Brandes to oppose Sun's Taro buy

Brandes Investment Partners LP, the second-largest shareholder in Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, plans to vote against the $230 million acquisition by India's Sun Pharmaceutical Industries.

Sun's $7.75-a-share offer for Taro is "too low," San Diego-based Brandes said in a statement sent today by PR Newswire. Brandes has a stake of about 11 percent in Taro.

A money-losing maker of generic medicines, Haifa, Israel-based Taro in May agreed to be bought by Sun Pharmaceutical, India's biggest drugmaker.

Shares of Taro, which have traded in the US since 1961, have lost 85 per cent of their value in the past three years.

The "proposal is not in the best interest of shareholders," Brandes said in the statement.

A call to the investment adviser's public relations department wasn't returned.

Taro's corporate affairs office didn't immediately respond to an after-hours call.

A call to Mumbai-based Sun's corporate communications department wasn't answered.

The shares of Taro rose 15 cents, or 2.4 per cent, to $6.45 in over-the-counter trading before Brandes released its statement today.