A Swedish pharmaceuticals major has made a bid for the Tatas 47 per cent stake in Merind at Rs 240 a share. Sources close to the company said talks are on between the two companies and a deal is believed to be in the offing.
Rumours about the bid have sparked off an increase in trading at the Merind counter in the past week. On January 2, 11,550 Merind shares were traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange. This figure jumped to 43,400 shares on January 5.
Although the volume has since dropped, it still remained high at 9,500 shares and 4,650 shares on January 6 and 7, respectively. In December, average daily volumes were less than 2,000 shares, with only one day, December 18, recording trading of 6,350 shares. The scrip price too has moved up. From Rs 100 on the BSE on December 30, the price moved to Rs 122.75 on January 6.
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The name of the Swedish major could not be ascertained. Merind managing director N K Khurody could not be contacted as he was out of town.
The Swedish majors bid comes after talks with two other leading companies fell through late last year.
The Tatas wanted to sell their stake in Merind as pharmaceuticals is not a core competence for the Tata group. Therefore, the Tatas had sought bids, with a figure between Rs 200 and Rs 300 a share in mind. Wockhardt and another leading multinational had bid for Merind.
However, the bids were rejected by the Tatas since they were below Rs 200 a share. Wockhardt had then proposed that Merind be merged into the former, but the Tatas refused.