Torrent Pharmaceuticals lost 7.92% to Rs 460.10 at 14:00 IST on BSE after the company said it has entered into an agreement to acquire Elder Pharmaceuticals' branded domestic formulations business in India and Nepal for about Rs 2000 crore.
The announcement was made during trading hours today, 13 December 2013.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 161.88 points or 0.77% at 20,763.73.
On BSE, so far 1.71 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 11,887 shares in the past one quarter.
The stock was volatile. The stock lost as much as 8.29% at the day's low of Rs 458.25 so far during the day. The stock rose as much as 4.26% at the day's high of Rs 521 so far during the day, which is record high for the counter.
The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 12 December 2013, advancing 6.09% compared with the Sensex's 3.17% rise. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, jumping 15.19% as against Sensex's 5.78% rise.
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Elder Pharmaceuticals' (Elder) India business comprises a portfolio of 30 brands including market leading brands in the women's healthcare, pain management, wound care and nutraceuticals therapeutic segments. The business is being sold as a going concern on a slump sale-basis and the transaction will also involve the transfer of employees engaged in sales, marketing and operations of the identified India business of Elder, Torrent said. Under the proposed transaction with Elder, Elder will continue to manufacture and supply the products at its existing manufacturing facilities for Torrent for a period of three years.
Torrent said it will fund the acquisition through a mix of internal accruals and bank borrowings.
Elder's existing brand equity in the areas of women healthcare and pain management will help Torrent strengthen its position in the Indian market expanding into these fast growing areas, Torrent said.
Commenting on the acquisition, Sudhir Mehta, Chairman, Torrent Group said: "The transaction is a strategic fit for Torrent and will strengthen its core prescription-based business. This acquisition strengthens our position in the women healthcare, pain management and vitamins/nutrition segments by enhancing and accelerating market access. It is also expected to enable cost and revenue synergies in Torrent's domestic formulations business".
Alox Saxena, MD and CEO, Elder Pharmaceuticals said: "This path breaking domestic consolidation by Torrent addresses our recent challenges and will significantly help Elder de-leverage its balance sheet. We will now focus and grow our in-licensing, anti-infectives and exports business".
The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of both companies. The transaction is subject to conditions precedent including shareholder approval and applicable regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of 2014, Torrent said.
Elder Pharmaceuticals is a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical manufacturing and marketing organization. The company has a strong presence in therapeutic segments such as women's healthcare, pain management, wound care and nutraceuticals with market leading brands such as Shelcal, Chymoral, Eldervit, Formic and Carnisure. The company has six manufacturing facilities for manufacturing formulations and APIs and state-of-the-art R&D facility located in Nerul (Maharashtra) to provide analytical and development support.
Torrent Pharmaceuticals' consolidated net profit rose 4.6% to Rs 113 crore on 25.3% growth in net sales to Rs 936 crore in Q2 September 2013 over Q2 September 2012.
Torrent Pharmaceuticals is the flagship company of the Torrent Group. Torrent has a fully-equipped Research Center, employing almost 600 scientists, to support the company's operations and product pipeline for both domestic and overseas markets. The company's manufacturing plants locatedat lndrad, Baddi & Sikkim have facilities to produce Formulations and Bulk drugs. The plants are approved by authorities from various regulated and semi-regulated markets like US, UK, Brazil, Germany, Australia and South Africa.
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