Sun Pharma extends Taro share purchase offer to December 19

Sun Pharmaceutical has extended the tender offer for the purchase of all outstanding ordinary shares of Taro Pharmaceutical from November 7 to December 19.

In a statement issued today, Sun said the offer by its subsidiary Alkaloida Chemical has been extended to comply with an order of the Supreme Court of Israel. The court had prohibited the closure of the offer till it decides on Taro's appeal against the deal. The Tel Aviv District Court had earlier ruled in favour of Sun Pharma and said that a special tender offer was not required.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the appeal on December 8. If the temporary order remains in effect on December 19, Sun will further extend the offer, the statement said.

The offer commenced on June 30 to comply with the terms of the option agreement between Alkaloida and the controlling shareholders of Taro. Alkaloida exercised its options to acquire shares of Taro from the controlling shareholders on June 25.

The option agreement required Alkaloida to commence a tender offer at $7.75 per ordinary share of Taro held by other shareholders. As of today, 33,248 ordinary shares had been tendered and not withdrawn from the offer.

Greenhill & Co is acting as the deal manager for the offer and MacKenzie is acting as the information agent.

Taro has established subsidiaries in the US, Israel and Canada. Its North American operations account for over 90 per cent of the company''s sales. Taro operates mainly through three entities.

Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, or Taro Israel, and two of its subsidiaries, Taro Pharmaceuticals Inc, or Taro Canada, and Taro USA. Taro, headquartered in Haifa, Israel, was established in 1959 and has been listed since 1961 in the US.