AstraZeneca Pharma India, the Indian arm of Swedish drug-maker AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals AB, on Tuesday informed the BSE that the board will seek shareholder approval for delisting its shares from Indian stock exchanges. The promoter had proposed delisting its shares from the Indian bourses through a letter to the board in March this year.
The company is currently listed on the BSE, the NSE and the Bangalore Stock Exchange, with a combined public float of 25 per cent. Promoters hold the remaining 75 per cent. As on Tuesday, it had a free-float market capital of ₹687.97 crore, showed NSE data. Over 19 lakh individual shareholders hold stakes of value less than ₹1 lakh in the company, while shareholders with stake above ₹1 lakh number 61,500.
AstraZeneca had earlier approached shareholders with a delisting proposal in 2004, but refused to pay an exit price of ₹3,000 a share discovered in the reverse book building process. In 2010, another attempt was made, but shareholders negated that proposal too.