aurobindoends itcevaluatingexpansionofinorganicportfolio ... · aashirvaad brand which is...

CHENNAI | FRIDAY, 3 APRIL 2020 COMPANIES 3. <

AVISHEK RAKSHITKolkata,2April

Cigarettes to hotels major ITCis evaluating inorganic expan-sion of its portfolio, includingstrengthening of the spicesbusiness.

In a filingwith theBSE, ITCsaid, “The company, as part ofits business strategy, is alwaysexploring inorganic growthopportunities and enquiriesreceived from the market par-ticipants are suitably evaluat-ed”.Thecompanywasrespond-

ingtoaclarificationsoughtfromthe stock exchange over acqui-sition of Kolkata based spicesmajorSunriseFoods.

However, ITC added, “Thecompany has not entered intoany exclusivity agreement foracquisition of Sunrise Foods”.

Sunrise Foods has four fac-toriesinKolkata,Bikaner,JaipurandAgra and has considerablepresenceinninestatesfocussedon the eastern and north-east-ernpartof thecountry.

Besides, it is also present inthe neighbouring Nepal and

Bangladesh. Sources saidSunrise’s revenue in the lastfinancial year is estimated ataround~1,000crore.

ITC, which has been focu-ssingheavily ona largerplay inits non-cigarettes businesseslike packaged food, hotel, con-

sumables and others, alreadyhas a strong back-end sourcedspices business under theAashirvaad brand which isavailable in the country as wellas exported. ITC entered thebranded spices business wayback inMay2005.

B DASARATH REDDYHyderabad,2April

I ndian drug major Auro-bindo Pharma on Thurs-day announced the termi-

nation of a $900-millionbuyout agreement it had en-tered into with Sandoz for itsUSgeneric oral solids andder-matology businesses inSeptember2018.

Amutualdecisiontotermi-nate the agreement was takenastheapproval forthetransac-tionfromtheUSFederalTradeCommissionwasnotobtainedwithintheanticipatedtimeline,Aurobindosaid ina filing.

Though the wait for thenod to conclude the transac-tion was extended multipletimelines in the past 19 mon-ths, Thursday’s announce-ment came as a surprise,because the Aurobindo lead-ership had as recently as thefirst week of February saidthey were about to get theapprovals in a month or two.

Thetransactionwouldhavenotonlyhavebeen thebiggestamong Aurobindo’s acquisi-tions,butwouldhavehelpeditmore than double its US rev-enues on a consolidated basis,surpassing$2billion.

Focused on further ex-panding its US business,Aurobindohadentered intoadeal to buy Sandoz’s derma-tology business and a portfo-lio of oral solids comprising70 per cent of products onoffer for divestment byNova-rtis AG’s subsidiary.

The proposed deal alsoincludedthreemanufacturingfacilities intheUS,and100percentshare-holdinginSandoz’ssubsidiary Eon Labs, besides300 products among severalauthorisedgenerics, in-licens-

ingproductsandbrandedder-matology products.

Talking to analysts on Feb-ruary 7, Aurobindo ChairmanP V Ram Prasad Reddy saidthey were hoping to receiveapproval that month, whileManaging Director N Govin-darajan explained that the ap-proval would not stretch be-yond March, as it was in thefinal leg. The firmwas prepar-ingtopresenttheconsolidatedfinancials fromApril 1.

With the deal falling thro-ugh, Aurobindo will lose theopportunity of immediatelybecoming the second largestgenerics player in the US,thoughitsaimtobecomedebt-freecouldbeachievedquickeras the transaction was to befunded throughdebt.

Aurobindo had reported~16,993 crore in consolidatedrevenues for the nine monthsending December 2019, abouthalfofitgeneratedfromtheUS.

Aurobindoends$900-millionSandozproductacquisitiondeal

ITCevaluatingexpansionof inorganicportfolio

DEV CHATTERJEEMumbai,2April

ShapoorjiPallonji&Co,theflag-ship firmof thePallonjiMistrygroup, has crossed an impor-tant financial milestoneby repaying/refinancing~3,000 crore of bank dues asonMarch31.

Thedueswerepaidwithoutpledging the group’s 18.5 percent stake in Tata Sons, said asource close to the develop-ment.Aprivateequity(PE)sou-rce said though the SP groupwanted to offer Tata Sonssharesaspledge,theywerehes-itant to take these sh-ares as pledge bec-ause there could bepotential litigationbythe Tatas and lack ofliquidityintheprivatelimited firm’s shares.ThePEsarealsowor-ried that the Tatagroupwill invoke theright of first refusaland will not transfer at a laterdate, if need be, said a PEsource. In order to make surethe flagship firm repays itsloans,thecompanypromoters,theMistryfamily, infused~870crore into the company in thesecondhalf ofFY20.

A source in SP group saidthepromotershadinfusedover~2,500 crore over the past 18months and there is a stronginterest among global banksandinstitutionstolendagainstTata Sons shares. The fundinfusion in the flagship com-pany includes ~1,900 crore

fromtheproceedsoftheSterli-ng&WilsonSolar’s initialpub-lic offering. “All our existingbankers have been supportiveto us,” said a SP group official.

The official said the group,on a consolidated level, had astrong order book in excess of~1.2 trillion as of March 2020with multi-year revenue visi-bility.AsofSeptemberlastyear,the flagship company SPCPLalonehadanorderbook stoodof ~37,813crore.

The company also assuredlenders that it would sell itsland bank and solar, road andoverseasassetstoreduceitsde-bt in the comingquarters. Thegroup also has made invest-mentsintherealestate,electri-calcontracting,waterpurifica-

tion, infrastructuredevelopment viaJVs. Some of theseinvestments will bemonetisedbywayofstakesaleoffreshPEinvestmentsinthesecompanies.

AsonSeptember30, 2019, the totalexternal debt of the

flagship firm on standalonebasis stood was ~9,019 crore,whichreducedtheoverallgear-ingratioofShapoorjiPallonji&Cobelow2.5timesasonMarch31,2020.Thefirmalsoreducedits financial guarantees to~2,428 crore as of Septemberlast year from ~2,943 crore ason March 31, 2019. This doesnot include debt covered informof letter of comfort givenbyShapoorjiPallonji&Cotoitsvarious subsidiaries/ associ-ates/JVsandtheprincipleout-standing, according to a state-mentbyCareRatings.

SPgroupflagshipfirmavertscrisisPays~3,000croreduestolenders

Zydus Cadila getsfinal nod fromUSFDA to marketseizures drugDrugfirmZydusCadilaonThursdaysaidithadreceivedfinalapprovalfromtheUShealthregulatortomarketgenericLamotrigineextended-releasetablets,usedtotreatcertaintypesofseizures.ThecompanyhasreceivedfinalapprovalfromtheUnitedStatesFoodandDrugAdmin-istration(USFDA)tomarketLamotrigineextended-releasetabletsUSP, ZydusCadilasaid.Theproductwillbemanufact-uredatthegroup'sfacilityatspecialeconomiczoneinAhmedabad,itadded. PTI

The transactionwouldhavehelpedAurobindo’s todouble itsUS revenuesonaconsolidatedbasis, surpassing$2billion

In order to makesure the flagshipcompany repaysits loans, thepromotersinfused ~870 crinto the firm inthe second halfof FY20