Plethico Pharma hits the roof after reaching settlement with Aurobindo

Plethico Pharmaceuticals hit an upper circuit limit of 20% at Rs 40.85 at 15:03 IST on BSE after reaching settlement with Aurobindo Pharma.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 149.44 points, or 0.52%, to 28,857.19.

On BSE, so far 5.06 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 26,476 shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 40.85 and a low of Rs 34.10 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 74 on 12 June 2014. The stock hit a record low of Rs 24.65 on 27 March 2015.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 8 April 2015, falling 0.87% compared with 2.52% decline in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 17.15% as against Sensex's 5.25% rise.

The small-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 34.07 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Drug maker Aurobindo Pharma announced before trading hours today, 9 April 2015, that Plethico Pharmaceuticals, the Mumbai-based previous owner of Natrol Inc, has agreed to pay $23.30 million in cash in addition to certain global intellectual property (IP) rights and other assets to settle financial fraud accusations levelled by Aurobindo's US subsidiary.

Shares of Aurobindo Pharma were up 0.26% at Rs 1,326.60.

Aurobindo Pharma acquired US-based nutraceutical company Natrol Inc., formerly owned by Plethico group, for $132.50 million in November 2014 through a bidding process approved by the US bankruptcy court for the district of Delaware. The acquisition included manufacturing assets, personnel and commercial infrastructure etc., including Natrol's nutraceutical brands in US, along with an agreement to take certain liabilities with a bid of $132.50 million.

Aurobindo said in a filing that it has found certain discrepancies and non-performance of obligations by Natrol's erstwhile owner, Plethico. Aurobindo said it approached the Delaware bankruptcy court on Monday, 6 April 2015 against Plethico. Discussions were subsequently held between Natrol and Plethico group to resolve the issue.

Based on the discussions, a settlement agreement has been reached, wherein Plethico Group would assign $23.3 million in cash in milestone payments, certain global IP rights and other assets, Aurobindo Pharma said in a filing.

On a consolidated basis, Plethico Pharmaceuticals reported net loss of Rs 4.07 crore in the quarter ended December 2014 as against net profit of Rs 44.07 crore in the quarter ended December 2013. Net sales declined 70.28% to Rs 108.20 crore in the quarter ended December 2014 over the quarter ended December 2013.

Plethico Pharmaceuticals Limited is a leading global healthcare / pharmaceutical company with a strong emphasis on the herbal and nutraceuticals segments.

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