Former Teva boss Israel Makov appointed non-executive chairman
Dilip Shanghvi is known for his contrarian bets. In the 1980s, while Indian companies were hawking antibiotics and other short-term treatments to general physicians, Shanghvi started selling medicines for chronic diseases to specialists. There have been many other such instances since then.
On Tuesday, he parted ways with conventional wisdom yet again by stepping down as the chairman of Sun Pharmaceut-ical Industries Ltd, India’s most valuable pharmaceuticals company. Shanghvi will, however, remain the company’s managing director.
Israel Makov, an Israeli national with rich experience in the pharma industry, will take over as the new chairman of Sun Pharma. Though the company did not specify, it is believed that Makov, the former president and chief executive officer of Teva Pharmaceutical, will be the non-executive chairman.
The Sun Pharma board, which ratified the appointment with immediate effect, was silent on the reasons for splitting the chairman and managing director’s post into two. Shanghvi only said he was sure that the company would benefit immensely from Makov’s experience at a time when it continued to rapidly expand its presence worldwide.
Observers and analysts said Makov’s appointment is part of a well-planned strategy as the former Teva boss, who made a string of acquisitions across continents for the Israel-headquartered firm and made it a world leader in generic pharmaceuticals, is a well-recognised name globally.
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He joined Teva in 1995 and led the company’s global expansion, managing over 12 acquisitions—two of which were the largest merger and acquisition deals in Israeli history at the time. Besides, his experience would come in handy for taking care of the regulatory issues faced by the company in the US and guiding Taro, an Israeli company in which Sun Pharma acquired a controlling stake in 2010.
Among many other assignments, Makov is also the chairman of Given Imaging, the pioneer developer and world’s leading provider of capsule endoscopy and chairman of Biolight, a life sciences investment company.
Prior to joining Teva, Makov led a number of companies in various industries, and founded Israel’s first biotech company, Interpharm, which went public in the US as the first Israeli company in research and development stage. He is a member of the board of directors of the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative, an initiative he also helped found.
Q4 net at Rs 820 cr
The company on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 820.2 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, compared to Rs 442.75 crore in the year-ago period. Net sales stood at Rs 2,329.9 crore, against Rs 1,463.3 crore in same period last year.