Dr Reddy & #39;S To Terminate Gds Facility On July 8

Dr Reddy's Laboratories today announced that it is terminating its global depositary shares (GDS) facility on July 8, 2001, and not on June 6 as announced earlier.

The change in the schedule is to permit the payment of newly declared dividend to the share holders prior to the termination of the GDS facility, the company said in a release.

Once the GDS facility is terminated, the American depository shares (ADS) will be issued automatically in lieu of the 17.89 lakh GDSs which are outstanding as of March 31, 2001.

It may be recalled that the board of directors of the company, at their meeting held on May 30, had declared a dividend of 40 per cent for fiscal 2000-01. The company notified July 6 as the date of book closure.

The annual general meeting (AGM) of the company will be held in September. At present, Dr Reddy's is in the process of finalising its fiscal 2000-01 accounts as per the US GAAP (generally accepted accounting practices).

The company has to finalise its accounts as per US GAAP norms within six months after the closure of the financial year.