In a major boost to Sun Pharma, which is locked in a takeover battle with Taro, shareholders of the Israeli drug firm on Thursday rejected a proposal to re-elect directors.
The shareholders have also turned down a new indemnification proposal by the Taro board, Sun Pharma said in a statement.
Sun Pharma is the single largest shareholder in Taro with 36 per cent stake and it has been trying to take control of the company ever since its $454-million merger deal of 2007 was unilaterally terminated by the Israeli firm a year later. “Shareholders voted decisively against the election of Taro’s external director nominees,” Sun Pharma said.
Taro shareholders holding over two-thirds of its equity want to remove the Levitts (promoter family) and their associates from the board, it said.
Commenting on the development, Sun Pharma Chairman and Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi said: “With such an unambiguous rejection by minority shareholders, the Levitts and Taro directors now have lost this only crutch.”
