Eris Lifesciences up 7% on acquisition of Strides' India branded biz

Eris Lifesciences has surges 7% to Rs 628 in intra-day deal, while Strides Shasun was up 2% at Rs 805, after hitting high of Rs 822 on the BSE in intra-day trade

Eris Lifesciences has surges 7% to Rs 628 on the BSE after the company announced that it has acquired Strides’ India branded generics business for an aggregate cash consideration of Rs 500 crore.

Strides Shasun (Strides) and Eris Lifesciences (Eris) on Saturday, November 18, 2017 announced entering into definitive agreements for sale of Strides’ India branded generics business to Eris for an aggregate cash consideration of Rs 500 crore. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and parties intend to close the transaction by November 30th, 2017.

Strides’ India branded generics business comprise of a portfolio of 130+ brands in the domains of Neurology, Psychiatry, Nutraceuticals, Gastro etc. along with the employees forming part of the business. In terms of the agreement, Eris will acquire the marketing and distribution rights for the said portfolio of products in India while Strides will retain the global rights for these products.

Post-acquisition Eris will break into the league of top 25 companies having a market share of more than 1% in the Indian Pharmaceutical Market. The India branded generics business being divested by Strides had sales of Rs 181 crore in FY 2017.

Strides said that net proceeds from this transaction will be used to pay down debt to the tune of Rs 400 crore.

At 11:37 AM; the stock of Eris Lifesciences was trading 6% higher at Rs 622 against 0.05% gain in the S&P BSE Sensex. A combined 458,864 shares changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE so far.

Strides Shasun was trading 2.2% higher at Rs 805, after hitting high of Rs 822 on the BSE in intra-day trade. The trading volumes on the counter more than doubled with a combined 1.12 million shares changed hands on both the exchanges so far.