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Madhumathi D.S.

BANGALORE, March 5

WITH SEBI's latest guidelines for companies in the delisting mode, will the exercise of share buyback in the Bangalore-based AstraZeneca Pharma India (AZPI) swing back or forth?

The company's Swedish parents, Astra Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca AB, will now have to make a choice whether to go ahead by the newly mandated reverse bookbuilding route or halt the exercise by June or July. Mr Lars Walan, Managing Director of AZPI, merely said the head office was studying the new guidelines.

By January this year, the parental stake in AZPI went up to 91.6 per cent as a result of two open offers made in March and September 2002. The company's choice would have to be made within six months of the closure of the second offer as per the February 17 guidelines. That includes a decision on keeping or diluting the 1.6 per cent or nearly 80,000 excess shares that are now held over the stipulated 90 per cent equity.

AstraZeneca has preferred to have fully-owned subsidiaries across the world. Its fully-owned R&D outfit, also located here, is working on an ambitious programme to develop a new tuberculosis drug.

Meanwhile, the Rs 136-crore AZPI shortly plans to add a couple of new products to its portfolio, "without waiting till the product patent regime begins in 2005". This would be in tune with the company's new emphasis on specialty or hospital-based care, including anti-infectives, oncology and maternal care products.

Of late, it has also improved its marketing strength that is aimed at a shift from primary care to the hospital segment.

"We offered a VRS last year for some and we have of late been reorganising the marketing force and recruiting quite a lot" to add skills and numbers to the specialty segment, Mr Walan said.

Last year, the company introduced two successful products — Meronim and oncology drug Zoladex. Its interest lies in cardiovascular and anaesthetics too.

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