Opening Bell 21 May | European Summit in focus

Mumbai: As Greece teeters on the brink of financial and economic crisis, European leaders are drawing up a series of proposals to manage the crisis at the European Union Summit. European leaders are going to put pressure on Germany to empower the Eurozone’s 500 billion euro rescue fund to directly recapitalize faltering European banks and commonly backed Eurozone bonds, reports Financial Times.

Asian markets were trading on a firmer foot on Monday morning following reports that world leaders have affirmed their interest in Greece remaining in the Euro-zone while respecting its commitments, reports MarketWatch. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average added 0.6%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite were trading flat. US markets however had ended in the red on Friday following weak economic data.

In India, Moser Baer plans to restructure over Rs 1,800 crore of its term debt in order to strengthen its balance sheet to leverage future opportunities in the sector. The solar cell maker is restructuring almost half of the total Rs 3,500 crore debt. The company is also in discussions with banks for refinancing its outstanding foreign currency convertible bonds worth $88.5 million.

Some companies are actually getting a boost to their balance sheet because of the falling rupee. Essar Oil made a notional gain last fiscal as a sliding rupee pared its debt pile by nearly 14% in dollar terms, reports Mint. The management said any real benefit will take place only if they choose to retire or refinance debt. India’s second largest private refiner is laden with Rs. 13,400 crore of debt and is also undergoing Rs 9,000 crore corporate debt restructuring since 2005.

The government is facing stiff resistance from foreign and domestic pharmaceutical companies over its plan to limit prices for drugs, reports Wall Street Journal India. The proposals, which could be implemented this year, will bring about two-thirds of India’s medicines under price control, compared with only 20% currently. While drug sales in India are expected to reach the $17.5 billion mark by 2014 from $12 billion currently, government intervention makes it a risky bet for foreign drug makers to sell medicines in India.

Ranbaxy Laboratories plans to re-launch in the US its former skincare brand Sotret that was banned for almost four years, via a marketing partnership with a Canadian firm Cipher Pharmaceuticals Ltd, reports Economic Times. Before the ban in 2008, Sotret was Ranbaxy’s third best-selling drug globally and was estimated to have generated over $50 million in yearly sales.

Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has made a representation via the UAE government to withdraw the forex violation notice and has also asked the Indian government to make a refund for cancellation of telecom licenses, reports Business Standard. Etisalat holds around 44.7% stake in DB Group and has already taken an impairment charge of $827 million (around Rs 4,500 crore) in its 2011 financial statement on its Indian assets.

Lastly, Mark Zuckerberg updated his relationship status over the weekend to married after taking the $104 billion company public on Friday, reports Financial Times. Zuckerberg married Priscilla Chan, a medical school graduate from the University of California.