Taro acquisition may cost Sun Pharma Rs 1,000 crore

NEW DELHI: Indian drug firm Sun Pharma may have to shell out up to Rs 1,000 crore this fiscal for acquiring Israel-based Taro Pharmaceuticals.

"If we are able to get all the shares of Taro Pharmaceuticals, including promoters shares, then the total cost would be up to Rs 1,000 crore," Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Chairman Dilip Shanghvi said at conference call today. And without promoters' shareholdings, it could be anywhere between Rs 200 crore and Rs 1,000 crore, he added. Sun Pharmaceutical has around a 36 per cent stake in Taro and is waiting for the Supreme Court of Israeli's nod to close the open offer. Sun Pharma and Taro had entered into a USD 454-million merger agreement in May 2007 which was unilaterally terminated by Taro alleging under valuation. After this, both companies had filed suits against each other and later Sun Pharma launched the open offer to acquire additional shares of the Israeli firm.

The Indian pharma company had commenced an open offer at a price of USD 7.75 per share in June last year through its subsidiary to acquire all shares of Taro, which was again challenged by the Israeli firm and the court prohibited Sun from closing the offer until it gave a verdict on the issue. Sun Pharma had extended the expiry date of the open offer for the 10th time in a row.