After 7,700% surge in stock, Orchid Pharma to face reality check

A shortage of shares has helped drive a surge of almost 7,700 per cent in Orchid Pharma over the past seven months. And now it looks poised to end.

New owners have to divest part of their stake of about 98 per cent in the firm, which re-listed in Mumbai in early November after emerging from bankruptcy. That’s to comply with an Indian regulation that requires the new owners — in this case Dhanuka Laboratories — to boost the minimum public float to 10 per cent over the next few months.

Orchid is among a handful of Indian companies to post meteoric