Claris Lifesciences shares to delist from BSE on March 22

Claris Lifesciences, Ahmedabad-based pure play injectables player, will be delisted from the BSE, effective March 22, the company said on Monday. The pharma company’s shares will stop trading from March 15.

The company is not listed on the National Stock Exchange. The company had applied for delisting of equity shares on February 26, 2018, it said in a statement. In December, the company had received a letter from promoter Athanas Enterprise to consider delisting of its shares.

Around 95.8 per cent of equity shareholders have opted to sell their shares back at Rs 400 apiece. For the rest, there is a one-year window till March 21, 2019 to offer their shares. They can tender their shares on a monthly basis to JM Financial.

Claris’ scrip was down 1.25 per cent at Rs 395.35 on Monday. Promoters held a 50.13 per cent stake in the company as of December 31, 2017. The public shareholding stood at 49.87 per cent.

Promoter Arjun Handa has bought back shares from existing shareholders and now holds 96 per cent in the soon-to-be delisted entity. 
 

Claris Lifesciences

A source informed that Handa borrowed funds from a financial institution to buy back shares. In an earlier interview with Business Standard, he had indicated that he was interested in diversifying into consumer business space like FMCG.

Claris was considering distributing around Rs 20.77 billion (dividend or share buyback) to its shareholders. In a filing to the BSE in October, the company had said total cash available with the company was Rs 36.14 billion. Its board had approved various expenses and costs aggregating to Rs 15.37 billion. Net cash available was Rs 20.77 billion.

In December 2016, Claris had entered into a definitive agreement with US-based Baxter International to sell its wholly owned subsidiary Claris Injectables for around $625 million (Rs 42.37 billion).

In October last year, the company had completed the sale of its remaining 20 per cent stake in Otsuka Pharmaceutical India, the joint venture with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Factory and Mitsui & Co, to Otsuka.