UB Group plans to offload stake in Aventis Pharma

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s UB Group is planning to offload its stake in drug firm Aventis Pharma India as part of the group’s plans to deleverage by selling its non-core investments.

In a presentation to its investors, the group said it planned to sell its non-core investments, including Aventis Pharma within 12 months, although the group has no intention to sell its stake below the existing market price.

When contacted, a UB Group spokesperson said, “We have consistently maintained that non-core investments would be sold. However, the price has to be right. No discussions have taken place yet.”

The company’s shares closed at Rs 890 on Friday.

The move is part of the UB Group’s plan to raise cash, which includes introducing a strategic partner with a possible sale of up to 14.9 per cent from its treasury stocks in United Spirits (USL), for which it had talks with the world’s biggest spirit maker, Diageo, in New York last month.

Other plans for deleveraging are divesting around 49 per cent stake in USL’s Glasgow-based wholly-owned subsidiary Whyte & Mackay (W&M), which the group acquired for £595 million in May 2007 and selling additional space in its real estate project UB City in Bangalore.

Meanwhile, the liquor-baron is also targeting equity infusion to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore into Kingfisher Airlines.

According to the information available on Bombay Stock Exchange, multinational Sanofi-Aventis (formerly Aventis AG) holds 50.1 per cent stake in Aventis Pharma and the Indian promoters hold 10.28 per cent shares, while the remaining stake is publicly held.

Aventis pharma markets in seven major therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, oncology, central nervous system, metabolic disorder, internal medicines and vaccines. Some of the popular brands, which the company market include Avil, Soframycin, Combiflam and Novalgin.