Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited has completed the sale of its 9% stake in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. following the acquisition of Ranbaxy Laboratories by Sun Pharmaceutical in March 2015.

In April 2014, Sun Pharma agreed to acquire Ranbaxy for $3.2 billion plus the assumption of $800 million in debt from Daiichi Sankyo, which held a controlling stake in Ranbaxy, which it acquired in 2008/2009. With the closing of the deal, Ranbaxy was merged with Sun Pharma by means of a share swap, resulting in Sun Pharma as the surviving company and Ranbaxy as the company absorbed, and Daiichi Sankyo becoming the second largest shareholder in Sun Pharma with an approximate 9% stake. Earlier this month, Daiichi announced that it would be selling nearly 250 million shares of Sun. Daiichi completed the sale of the shares, thereby divesting its stake in Sun.

The move ends what had been a rocky road for Daiichi following its acquisition of a controlling stake in Ranbaxy in 2008/2009 due to manufacturing and quality issues at manufacturing facilities of Ranbaxy, which included an FDA import alert issued in 2014 for active pharmaceutical ingredients manufactured at Ranbaxy’s facility in Toansa, India.

Source: Daiichi Sankyo