Sun denies insider trading by arm ahead of Ranbaxy merger deal

Sun Pharma today denied any role by its arm Silver Street Developers LLP in the surge of Ranbaxy share prices in the run-up to USD 4 billion merger deal between the two drug majors.
"Silver Street Developers LLP had bought the Ranbaxy shares when we had no access to non-public information of Ranbaxy. We hereby confirm that we had not bought any shares in the period from April 1 to April 7," Sun Pharmaceutical Industries said in a statement to stock exchanges.
It further added: "Specifically, we had no role to play in the trading that happened in the week prior to the announcement wherein the share price of Ranbaxy went up."

Ahead of the announcement by Sun Pharma on April 7 to fully acquire Ranbaxy for a total of USD 4 billion, Ranbaxy shares had jumped 26 per cent during the period from March 31 to April 4. This had led to insider trading charges.
Subsequently, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had suspended the deal and issued orders to BSE and NSE to maintain interim status quo on the matter. The court order came on a writ petition filed by some individual investors.
Commenting on the court action, Sun Pharma said: "We were not served the notice of the hearing for the AP High Court case referred to and the matter was decided ex parte."

It further said: "We believe that, as advised by our advisers, the article/judgement would not have material impact on the merger process of Ranbaxy with our company."
Last month, Sun Pharma had announced acquisition of troubled Ranbaxy Laboratories in an all-stock transaction with a total equity value of USD 3.2 billion, along with debt of USD 800 million taking the overall deal value to USD 4 billion.