The stock of Piramal Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical research company, hit the upper circuit in trading on Friday with the share price rising by 20 per cent on the BSE. The scrip closed at Rs 122.40, up by Rs 20.40. Thursday also saw the scrip move up by 15 per cent to close at Rs 102.

On the NSE, on both Thursday and Friday, the scrip hit the upper circuit to close at Rs 101.80 and Rs 122.20, respectively.

On Friday, the scrip hit the upper circuit on the BSE at around 3 p.m. after which trading in shares of the company was terminated. Analysts are divided over the reason for the increase in the share price of the stock.

merger?

Some analysts believe that the pharmaceutical research company may have bagged a new research deal, attracting investors. Others say that a merger with Piramal Healthcare, may be in the offing. Piramal Life Sciences had been demerged from its parent company, Piramal Healthcare in 2007. Rumours of a possible reverse merger have been doing the rounds for sometime now.

Some analysts also said that a possible increase in stake by one of the promoters of the company, Paramount Pharma, could be another reason that pushed up the stock price.

However, none of these could be confirmed by officials at the company who said that no statements regarding any of the above mentioned issues had been put out by the company.

The closing price for the day is also the monthly high for the company. The 52-week high that the company had reached was Rs 199.40 which was attained in September 2010. The 52-week low was Rs 73.50. In the last two days the company share price has increased by Rs 33. 70.

Promoters of the company hold 58.79 per cent stake in the company, DIIs hold approximately 14 per cent and other investors own around 26 per cent.

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