Daiichi Sankyo sells entire 9% stake in Sun Pharma for Rs20,420 cr

Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo has sold its entire stake of all 214,969,058 shares, forming 9 per cent of the equity capital of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, for over Rs20,420 crore.

Daiichi received the shares after merger of Ranbaxy in Sun Pharma, seven years after the company acquired Ranbaxy Industries.

''Following the announcement yesterday that Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited decided to sell the entire or part of its holdings of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd shares, Daiichi Sankyo today announced that the sale of Sun Pharma shares has been completed,'' the company said in a release.

Daiichi Sankyo said it would make an announcement concerning the effect of any gain or loss on the sale of Sun Pharma shares when results of operations for the fiscal year ending in March 2015 are announced.

The Japanese drug maker on Monday said its board has approved the sale of a part or all of its 9 per cent holding in Indian drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical.

Daiichi has been holding around 9 per cent stake in Sun Pharma after the merger of Ranbaxy Laboratories with Sun.

"The board of directors of Daiichi Sankyo Company Ltd approved a resolution on 20 April to sell entire or part of its holding of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd shares," the Japanese firm said in a statement.

At today's closing price of Rs1,044.10 of Sun Pharma, Daiichi's stake was worth around Rs22,445 crore.

Last month, Sun Pharma had announced completion of its absorption of Ranbaxy Labs, almost a year after announcing the $4 billion deal.

As part of the deal, Ranbaxy shareholders were to receive 0.8 Sun Pharma shares for every Ranbaxy share they held.

Daiichi Sankyo, which had acquired a majority stake in Ranbaxy in 2008 for around Rs22,000 crore, held 63.4 per cent in the Gurgaon-based firm at the time of the merger.

"From the perspective of the improvement of corporate value, Daiichi Sankyo has performed a review of the Sun Pharma shares and reached a conclusion to sell the shares entirely or partially," it said.

Daiichi Sankyo said it will make an announcement about the impact of any gain or loss on the sale of Sun Pharma shares when results for 2014-15 are announced.

The merger with Ranbaxy has fortified Sun Pharma's position as the world's fifth largest specialty generic pharma firm and the top-ranking domestic one with a significant lead in the market share.