After weeks of maintaining a "no comments" stand, Nicholas Piramal chairman Ajay Piramal said, "We have never bid for German Remedies and would like to put all rumours about our bidding for that company to rest. We are strengthening our operations internally to take advantage of our size in India, improve our fast-growing research and development (R&D) strengths, brand management and distribution capabilities and create stronger partnerships with our alliance partners. ``At this point of time, we are not interested in either acquiring German Remedies or taking up equity in that company."

Those still in the fray are believed to include Ranbaxy Laboratories, Pharmacia and Bristol Myers Squibb, among others, though no official statement could be obtained from either Ranbaxy Laboratories or Bristol Myers Squibb.

Sources said a deal should be completed, in India or abroad, within the first half of April. "It is logical to assume a 30 per cent premium over the market price for a controlling interest in German Remedies," the sources said. The German Remedies scrip opened at Rs 509, touched a high of Rs 525.90 and closed at Rs 500.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday.

A report by Mehta Partners LLC had earlier reportedly pegged the enterprise value of German Remedies at Rs 780 crore or Rs 950 per share. German Remedies has a paid-up equity capital of Rs 8.2 crore.

The German group Degussa Huls, which holds a 27.72 per cent stake in German Remedies through Asta Medica AG and Heller AG, had earlier decided to disinvest its interest in the company.

Two other German shareholders, Schering AG and Boehringer Ingelheim, however, continue to control 4.6 per cent each of German Remedies' equity share capital.

Schering brands licensed out to German Remedies include Kanormal (a bulk laxative), Primolut N (oral progestogen) and Noristerat (an injectable contraceptive), while Boehringer brands licensed to GR include bronchodilator Alupent and laxative Dulcolax.