Lupin promoters to sell domestic operations: unconfirmed reports

Are the promoters of Lupin Ltd, a leading Indian drug-maker, following in the footsteps of the erstwhile promoters of Ranbaxy and Piramal Healthcare, by selling a part of their stake in the domestic business to others?

Unconfirmed reports on Monday speculated that the founders of the company, who own nearly 47 per cent of the company's shares, have started the process of finding a buyer for the unit that markets drugs in India. The unit could be valued at around $1 billion, said the reports.

But a Lupin spokesman dismissed the reports as 'baseless.'

Founded 40 years ago by Dr Desh Bandhu Gupta, the chairman, the company is the world's largest maker of anti-tuberculosis drugs. The company also has significant shares in key markets in the cardiovascular, diabetology, asthma, paediatrics, anti-infectives and NSAIDs therapy segments.

The unconfirmed report speculated that selling the Indian medicines unit – which accounted for nearly a third of Lupin's $1.3 billion revenues – could help fund investments in overseas markets.

Lupins products are sold in over 70 countries and the company has emerged as the fifth largest and fastest-growing top-five companies in the US (by prescriptions), the only Asian company to achieve that distinction.