Govt rejects Stericat Gut Strings share swap proposal

Finance Ministry today clarified that approval given to surgical sutures maker, Stericat Gut Strings, for bringing in FDI of Rs 43.52 crore was only for acquisition of shares by foreign firm for cash consideration.
"The part proposal involving acquisition of shares by way of share swap has been rejected by the government," a Finance Ministry statement said.
Stericat Gut Strings Pvt Ltd had sought to sell 77.5 per cent stake to French firm Groupe Peters Surgical LLC, 22.5 per cent of which would be via share swap for an overall FDI Rs 43.52 crore.
Yesterday, the government had cleared proposals for foreign direct investment amounting to around Rs 4,000 crore by four pharma and medical devices firms, including Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Biocon's research services arm Syngene.

Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharmaceuticals' Rs 3,000 crore proposal for increasing FII investment limit to 35 per cent from 13.09 per cent was approved by the government.
Similarly, Syngene International's proposal to raise FDI of around Rs 930 crore by raising the foreign investment to 44 per cent from the approved percentage of 10 per cent was also approved yesterday.