Piramals deny plans to sell glass business
31 May 2010
Piramal Glass Ltd today denied any sale plans and refuted a press report titled "Piramals now looking to sell glass biz", saying the information referred to in the news article was baseless.
The report, however, boosted the comppany's stock as Piramal Glass shares gained as much as Rs4.30 (4.42 per cent) on the Bombay stock market. The stock hit an intraday high of Rs106.80 and a low of Rs97.30 and was trading at Rs101.50.
The Economic Times newspaper quoted sources close to the matter as saying that the company has started negotiations to sell its glass business to Hindusthan National Glass and Industries.
The Ajay Piramal group, which sold its domestic drug formulations business to Abbott Laboratories for Rs17,000 crore early this month, has signed a non-disclosure agreement with Hindustan National Glass and industries, the report said.
The report said the two parties are currently discussing valuation of Piramal Glass.
Piramal Glass, with a market capitalisation of around Rs781 crore, on the basis of the stock's Friday closing of Rs97 a share, is reported to have a debt of around Rs1,000 crore.