After making a profit of Singapore $116.7 million by selling their 25.37% stake in the Singapore’s healthcare chain Parkway Holdings Ltd to its rival bidder Kazanah Nasional Bhrd of Malaysia, the Singh brothers, Malvinder Mohan Singh and Shivinder Mohan Singh have made profits in another deal.
Rexcell Pharmaceuticals, also known as Solrex Pharmaceuticals, a little-known firm owned and controlled by the Singh brothers, has sold part of its stake in Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Orchid) in two off-market deals struck on the NSE and the BSE on Tuesday.
Solrex has sold 8.25 lakh shares of Orchid on each of the the bourses at an average price of Rs 196 per share, a premium of Rs 5 per share, from the average price of Rs 191 per share at which it bought the stock.
Solrex?s stake in Orchid has came down to 10.68% from the 13.02% it was holding as on June 30, 2010. The sale has fueled speculation that the Singh brothers are planning to exit from the Chennai-based, mid-sized drugmaker.
?They have proved time and again that sound business sense comes first in their business deals. They have sold Ranbaxy, the largest drug maker built up by their father from scratch without blinking.Pharma is no longer in their priority list, though they may still hold a minority stake in Orchid,? said an analyst.
Singh brothers picked up close to 13% stake in Orchid through the creeping acquisition route, when the stock tanked over 40%, following margin calls from two brokerages ? Indiabulls and Religare. This forced promoters to sell over 7% stake in the company and paved way for speculation that the former pharma moghuls planned to mount a hostile bid for the Chennai-based drug maker. The promoters have steadily raised their stake in the company.