Hmr Buys Further 33% Stake In Roussel
Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR) has bought a further 33 per cent stake in Roussel India Ltd increasing its stake in the company from 67 to 100 per cent.
The move clears the decks for Roussel India's merger with HMR for which the shareholders of HMR are meeting in Mumbai on January 31. As per the scheme of merger that will be placed before the EGM, the merger will be effective from April 1,1997. All the assets and liabilities of Roussel India will stand transferred to HMR as on that date or the date fixed by the Bombay High Court.
Hoechst sources, while saying that the transfer has not yet been effected, said they have obtained approval from the Reserve Bank of India, and are awaiting a no objection-certificate (NOC) from the tax authorities. The cost of acquiring the additional stake from Roussel Labs of UK will be close to Rs seven crore, they added. Roussel Labs of UK is in the process of being wound up even as Roussels remaining operations have been merged with the pharmaceutical operations of Hoechst AG of Germany. Roussel India till now existed as subsidiary of HMR, India.
The acquisition of 2.09 lakh shares of Roussel India makes it a wholly owned subsidiary of HMR.
Worldwide, the process of merging Hoechst AG's pharma activities with Marion Merrell Dow were completed in 1996 and that of Roussel Uclaf of France in 1997.
In India, Hoechst India was renamed Hoechst Marion Roussel, with the parent company, HMR AG, Germany holding a stake of 50.1 per cent.
After HMR shareholders pass resolutions pertaining to the merger, applications will be made to the Bombay High Court for approving the scheme of amalgamation of Roussel India with HMR.
According to an analyst with a leading research firm, Roussel India's turnover for 1997-98 should be close to Rs 173 crore with pre-tax profits around Rs nine crore.
The merger will give HMR brands like Soframycin and Combiflam which account for approximately 75 per cent of Roussel India's turnover. HMR's own brands include Claforan, Baralgan, Daonil, Novalgin, Avil, Hostcycline, Tarivid and Trental.
The combined field force of the two companies will be 900. The two companies are jointly marketing the products. Roussel had offered a VRS to its 600 employees at its plant in Navi Mumbai in an attempt at paring costs. Hoechst now has close to 1,800 employees.