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Taking forward the acquisition process, drug-maker Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said it made a public offer starting Friday to acquire all shares of the Netherlands-based OctoPlus NV, a speciality pharmaceutical company. On October 22, the Indian drug major had announced that it had decided to acquire OctoPlus NV for about 27.4 million euro (about R193 crore). “Dr Reddy’s, together with its subsidiaries, launches the recommended public offer to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of OctoPlus NV, a service based speciality pharmaceutical company, at an offer price of 0.52 euro (cum-dividend) per share,” DRL said in statement.

BofA ML upgrades cement stocks to ‘buy’

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch on Friday upgraded its rating across cement stocks to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ or ‘underperform’, saying capacity will lag demand, while valuations are below previous up cycles. The investment bank added that general elections in the next 18 months bode well for the Indian cement sector given that the demand-GDP multiplier expanded in four out of the five previous election years. Among the major cement manufacturers, BoFA ML upgraded UltraTech Cement and Ambuja Cements to ‘buy’ from ‘underperform’. Among mid-cap stocks, Shree Cement was raised to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’, while India Cements was upgraded to ‘buy’ from ‘underperform’.

Sensex rally to extend into next year: Poll

The BSE Sensex is expected to climb to a record high by the end of the next year based on expected interest rate cuts and the government's resolve to press on with reforms, a Reuters

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