Share price of Strides Arocolab crashed 58 per cent on Friday to adjust to special dividend announced by the company.
Last week, Strides had announced a blockbuster dividend of Rs 500 a share in the wake of the $1.75-billion sale of Agila Specialities, its injectable drugs unit, to Mylan Inc of the US.
The company said the record date for the payment of special dividend will be December 20 and it would be paid on or after December 27.
Shareholders whose name appears on the company's book on December 20 would be eligible for the special dividend.
The stock is currently ruling at Rs 374, down Rs 508.9 or 57.7 per cent over the previous day's close of Rs 882.90.
Initially, the company had planned to distribute $700-800 million pre-tax to the shareholders. But the board has approved the special dividend of Rs 500 a share, which would result in a pre-tax distribution of about $525 million.
The sale of Agila Specialities to Mylan was announced on February 28 this year for an aggregate value of $1.6 billion in cash and potential additional consideration of up to $250 million.