Granules India surges 6% on Carlyle group acquisition buzz

Shares of Granules India surged 6 per cent and hit a new high of Rs 438 on the BSE on Tuesday as media reports suggested that private equity firm Carlyle group is in advanced stages to acquire the pharmaceutical firm for around $1 billion.

Carlyle is expected to buy 42 per cent of promoter shares, which will trigger an open offer to acquire additional stake from others, CNBC TV18 reported.

On September 25, 2020, Granules India said that we hereby inform you that we do not confirm or deny the information contained in the aforementioned news article. If and when an event that requires a disclosure as per Sebi provisions, we shall make necessary disclosures in accordance with the SEBI Listing Regulations, it said.

The company had said the above in clarification to a media report.

The company is into active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and contract research and manufacturing (CRAMS).

ICICI Securities maintains ‘buy’ rating on Granules India with target price of Rs 460 per share on strong backward integration remains key strength for company in steep competitive generic market. The brokerage firm said that it likes the company’s clear vision to play on its strength of economies of scale, gradually expand to more complex products/forms to improve margins. Sustained margin expansion is likely to support free cash flow (FCF) generation despite brownfield capex lined up till FY23E, it said.