VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Cape Town, South Africa-based investment firm Foord Asset Management has lifted its stake in Johannesburg-based drug maker Adcock Ingram to 15%, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Juergen Weber, the chairman of Hapag-Lloyd AG, said that Hamburg-Sued should participate in merger talks between his company and smaller Chilean shipper Compania Sud Americana de Vapores SA.

Top executives of shipping companies Compania Sud Americana de Vapores and Hapag-Lloyd were reportedly negotiating a merger deal. Vapores has suffered losses and is seeking for ways to become more competitive.

South Africa's industrial conglomerate has joined forces with unlisted drug firm Community Investment Holdings (CIH) to buy a stake in Adcock Ingram in a move that could derail Chilean company CFR Pharmaceutical's takeover bid, said a Business Day Live report.

London-listed Hochschild Mining Plc plans a USD350 million bond issue to finance its expansion projects in Peru and Chile. It intends to invest USD372 million in a silver mine project in Peru and USD1 billion in a gold project in Chile.

Chilean drug maker CFR Pharmaceuticals issued a formal bid to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of South African pharmaceutical company Adcock Ingram Holdings Limited for USD1.26 billion.

Barrick temporarily stopped the construction of the controversial Pascua-Lama gold mine project due to a court suspension issued last Monday.

Latin American currencies low as investors waited for results of Fed's meeting.

Codelco would sell its non-key assets to fund its investments after receiving only US$1 billion from the government.

CFR Pharmaceuticals has embarked on a South African road show starting June 08.

Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd. received a non-binding proposal from Chilean drug manufacturer CFR Pharmaceuticals SA for US$1.3 billion.

Chile allowed the state-owned miner, Codelco, to retain its US$1 billion profit for its new undertakings.