Shares of Aurobindo Pharma witnessed selling pressure on Thursday, with the share price falling over 2% in early trade after the drug maker announced share buyback worth up to ₹750 crore. The pharma company has fixed floor price for share buyback at ₹1,460 per share, a premium of 6.4% over Tuesday closing price of ₹1,371.70 on the BSE.
Continuing its losing streak for the second straight session, Aurobindo Pharma shares declined as much as 2.1% to ₹1,342.10, paring opening gains. Early today, the stock opened a tad lower at ₹1,368.20, but rose over 0.5% to hit a high of ₹1,379 in early trade on the BSE.
The share price of Aurobindo Pharma is currently down nearly 5% from its 52-week high of ₹1,409.25 touched on July 15, 2024. The counter has surged 84% over its 52-week low of ₹730.25 touched on July 18, 2023. In the calendar year 2024, the pharma stock has climbed 24.5%, while it rose nearly 20% in the past six months. In the last one month, the counter added over 8%, while it gained over 1% in a week.
In an exchange filing this morning, Aurobindo Pharma says that its board at its meeting held today approved buyback of up to 51.36 lakh fully paid-up equity shares of the company, having a face value of ₹1, at a price of ₹1,460 apiece, amounting up to ₹750 crore. The buyback represents up to 0.88% of the total number of equity shares in the paid-up equity share capital of the company. The scheme is subject to approvals of regulatory and other statutory authorities.
As per the company, buyback size is 3.84% and 2.67% of the aggregate of the total paid-up equity share capital and free reserves (including securities premium) as per the latest audited financial statements of the company as at March 31, 2024, respectively.
The buyback will be done through the tender offer route. July 30, 2024 has been fixed as the record date for the purpose of determining the entitlement and the names of equity shareholders who would be eligible to participate in the buyback, Aurobindo Pharma says in the regulatory filing.
“The buyback is proposed to be made from all of the equity shareholders / beneficial owners of the company, including the promoters and members of the promoter group of the company, on a proportionate basis through the “tender offer” route,” the release notes.
Last month, Agile Pharma BV, The Netherlands, a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of Aurobindo Pharma, acquired 100% stake in Ace Laboratories Limited, UK, for ₹17.91 crore on a debt free basis. Formed in June 2013, Ace Laboratories is engaged in providing quality control testing & analytical development services for chemical and microbiological analysis of pharmaceutical products.
“The acquisition is largely for the captive purposes of the company’s business requirements in the European region. Based on capacity utilisation, additional external revenue will also add to the company's revenue stream,” the company said in the exchange filing.
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