German healthcare firm Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA has made a delisting offer for its Gurgaon-based pharmaceutical arm Fresenius Kabi Oncology Ltd, to acquire the entire public shareholding of around 19 per cent. The move may cost the company as much as Rs 390 crore ($72 million).
Fresenius owns 81 per cent in the firm and has to comply with the minimum public listing norms, which call for at least 25 per cent free float of a company’s stock. This has to be met by June 30, 2013. Fresenius would either need to dilute its holding or delist the company to comply with the regulations.
For delisting, it needs to cross the 90 per cent threshold, which will cost around Rs 190 crore.
Fresenius Kabi Pte Ltd, the Singapore arm of the healthcare company, has offered to purchase the rest of the public shareholding of the company, around 30 million shares, at an indicative price of Rs 130 per unit.
Fresenius Kabi Oncology’s scrip declined 1.6 per cent and was trading at Rs 132 a share at 3 pm on Thursday in a strong Mumbai market.
Fresenius had acquired around 73.23 per cent stake in Dabur Pharma from Burman family for Rs 878 crore in 2008. Dabur Pharma, which produced anti-cancer drugs, was then rebranded to Fresenius Kabi Oncology. Fresenius raised its stake through the open offer triggered by change in management control back then. It had offered to buy shares at Rs 76.5 a unit at that time.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)