Arun Sawhney takes over as Ranbaxy MD

Ranbaxy Laboratories today said Arun Sawhney has taken over as the Managing Director of the company, replacing Atul Sobti, who resigned on August 12.

Sawhney, who was earlier President, global pharmaceutical business of the company, has been appointed as MD for a period of three years, Ranbaxy said.

He has around three decades of experience in the industry and held senior management positions in several pharmaceutical firms, including Max-Gb, Hindustan Ciba-Geigy, Bayer India Ltd and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.

Besides, he is one of the founder members of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil).

His appointment comes after Sobti, who joined the company in 2005 quit from his position as Managing Director and CEO in a surprise development, citing differences with the management of Japanese parent Daiichi Sankyo.

Sobti was brought in to replace Malvinder Mohan Singh, who also left the company prematurely despite agreeing to a term of five years as MD after selling off his family's stake in 2008 for over Rs 10,000 crore. Singh is also understood to have left Ranbaxy due to differences with the Japanese management.

Explaining reasons for his exit, Sobti had said: "There are opinions to run a company. When you believe you don't have a consensus, you move out. The differences were substantial and basic."

This is the second major change in top management in the Gurgaon-based company after Daiichi Sankyo bought a 63.92 per cent stake for about Rs 22,000 crore in Ranbaxy in 2008.

Sawhney takes over at a time when Ranbaxy is trying to sort out issues over banning of its two plants at Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Paonta Sahib (Himachal Pradesh) by the USFDA over for non-compliance of manufacturing norms.
   
Over 30 generics drugs produced at the two plants were banned from the US market in 2008.
   
Ranbaxy exports its products to 125 countries with ground operations in 46 and manufacturing facilities in seven countries.

The company's shares were trading at Rs 489.90 on Bombay Stock Exchange in the late afternoon trade, up 3.02 per cent from its previous close.