Piramal Health stock on fire on takeover buzz

If the buzz on the street is to be believed, Ajay Piramal is finally selling his pharma flagship, Piramal Healthcare. It refuses to die, despite strong denials by the company.

From early Wednesday morning, while global markets went into a tailspin, Piramal Healthcare went into a tizzy, up five per cent on reports that three bidders were eyeing a majority slice of Piramal. The names of Pfizer, Abbott and Sanofi-Aventis added fuel to the buzz, as the stock shot up to a day’s high of Rs 577.

The word on the street: Abbott Labs had put in a preliminary bid of Rs 580, Sanofi’s bid of Rs 685 was the second highest, while Pfizer was the front-runner, with a Rs 725 bid for a 31 per cent stake. That would trigger an open offer for an additional 20 per cent, making the total deal size close to $2 billion (Rs 9,000 crore).

Lazard and Merill Lynch were said to be principal advisors to the deal.

“There is no proposal by the promoter for selling any stake in the company,” said the Piramal statement to the stock exchanges. And, Pfizer maintained it did not comment on market speculation and rumour.