Pfizer sweetens bid for India arm to Rs830 per share

Pfizer Investments Netherlands B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of The world's biggest drugmaker, Pfizer Inc, yesterday said that it has increased its offer price to buy a 33.77-per cent stake in India-based Pfizer Ltd. from public shareholders.

Pfizer Investments said the offer has been raised to Rs830 a share ($17.14), a 23-per cent increase from the original bid of Rs675 a share.

On 12 April 2009, US-based Pfizer Inc, oferred to pay about $136 million (Rs680 crore) to boost its stake in its Indian arm Pfizer Ltd to 75 per cent from the 41.23 per cent it already owns.

The earlier price represented a nominal premium of 8.6 per cent to the 9 April closing price for Mumbai-based Pfizer Ltd and a premium of 22.2 per cent over the average share price  on the BSE during the 30 days ending 9 April and comes following investor resistence to the parent companiy's offer, price which had been severely criticised as being grossly inadequate.

CNBC India managing director Udayan Mukherjee had commented that the parent company is unlikely to ''get much joy in the open offer''.

''You cannot expect to buy 35 per cent of your company or float away at 8 per cent premium to the market price on this beaten down price. So at Rs670 a share, I doubt whether anybody will tender,'' Mukherjee said on CNBC-TV18.

The revised offer represents a 33.5 per cent premium to the closing price of Rs621.55 of Pfizer Ltd. shares on April 9, the last trading day before the tender offer was announced, on the National Stock Exchange (equivalent premium of 33.2 per cent to the closing price of Rs623 on that date on the Bombay Stock Exchange) Pfizer Investments said.