Companies and stocks to track today: August 24, 2020

Bharti AXA acquisition may lift ICICI Lombard

ICICI Lombard General Insurance and Bharti AXA General Insurance, on Saturday announced the merger of their general insurance businesses through a share swap deal. According to the share exchange ratio finalised, shareholders of Bharti AXA will receive two shares of ICICI Lombard for every 115 shares they hold in the company.

Currently, ICICI Bank holds 51.89 per cent stake in ICICI Lombard, while the rest is with the public. After the proposed merger, the promoter’s stake will come down to 48.11 per cent.

As part of the deal, shareholders of Bharti and AXA will be allotted equity shares of the combined entity of Rs 10 each with Bharti shareholders receiving 18.23 million shares and AXA 17.52 million shares. At present, Bharti Enterprises owns 51 per cent in Bharti AXA General, and AXA the remaining 49 per cent.

Key Results: Suzlon Energy, LIC Housing Finance, Globus Spirits, IRB Infra, NOCIL

Monday will see another fifty companies declaring their quarterly results, including Arrow Greentech, Albert David, Amforge, APM Industries, Autoline Industries, BLB, Cosmo Ferrites, Dugar Housing, Indraprastha Medical, Ingersoll-Rand, Landmark Properties, Mohit Paper, NB Footwear, NOCIL, Parabolic Drugs, Suzlon Energy, Scooter India, Tarmat, Transgene Biotech and Triumph International.

Will exit from Covid-19 project impact Panacea Biotec?

Panacea Biotec has terminated its MoU with Refana Inc, US, for a Covid-19 vaccine with effect from August 21 due to delays in project timelines and difficulty in moving ahead with the joint venture. Earlier, on June 10, Panacea Biotec had announced its memorandum of understanding with Refana Inc, a Delaware corporation, for global development, manufacture and distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine, through a 50:50 joint venture company.

The company will not pursue development of a Covid19 vaccine in collaboration with Refana and will not make any investment in the joint venture company proposed under the MoU, which was approved by shareholders of the company on July 17, 2020, it said.

Shares of the company had moved up sharply when it announced the deal.

USFDA nod may boost Granules

Shares of Granules India may remain in focus as the US Food & Drug Administration has approved its Abbreviated New Drug Application filed by Granules Pharmaceuticals, Inc (GPI)., a wholly-owned foreign subsidiary for Ramelteon Tablets, 8 mg.

It is bio equivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD), Rozerem Tablets, 8 mg, of Takeda Pharmaceuticals US, Inc. Ramelteon tablets are used for the treatment of insomnia, characterised by difficulty with sleep onset.

Ramelteon tablets had US sales of approximately $33 million MAT for the most recent 12 months ending in June 2020, according to IQVIA Health.

Granules now has 29 ANDA approvals from the US FDA (27 final approvals and 2 tentative approvals).