Business briefs: Landmark for Cairn India joint venture | GSK

CAIRN India’s joint venture with ONGC has reached a “major milestone”, achieving 175,000 barrels of oil per day from its Rajasthan fields, it emerged yesterday.

The venture, which is now majority owned by mining giant Vedanta Resources, said revenue in the fourth quarter of its financial year was $727 million (£451m), leading to full-year revenues of just under $2.5 billion.

Rahul Dhir, managing director and chief executive of Cairn India, said: “We continue to add value and to contribute to our nation’s energy security.”

GSK agrees £164m non–core brand sale

Drugs group GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to sell a clutch of international over-the-counter healthcare brands for £164 million to South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare.

The sale is the latest move by GSK to fine-tune its consumer healthcare business and follows the divestment of other over-the-counter brands in North America and Europe.

The brands being sold generated sales of about £60m in 2011. They include the painkiller Solpadeine and anti-stomach acid drug Zantac. GSK said last year that it planned to dispose of non-core brands.