Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. shareholder Templeton Asset Management Ltd. has sold its stake in the company for a handsome profit, after fighting on both sides in the years-long legal battle for control of Taro. Templeton sold its shares to Taro controlling shareholder Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. of India.
Sun Pharmaceuticals paid $82 million for Templeton's Taro shake, at $16 per share, a 14% premium on the market price. Sun increased its Taro holding to 65.2% from 53.2%.
Templeton invested in Taro in 2005, and increased its stake in 2006, when Taro's share was traded at $12. Templeton bought more shares during 2007 at between $6.50 and $7.20 per share.
Just six weeks ago, Sun Pharmaceuticals paid just $7.75 per share for Taro, after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Sun should receive the founders' shares in Taro at the original price set in the sale agreement of 2007.
Haifa-based Taro is a generic drug company, which mainly manufactures and markets in the US, Canada, and the UK.
Taro's share price fell 1.8% in early trading in New York to $13.75, giving a market cap of $553 million.
Source: Globes