World’s largest drug maker Pfizer Inc, which had plans to hike its stake in its Indian arm Pfizer India to 75% as per its announcement in April 2009, has increased its stake to 70.75% in the Indian company.
Pfizer India said in a disclosure to the exchanges on Monday that Pfizer Investments Netherlands BV, along with Pfizer Inc, holds 70.75% stake in the company as compared to the earlier 41.23%, after buying back 29.52% stake through an open offer.
However, this had been achieved last year itself, when the company said it had bought back a 29.52% stake in the Indian arm, increasing its stake to 70.75% via open offer. The statement said April 9, 2010, was the date of transfer of shares acquired in the open offer that had closed on July 4, 2009, from the special depositary account to the demat account of Pfizer Investments Netherlands BV.
Pfizer shares touched a 52-week high of Rs 1,085 during intraday trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday, before closing at Rs 1,041.45, up 1.27%, or Rs 13.05 from Friday’s close.
Last year, Pfizer had to increase its offer price to acquire further stake in Pfizer Ltd from public shareholders. It offered Rs 830 per share, up 23% from the original offer price of Rs 675 per share.
“Multinational pharmaceutical companies are trying to consolidate their position in the fast growing emerging markets,” says Sarabjit Kaur Nangra, vice president – research at Angel Broking.
There could also be plans to delist the company from the Indian exchanges, she added. Last year, Swiss multinational drug major Novartis also launched an open offer to increase its stake from 50.9% to 90% in its Indian subsidiary, but could not meet the projected benchmark, despite the participation of institutional investors. The parent company managed to increase its stake to 76.4%.