15 May , 2024 By : Debdeep Gupta
Shares of Cipla soared 4 percent in opening trade on May 15, after three block deals in the counter took place on the exchanges. Around 2.04 crore shares, making up a 2.52 percent stake in drugmaker Cipla changed hands in the three block deals.
The company later confirmed that its promoters, the Hamied family sold a 2.5 percent stake in the drugmaker.
CNBC-Awaaz had also reported on May 14 that the promoter family and Okasa Pharma were looking to offload as much as a 2.53 percent stake.
The promoter family was eyeing to earn Rs 2,637 crore from the stake sale, the CNBC-Awaaz report stated.
The report also revealed that the block trade comes with a lock-in period of 90 days for the sellers. As per Cipla's latest shareholding data, the promoter family owned a 33.47 percent stake in the drugmaker.
The promoter family, the Hamieds, also unloaded another 2.5 percent stake through open market transactions back in February 2020.
Cipla board has three promoter family members - chairman Yusuf Hamied, younger brother MK Hamied, and his daughter Samina - all of them in non-executive roles.
Talks of Cipla's promoter family looking to sell off their entire promoter holding as part of the company's succession plans made rounds in mid-2023.
Several names including those of private equity (PE) firms like Blackstone and Baring Asia and another drugmaker Torrent Pharma submitting non-binding bids for Cipla's promoter stake surfaced. However, none of the deals have materialized so far.
Moneycontrol had also reported in August 2023 that if Cipla promoter's exit plans for the M&A route did not go through, then it is likely that they may sell part stake via block deals instead.
The drugmaker also reported a healthy set of Q4 earnings last week. The company clocked a 79 percent on-year growth in its net profit to Rs 939 crore in the January-March period. The net profit also topped Moneycontrol's estimate of Rs 891 crore.
The sharp spike in the bottom line was largely due to a low base as the company's net profit was impacted by one-time impairment charges in the year-ago period.
Conversely, revenue rose 13 percent year-on-year to Rs 6,163 crore, falling short of the expected Rs 6,224 crore. The top line was also impacted by the divestment of Cipla's Uganda-based subsidiary QCIL (Quality Chemical Industries), which was concluded in the preceding quarter.
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