Lupin Hires Morgan Stanley, Delloite For Arm Merger

Lupin Laboratories has hired Morgan Stanley as merchant banker and Delloite, Touche & Haskins as valuer for its merger with Lupin Chemicals. The company has also appointed legal firm Crawford Bayley as advisors.

Chairman and managing director Desh Bandhu Gupta informed shareholders at the company's annual general meeting on Friday that Delloite, Touche & Haskins would valuate both the companies separately. And once the process is through, the company would approach the Mumbai High Court for a merger approval. Lupin management has already sought institutional approval for the same, Gupta said, adding that as per the current schedule all the processes will be over by March 2001.

Analysts tracking the company said the proposed merger made tremendous business sense even while giving the group an opportunity to clean its balance sheet. Lupin Chem, essentially manufactures rifampicin which goes into a host of anti-TB drugs, while Lupin Labs leads in the ethambutol segment and is a prominent player in cephalosporins.

Gupta said he wants to make the company with a strong research-based platform, and Lupin research facility at Pune will be commissioned by mid-2001. The research centre would concentrate more on thrust areas such as novel chemical entities, process generics, new drug delivery systems and herbal.

The company has extended its R&D initiatives into the US and Europe and has tied with a US-based research firm Pathogenesis for anti- TB drug development. It is also in talks with various research organisations in the Europe and the US for conducting clinical trials for its anti-migraine drug.