Dabur Pharma to sell majority stake to Singapore-based Fresenius Kabi Pte Ltd

Dabur Pharma, an associate company of Dabur India Ltd., today announced a possible majority stake sale to Singapore-based Fresenius Kabi Pte Ltd. The Singapore firm would purchase the 73.27 per cent stake at Rs 76.50 per equity share from the promoters and certain other shareholders of the company, Dabur Pharma said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

This represents almost a 10 per cent premium on the prevailing share price, which is expected to rise as the market reopens on Monday.

The Singapore firm is a unit of European healthcare firm Fresenius SE. The stake sale comes after the Dabur Pharma had earlier denied talks with a German drug maker for a partnership or sale. This marks the second major acquisition for  Fresenius Kabi in recent times, after it bought Italian company Ribbon S.r.L, a leading European manufacturer of the antibiotic agent cephalosporines and penicillins.

Dabur Pharma had been a part of Dabur Industries earlier, but completed the demerger  process in December 2003. It is engaged in the manufacture of anti-cancer drugs and has a business focus in bulk drugs and the formulation business. Last year, the company had sold its non-oncology drugs business to local rival Alembic.

The fully integrated pharmaceutical business of Dabur Pharma covers the oral and injectable finished dosage forms and active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates. The company has its manufacturing units for finished dosage forms in Bordon (UK) and Baddi (India), while the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are manufactured in Kalyani (India) and some products come from Dabur India`s Sahibabad facilities.

The acquisition is subject to the fulfillment of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulatory guidelines and the compliance by Fresenius with public offer requirements.

Shares of the company had traded weak on Friday, a day the benchmark indexes rallied splendidly. On a day the Sensex rose by 237 points, the Dabur Pharma stock fell 4.22 per cent to Rs.69.15 on the BSE.