The shareholders of Swedish pharmaceutical major, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals India approved the delisting of the company from Indian bourses through a postal ballot.
The Bangalore-headquartered company is a leading pharmaceutical player in the Indian market with presence in key areas such as cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, oncology, respiratory & inflammation, infection, local anesthesia and maternal health.
Earlier in March 2014, the board of directors of the company approved the proposal from the parent, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB, Sweden to delist the shares from the Indian bourses, namely BSE, National Stock Exchange and Bangalore Stock Exchange. The parent holds a 75 per cent stake in its Indian operations.
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On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the scrip gained more than 12 per cent in early trade on Monday to an intra-day high of Rs 1,245 but it reacted subsequently to close trading at Rs 1,135.2, a gain of 2.28 per cent.
The company reported loss of Rs 2.57 crore in Q4 March 2014 on a 20 per cent higher net sales of Rs 114.15 crore in Q4 March 2014.
This is the third attempt by the company to delist its shares from the Indian bourses. Its attempts to delist in 2004 and 2010 were rejected by shareholders. Last year, AstraZeneca had gone in for an offer-for-sale (OFS) to reduce the promoter's stake from 90 per cent to 75 per cent and at that point a significant number of the shares were bought by large foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
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