Drug firm Novartis India today said its parent Novartis AG has offloaded 1.42 per cent stake in it through open market for a consideration of over Rs 25 crore to meet market regulator SEBI guidelines.
In a filing to BSE it said that its parent company Novartis AG has sold 4,54,205 shares in the company for a total amount of Rs 25.45 crore.
After the sale Novartis AG will have 75 per cent stake in the Indian entity.
As per SEBI’s minimum public shareholding norms, all private sector listed companies need to have at least 25 per cent public shareholding and promoters have been asked to lower their stake to 75 per cent or below by June, 2013.
To help companies comply with the new public shareholding norms, SEBI last year created two new routes —— offer for sale (OFS) and institutional placement programme (IPP).
The regulator also allowed companies to use rights and bonus issue routes to enhance public holding.
Shares of Novartis India today closed at Rs 479.25 a scrip on BSE, up 2.82 per cent from their previous close.