News you may have missed

I generally don’t do a links post till Saturday, but I came across several positive news items one after the other, and I thought I’d share them, and spread a bit of cheer among you.

Opto Circuits acquires Cardiac Science

Opto Circuits an Indian company in the business of healthcare equipment has acquired U.S. based Cardiac Science. The transaction has a relatively small price tag of $54.6 million, so probably the small amount combined with all the excitement around the Biocon story crowded this out, as I didn’t see this being reported very widely.

From beyondbrics

Opto is buying up all Cardiac’s outstanding stock for $2.10 per share, a 9.5 per cent premium to Cardiac’s Monday closing price on Nasdaq. But the stock has fallen 46 per cent in the past year, with the majority of the losses coming in late 2009, so, if the recent record is any guide, it doesn’t look at expensive.

Guess what’s over-subscribed?

No, not that.

I wrote about India’s ambitious target of generating 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2022 some time ago, and Reuters report that the first phase of that plan is over-subscribed!

The first phase target was generating 1,300 MW of solar energy by 2013, and it seems that work will begin on half of that by December 2011, and the remaining can be done by December 2012.

From Reuters:

Debashish Majumdar, chairman and managing director of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, told the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit that a strong investor interest in India’s solar power indicated the goals could be met.

“We are over-subscribed for the first phase of 1,300 MW, and by December 2011 generation will have begun work for at least half of this target,” he said.

“The rest could be done by December 2012 which will be ahead of schedule. There is no dearth of investors.”

Let’s hope this stays on track, and doesn’t turn out to be like CWG.

India ranked highest among middle-income countries on government openness

According to the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index India has scored highest among middle income countries and 9th overall on Government openness.

I came across this via the WSJ blog, and like the author, was surprised at first. However, I browse through a lot of government websites, and there is in fact quite a lot of data available publicly, which is probably not so easily accessible in other countries. I have no experience with the Right to Information Act, but I have heard that it has made a difference in enabling access to information as well, so this is another piece of good news.

All is not rosy though as India ranks 27 out of 35 on the access to civil justice.

Bharat Diamond Bourse opens in Mumbai

This one is from the WSJ Blog again which reports that the new diamond exchange: Bharat Diamond Bourse – opened last Sunday. The new exchange will hopefully give a little boost to the diamond trade, and attract more traders from around the world.

From the WSJ:

The new exchange will shift the center of diamond trading from the old Opera House neighborhood of south Bombay to the booming suburb of Bandra. Mr. Mehta said the exchange – which has 2,500 offices, four walk-in vaults, 24,500 safe deposit boxes and a 6,200 square foot trading floor set on a 20-acre plot – is the world’s largest.

He said close to $18 billion worth of diamonds were exported from India during the last fiscal year and he is hoping that the new trading hub will bring more international diamond traders to India’s financial capital.

Anything else that you found interesting but didn’t see widely reported? Let us know in comments.

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