Ranbaxy has been a takeover target of Pfizer since the time the Indian firm got into a legal battle with Pfizer in the US and Europe, over the right to sell generic versions of Lipitor, Pfizer's blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug.
The stock had underperformed the markets for a long time now. In the past three years, while the Sensex has shot up by 122 per cent and the BSE healthcare index by 64 per cent, Ranbaxy's price has gone up by just 6 per cent.