Strides shares slump as investors cast doubt on asset sale report

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Strides Arcolab Ltd slumped as much as 17.4 percent in Mumbai trading on Thursday as investors cast doubt on media reports that the drug maker may sell its injectable-medicines unit Agila Specialties.

Bloomberg News and the local media said last month that Strides was in talks to sell Agila to Pfizer Inc . Pfizer is doing due diligence and a deal could be reached this quarter, Bloomberg said, citing sources that it did not identify.

"There is market talk the deal with Pfizer might get delayed or cancelled," said Narayan Patra, an analyst at Systematix.

A spokesman at Strides declined to comment, while officials at Pfizer could not be immediately reached.

 

Shares in Striders were down 11.2 percent as of 0633 GMT. (Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Writing by Rafael Nam; Editing by Ryan Woo)