GSK's open offer for buying stake in Indian arm from Feb 7-21

Company is looking at hiking its holding in GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals to up to 75% from 50.6%

GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Rs 6,389.02 crore open offer to pick up 24.33% stake in its Indian arm GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals will start from February 7, 2014.

In a filing to the BSE, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals said the date of closing of tendering period (offer closing date) is February 21, 2014.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) is looking at hiking its holding in GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK Pharma) to up to 75% from 50.67%.

The open offer is for acquiring up to 20,609,774 shares representing 24.33% of the voting share capital of the target company. The price being offered is Rs 3,100 per share, GSK Pharma said.

The open offer price will be payable in cash by the acquirer, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 9(1) (a) of the SEBI (SAST) Regulations, 2011, it added.

"Securities regulations in India require a minimum public shareholding of 25% for a company to maintain a public listing in the country. GSK intends to keep the company publicly-listed," the company had earlier said.

GSK Pharma is engaged in manufacturing, distributing and trading. The company's product portfolio includes prescription medicines and vaccines across therapeutic areas such as anti-infectives, dermatology, and gynaecology.

The company employs more than 5,000 people across its operations and generated more than Rs 2,600 crore turnover in the financial year ended December 31, 2012.

The GSK Pharma scrip closed at Rs 2,954 on the BSE, up 0.47%.