Daiichi Sankyo on Tuesday sold its entire stake of around 9 per cent in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries for over Rs20,420 crore, which it received after merger of Ranbaxy in the Indian firm, ending seven years of its tumultuous experience in the country.
The company, which had forayed into the growing Indian pharmaceutical market by buying a majority stake in Ranbaxy laboratories in 2008 for Rs22,000 crore, sold over 21 crore shares in Sun Pharma. In a statement Daiichi on Tuesday said , "The sale of Sun Pharma shares has been completed." As part of the share sale, the Japanese firm sold a total of 21,49,69,058 shares of Sun Pharma.
At the average share price of about Rs950 in the morning trade when Daiichi announced selling its stake, the value of its shares is estimated to be Rs20,420 crore. last month, Sun Pharma had announced completion of merger of Ranbaxy with itself, almost a year after announcing the $4-billion deal.
As part of the deal, Ranbaxy shareholders were to receive 0.8 Sun Pharma shares for every Ranbaxy share they held. Daiichi held 63.4 per cent in the Gurgaon-based firm at the time of the merger. The merger with Ranbaxy has fortified Sun Pharma's position as the world's fifth largest specialty generic pharma firm and the top-ranking domestic one with a significant lead in the market share.
The Japanese firm faced numerous challenges in its seven- year long stint in India as the firm it bought -- Ranbaxy -- came under the scanner of US health regulator for gross violation of approved manufacturing norms. In 2008 itself, the US Food and Drug Administration banned 30 generic drugs produced by Ranbaxy at its Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Paonta Sahib and Batamandi unit in Himachal Pradesh, citing gross violation of approved manufacturing norms.
In the same year, the US Department of Justice had moved a motion against the company in a local court alleging forgery of documents and fraudulent practice. Even though Daiichi kept facing challenges in the form ofregulators questioning the quality of Ranbaxy drugs all over the globe, it continued to move forward and even introduced a hybrid model along with Ranbaxy.