Sun Pharmaceutical Industries on Saturday said it has proposed to fully acquire Israel-based Taro Pharmaceutical Industries through a reverse triangular merger.
The Mumbai-based drug major said it has issued a letter to the Taro board with a proposal containing a non-binding indication of interest to acquire all of the outstanding ordinary shares for a purchase price of $38 per ordinary share in cash.
Sun Pharma currently owns a 78.48 per cent stake in Taro.
“We envisage the proposed transaction to be consummated in the form of a reverse triangular merger under the Israeli Companies Law, 1999 and practice,” Sun Pharma said in a regulatory filing.
The purchase price represents a premium of 31.2 per cent over Taro’s closing price on May 25, 2023, a 41.5 per cent premium over Taro’s average closing price in the last 60 days and a compelling liquidity opportunity for Taro’s shareholders, it added.
Under the indicative proposal, post the acquisition, Taro will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Pharma and will be delisted from NYSE.
Sun Pharmaceutical on Friday reported a 29.6 per cent rise in fourth-quarter profit, as it benefited from lower expenses and higher sales of specialty drugs.
The company’s consolidated profit before exceptional items and tax rose to Rs 24.11 billion ($291.7 million) for the quarter ended March 31, it said in an exchange filing.
M&M feels tractor sales will be robust
Mahindra and Mahindra, which saw a growth of 15 per cent in its tractor sales in FY23, is confident of continued growth in the next financial year, albeit a low single-digit growth, despite threats of El Nino and its effects on the tractor demand.
The company said El Nino has had a low correlation with tractor sales growth, adding that the industry grew 8 per cent in El Nino years.
Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director, farm equipment sector, said: “Average tractor industry growth in El Nino affected years is 8 per cent. Only during two drought years (2002-03 and 2015-16) during the last 50-year period, did the industry have negative growth.”
