The Hindu Business Line : Astra plans to buy residual public holding in Indian arm

ASTRA Pharmaceuticals AB (APAB) of Sweden, which currently holds 91.61 per cent in its Indian subsidiary - AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd (AZPIL), plans to buy the residual public holding.

As the public shareholding in AZPIL is less than 10 per cent of the voting capital, the Swedish major has communicated to AZPIL its desire to delist the company's shares as per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) guidelines.

APAB has also asked AZPIL to obtain prior approval of its shareholders for delisting from the Indian bourses through a special resolution passed at the general meeting. Accordingly, the AZPIL board has decided to convene the annual general meeting of its shareholders on May 5 to seek their consent for the proposed delisting of shares from Bangalore Stock Exchange, Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

In a communiqué to shareholders, AZPIL said, "APAB has communicated their willingness to purchase the outstanding shares of the company held by public shareholders at a price equal to the floor price which will be determined by the guidelines but that APAB reserves its right not to proceed with the delisting process if the discovered price under the guidelines determined by following the reverse book building process exceeds the floor price."

As on December 31, 2003, the residual holding of 8.39 per cent in AZPIL was held by banks, NRIs, Indian corporate bodies, directors and their relatives and Indian public. Of this, the holding of Indian public stood at 8.14 per cent.

Holding 56.5 per cent in the Indian arm at the end of March 2002, APAB made a public offer to the shareholders during May 2002 to acquire the shares at an offer price of Rs 375 per share.

The Swedish major acquired 15.35-lakh equity shares both through market purchases and in response to the first public offer, representing 30.71 per cent of the paid-up equity of AZPIL. Accordingly, its shareholding in the Indian company increased to 87.21 per cent. Subsequently, APAB made a second public offer to the shareholders of AZPIL during October 2002 at the same price and increased its holding to 91.61 per cent.

While making the second public offer, APAB had stated that if the public shareholding in the company falls to 10 per cent or below of the voting capital pursuant to the acquisition of shares, then it would come out with another offer to buy out the remaining shares held by the public shareholders.

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