of traders it is dealing with to the marketing board for scrutiny.  

Alkali Metals has decided to extend the last date for its initial public offer (IPO) to October 15, 2008 in the price band of Rs 86 to Rs 103 per equity share of Rs 10 each due to global meltdown.

According to the company, the IPO of Alkali Metals remains undersubscribed on the third day of its opening. The issue received total bids for 8.63 lakh shares as against 25.50 lakh shares on offer, as on 10 October 2008.

Alkali Metals is a Hyderabad-based manufacturer of fine chemicals. The Company proposes to utilize the net proceeds of the Issue to part finance its expansion plan involving setting up of an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) plant at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City, Visakhapatnam, with an installed capacity of 672 MTPA.

Luminous Power Technologies, a leading packaged electrical power and power conditioning products company, intends to launch its electric scooter 'Lectrix' next month.

Recently, the company has completed test runs of its e-scooter, the research for which took about two years.

At the beginning, the company would target its business in North India only. The company plans to open around 50 exclusive showrooms this year, of which 36 are already complete.

According to sources, the products would be priced between Rs 22,000 and Rs 35,000.