Claris studying options to distribute Rs 2,077 cr to its shareholders

Ahmedabad-headquartered Claris Lifesciences that recently completed the sale of its remaining 20 per cent stake in Otsuka Pharmaceutical India Private Limited (OPIPL), the joint venture with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory and Mitsui & Co, to Otsuka, on Thursday said that it is considering options (dividend or share buyback) to distribute around Rs 2,077 crore to its shareholders.
 
In a filing to the BSE, Claris Lifesciences said that the total cash available with the company is Rs 3,614 crore. In the company's Board meeting today, the Board has approved various expenses and costs aggregating to Rs 1,537 crore relating to various transactions it had undertaken. The net cash available to the company is around Rs 2,077 crore after adjusting for expenses and costs.

 
The company further added that this translates to cash available per share of around Rs 381 without considering any taxes on the proposed distribution to the shareholders. The company is evaluating options to distribute the net cash to its shareholders including dividend, buy-back etc, the filing said.
 

In December 2016, Claris had entered into a definitive agreement with US-based Baxter International to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary Claris Injectables for approximately $625 million (Rs 4,237 crore). The company is now working to close the deal.
 
Claris Board had approved the decision to sell Claris' stake in OPIPL (Otsuka held 60 per cent in the joint venture, while Mitsui held 20 per cent and the remaining 20 per cent was with Claris) in May this year to divest its entire stake in OPIPL.

 
Shares of Claris Lifesciences today closed at Rs 335.70 on the BSE, down 7.46 per cent from the previous close.