Adami to retire from post as SAB chairman
Norman Adami, the chairman of SABMiller’s South African business, would retire from the brewer in July, the company said yesterday. From July 1, the South African business will be consolidated with the rest of Africa, and will be overseen by Mark Bowman, the managing director of SABMiller Africa. Mauricio Leyva, currently the managing director of beer for South Africa, will become chairman and managing director of SA Breweries (SAB) in South Africa, reporting to Bowman. Adami will retire on July 31. – Reuters
India’s Sun buys Ranbaxy for $3.2bn
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, India’s largest drug maker by market value, agreed to buy competitor Ranbaxy Laboratories for $3.2 billion (R34bn) from Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo, which paid 61 percent more for the company five years ago. Ranbaxy investors would get 0.8 of a share in Sun for each one of their shares, the two companies said yesterday. Buying India-based Ranbaxy would give Sun, founded by billionaire Dilip Shanghvi, control over the competitor’s pipeline of generic products and help it expand in markets including Russia and Brazil. – Bloomberg
Ukraine stand-off threatens EU gas
EU officials will meet Ukraine’s energy minister today as well as review the bloc’s own gas storage levels as fears grow that rising tensions between Moscow and Kiev might lead to a cut-off of gas supplies. At midnight a deadline expired for Ukraine to reduce the $2.2 billion (R23bn) debt it owes Moscow for natural gas deliveries. So far Ukraine had offered no payments, Moscow said, raising the risk of supply disruption. – Reuters